It is 4 C. here today and snow is melting. It is late March weather in early February.

I am guessing that the sap will be running in maple bushes soon enough.

What is it like in your area?

We've been having some warm pretty days. Thursday of this week I had 22* at daylight, yesterday it was 40*, I've got 48* now.

After today we're to cool off. For the next 10 days, they are calling for lows in the 20's and highs in the 30's. Perfect weather for the sap to flow.

Crocus are blooming here and daffodils aren't far behind.

-17 C. this morning. That is normal for this time of year. The snow is a giant ice brick about 10 inches deep. Some places you can walk on it. Others you break through.

We've had snow in the mountains for the last 10 or 12 days, it had all melted here in the valley. I'm sure it's just a block of ice too, I haven't been up to check.

Last night we had another snow, it started out as wet heavy flakes. Ended up with 5 inches here at the house, the ground was warm. Think I had a high of 42 yesterday, and it was up in the 50's the day before. On bare ground it's just about gone, here in town. Trees are still heavy.

It came down hard last night, started at 9 pm or so, and finished about 3am.

Should have a break in the morning, the critters will have tonight to make tracks. Going to go see what I can find. I've got 25* now.

Fast moving storn, I figure the back roads are getting slick.

-21 C. this morning. It's supposed to warm up and we should get 3-4 cm.now in the next 24 hrs. Typical March weather. But it isn't March!

It has been about 20-25 in the morning and 40-45 during the days,I will take
it for February. The coons are getting in my bird feeders,and i caught one in
a dog proof the other night. My cur dog got her butt whooped again! That darn dog
has taken a beating from coons,possums,squirrels and a groundhog.
But she ready for another shot at something!

-25 C. this morning. It is supposed to go up to 9 C. this week.

A cur dog beat up by a squirrel?!! Big squirrel or what?

Na the darn squirrel bit on the side of her face,and would not
let go! She probably caught and killed 20 so far,but she was careless
with that one.17F degrees last night and 42 today.

Had a buddy that dropped a squirrel out of a tree and it landed on his dog, bit on the dog's nose and wouldn't let go. My buddy said after that his dog went after squirrels with a vengeance!

Have you ever watched a squirrel open a hickory nut?
they are tough little boogers.
62 degrees today! Weatherman said the warmest day since Nov 10

We've had the warmest ever winter here. And I'm always looking for the first robin of the spring. So this year, for the first time ever, and I mean EVER, I saw a FLOCK of robins. Usually when I'd see more then one, they were fighting. But taking a walk around several blocks in my neighborhood, I spied at least a couple dozen robins pecking away at some guys front lawn. I had no idea they flocked together. Maybe right place at the right time, but after more than seven decades, this was a first for me! Oh, and by the way, happy birthday Tim!

Frank, thanks for the birthday wish. You must have someone in the family that shares the same birthday. If you do, Happy Birthday to he or she!

I forget when I first noticed robins in this area? It's in the bird thread. But for about 3 weeks, I didn't see any. It was yesterday or the day before? Another flock moved in.

Looking at the neighbor's yard, there are 3 robins and a squirrel running around now.

It was spitting snow here last night, didn't lay on the ground. More or less a light cold rain. A week or so ago, the ground was warm, had 3 or 4 inches of snow, and when it melted I could see fresh green grass. Yard grass, but we're starting to green up.

Looked at a field of winter wheat or barley the other day, it's looking good.

45 and raining today,calling for mid 60tys tomorrow!
Another raccoon got in the suet feeder last night,
guess i will set a couple traps again.

We had -27 C. this week. Then it went up to plus 10 C. Then we had a huge rain storm where I couldn't see 10 feet from the window only to have it turn to snow. Thank goodness it didn't last long. The wind was intense.

The bush is littered with twigs and branches. You would be hard pressed to find "clean" snow.

I'm guess we have less than a foot of ice snow. We are having early April weather in
Feb.March.

The bears are coming out of hibernation in zoos. I have had crows in the yard for the past week.

