Daylight Saving Time Began Today

It started with a beautiful pink and orange-colored sky (sunrise was at 6:15!) and ended with an equally colorful sunset - at 7pm! In between we had a gorgeous sunny and mild day with temps getting up to the mid-seventies this afternoon. I dug out a little more of the pond but there is still too much water at the bottom to get a good foothold for digging. I spent most of the day after church relaxing in the sun or doing light weeding and watering while taking pictures of the newest tulips and daffodils.

Winter Weather + Spring Flowers on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

It is cold again, at least for around here. It only got up to 55.4 °F / 13.0 °C for our high, and got down to 41.9 °F / 5.5 °C before sunrise. Rain is predicted all week, but only with 20%-30% chances today through Wednesday, and up to 40%-60% chance of rain Thursday - Sunday. Wish we could give Alan warmer weather when he gets here tomorrow, but I guess it's going to rain at least a little this week!Today was beautiful and sunny even though it was cool. I got some pruning and watering done and the air felt good. Beautiful clouds in the distance. Tom went fishing on the San Gabriel and ran into a little rain and saw snow fall in the higher elevations!Looking around the yard, we have a pretty good variety of narcissus bulbs in bloom. Sometimes called paperwhites, daffodils, or jonquils, here they are (click on them to enlarge).




Another bulb that is beginning to bloom is the grape hyacinth. These are actually much later to bloom than in past years; here are the first ones to open.

After the Cold, Heat, and Rain . .

I took this picture on February 4th - we have had some spectacular sunsets, sunrises, and cloud formations lately. January had some record low temperatures (crops were ruined because of the frost). Earlier this month, we had record highs - 82 degrees last week was an all-time record for February 5th in Oxnard. Our indoor/outdoor thermometer registered 85 degrees on our back porch! In between the cold and heat, we had rain last week and this past weekend, but now the bulbs are really beginning to bloom!