Mother Nature Day Flowers

View from the top

Huckleberry Blooming

Wild Strawberry blooms

Apple bloom up close

Apple Tree in yard

For Mother's Day I took a short walk to the top of our hill and looked at all of Mother Nature's flowers. Most of the berry plants are blooming and Apple trees. There were several violet colored small flowers so shy they blurred their pictures so you did not get to see them. All the trees are getting at least some green on them and starting to leaf out. It is always amazing what even a day makes in the color of things. After a long brown/grey and white winter it wakens up the happiness inside all of us to see some color.

We've had a lot of rain in the last few days bringing the creek up from 1.75 feet to over 3.5 feet in a short amount of time. This would be a great day for the adventurous mother rafting trip down Pine Creek. It would be fast and possibly a little cold as the temperatures are in the mid-forties this morning with a lot of wind.

We also went from one hummingbird to about twenty overnight and Lee has increased the amount in the feeders. She is trying to decide if she wants to risk putting them out front this year and deal with the bear again. We don't know if he learned his lesson from the electric fence last year or not. She didn't care much for mowing around the electric  fence, so the decision is still up in the air.

I still have some of my backyard fence to repair from the bear climbing it last year. Since it is only a ten foot section I am thinking of making it solid wood so I don't have to buy a 50' roll of fence to repair 10 foot of fence.

The forecast for next week is very cold we are looking at some freezing temperatures at night, which could affect the apple crop like it did last year. So we are keeping our fingers crossed it won't be too bad before we will get back into the warm temperatures by the next weekend. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Spring Things

The beautiful purple and white flowers are out along the roadways. This picture was taken near the rails to trails. It is a beautiful Spring day that will feel more like the middle of summer by the time it is over. Just as soon as the fog burnt off the sun started warming things up. I am sure it will make the 80's today easily. Too hot too soon.
The hummingbirds are draining Lee's feeders at a good rate now. Our earlier concern about why they were so late has been replaced by hearing their beating wings. Lee has 16 feeders up and they take full advantage of the free food. She only fills them about half full right now until they start
eating more. Having a lot of feeders keeps the
fighting to a minimum.
The trees are still recovering from the late freeze and are now being attacked fairly heavily by forest tent caterpillars. The worst seems to be on the side of Cedar Mountain closer to Galeton. As you drive down the roads you see green bits of leaves shredded by the hungry bugs. I am waiting to see how far they come this way. The trees near Galeton are nearly bare in large areas.
The last two pictures make my back hurt to see them. This is the area of Leetonia road just to the North of Mine Hole. The place I drove my car over the edge two years ago. As you can see it is deteriorating even more. Once the grass grows
high on either side of the break off area it is difficult to see. I noticed several tire marks right on the edge. Be very careful passing this as there is water running down the other side of the road people tend to move away from the water and closer to the break off. As you can see from the last picture it is a long way down and as I can attest not a fun ride. Although, I have complained about this section of road it is slow to be fixed or even marked.
One look away at the wrong time is all it took for me to end up with a broken back and barely my life. I sure don't want to see anyone else down there. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.

Spring Flowers

The flowers are blooming around the mountain. This picture shows a large Azeala bush down near a camp at Cedar Run. The daffodils are in full bloom and the trees are starting to open up.

The only trees blooming are the Fire Cherry on the sides of the mountain. They look like little white puffs when you look from the top of the mountain over the entire valley.

Today, I woke to a beautiful blue, sunny day. But thunderstorms are promised to us by this afternoon, so I will need to get all my outdoor things done this morning. Have a beautiful Leetonia day. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

From PA to CA

When I left for California, I took a picture of the road at the top of Cedar Mountain so I could show everyone out there what the weather was like here. I don't think I need to tell you which of these pictures was taken at the top of Cedar MT.

While in California I took as many flower pictures as I could and realized why we get so tired of winter here by March. The color of life is missing from us for too many months.

The flower pictures were taken near San Diego and it seems the fire last fall combined with a good rainy season for them contributed to a blanket of color. The Anza-Borrego Dessert yelded the last two pictures showing catus in bloom with the mountain behind it. A mountain girl must take a mountain picture.
I will say I had one surprise on the way back to San Diego with my son as we pass over the mountain it snowed.

I guess it was mother nature's way of making me feel at home in
the warm California weather, but I didn't compare to what I left behind and by the time we crossed the mountain it was back to warm.
Soon we will have flowers and seeing the first ones is always special as the forests makes the turn around the gray, cold, weather to become green and colorful again. Last year it was April 20th when I recorded the first flower, called colt's foot. That is about a month away. I wonder if the people living in the warm flowers appreciate them as much as we do after the grays of winter? Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Back to the woods

June is a month were everything is green and color comes alive in the woods. Traveling down the road yesterday, I noticed the change from the leafless trees of winter to the green canopy of summer. It feels as though you are traveling in another world. The temperature drops 10 degrees from the heat of town and the trees block the sun and the outside world from your eyes and thoughts. The ferns blanket the sides of the mountain and the blackberries are promising to be abundant with their display of flowers.
This weekend is the Laurel Festival and some of the mountain laurel started blooming on Cedar Mountain about two days ago. It seems from year to year to be a surprise as to whether or not it will be a glorious or minimal display. The abundant flowers are like white and pink snow across the tops of the mountain; it is very beautiful.
I took a few pictures for you to enjoy of the colorful yellow finches outside our kitchen window and some blue flowers along side the road which are abundant in sunny areas. They seemed to be
mixed with white flowers and look better than any planned display covering large areas with their blooms. I attempted to look them up in my flower book, but don't seem to be finding a match. If any of you know the name of this flower let me know.

For now I am fully joyful driving through the woodlands of Leetonia. Mountain Girl, Paula, Logging out.

Spring is Back

This is a flower called Colt's foot called because the leaves resemble colts feet. Typically around 6 to 8 inches high. It is one of the first flowers seen in Leetonia commonly along the edges of the road.

The plant has a reputation as a cure for coughs. An extract of fresh leaves can be used for making cough drops or hard candy or its dried leaves steeped in tea.

The weather was beautiful today reaching near 60 degrees and it looks like we will stay dry and sunny for the next few days. What a welcome relief to the doldrums of rain, snow, and clouds we have been tolerating for the last couple weeks.