I have been seeing and hearing large flocks of Canada geese flying
high over head. Probably the first migrating geese that i've seen
or heard in 5 years. we have local geese around all year now,but these
were heading somewhere else. I had 65 degrees yesterday!

Saw my first duck of the year on the river in front of the house. Last year, #1 was seen on April 7.

Zero C. this morning and 10 this afternoon.

That 'blush' of robins (yea, had to look that one up) that I mentioned has broken up into lone birds. And they've been replaced by a 'cloud/grind' (yup, had to look that one up too) of black birds. I'll go with 'cloud' cuz they almost block out the sun when they come sweeping down from one tree to the next. Close to an inch and a half of all day rain today, with nasty north wind. Stayed in the house except to check the mail. Sun tomorrow. I'll still forecast snow for Easter.

I'll be. I searched too. Another word that is used for a cluster robins, is bobbin.

As a rule, I see bobbins of robins each spring. Sometimes 50 or more birds.

We've been having a large swing in temperature from the low to high. 40 degrees or more. Yesterday morning the dogs water had a skim of ice, we were up in the 70's last evening.

This warm weather is just enough to mess up the fruit trees. I've noticed they are starting to bud, this is too early. Middle of March, we're going to have some freezing temps. As old Man Rob always said: It always snows on the yellow bushes.

I did see my first red-winged blackbird the other week. Now we've got some of the glossy blackbirds (with yellow eyes). Forget, it was 10 or 15 days ago I did see a V-formation of Canada geese headed north. It was late that evening and they were low, guess they landed here in the valley, to rest up overnight?

We got blackbirds moving through here. And warm weather too. 80 degrees yesterday. And yes that really plays hob with the fruit trees. I've given up on fruit trees. Because of the early warm weather and late frost, we get a crop about 1 year out of five.

Getting to the mid 40s again today, and I'm watching a pair of peregrine falcons building their nest high in a city's parkway tree. They're tearing small branches/twigs from my back yard trees and carrying them to the front. Beautiful birds.

I'm not familiar with peregrine falcons, I searched. They are a pretty bird.

Here is one link: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/peregrine-falcon

Above we were talking about our fruit trees, it just happened that my buddy Mark stopped by yesterday. Mark and his family owned a 25 acre apple orchard, 30 miles north of here. I asked if his trees were starting to bud, he told me that dozed off the trees and switched over to growing corn.

I'll tell you exactly what Mark told me, I made notes right after he left, so I'd have it right. Mark said on a good year, they could harvest 10,000 bushel of apples per season. For 2 years in a row, his harvest dropped to 600 bushel.

For the exact reason we talked about above: Early warm weather and a late freeze. Mark said 20* F. is the magic number.

Yeap with this warm weather the local green houses are selling early
plants already!! A good frost will make it that they will be able
to sell more again.I grew up on a farm and my father would not plant
before May 5th. But are winters have changed around here since the early 70tys.

Above I told you about our total precipitation for the year so far. Over 5 inches.

After a few days of warm and windy weather, we are dry now. Dry on top, the streams and rivers are still flowing good.

Here's a link I found on the National news this am.

https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/mid-atlantic-fire-outbreak

Yesterday we had some really strong and gusty winds. Here in Hardy Co. WV, there were over a dozen wildfires. Nearly all of them caused by a downed powerline. Fire departments from far and wide are on the job now.

It was warm yesterday, and windy as all get out. At daylight this morning I had 27* and dead calm, so that helped. I've got 44* now, with a light breeze.

Here is another link about the local fires. Schools here were closed today and are again tomorrow. I've got 35* here in the valley and calm winds now.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/03/21/three-major-fires-continue-to-burn-in-hardy-county/

No fires here YET. But 'Tis the season. Actually we are supposed to get rain tonight an that will help.

-18 c. this morning with a good wind. I went dog sledding but there is only a skiff of snow in spots.

I'll give you an update on the local fires.

Yesterday morning I had 45* F and calm winds. Sometime yesterday they did call out the National Guard. I was told they had 3 helicopters doing water drops on the fire burning south of town. That fire is on the Hardy/Pendleton Co. line. The mailman told me about the 3 choppers, the county line is his last box on his mail run.

