Spring?

A month couldn’t slip by up north without some more broken weather records.

 Winter returned with a vengeance on May 8-9, earning us flyover folks notice in The Washington Post and setting records for:

 most monthly snowfall in May

 single snowiest day in May (the 8th)

 heaviest snowfall on May 8

 and heaviest snowfall on May 9.

While Duluth enjoyed close to 11" of white stuff, we got a little over 8,"which was enough to cover the ground for a day or two.

 And winter wasn’t quite finished with us yet.  We got another couple of inches on May 19, marking the latest May snowfall on record of more than an inch.

 All those April & May snowstorms brought the proverbial May flowers.

 Rhubarb plants sprang back to life

 the Nanking cherry exploded

the back woods started to leaf out

 

 

and blossom

 

 marsh marigolds lined the seasonal streams

 the back pond became accessible again

 and the neighboring hay fields greened up. 

 Weather records weren’t the only things to fall at MeadowWild this month.  Since we moved in, our view of the pond had been obstructed by trees and bushes.

 That finally changed when the lumberjack wizards of Valhalla Tree Care arrived early in May

 

 

 to take down two large trees and clear lots of undergrowth

 much of which was turned into chips for use elsewhere. 

 As requested, they did leave some big segments which we moved to the goat pasture for the girls to play on -- and eat

 since they seem to be part termite and love to snarf bark and chew on wood.

 We’re enjoying the new view and have watched assorted geese, ducks, swans and loons playing on the pond.

Firsts for the spring season include bike trips on the Munger Trail

 with renewed access to Barnum via the rebuilt bridge 

 over the mighty Moose Horn River.

 Lightning Bolt made her first pass at the grass, now that the snow has finally receded.

 With insects delayed by the wintry weather, birds are flocking to the oranges we put out

 primarily catbirds

 orioles

 and grossbeaks.

We seem to be single-handedly supporting the Florida citrus industry.

 The new owners of TJ’s kept up the tradition of Wurst Days in May.

 The celebration included a market

 music

 and, of course, bratwurst in the Wurst Dome.

 Planet Nine moved to her new home at the McCann Farm, where she engaged tête-à-tête with her new herd-mates

 and then settled down to eat.

(photos courtesy of Brian)

 That leaves the smallest herd MeadowWild has featured for a long time: Cheeky

 Kuiper

 Bhindi

 and the juvenile delinquents.

 Next door in the garage, Franklin's ground squirrels have joined the shrews, Yellow Intruder Cat, and skunk as regulars at Momma Kitty's buffet table.

 The LiveScience website insists that "Skunks are nocturnal and forage for food while most animals and humans sleep" -- but the trail cam has recorded visitations regularly around 9:00 am, 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm  

 making us wonder if they're on a Dr. Pepper-ish schedule.

A group of skunks is called a surfeit.  Although only one skunk shows up lately on the trail cam, Momma Kitty considers that way more than a surfeit.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Farmers enjoyed a trip to the Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near McGregor MN 

 

 

 where some fox kits were snoozing and playing outside their burrow.

 Back home, when he’s not tanning in his favorite sunny window, 

 Dustin waits breathlessly by the phone for a return call from the Uzbekistan State Lottery.  Turns out that he won a fortune and he now simply needs to provide our bank account number and password so that the prize can be deposited in his name.

He could certainly use the money, after that Nigerian prince never DID get around to transferring all those funds for safekeeping.