2.18.20 C.V.
It was announced a couple of days ago that SD County is the only place in the state with a surplus of rainwater for the season. As a result, even though rain has been sparse since Christmas, things are greening up and blossoms are coming out. The weather has been very sunny and warm. We do have a chance at some rain on Saturday, four days from now. Camera trap has been capturing mostly night-time visitors bunny and rat. It's been a little too cool for the big gopher snake to make his appearance, and I have yet to see the smaller one SM says is underneath the deck. Gophers also are making their mark outside. In-house visitors have included ants lately, and earwigs have gotten in on occasion. Silverfish seem to have disappeared since the house was treated for termites. The milkweed are doing fairly well, but no visitors in the last few weeks, either monarch butterfly nor their caterpillars. I wasn't able to fully participate in Cornell's Backyard Bird Count due to lingering illness -- though tallied what I did see. After about 3 weeks off, I filled the birdfeeder, but the birds have yet to discover it (It's possible they are finding natural food sources at this point). Bees have been drawn to the birdbath lately, I suspect because it has been so dry out, and I do keep it filled regularly. On ground that is hard to grow anything, there continues sprouts of native baccharis, which I protect from the dog with downed branches, on the back slope, and laurel sumac in the front.