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A friend of mine is a volunteer master gardener at the St. John's County Florida Arboretum. She puts in countless hours creating a beautiful place to smell the flowers. I made this video for Shirley and all the folk's involved at the St. John's County Arboretum. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/VIDEO/?action=view&current=ARBORETUMSPRING.flv [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/VIDEO/?action=view&current=ARBORETUMSPRING.flv][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/VIDEO/th_ARBORETUMSPRING.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Spring is a very special time, here on the Eastern Continental Divide. This was a particularly harsh winter. The first task on this first truly warm and sunny day was to patrol the grounds and see which plants had survived, and which had not. We were worried about the red maple planted just last summer. It and the wisteria made it through with flexible small branches, not small and brittle ones. Both plants were presents from dear friends, and one of those friends did not survive the winter. So it was good to see that her plant survive. Michelle is...

Spring break is coming up, which means it's time to invest in a sexy new swimsuit.If you’re Jessica Alba, you can get away with just about anything. But if you’re not, we’ve got some great advice to make this year the best spring break beach experience ever.Yes, going to the gym and toning up is important because swimsuits, by virtue of their form and function, tend to leave little to the imagination.More important, however, is learning which swimsuits work best for your body type. Cuts, shapes, fabrics, prints can have a major impact on how your beach-bod looks, so...

To ensure that we have influence over the outcome, we need more soldiers in Afghanistan, and fast. They need to be U.S. forces, British, Canadian, and Aussie; we cannot depend on NATO in general and they don’t know how to fight anyway. Unless President-elect Obama knows some kind of magic spell, he will not be able to persuade most NATO countries to do the right thing. Springtime 2009 will likely bring very heavy fighting in Afghanistan. We will not have credible negotiating positions while we remain outgunned by a bunch of old rifles and dinged-up RPGs. While security in Iraq...

The March-May spring season was the 36th coolest on record for the contiguous United States, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Separately, last month ended as the 34th coolest May for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895. The average spring temperature of 51.4 degrees F was 0.5 degree F below the 20th century average. The average May temperature of 60.3 degrees F was 0.7 degree F below the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data. U.S. Temperature Highlights * The March-May temperatures were cooler than average from the...

Confirming what many of us have already noted from the anecdotal evidence coming in of a much cooler than normal May, such as late spring snows as far south as Arizona, extended skiing in Colorado, and delays in snow cover melting, (here and here), the University of Alabama, Huntsville (UAH) published their satellite derived Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit data set of the Lower Troposphere for May 2008. It is significantly colder globally, colder even than the significant drop to -0.046°C seen in January 2008. The global ∆T from April to May 2008 was -.195°C

The global temperature anomaly (difference from 30-year average) for May, 2008 was -.18 degrees Celcius. This is the lowest anomaly in 8 years. The global average temperature for May 2008, was the coldest for the month of May since May, 1993. It was the 4th coldest in the 30 year history of satellite temperature measurement.

Some trails and campgrounds are still under several feet of snow, keeping them closed, in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Officials said of the 34 campgrounds normally open for Memorial Day, 24 will be open for the holiday weekend. Snow covers the other 10 and most of the trails. "We had unprecedented snowpack this year and above 2,000 feet elevation you will encounter continuous snowfields, or lower, if the area is shaded," said Rodney Mace, a forest recreation staff officer. Campground openings that have been postponed include Silver Springs until May 30, and the following until June 13: Denny Creek,...

ASSOCIATED PRESS - Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April. While it was a rare bit of good news for the housing market, analysts said it's far too soon to declare an end to the extensive slump. The Commerce Department reported yesterday that housing construction rose by 8.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units. Building of single-family homes continued to weaken, however. The growth came from a big jump in apartment construction. Analysts predicted the surprising rebound in April would be temporary given the headwinds...

Climate Monitoring / Climate At A Glance / UNITED STATES / Help UNITED STATES Climate Summary April 2008 The average temperature in April 2008 was 51.0 F. This was -1.0 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 29th coolest April in 114 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. 2.39 inches of precipitation fell in April. This was -0.04 inches less than the 1901-2000 average, the 54th driest such month on record. The precipitation trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.01 inches per...

