February 23: Storms, hackberry buds

Spring storms a-comin'. Last night I kept turning up the space heater, and today the air conditioning, which isn't set very low, came on while I was at work. Pressure dropped, temperature climbed, air got deadly muggy. We'll see what happens. When people make small talk about the weather around here, it's mostly, "I wish it would make up its mind!" I know that happens everywhere, but for us the seasonal dissociative identity disorder is whiplash-inducing from about November through May.



The trees in the shrubby hedge area where I park are hackberries, I think. I have to remember from last summer, because the bark is hard to see and the leaves and little berries are the best identifiers. Right now the twigs are covered with tiny red buds. They make the branches high above look lacy, and when the buds really burst their waxy little coverings, the coverings fall and litter the roof and windows of my car. If we could collect enough of them, I bet they'd make a decent mulch.