He said they were dropping 500 gallons per trip. If you remember some of the pictures of Bill, Big Donnie and I fishing in a flood control dam, that's where they got the water. Shook's Run Dam, short flight to the blaze.

Also had at least 1 chopper working the fire east of town. Maybe the same aircraft ?

It did start raining last night, looking at radar, it was to start around midnight. About 3am we had a nice steady rain, light sprinkle now. The sky is so smokey and foggy now, I can't see the mountains.

I've had about 1/2 inch so far, not sure if that'll be enough to snuff out the fire? At least it'll slow them down. The sky is getting brighter and the rain is to move out later today.

We're supposed to get down in the 20's tonight. So that should help too.

(Above I had the temperatures wrong. It was 24* Thursday morning, 45 Friday, I've got 47* now. Calling for a low of 25* tonight.)

I'll post a couple more links.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/03/23/overn...omac-highlands/

https://www.wvnews.com/garrettrepublican...71352c3bdd.html

https://www.whsv.com/2024/03/23/theyre-heroes-small-town-comes-together-save-homes-wildfire/

Temperature is 35* F now. Pretty much a full moon, scattered clouds. Seems the smoke has cleared out for now.

I had 23* at daylight, calm winds. The sky is a little bit hazy but otherwise it's a sunny Sunday.

Our rainfall totals ranged from 1/2 inch to almost an inch.

Hardy County 911 put out a statement yesterday, thanking everyone for the support and donations to the fire departments. Fire units were here from Maryland, PA and Virginia. Plus fire units from from around West Virginia.

911 also said that State and Federal fire units were turning over the fires to our local fire departments. There were a bunch of Forest Service trucks on the road last evening.

A Forest Service "HotShot" vehicle went by too.

Here's a link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire/people/hotshots

Skim down to the physical fitness requirements, to become a HOTSHOT member.

Yesterday I checked on a few of my friends, found out that Lee and his wife Lorie's house was surrounded by fire the other day. A fire crew got there and snuffed it out, not before it had burnt to within 50 yards of their house. That's too close!

Our next chance of rain is Wednesday, we'll be dry as a bone again.

Well it appears the pair of falcons I have been watching have moved on. They tried to convert a squirrels nest to their own, but have failed. Speaking anthropomorphicly, he's pissed she can't pick a good nesting place, and she's pissed at his lack of nest building skills. I'll still scan the trees for them, but soon the trees will foliate, and I might just have to catch them in the skies, if they're still close by.

+10 C. here this afternoon.

I had 51* at daylight, I think that's the warmest morning we've had this season.

Hard to say about the falcons, I guess when the eggs are ready, they will settle on a nest.

I'll give you and update on the local fires. The rain the other day pretty much snuffed them out.

I'll tell you last Wednesday started out normal and then got crazy. Talking to some of our local firemen, I was told that wind gusts reached 80 MPH. In the time frame of 5 hours or less, there where fires burning in all directions.

Headline in this weeks paper: Fires unite County; More than 8,000 acres burn.

Reading the story, 25 homes and cabins were destroyed, in Hardy Co. WV Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters dropped more than 65,000 gallons of water. There were 2 Forest Service Hotshots crews working the fire, one from Illinois and the other from New Mexico.

One quote from the local fire cheif, they were overwhelmed with the local support. The 4-H camp was opened to the fire crews, serving meals, lodging and all. Donations of new chainsaws, leaf blowers, mixed gas, gloves, flashlights, right on up to local folks using their own heavy equipment to cut fire lines.

We're pretty much back to normal now, school opened Monday, normal schedule. Folks are back on the job. What a difference a week makes!

Above we were talking about woods fires and the wind. The mailman and I were talking about the wind the day the fires started, he has an anemometer (wind speed gauge), his topped out at 78 MPH.

Mailman said that the gauge at Mount Storm, WV, topped out at 111 MPH. One hundred eleven, miles per hour. That's just crazy. Mount Storm is 30 miles west of here.

We were talking about our utility lines. If you've never noticed, utility poles have a "birthmark", that lists the specs for the pole. The birthmark usually faces the road/street, with it's number.

