Jumping the Gun

I've appreciated the warmer weather we've had the past few days in western Pennsylvania.

But all the same, there's something deceptive and meretricious about it; something disruptive and out-of-time.

Something like how it's whispering to my tulips, daffodils, and Spanish bluebells that it's time to wake up.

See that, in the middle of the photo, just this side of the drift of leaves? That's a tulip poking through.

And these greenish-whitish fingertips are the bluebells jumping the gun.

These shots are from this past Sunday. Today it's even worse: The spikes were higher, greener, and more numerous.

It's not time to get up, you silly bulbs! Winter's got five or six weeks more to run! Go back to sleep before your noses get frozes!

I mention the dilemma to my neighbor, out walking his dog. He says, "Stomp on their heads!"

I don't resort to such violent tactics. I've tucked them up in fresh blankets of fallen leaves, in the hope that the colder temperatures forecast in the next couple of days will convince them that the long night of winter is not yet over, and they've sleeping yet to do.