Finally, it felt like we had progressed to spring.

​Actually with temperatures in the 80s, it seemed like perhaps the area had bypassed the season and went straight for summer.

While the spring plants were coming along nicely, members of the Applegate gang didn't follow suit.

Meanwhile, frogs, brought out by the sunshine and warmer temperatures, paid no mind to the muddied waters and splashing canines.

Unfortunately a break in the May monsoon season, had left the wood frog tadpoles almost high and dry. I checked shrinking pool daily. There was still water, but not much. I hoped that more spring rains would be coming along to help fill the pool back up, as there was no way to really haul water back to the area.

While the wood frog tadpoles were on the verge of not doing well, area violets were coming along nicely.

It appeared to be more violets this year than in previous years. There were so many varieties and shades. They seemed to be everywhere, in the woods and in the yard. The only variety of which I was certain on the name was the yellow halberd-leaved violet. 

Just as the violets covered the ground, the trees were also breaking out in blossoms. It seemed like the apple trees had flowered overnight. Then after a few days, the warm wind was already driving petals off of the branches.

As the apple blossoms came and went, so did the tulips in the garden. The earlier tulips had already lost their petals as the stragglers provided pops of color here and there. I was always surprised at the varieties that came up. I had a tendency to plant and forget. I surmised that this is why when we moved into my grandparents' home, we saw flower bulb packages stapled on the old garage wall. I did, however, remember that I had added to my mom's tulip bed next door last fall. However, I couldn't remember which ones they were, as the tulips of the same variety that were planted in my yard had been consumed by Kyle, the goat.

Meanwhile, other woodland plants were coming along nicely. Wild strawberry blossoms dotted the landscape.

The tulips have burst forth with color.

It felt that spring may have finally sprung. Of course, April showers seemed to transform into a May monsoon season. Despite the rain, the flora and fauna were stirring.

Ernest Hemingway no doubt said it best with “When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest.”

After enduring many false springs, the tulips displayed their vibrant colors to put on their annual show.

Lil' Bit was forced to endure some posing with a posies photography sessions.

While the garden was filled with showy tulips, the yard was dotted with purple as the violets popped up. The rain kept the mowers at bay and so the violets ruled the day.

The flowering crabapple had begun to show its true colors as well.

Seemingly devoid of color, a white daffodil captured my interest. Perhaps it was the lack of the bright yellow that made it easier for me to see the delicate form of the flower.

However, there was no lack of color at the bird feeders. The orioles have returned and are consuming grape jelly at a high rate. While filling two jelly feeders, I felt that I should just put the grape goo on autoship from Smuckers.

The orioles were not solely to blame for the exorbitant jelly consumption. A pair of catbirds also helped out.

More hummingbirds have arrived.

​At first all I had seen were the males, but the females showed up a little later. The need for another hummingbird feeder was quickly realized when our local feeder guardian was reinstated to his post. He sat on the feeder's hook and chased all the other hummers away.

​However, an additional feeder on the other side of the house, meant he can't be in two places at once.

In addition to the hummingbirds, I was finally able to get a shot of the white crowned sparrows that have been visiting.

Several male rose-breasted grosbeaks enhanced the color around bird feeders.

Not to be outdone by all the birds, a red squirrel decided to strike a pose.

While my bird feeders saw several visitors, a solitary sandpiper made its annual appearance at the neighbor's pond.

I kept checking my next favorite watering hole beside the neighbor's pond, a vernal pool home to many woodfrog tadpoles. The pollywogs have thrived despite temperature fluctuations. I loved to check on their progress and was waiting for some legs to start forming.

However, my curiosity about the vernal pool quickly drew unwanted attention from some other animals, mostly mine. First the dogs felt the need to muddy the waters. Then Kyle decided he desperately needed a drink. I think he may have slurped up some tadpoles in the process.

Admittedly my critters are known to sometimes disrupt the tranquility of the woods. However, there was one wild creature that seemed utterly unaware of the chaos my creatures create.

I spotted a what I thought was racoon sleeping high up in a hemlock tree when we ventured out for a morning walk. When we returned to the woods in the afternoon, the racoon had not moved. I spoke up and clapped my hands to see if there was any response. There was no reaction. I wondered if had taken a photo of a racoon taking its final nap. It was in the tree where the barred owl had been seen. However, the next day, there was no racoon. Whether or not the raccoon had awakened or succumbed to a dirt nap, is something that only Mother Nature knows.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here.