We have utility poles that date back to years and years ago. I assume it's like that everywhere? Years ago poles had a "date nail", a copper nail, with a number on the head. I have a can full of them someplace.

If you're curious, utility poles are planted 10% plus 2 feet deep. The hole for an 80 foot pole will be, 8 feet, plus 2 feet, equals 10 feet deep.

Our electric service is very dependable, but with wind gusts that high, trees are going to fall.

I'm not expecting an Easter snow, we're up in the 60's now.

Lots of rain here. That will greatly lessen the fire danger. As soon as the trees leaf out, and shade the forest floor, it will stay damp and be hard to ignite.

We had rain off and on yesterday, and about 1/4 inch the day before. Checked the weather early today, calling for a chance of rain and storms.

After today, our high temps will be in the 40's and lows in the 30's from now till Sunday. Chance of snow in the mountains, Thursday.

Our woods won't burn now, but last Thursday we did have a small woods fire here in the valley. Yard and pasture grass is growing, here in the valley, up high the grass and weeds haven't started yet. I can see daylight through the tree tops at 3,000 feet.

Give our trees another 2 or 3 weeks and the leaves will really start coming on.

Talked to a lady the other day, that makes maple syrup. She said the season started early, and their last boil was March 12th. I think. She said they'd made 350 gallons this year. On their best year, they were right at 500 gallons. Lots and lots of boiling!

Well it finally quit raining, snowing, and super blowing, so the falcons decided to return. They must have pecked and made up, working again on the old squirrels nest. Our power company has installed several nest boxes around the area, one of which is located several miles from here at the Oak Creek power station, along the lake. Web cams have been installed, and a couple of weeks ago it showed the hen sitting on one egg. Haven't checked lately, but I'll assume there's more eggs by now. Shouldn't be long before this pair of birds will be sitting on the nest too. He'll hunt, and feed her. She'll sit until the hatchlings are big enough, then she too will hunt, to feed herself, but also all them hungry mouths.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but if that's a recent picture your yard grass is as green as what we have here in the valley.

The other morning I found a bird egg shell on my outside porch. Not positive, but I think it was a dove egg shell. White and about and inch long.

Talking about our weather, it snowed in Elkins, WV yesterday morning. Elkins is an hour west of here. Last evening, we had flurries, then later there was a pretty good snow squall blow across the valley and up the mountain. Enough to make the road wet. The mailman had a little bit more. The wind hasn't slacked off much.

Two guys mowed off the high spots in the church yard this morning, both of them were bundled up, wearing gloves. The one guy was wearing a toboggan. My weeds don't need to mowed off that bad yet.

Some mornings the wind will be dead calm at daylight, as soon as the sun comes up, we'll get windy again. But I had 40* at daylight.

What is a "toboggan" for you guys?

In Canada, it is a sled you ride downhill on or that you tow things with. Going "toboganning" is an activity many partake in during winter.

I know what you mean, I would call that a sled. What I was talking about is a type of hat. I'm sure you and the family have a drawer full of toboggans.

I had 27* at daylight and a good frost. Clear blue skies and dead calm now, it's going to be a beautiful spring day.

Yeah, the grass is greening up alright. Southside of the house probably could use a clipping. We've had lows in the mid 40*F over night, and they're forecasting mid 60*F for highs now for a couple of days. (that's around 20*C for our bros that use a different breed of mercury :)) We've had such a terrible wet spring so far, with flood warnings along the rivers in the southern part of the state. Probably will put a damper on the farmers getting into their fields. And they're forecasting more rain on the way, but should be clearing some for the eclipse.

We call a knit cap a "tuque" also spelled "toque."

Tobaggans are made of wood lathe. Sleds are made of plastic or anything else. A pulk is a sled designed to carry gear and not people.

I grew up calling a knit cap a "stocking" cap. But here in Southern Ohio it too is known as a toboggan. Other folks call it a "watch" cap.

When portaging, I wear a canoe on my head. But I have never worn a tobaggan!

