Was the groundhog wrong -- warm February and weather concerns

    

                                     Chickadees seem to hang around in the winter.





     Is this climate change or is this just "the usual" for February? Living in the southeast a number of years, there seems to always be a bit of a thaw the end of January or mid February. But now it's staying warmer for longer periods -- yet now too long, as my daffodils have yet to come up.
    I know we need the moisture, but all this rain has turned part of our unpaved parking lot into mud! Mud remains me of the name of that doctor who infamously tended to  John Wilkes Booth's leg during his escape from D. C. after shooting President Lincoln. That occurred in April, one of my favorite months of years in the weather department. Wilkes Booth ran north (well, not literally) for a while and then headed south, about 25 miles from D. C., perhaps in rainy weather himself. For a short time he and an associate stayed at the Garrett farm, where they had heard little of his serious act. But he was tracked down to the Garrett's tobacco barn, almost going out surrounded by a blaze of fire, after being shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett in a burning barn. Booth was dragged out the of barn and died a little later of a neck wound. Whether the day was warm or cold, it didn't turn out well for Booth.
     Here is hoping February warms a bit (without all the rain), leading us into March and the optimistic hope of green plants growing and spring!