Yards and woodlands were all atwitter over the past few days. It would appear that the spring bird migration was definitely getting warmed up despite some dips in the temperature. Canada geese settled at the neighbor's pond, but they weren't the only birds making an appearance.

This past Sunday's warm weather brought the first hummingbird of the season to the yard. It visited the feeder very sporadically and I was able to snap a couple of photos on Monday. I don't believe that the hummer was one of the regulars we feed during the summer. When Wednesday rolled around, there was no hummingbirds in sight.

The spring snowstorm on April 18 brought some chipping sparrows to the feeders. They appeared less than thrilled about the cold weather.

Over the next few days a couple of pairs of purple finches showed up a the feeders. While my sightings were  considered normal, an April 10 post on the Seneca Rocks Audubon  Society's Facebook page touted a rare visitor.
"A yellow-headed blackbird is currently being seen coming to the feeders of a residence near Knox. This is a rare visitor to Pennsylvania and Clarion County. This birds normal range is the mid-western plains of the US and Canada," the post said.

However the bird sighting that I was atwitter about was a barred owl that I first photographed in mid-April. I had heard owls calling over the past years, but wasn't able to capture any photos.

I absolutely loved this owl. It was so very cooperative in terms of pictures.

"The Barred Owl’s hooting call, 'Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?' is a classic sound of old forests and treed swamps. But this attractive owl, with soulful brown eyes and brown-and-white-striped plumage, can also pass completely unnoticed as it flies noiselessly through the dense canopy or snoozes on a tree limb," stated a post on allaboutbirds.org.

The post went on to say that "the great horned owl is the most serious predatory threat to the barred owl. Although the two species often live in the same areas, a barred owl will move to another part of its territory when a great horned owl is nearby."

However the post on allaboutbirds.org raised the possibility that the owl I photographed might just stick around.
​
"Barred owls don’t migrate, and they don’t even move around very much. Of 158 birds that were banded and then found later, none had moved farther than 6 miles away," the post stated.

The bumblebees were also out and about feeding on some trailing arbutus.

More and more spring flowers were encouraged by the warm weather this past weekend.

Sherman decided to help the flowers out by watering them.

Clem then felt compelled to follow suit. That's just the nature of things 'round here.

In the interest of health and safety, only one cat, Wiggles, was captured for an Easter photo. None of the animals were harmed in the making of this post. Well, some of them may have had their pride hurt.

A rare sunny day prompted one of the annual Applegate animals' Easter photo shoot. The goal was to make Easter cards, but that didn't happen. Friends and relatives would just have to be happy with Facebook posts.

Originally, the session started with all four dogs out and about. That was determined to lead to failure. Either one was in the shot or no one was in the shot. There may have been one good opportunity, then there was a fuzzy butt photobombing session. Gus also decided he needed to try to eat the plastic Easter eggs used as props when I was distracted. Every few minutes I had to pry one out of his slobbery jowls.

 So it was quickly determined that the photos would take place one dog at a time. This seemed to work better and treat dispensing could be done more accurately. My parents' house wasn't originally intended to be in the backdrop, but I had to take what I could get.

I did get at least what considered four good photos for the cards that never happened.

Of course, there were many photo fails and outtakes. Those garnered the most Facebook comments and likes.

One commenter asked why they're weren't any goat photos this year. It was because I valued my health and safety. However, they saw me coming with the bunny ears and went into hiding. I was able to capture Kennedy eating a daffodil that I was trying to photograph.

Meanwhile, things were looking a bit more like spring outside with the daffodils opening.

Needless to say, some of the daffodils were harmed in the making of this post. That's just the nature of things 'round here.

​The cast and crew of The Nature of Things wishes you all a Happy Easter.

Also last year, I had posted photos of blooming violets in early April. This year only the violet's leaves have made an appearance so far.

An article titled "The Wood Frog, a Frog for All Seasons" by  by Kelly Vowels  on the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest's site bernheim.org explained how the eggs may have survived freezing temps.
 Wood frog "eggs are adapted for this fluctuating temperatures. The mucoprotein jelly around the eggs have a melting period higher than the fluids found in the eggs.

So when the ponds freeze, the jelly will freeze before the egg and will pull water out from the egg. These dehydrated eggs are more resistant to freeze and are more able to survive the fluctuating temperatures in late winter and early spring," Vowels posted.
​
With this new information, I had hope that the eggs would produce tadpoles.

It did appear that the neighborhood deer were starting to shed their winter coats.

