Wild and Woolly

We hit a high of 53*F yesterday! And the weather was wild. It was the kind of day where if you didn't like the weather, you just waited about five minutes and it changed. Rain, sun, rain, wind, sun, rain, sun, showers, sun, pouring, sun...and then snow during the wee hours.

While on our walk yesterday evening, Toby and I came across our first major insect of the year:

a woolly bear!

It was sitting, chilled, on the stone platform of the mountain ID display at the scenic overlook in town. As I held it in my hand, it warmed up enough to move around and explore. I figured the warmth of the day had brought it out, thinking maybe it was spring, but I also knew that the temp was dropping below freezing in a few hours and this critter might end its life there on the slab of rock. So, I took it home and left it in my hat in the car overnight. Brought it to work this morning, snapped a couple photos, and turned it loose in a sunny spot on the back deck. I figured there it would have an option of finding some place to rest until spring finally got going...or it would become food for some lucky bird at the feeders.