We got back from a short trip to Arizona this week. We were wondering if spring would have come while we were gone.

It was pretty warm, so I think most of the snow had melted, but the day before we came back there was another snowstorm and now there are about 6 inches of new snow on the ground.

This morning it was 10 degrees and there were frost crystals everywhere.

Pat’s Prairie with frost

Bush Clover

Frost crystals on grass stalks

Frost crystals on grass leaf

More frost crystals

I love the shadows the plants make on the snow.

This is the time to clean out Bluebird nest boxes – Bluebirds are starting to arrive and they’ll be looking for places to make nests. I have so many nest boxes that I have a hard time remembering where they all are. (We have 24 boxes and I have 3 more that I’ll put up once the ground thaws. I hope that will mean lots of baby bluebirds this summer.) To clean them I need to visit each one twice – I finally made a map so I could plan my walks and not miss any. This one is cleaned and ready to go.

I had finished putting it back together when I heard a bluebird call. Three bluebirds flew over me and landed on some of the tall plants just beyond the box. It looks like I got the boxes cleaned out just in time.

We had a good time in Arizona. We spent much of our time packing up my father-in-law’s house so that he could sell it, but we did go for walks in two beautiful natural areas. I’ll have a link to the stories about them in the travel section (check the categories at the side of the page)  when I get them written. It takes a while because I took so many pictures – it was so exciting to be taking photos of things that have colors!