 That's the nature of things 'round here.
​

Weekly checks of the trail cameras in the surrounding woods often makes me giggle.

The motion-triggered cameras captured deer and other wildlife with their natural and curious expressions.

What causes the deer to take interest in the cameras could be a variety of things. The cameras are an unusual bump on the tree with a different smell.

Some cameras also may have emitted an audible click when snapping a photo. A click that would not have been a natural sound.

Some of the night vision on the cameras emit a red light at night that would also create a distraction.

I just love the deer's inquisitive and innocent expressions. It is a chance to get face-to-face with them that I may not necessarily have when viewing them in person.

Meanwhile, a series of photos showed that a raccoon shared the spotlight with the deer feeding on a mineral block.

In addition to the deer and raccoon, a puffed up male turkey strutted his stuff in front of a camera. I speculated it may have been a selfie for a Tinder profile.

My trail cameras did show that the wood ducks had returned to the neighbor's pond. A photo-bombing deer also entered into the shot.

Aside from the game cameras, I was able to get a couple of photos of a brown creeper. Longtime birder and author of "Birds of Venango County," Gary Edwards wrote that the creeper is an uncommon year-round resident for Venango County. He penned that migrants moving north peak in April. That statement may have explained the creeper's recent appearance.

As I impatiently waited for the colors of spring to appear, the trail cameras were a much needed distraction.

Of course the deer weren't the only ones who get up close and personal with the camera. It was a daily struggle to keep Kennedy, the goat from messing with the camera. He adjusted the angles with crooked photos as a results.
​That's just the nature of things 'round here.

But life abounds...

If you look for it.

And then it expands our possible knowledge.

Meanwhile, Facebook friends posted photos of crocuses. I had some yellow crocuses that had finally emerged. While the tulips sprouted up with their green leaves, it would be weeks until they would develop any color. Daffodils also sported buds with the promise of bright blooms.

The air around the neighbor's pond reverberated with the sounds of frogs' mating calls. The croaking of wood frogs could be heard during the warmer days. Deeper in the woods, I heard additional croaking. I followed it to find a vernal pool filled with wood frogs. An informational graphic found on the Cable Museum's website explained that the sounds of wood frogs, boreal chorus frogs and spring peepers can be heard in March.
​Here a is a link to the graphic www.cablemuseum.org/school-field-trips/museum- mobile/museummobile-spring-programs/first-grade-spring-a-northwoods-frog- chorus/? fbclid=IwAR2Jjv7lj3YacCZWMJV_R2RrWXbNcrusbMxwR6vcQm3uEKViH 3G1_2WNGko

Meanwhile, more robins kept appearing. My parents' reported that they had some bluebirds interested in taking up residence in a bluebird box in their yard.

What the floof is a borb? The Urban Dictionary defined floof as "an adjective used to describe a ridiculously fluffy object or an animal."

The entry said the word is derived from fluff and usually refers to a long-haired cat or an equally hairy dog.

An article posted at www.audubon.org titled "How Do Birds Cope With Cold in Winter," provided some clues.

The post explained that shivering is actually not a bad sign in birds "Birds shiver by activating opposing muscle groups, creating muscle contractions without all of the jiggling typical when humans shiver. This form of shaking is better at retaining the bird's heat," the article said.

The post went on to state that "some birds save energy by allowing their internal thermostat to drop."
" ... Black-capped chickadees and other species undergo a more moderate version of this, reducing their body temperature as much as 22 degrees Fahrenheit from their daytime level in a process called regulated hypothermia," the article explained.

Meanwhile, the Bartramian Audubon Society posted results from its Christmas Bird Count in December.
​
"The Pleasantville count found the lowest number of species since 2014, but the second highest tally of individuals.  Highest ever numbers were recorded for bald eagle, common raven (pictured), Carolina wren, cedar waxwing, white-throated sparrow, hermit thrush, and gray catbird," said a post on the society's Facebook page.  

Over on the Seneca Rocks Audubon Society's website, longtime birder Gary Edwards' list of spring arrival dates reminded me that despite the weather there were still birds on the move. I had seen an increase in robins over the past few weeks. I also heard the "peent" of an American woodcock and had some red-winged blackbirds at the feeder.

What kind of weather these returning birds will face changes every day. They may have to floof up and become borbish in order to deal with the cold. That's just the nature of things 'round here.

The show was so pleasing to the eye, that I was inspired to put my own spin on it with my lens ball. It was a little tricky trying to find good placement for the glass orb. Several times it almost rolled into a very cold creek where retrieval may have been next to impossible.

