Still mostly gloomy, but now quite a bit warmer.  Since the beginning of February the temperature has climbed above freezing every day.  Sometimes as high as +6C.  It still freezes at night, but mildly.  Down to -10C as a rule.  The same thing happened last year – cold at the beginning of winter, but a very early thaw.  It has been known to get to 40 below at the beginning of March so you never know….

The humid air mass predominates still although there have been a few more gleams of sun than in January.  Occasionally it rains, and sometimes it snows.Badger asking to come inside.I managed to catch a glimpse of the last of the moon near the beginning of the month.But cloud predominates, allowing little bits of light to poke through now and then.

The continuous mild humidity means I must sometimes scrape my windshield…An interesting cloudscape.My road hasn’t been ploughed for a long time.  It hasn’t snowed very much at once, and I just keep driving on it.  I have taken my van to where it has been ploughed as it hasn’t much clearance; going to the Nimpo store or yoga at Tatla I drive the truck to the van then change vehicles.  The truck has just warmed up by the time I get to the van and I must start with a cold vehicle again!We had one lurid sunset.And once, only once so far this month, I saw the sunset point. Once the sun gets over Middle Mountain I should receive 20 minutes more sunshine – if the sun shines.  It is now considerably past this point.  When the days first grow longer, it happens only in the evening.  Now the mornings are getting lighter earlier and the sunrise and sunset points are racing towards the equinox. I haven’t seen the sunrise point for a long time, but on this occasion we had some colour.I feed the birds as soon as it gets light – the pine grossbeaks swoop right in.Bird demographics have changed a little.  The chickadees are much the same – about 5 mountains chickadees… And three blackcap chickadees – who, by the way, are just starting to air their spring song.The lone redpoll I had earlier disappeared, but the other day there was a small mob of them, probably a dozen.Coming in for a landing with a grossbeak.Birds aren’t the only things to come to the feeder, though.The dogs and I chase him away most of the time.  The interesting thing is he brings his own food to the table.  Note the cone.  Sometimes there are half a dozen – and then he takes them away again.

During this time, Harry has reworked his “ruff” draft (thank you the readers who sent me that idea!)  (This photo was taken by a wwoofer.

Once that was out of the way, I could turn to other jobs.  With the longer days, the sprouts on my windowsills are finally beginning to grow properly.  So I figured that, with the mild weather, I would build a few shelves in the greenhouse and park things out there during the day.I bring the plants inside at night at the moment, but I have just finished a cold frame.  I need a bit more soil before I can plant it – but I hope I can put the plants inside it at night, and cover it with a blanket, and get a few things started that way.Now I have another fun job to do – Income Tax!