A week ago if you'd have called me at work, and asked if I had toque for sale. I'd have probably asked you to spell it for me, and then describe what you wanted. After a half dozen questions, we'd might have it figured out? If you'd tell me a knit hat, we'd be good to go.

I only have one toboggan for sale, right now. Blaze orange.

At work the computer is always on, if I would have time, I'd have been searching while you were on the phone.

Talking about a "pulk", about the only thing that you'd see around here mounted on sled would be a fuel tank. Around timber operations or a construction job. Mostly, it'd be stationary, just a tank to go fill up the equipment at the end of the day.

On most big jobs, they will have their own fuel trucks. Lots of the small operations, they'll have a 200 gallon or so, fuel tank mounted in a pickup.

Let me ask. 40 years ago, the primary language of Quebec was French. In your opinion, has that changed? I'm sure it varies from one spot to another.

Our valley was filled with smoke again yesterday. I read on the WWW there were 2 fires burning near the VA/WV state line. The biggest fire was over 16,000 acres, last I heard they both 100% contained.

We've had some rain, but our woods are dry. Up out of the valley, grass and weeds haven't started to grow yet.

" 40 years ago, the primary language of Quebec was French. In your opinion, has that changed?"

It has not. If you are in Montreal, you will hear English a lot. Other than that, it's French.

I am an Anglo Quebecker. That means my mother tongue is English. I was raised and schooled in English. But once you are in the "world", all is in French. The English population of Quebec used to be 10%. I believe it is down to 8% now.

Allophone numbers, those whose mother tongue is neither English nor French, have risen sharply in the last decade.

Up until a couple of years ago, the only languages I would hear in town were French and Native. Once in a while you would hear and English person. When you did, it would be a tourist or someone you knew. Now you hear other languages once in a while.

The tobaggan and tuque/toque words are used throughout Canada.

I've let that soak in for 24 hours, I'm still confused.

So when the kids go to school, their books are printed in English or French?

Just say I'd want to start a savings account at your local bank, will the paperwork be in English or French?

I read the BBC news now and then, you hardly ever find anything from Quebec, but I've watched their videos and they are in English.

If you'd be watching the evening TV news, is that in English or French?

Here at work I see non-English speaking folks every day. Mostly Spanish.

65* this am.

In an English school all teaching and texts are in English - except for the French classes. It is the opposite in French schools.

If you go to a bank all the talking and forms will be in French. You can request English forms.

The evening news will be in one language or another depending on which television station you are on. We have English stations and French stations. Ditto for radio.

+6 C. this morning. Robins are in the yard for the first time this year.

Interesting.

Let me ask. Just say a kid goes to an English school, are French language classes mandatory? Same thing for a kid going to a French school.

If that's true, the majority of the younger population would be bilingual. Or somewhat bilingual. That would be nice.

One thing that I'm seeing more and more often here at work. Some folks have a gizmo on their cell phone, they can talk into their phone, and it will translate their voice to English text. And my voice back to their language in text.

That's pretty neat.

We had a light rain overnight, 55* this am and windy. I did find a white bird egg shell on my porch the other morning, not positive but I think it was a dove egg.

Yes. But the quality of the French language taught in the English schools is W-A-Y better than that of the English taught in French schools. Many, if not most, English schools offer French mother tongue. That means the students get taught the same level of French that the French schools teach.

In most French schools the English taught is second language English. It is extremely basic.

My kids all attended English school - as did my wife and I. Our kids all did their university studies in French universities. They had no problems.

We are finally getting some rain here. 10 C. right now.

That sounds like a good school system, at least all of Quebec's kids are exposed to the English language. They may never need to speak English? Over time, families will fan out and be all over Canada, the USA and around the world.

I guess you mean public schools?

As of about 1980 or so? My school offered a "French Class", it wasn't required. As well as I remember, there was always a conflict with my other classes.

That French class, was only offered by one teacher, for like one period per day. I didn't take the class, but some of my friends did, and they've traveled. And they've all told me that they were lost, as far as being able to speak French.

But, sounds like I'd be able to walk into a bank in Quebec and say: Good morning. And most folks would know what I mean. After that, I'm sure I'd be lost.

