Spring before schedule

This year's month of March was particularly warm. As a consequence the snow melted too early, in the eyes of anybody eager to go sking. Yesterday we took a trip to the cabin, and here is what we found.

This picture shows the stump of a birch tree that I felled in the beginning of March. That was probably before the sap started to rise but the temperature was already higher than normal. Later, as the temperature increased the root system started to prepare for a new season by pumping sap into the trunk - but the trunk wasn't there any more. So the sap drained to the ground. However, then the temperature fell again, the sap froze, and the picture shows the resulting frozen sap. I can't remember seeing this before, but I take it as an indication that the tree that I felled was relative dry and probably will be usable as firewood the coming season.

This next picute shows the flower blåveis as it is called in Norwegian. There is even a leaf of wild strawberries there. The "blåveis" and its sister the "hvitveis" normally appear in early May. But with the warm March they have been tricked to appear much earlier, maybe so early that the ants and other insects needed for pollination and distribution of seeds have not appeared yet. The "blåveis" is actually rare in Norway, and having it in large numbers on our property is very nice.