Mornin'. Got back late yesterday from PA visit to DS & family. Left here Friday with chilly weather, heated up to 84 by the time I got to PA (State College, PA, mid-state area). Same weather Saturday, then plunged to 50's Sunday and 40 Monday, and woke to snow flurries yesterday. What the heck? We canoed Sat. morning a few hours and got to see lots of neat wildlife, and went out to a nifty Austrian restaurant one night run by friends of my DIL.

DGD's final choir concert on Monday was terrific, and after the end, the HS seniors (all girls) sang Shenandoah to the choir leader, as a surprise farewell. It was absolutely beautiful, and GD cried through the whole thing while trying to sing. I needed tissues as well.

Keep on keepin on men.

Too funny Sam but sometimes true about the unexpected rich food. Nice choir surprise Mike.
Yeah Dave I agree that I haven't seen much in the way of pollinators myself. A couple of bumble bee queens two weeks ago and maybe 5 mason bees. At least my pole sugar snap peas haven't started blooming yet although they are more than 3 feet tall. Lots of flower bud wannabes but no white flowers yet. I would be shocked if I don't see some when/if it hits 70° here.

((((puts on my old master gardener hat))))) If you want to keep yellow jackets away from you are we are told by the State Extension service to place the traps a long way away from where we wish to be. It is said that they attract far more critters than they trap and you don't want them attracted to where you are. Some folks just put a sacrificial piece of hamburger on a fence far away to keep them out of harm's way. It also turns out that yellow jackets get rid of a lot of insects that can harm our gardens or flowers too. If I were to use traps I at least would put them on the back fence near my neighbor as I don't want to attract them to me.

I made the mistake of getting rid of a giant paper baldfaced hornet nest one time using stuff from the store. The spray did kill some hornets but also killed some leaves and small branches on the tree too. I found out later that as long as they were something like 15 feet up and away they wouldn't bother me.
Apparently folks pay big money for the paper nests when they leave and they do leave. They build the nest buzz around killing other yellow jackets and problem insects. Gosh I didn't know if I let them alone they would go away and not return and I could get money for the giant paper nest.