I had 50* this morning with a steady west wind. It'd be a beautiful day, if the wind would slack off. 65* now.

Today is the first day of our Youth Spring Turkey season, I know of 2 harvested so far.

A beautiful day here in SE Wis. Mid sixties, light breeze, and lots of sunshine. Thought I'd spend a quiet afternoon with my manually operated post hole digger relocating my front yard flagpole. (it kind of acquired a lean) The cacophony of sounds that accompanied me in my quest was almost unbearable. Screaming birds, screaming children, dogs barking, motorcycles fresh out of winter storage screaming by with blaring radios, hotrods fresh out of winter storage reviving up as they go by, fire truck screaming by, geez---Almost sorry I spent the afternoon outside. Oh, how I love late autumn.

Turning from pleasant to warm here. High of 80 predicted for today. I don't like hot weather. 80 is tolerable but not by much.

The yard should be free of all snow by the end of the week.

4:30 91 degrees on Upper Twin Crick.

Above we were talking about fruit trees. There is an Red Delicious apple tree in the church yard across the street. I didn't write down the date, it's been at least 3 weeks ago, maybe 4 weeks ago? Anyway, the tree bloomed, honestly it didn't have much bloom. The bloom was spotty, a little bit here and a little bit there.

My buddy Mark from the apple orchard, said 20* F. was the break point. I remember one morning I had 22*. The original bloom fell off, and I figured that was it for this season. Last week I noticed that the tree is blooming again. Not very much bloom this time either. The tree has bloom on it right now.

A few years ago, that tree produced a bounty crop, and the next year it didn't do any good at all.

Talking about our temperature swings from high to low. The other morning I had 44* at daylight, we warmed up fast! It went to 65, then 75, then 85, it bumped up to 90* for a little bit. Then right back to 85*. The next morning I had 68*, at daylight. That's warm. This morning we were back into the 40's, beautiful day.

Holy smokes! I hope it was a dry heat. But, knowing your humidity, I doubt it.

I just had a thermopump installed to prevent the house getting too warm. Glad I don't live in Twin Creek (even though I am sure it is a great place and that the people are nice.)

No it weren't no dry heat. At least we haven't had to run the AC -- yet. And yes, Twin Crick is a nice place to live. However, we at all a buncha gun totin' savages.

A-n-d ..... the yard is all white again .....

I have 31* with a light frost.

30 degrees at daybreak. Had to cover my strawberries.

I still have snow in the shady spots of the yard. But the fresh snow has melted. The woods are clear where the trees are dense as is anything facing south or west.

Snowing right now. If it doesn't stop soon, things will be all white again.

We reached a high of 71*F on Tuesday. This morning we had 21*F. Light frost on everything. Was to be colder farther inland. Forecasting back up to the 70s with some storms this coming weekend. Yep, typical Wisconsin spring time. Garden ain't going in for another month!

Spring has pretty well sprung here. The dogwood trees are blooming in the mountains, huckleberry bushes are getting leaves.

Here in the valley, leaves are getting dense. My yard has been mowed one time, almost ready again.

That time of year when you don't know how to dress. Do a load of laundry, you'll have heavy long sleeve shirts, medium and light weight, and T-shirts. Light jackets, heavy jackets. And when the sun goes down, you put it all back on.

I was out the other week wearing my toque, It'll be a while before I put my heavy shirts away,

Talking about the garden, a friend stopped the other day and pulled out 2 little packs of cucumber seeds from his shirt pocket. Said the local co-op charged him $10. He offered to sell me half of them. I'm the same as Joel, I might be able to use a dozen or 15 seeds. He's got a 10 year supply, I guess if you'd put them in the freezer, sealed up tight, they might last 5 years?

Why did he buy 2 packs when he just wanted one?

Two different varieties of cucumber seeds. One was some type of "burpless" and the other was a "straight 8".

Moe and I were out Friday morning, our woods were dry and would have burnt. We had rain off and on yesterday and last night, I had a total of 0.25 inches. The rivers are looking good.

I read a story in the news the other day, there was a storm in the Carolina's and in some places they had hail balls, four inches across.

