As predicted, it snowed the very next morning after that hail last Saturday. Of course, it was about 40 degrees outside, so it had all melted by afternoon. The last few days have been off-and-on rain. Monday and Tuesday were particularly heavy rain days. Today there were only sprinkles.
It did clear up a bit the last few days and I got out and swept the stove pipe of all the accumulated soot and cinders. Today I went up and patched up the roof around the stove pipe where there has been a persistent leak whenever it rains.
I also went out and ground up some of the charcoal left over from my fires this Winter. It is supposed to make great garden fertilizer. While digging in my compost pile for bits of charcoal, I found this interesting little creature. A quick search on the web turned up pictures that seem to match pretty closely: a Five-lined Skink. The Wikipedia page says they are native to the Eastern U.S., but perhaps it is a closely related species.
In other news, I didn’t get a second interview for that State job with Senior and Disability Services, so I’ll just have to keep looking! Something will turn up. You can find a bunch more snow and Spring pictures along with all my other recent photos, as usual, at my Flickr site here.
3 Responses to “Spring Snow”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
April 26th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I love your 5 lined skink! Is yours
also that gorgous blue color? And the pictures of the trees are so graceful with the wonderful delicacy of early spring. The moss covered trunks give them a great focus. Gee, we had cold weather, but not snow! Glad you have your stove pipe cleaned out and well patched.
m
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Yes, the skink shown in the pictures is the one I found. The tail is a brilliant blue. I have since found a few others, but I don’t have any new pictures yet. I wish there was some way to focus this digital camera, but it is entirely an autofocus device. I keep getting blurry pictures, but I will keep trying.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Incidentally, I think it is a “Juvenile Western Skink” that I found. Evidently they lose the blue tail coloring when they get older. It makes sense, considering the season.