As they predicted, the temps flew back up and that snow it melting quickly

Though the poor swan is still mostly buried. She got extra snow as that’s where the snowblower dumps it when Dave does the driveway.

But remember how I said roses are tough…

My beautiful Koko Loko emerged from under the snow, fully intact! Most of the roses came through great – with just a handful of stems snapped from the weight of the snow. But snow it pretty insulating, so the cold didn’t seem to bother them much at all.

There’s still several with buds that may or may not get a chance to bloom depending on which way the temps go. I don’t make predictions about the garden much any more – our weather is too wacky.

As I mentioned yesterday, all that snow brings round the bird. They don’t just come for the feeders either…

I leave the seed heads of several garden plants (Globe Thistle on the left, Coneflower on the right) as the birds love them too (especially the finches)

But this has lead to a couple unfortunate casualties this past week. Normally, I cut down all the seeds heads in the catio so the birds aren’t tempted to land in there and linger. But this year I missed some.

On Monday morning, I was awoken by the sound of wings fluttering as Lemmy brought a house sparrow in – alive and apparently unhurt. It got away from him and I was able to shoo it safely out a window. But Thursday afternoon, my attention was drawn by two orange cats streaking by at a furious pace… Furby was following Lemmy, who raced passed me with a bird in his mouth. I finally cornered him in the bedrooom where he’d deposited it under my bed. It was a Junco, and I guess Lemmy had learned from the first round, because this one was dead.

The seed heads have now been cleared from the danger zone but don’t worry – the birds still have many other spots in the garden to feast