A storm blew across the valley the other day, it poured the rain down here, 5 miles north of town they had hail balls the size of a marble. Moe lives about 3 miles south of town, he didn't get a drop of rain.

Our weather went from spring to summer last week. We got hot for a few days and nights. We're in the 50's now, so that's not bad.

I had almost an inch of rain yesterday, and another 3/8's of an inch last night and this morning. Calling for a chance of rain for almost all of this week, with lows in the 40's a couple days.

I was out Friday, up around 2,800 - 2,900 feet, and our timber is really starting to get dense. Not much growth on the ground yet, poison ivy is up, also found 2 woodticks.

Another thing that I've noticed, our oak trees are loaded with bloom. It seems like all of them, and it's like that everywhere I've been this season. We're due for a good acorn crop.

I was out around an old apple orchard, the 20 or so remaining trees bloomed good this spring. Here in May, we should be past freezing temperatures. Hopefully we'll have an apple crop. Locust trees are in bloom, the honeybees should be working hard.

Leaves are getting to be pretty big and the choke cherries are flowering. The temps are in the high teens/low 20's C. Trilliums are out and everything has green pollen dust on it.

It's still spring but the weather has been in the mid 30's C. without counting the humidex. The dogs are finding it rough and so am I. The good news is that the days are getting shorter soon.

I was out swimming this morning, first time this summer with my mask and fins. Swimming in the South Branch of the Potomac River, the river is low and water is warm.

Swimming at the upper town park. Didn't see or find much. Good many sunfish, 3 smallmouth bass, 10 inches or better. Few little carp, 6 or 8 pounders.

Did come home with a new pair of safety glasses, top half of a fishing rod. Junk.

One guy was bank fishing, I'm not sure, but I was in the water about 2 hours. Never did see any action over his way.

98 degrees here Monday.

I had 70* at 6:00 am.

I'll try not to look at the gauge anymore today. It's going to be nasty.

For the last few days, those who live inland had highs in the upper 80s-low 90s. Those of us who live near Lake Michigan (known as the 'big pond') had highs in the mid 60s! Now the forecast for us near the lake is for mid 80s along with the possibility for some strong storms later. It's also nasty humid with the due point around 70.

Frank.

It's been hot and dry here, and honestly not calling for much change in the forecast.

Early this year we had a bunch of rain, the ground was soaked good, when it did warm up the grass and pastures really took off.

All of the farmers that I've talked to have had a really good hay harvest. One of my landowners told me that last season, they baled 121 bales (round bales, 700 hundred pounds each or so?) This year they had 174. Same field, same equipment and all.

If we don't get rain soon, that will probably be their first and only cutting.

Think about the fuel. You cut it down, rake it, go back across the field to bale it. Plus the man hours and all.

We need rain. And just today, areas in the mid-west are flooding. And we can't buy a drop.

They cut the hay on my son's farm last week and the fields yellowed up right away. It started raining yesterday and they are now greening back.

The temps are in the high teens C.

Well here's an update on the possible storms I mentioned earlier. Yup, a strong line of storms came through SE Wis. At least five confirmed tornados with possibly more being listed after investigation of the damage is complete. Lots of damage to buildings, trees, roads, etc. Power outages. But no fatalities. Anywhere between an inch and a half to over four inches of rain caused roads, fields, driveways, and basement flooding. Lots of cleanup scheduled before another round of forecasted storms comes through Monday night and into Tuesday. No damage here at the homestead.

Frank.

Well, I'm glad no one was hurt.

We did have a rain early this morning, I had 0.66 inches. That's not much.

Not enough to change the river flow or milk up the creeks. My brother and I were out swimming one day last week, we could see a good 10 to 12 feet in the water.

That little bit of rain is just enough to make it hot and sticky today. It was pretty nice out early, wait till about noon, it's going to be nasty.

Spring weather is long gone in this part of the country. We are hot and dry!

We had 0.33 inches of rain last evening, there is no sign of it today. It's gone. No water in the creeks. We are dry.

Looking off to the north-west there are a few high thin clouds that won't amount to squat, it's windy and hot.