Gonna start a new thread for pre-spring, the thaw season.

There's still a lot of snow, dirty ice, salt, and grime, but it's a sunny afternoon, and people are out with their faces up to the sun 

First cardinal spotting
Geese flying north, ahonk

Saw the first green shoots in the south-facing yard today #phenology

Genuinely sooner than I expected, I thought this was covered with snowpack yesterday, but maybe not?

The ice has receded enough to allow removal of some of the Yulefest lights
One of the cars that's been parked on our street and not moved since The Snow has now moved :o
I have removed the last of the ground-mounted Yulefest lights (though not their support posts, for now still frozen in the ground) just in time for the return of dark and snowy weather
As of today, for the first time in about two months, our front yard has no snow or ice
-6 in the morning, and realy does feel like the windchill -12
A very crimson cardinal in the tree
21 degrees at Pearson, and first 20 degrees of the year at UWaterloo weather station

Noticed first flowers in the south-facing yard, looks like they're actually a couple of days old

Previous years, going by my sunny garden posts:
- 2025: March 31 https://sunny.garden/@jarek/114258019713354395 maybe the flowers were out a little sooner
- 2024: March 8 https://sunny.garden/@jarek/112062729408395211, by March 13 there was a bee even?? https://sunny.garden/@jarek/112090931912393071