Updating this weather thread.
It HAS NOT been very wet. As a matter of fact, we're facing drought again. It has been humid at my place, but the wet stays in the air. Settles on surfaces, but doesn't go into the sky, make clouds and fall back down. We've had A LOT of frost this year. The peeper frogs have been awake several times. I holler at them to go back to sleep, because I know that the 2 warm days that woke them will be followed by a week of 25-30 degree nights. After the couple of previously mentioned ant swarms, I've seen no more. No ant hills, and not any explorers unless I count 1 I found in the bathroom today. When we got home this afternoon, I did find the front of the truck COVERED in flies. They looked like those nasty, hard-biting deer flies....*shudder*.
Spanky didn't start shedding at all until last week. I kept checking, even pulling by finger stripping didn't remove more than a couple of hairs at a time. Now he's dropping hair by the handfuls. He did eventually get feathers, but not until late December and into early January. Early to mid January is when he normally begins to shed! He does seem to be making up for lost ground though.
The wild plants have been making half-hearted efforts to sprout. They'll grow a bit, then frostbite nips them back. About a third of the daffodils that are growing bloomed before the snow. They're still growing, but don't seem to be making any more flower heads. The pines have sent out their piney flowers and pollen. The wild plums have blossomed. And just today, some of the mature trees are beginning to send out their spring shoots. My pecan and Uncle Tree black walnut haven't started to send out shoots. I'll watch, and note, how the weather and their sprouting coordinate.