April 2008 was the coldest April in 11 years. April also ranked the 29th coldest since record keeping began 114 years ago. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the U.S. average temperature for the month was only 51 degrees, which is 1 degree below the average from 1901-2000. Along with those colder than normal temperatures, April 2008 was dry - the 54th driest on record.

Wow! What an arctic blast! Can you remember a colder Good Friday and Easter? It wouldn’t be so bad if it had been cold all along, but to be in the high eighties and then wham! Frostbite! And then, to add insult to injury, it stayed miserably cold with repeated heavy frosts until at least the tenth of April! Condolences to all of you who had your warm season gardens planted. The weather will swing in the opposite direction like a demented weathervane soon enough and we will be miserable with the high temperatures. Sure doesn’t look like we’re going...

The low temperature at SeaTac Airport last night was 34 degrees. The record low for this date was 33 degrees, set in 1961. The forecast high today is 46 degrees. The lowest high temperature for this date at SeaTac was 47 degrees, set in 1975. The Puget Sound region, especially north of Seattle, had 2-6 inches of snow, with some eastern areas reporting 10 inches. Although NOAA reports the fourth lowest March snow cover in North America, snow cover in the Cascades has been well above average since November.

The Light Erik Lewandowski Morning Flyout Jim Fenton Happy Easter Jacqueline Olexa Spring Joeri De Schutter Red and White Tulips Dale Crawford Logan at Easter Chris OMeara Lily Olga Gerasimova Spring... Katerina Lomonosov day of rain Beate Miedl-Rissner Untitled Carlos Barriuso Amo Danii and bunny Lola Martin Wilmsen Garza real Carlos Barriuso Amo Songs of Spring Jim Fenton Natalya Carson Exposed Mia Friedrich Layla seeking (and catching) easter eggs Gerard Maas UKRANIAN EASTER EGGS george mclean The Orchard Une femme avec un bycicle Andrew Maidanik SnowflakesAndrew Campbell Easter Sunday in Quito Ricardo Salguero surrounded by spirits Stanislav Volgushev Symmetry...

Not much time or energy today, just made a fast run to the store for cat food, with part of the trip running through the county arboretum, LOL. It is looking good! On the way home I stopped at a little wild pond, the neighborhood Anhinga was sunbathing. I can't figure how they balance on little skinny branches with their big floppy feet, but somehow they do it. http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know.......many folks are still covered in snow others are facing other horrendous weather issues. They are all in our thoughts and prayers. HOWEVER - at 1:26 Eastern this afternoon Spring officially begins. Trying to find articles about the first day of spring was practically an impossibility. Oh sure, there were some out there but most of them were real downers, so I decided today might be a great share some of our favorite gardening websites. The categories of gardening and seed catalogs on my favorites list are both as long as my arm, but I grabbed...

WASHINGTON - The capital's famous cherry trees are primed to burst out in a perfect pink peak about the end of this month. Thirty years ago, the trees usually waited to bloom till around April 5. In central California, the first of the field skipper sachem, a drab little butterfly, was fluttering about on March 12. Just 25 years ago, that creature predictably emerged there anywhere from mid-April to mid-May. And sneezes are coming earlier in Philadelphia. On March 9, when allergist Dr. Donald Dvorin set up his monitor, maple pollen was already heavy in the air. Less than two...

When the Snowy Egrets get all dressed up, and the Red Breasted Mergansers pass through on the way North, it's Springtime! http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

My buddy from the county arboretum emailed to say that the little Saucer Magnolia was starting to bloom, tiny little tree, more flowers than tree. Stuff is popping out of the ground everywhere you look, even saw the first Ladybug of the season. When I got home I plopped down on the porch steps, looked up and a big Florida Cooter was crossing the driveway. It was still covered with sand, it's been buried and sleeping all winter. It's Spring, folks! http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

This is one that I've actually seen in person; it's just off Highway 4 north of Jemez Springs (near Los Alamos). There's a small hot spring, certainly from the remnant heat of the Valles Caldera just up the road, that created the "soda" (limestone) that makes the dam that is cut through by the Jemez River.