2/28/2012 2:31:55 PM
2/29/2012 5:26:20 AM
Tuesday February 28, 2012
I walked Drumheller Springs Park
The sky was a light-overcast.
The snow was gone, downtown but the snow cover was still nearly complete at the park. The snow heated the light.
It was cold and calm when I arrived at the park. I bundled up with scarf and heavy ‘hooded sweat jacket’. I shouldn’t have bothered. I worked up a sweat in a short time.
I went out to see what the snow and cold … nights with temperatures in the ‘teens’ … had done to the two buttercup buds.
I supposed the shallow basalt would have melted the snow in their location. It did not. I think I found my locator rock. I can’t be sure from the photographs.
I searched bare ground nearby for buttercup foliage … hoping for blossoms, of course. I found maybe two locations of buttercup foliage … maybe the same one twice.
The Dalmatian toadflax was the only other fresh foliage I noticed. I checked the web to remind me of the technical name. Lots of places used ‘Linaria dalmatica’. I remembered that there was a problem with that, last year and checked Burke, supposed to be the local authority. I found neither Linaria dalmatica nor Dalmatian toadflax listed. I check ‘butter and eggs’, just in case. It wasn’t listed either.
The bare ground nearby was probably bare in part because of the steep slope of shallow basalt but in part because less snow accumulated there on the lee side of the tall pine grove.
And perhaps the lack of buttercup foliage there is caused by the light cover of pine needles.
The south pond has accumulated a shallow frozen puddle. It would have been four to six feet deep with water at this time last year. It will have more water when this snow goes off.
My legs are a little stronger but my feet are still weak. By the end of the session I was having difficult standing still enough to take a photograph. Some of that is looking down at the camera … it has a fold out monitor. But most of it is weak feet. I hope walking on uneven ground this spring-summer cures that.
2/28/2012 7:38:05 PM
Well, damn.
I was sure I had found and photographed my locator rock but comparison with the photo from February 22 seems to say not so. But there were footprints right beside it. Perhaps it was kicked over … a different upper-side revealed.
Only two rocks were exposed in the right area. One I photographed but thought unlikely.
2/29/2012 6:14:45 AM
I threw away most of the willow photos today. But I kept 8 ice photos. Who’s the boss around here anyway? I enjoyed them.
I kept 25 of the 72 images I took.
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| Lomatium gormanii rock. The 2 early blossoms were near the foot prints. |
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| The Ranunculus glaberrimus buds were in about the center of this photo |
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| These are the buds and the locator rock from last week |
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| There were two rocks in about the right place but they don't look right |
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| Side view of probably locator rock with footprints |
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| The other rock |
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| I found the R glaberrimus foliage and the Linaria dalmatica foliage at the base of this rock |
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| This is the first sign of water in either 'pond'. This was a small lake last year. |
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| The other willow of south willow pond. With osier dogwood thicket. |
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| Burdock husk. The south pond bottom is a forest of burdock after it dries. |
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| Rumex crispus seeds. There are said to be three Rumex in the park. I've only identified two. Thanks Ken for the three plant identifications. |
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| North Willow Pond with Junction Pine |
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| Junction Pine. This is the main trail through the park. The path from the fireplug comes in from the left. |
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| The puddle with the 'hail drops' last week |
