Buffalo - Spring

:date: 2019-07-05 15:36 :tags:

I've now been in Buffalo for 11 months. The time has really flown by. After decades of no seasons in San Diego, having a proper one show up ever few months is quite a change, a pleasant change! Spring is quite a spectacular time of year. Living things suddenly burst into existence everywhere. Everything turns green. It's quite a transformation.

Here are some photos that show some of what spring in western New York is like.

Here's a snowman melting. This was April 3 and was the last snow that could have been made into a snowman. A couple weeks into April and it was safe to take my snow tires off my bicycle and car.

Here I am standing on the bridge to Tonawanda Island in the Niagara River. This is around the beginning of April. You can see big steel cylinders floating on the right. That is an ice boom and it is to protect the marina there from ice. There is a very large ice boom at the beginning of the Niagara River to keep Lake Erie ice out. It was up later than usual this year. I keep an eye on this because I don't go boating on the river if it's packed with ice (I go boating elsewhere).

Here's my office. That beautiful tree reminded me of the ornamental tree in the apartment I lived in in San Diego. The reason is that it stinks! You'd expect such lovely flowers to not smell like uncleaned hamster cage, but nature is funny that way. Once the flowers dropped, it smelled fine again. To see the transformation, here's what the office looked like in the winter.

The flowering trees were pretty spectacular all over. This is in my front yard.

After seeing Canadian geese everywhere all year long it was very fun to see how they get their start. The little goslings are everywhere and they are absurdly cute. Here they are getting swimming lessons.

Geese aren't the only things repopulating. This is in my backyard. Here's what this scene looked like in the winter.

Here's the bike path behind my house. This photo is specifically composed to show the drainage problems but mostly the trail is in good shape and it's extremely nice walking on the trails through the woods. Compare with the winter version.

Here's another visitor to the backyard. We also put up a birdhouse that quickly became occupied.

Not just cute goslings but adorable ducklings too.

I don't know if this is a frog or a toad, but he lives in our back yard.

A family of Canadians. Notice how they have to carry their immigration documents on their right legs at all times. It's the law.

Sometimes the geese set up a day care where a couple of adults watch a pretty huge group of little fuzz balls while the other parents take a break.

Yes, my wife and I like watching these things, hence many photos.

There are snapping turtles in the ponds. I see them in the Erie Canal sometimes too.

Here are a couple of ducks in the forest behind my house. The leaves are just coming in here.

And if for some strange reason I want to see palm trees and spiky plants that will seriously wound you, I can always come to the botanical gardens. There they cultivate the weird plants that can survive in deserts. To us, those exotic plants looked like normal desert stuff that's all over San Diego County. I'd rather have those dangerous plants in a plant zoo with safe ones in the wild than the other way around.

After catching the end of summer last year and experiencing autumn, winter, and spring, we're now back to summer. It's too hot, but at least there's usually a breeze and plenty of interesting things to do. And most importantly, in a couple of months, we'll be getting our cool weather clothes back out.