The Puffer Forum

More damned snow!!!

April 24th and I am certain that many of my budding plants and trees are going to the compost now....

We had a large snowfall during easter. And I really mean large! It was a wonderful spring with high temperature (at least for Norway in March) before I went on vacation. My father warned me that they had snowy weather. But I am so stupid when I pack my trunks while the weather is good. I just can't get myself to pack winter clothes. And I didn't this time either. But I did bring my skis, even though my father said I wouldn't need them. Well, I am happy I did! We got 30-40 cm of snow in two days. I only had summer shoes, except for my ski boots, so I didn't enjoy walking outside. But I did enjoy the skiing. And Kaisa, my dog, was exstatic! She just loves snow and chasing snowballs.

But I have to share one little guy who wasn't happy about the cold weather. At the end of my vacation, the snow was melting away rapidly again. And it seemed to fool some animals. On my way back from my parent's cabin, I found this little guy between the patches of snow:


We only have five species of reptiles in Norway, and this species is the one reptile species that lives the furtherst north in the world. This little guy had tried to go for a walk in a temperature one degree above freezing point. That's not a very wise thing to do for a little reptile, who is dependant on some temperature to keep going.

This little lizard is a common species in Norway, but you rarely see them, as they are very shy. I've seen one only a few times, 3-5 times, I don't remember. I thought this little one was dead, so I picked it up to have a closer look at it. Then I realized that it was still alive! It was barely moving his tail, and sooo slowly! Slowly he turned on his back, pretending to be dead, and showed his beautiful belly. I didn't know they even had that color.


I also had a closer look at his face. Look at those cute, tiny tounge ends hanging out of his mouth!


I couldn't bring him home, so I carefully placed him under some dark bark that had fallen down from a tree, in the hope that it would give shelter, and that the dark color would absorb some sunlight, and give him a little heat. I don't think he would make it, and I am very sorry for that. I loved that little guy. I wish I could have done more for him. I've been thinking about him ever since, feeling sorry for him, and feeling a little bit stupid for letting this affect me so. That's the bad part of loving animals.

nothing wrong with that. Our concern was is all the budding plants that are now getting crushed by the weight of the snow and the the roots getting killed by the frost.

Something similar happened to me last year when we had an early thaw, and the bats came out. One hitched a ride on my window screen (there is a pic of it here on the forum somewhere) and later froze to death when it snowed again. Apparently MNR (Ministry of natural resources) collected over 10,000 bats in our area because of the last frost of the season.

The weather is becoming so unpredictable, but given the last 2 years I should have wrapped my plants in anticipation. Lesson learned.

Technically we are not quite to our latest frost date, but realistically most plants are our of the bud stage. The recent good rains have been a gift. The hardy bananas have just about doubled in size, but less than a handfull are leafed out. (no pics posted yet).

Yesterday we had snow showers while I was here in the early A.M. They were very strange - puffballs of snow, larger than a golf ball but still very light. The ground temps were up enough that the melted at contact, so they were as light as they looked. It did not look real. It looked like bad special effects by someone who had never seen snow...

4+ cm is the most we have had in memory this late. Yes, usually it melts on contact. This time it is different. If I could kick the weatherman in the cookies I would.

Had I known, I would have wrapped the garden and trees for a couple days at least.

I actually made a bat very happy by wakening him up during easter opne year. This was also at ny parent's cabin. By accident i scared out of it's sleep. But is was a hot (for that time of The year), so there were lots of insects in The air, and The bat realized that it was good time for catcing food. For half an hour he sirculated in The air above The area catching insects. He had a good time. The temperature was ok, there were plenty of insects, and no other bats to compete with. He really looked like he had The time of his life.

I love the bats here. I wish I could do more for them but this unseasonal weather... it just makes things worse.