It's Spring! (And I can prove it)

Woke up today, got the Daughter sent off early, got a cuppa, shuffled into the living room to find this  https://pix.sfly.com/3PQM3s    had happened overnight. 

[I hadn't noticed it even had buds on it. P.S. Is it World War III outside yet?]

Woke up today, got the Daughter sent off early, got a cuppa, shuffled into the living room to find this  https://pix.sfly.com/3PQM3s    had happened overnight. 

[I hadn't noticed it even had buds on it. P.S. Is it World War III outside yet?]

Oh, that's lovely! My grandmother used to grow geraniums, more happy childhood memories! 

Yeah, my granny did, too. She used to plant them on my grandfather's grave every year. (The cemetery, I suppose, cut them down.) And she had one very old one of this color in her sunporch for all of my life. She was very fond of it.

I have had one in every place I've lived since leaving home, and they always turn out to be that color. The Daughter and I went specifically shopping for a white one, because I thought I'd really like to have one. Huge display of white geraniums. I picked one out of the middle of the display that still had its buds tightly furled. Got it home, gave it lots of TLC, and it turned out the same color as the one in the photo. Have ordered other colors from nurseries, but there's always a mix-up (no joke) and what I get is this color.

SO, I always have one like this in every place I have lived. Was pleased to find this one out at, I think, Sainsburys late last year. No flowers on it at that point, but it was inevitable what it was going to be, so I bought it. 

AAAAnnnnd,

This guy flew in my living room window this afternoon. Not sure what kinda bee s/he is, but was very nice and climbed on my hand so I could get it back outside the window. (Was having a bit of an issue with the glass being in the way.) Flew happily off. Then blatted headfirst into another window pane. Was bouncing itself down the building towards the south, the last time I saw it, a window at a time. 

AAAAnnnnd,

This guy flew in my living room window this afternoon. Not sure what kinda bee s/he is, but was very nice and climbed on my hand so I could get it back outside the window. (Was having a bit of an issue with the glass being in the way.) Flew happily off. Then blatted headfirst into another window pane. Was bouncing itself down the building towards the south, the last time I saw it, a window at a time. 

I had a similar one in my lounge two days ago.  It was raining pretty hard then, so I put it in the barn with a bit of sugar water so it could regain its strength and fly off when it was ready.

Is it a bumblebee? It's very different than the bees in San Diego, and I've looked online and ~think~ it might be a bumblebee.  We get them every year. Even up here at our height, the bounce into the windows.  I should have thought and moved one of the pepper plants, which is blooming now, over to where he could get to it.

They must be really sturdy, with all the smashing into windows and all!

Is it a bumblebee? It's very different than the bees in San Diego, and I've looked online and ~think~ it might be a bumblebee.  We get them every year. Even up here at our height, the bounce into the windows.  I should have thought and moved one of the pepper plants, which is blooming now, over to where he could get to it.

They must be really sturdy, with all the smashing into windows and all!

It IS a bumblebee, but I'm not sure which specific breed your is.  Mi e was a buff-tailed, and I think it was a queen looking for a new place to nest.  They come out of hybernation in spring... sometimes a little too soon and they get caught out.  Or sometimes they find their way into a place they can't get out of and go hungry.  I learned a lot about bumblebees on Tuesday.   

Awww, the poor little things!

Awww, the poor little things!

Yeah.  But mine is apparently fine, as the dish with the sugar-water blob in it no longer has a bumblebee.  And yours is fine, too, as you saw it fly away happily.

Yeah, and blat repeatedly into windows down the side of the building!  They must be tough little dudes/dudettes! 

The wildlife is waking up in my house too! 

We had a bit of a nasty butterfly vs cat incident earlier in the day and I have just liberated a bee which I found upside down in the bathroom.  I would have given it sugar but it was feisty and didn't hang around! 

 I wrote to a guy at Scottish Natural Heritage   and he says it was a red-tailed bumblebee. So now I know.   

The wildlife is waking up in my house too! 

We had a bit of a nasty butterfly vs cat incident earlier in the day and I have just liberated a bee which I found upside down in the bathroom.  I would have given it sugar but it was feisty and didn't hang around! 

Occupational hazard of living with cats, yes.