However on some days, the museum has trouble with its climate control system. Sometimes, the heat is broken and the air conditioning was turned up to freezing.

Additionally, the sprinkler system was out of control on certain days and the museum's lighting was hit or miss.

Maneuvering around the icy exhibitions also proved dicey. With the freeze and thaw cycle, traversing throughout the displays was challenging on certain days. 

After one thaw and refreeze, the snow was actually sturdy enough for the heaviest of our tour group to walk on top of it.

Other days when the museum's sprinkles wouldn't shut off, crossing the creeks became a problem. The tour group often had to find other ways around.

Nonetheless, the canine museum tour members preferred the exhibits created by other animals.

The dogs especially like the displays titled "Calling Cards of the Wild." I hated these exhibits and found them offensive and disgusting. Unfortunately, they were placed everywhere for the canines to find.

Meanwhile, the dogs on ice show would probably becoming to an end as the museum's heat was turned up.

I felt the ice was not safe enough for them to perform anymore.

At one point, Mother Nature had added some green to the mostly white displays.

However, the next day the artist decided to add some white to the green.

Whether or not the exhibits remain white or turn to green anytime soon is up to the museum's curator. 

When tragedy strikes, there are those who show up. They take the time out of their lives to help community members in need. Nothing brought this sacrifice closer to home last week, when the neighbor's house at 104 Sawtown Road, Oil City, caught fire.

At first, nothing seemed amiss at a little after 3 p.m., I just thought when I looked down the road that the freezing rain was making it hard to see. Then, I heard air breaks next door. I soon realized that the siding on the neighbor's house had melted and then spotted the flames.

 Also on the scene was Community Ambulance Service, which happened to be parked outside my home on the roadway. The fire was located on the corner of Sawtown and Old State Road where there really wasn't any parking and the deep snow also hampered things.

Fire vehicles and volunteer vehicles filled residents' driveways up and down the road. 

​I kept checking out the window, hoping that some of the home could be saved, but knowing in my heart that most of the time these old homes don't survive. I did snap some photos from my side of the fence. Better photos probably would have been taken from the front side of the house, but I did not wish to get in the firefighters' way.

​Some shots with a better vantage point were taken from my attic window.

I lamented the fact that a home that had stood through storms and all kinds of weather for more than a century was now succumbing to fire.

This was more than just a house, it was a homestead. According to county records, the home was purchased in 1970 by Ralph and Ester Myers. They and their family lived their while my grandparents occupied my current home. They had a large extended family and the home was used to house generations of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The current occupant Robert Myers, had worked diligently to maintain the old structure. There was a tin roof added in the past year. When I spoke to him a day after the fire, Myers said he had recently spent money to update the front door.

"This hurts," he said, as he and some of his kin tried to sift through what was left. What was left was just the tin from the roof and some still smoking timbers that filled the home's basement.

He told me he was home when the fire broke out and believed it may have been caused by a ventless heater in a bathroom.

The home was not insured and Myers lost everything in the fire.
​
A Go Fund me account has been set up by his daughter. Here's the link www.gofundme.com/f/5tjrb4-help-my-dad-get-a-place-to-live?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

On Facebook Thursday night, several family members mourned the lose of their childhood home. Community members commented on how they couldn't believe what was happening and that the property held many memories.

Thursday night as the fire raged on, there seemed to be a point when the firefighters just stepped back from battling the blaze. It appeared to be inevitable that the home would collapse as the fire gutted the structure.

The volunteers kept ready to spring into action in case the fall of debris got out of control. The fire burned for several hours.

​Needing to get up for work the next day, I went to bed at 8 p.m. with the lights from the fire and emergency vehicles dancing across the bedroom ceiling. Reports indicated that the scene was mopped up after 10 p.m.

The fire kindled one of the worst fears for my husband and I living in an older home. What lurks behind old walls could be the downfall of the structure.

I was greatly reminded how much of a debt we owe to volunteer firefighters. I was grateful for those who gave up their free time and sleep to protect the community.

The incident served as a reminder that these agencies need our support. As the labor market tightens and time is at an all time premium, one wonders what would happen if no one showed up.  Whether we can volunteer our time or money, we need to do it.

​I need to remember when that fundraising letter comes in the mail to not set it aside, but return it with a generous donation.

As looked at a photo I had captured of icy tree branches being illuminated by emergency vehicle lights, I was eternally grateful for those who showed up and those that will hopefully continue to show up.
That's just the nature of things 'round here.