Who knows when it's spring in the desert Southwest?

We're riding down the valley the other day and the Weeping Willows along the road were putting on their spring show of green. These guys always want to be the first ones out. A light shade of almost fluorescent green one day and then, pop! a full outfit of green leaves the next. However, when it comes to predicting Spring, it's not always the smartest flora in the field. Like we've had a very warm March so far, often in the 80s, but Mother Nature is, at heart, a trickster and I've seen a 30-inch snow in April so some of those earlier risers are quite likely to get their buds frozen off. In fact, the Weeping Willows bursting forth with new costumes doesn't indicate Spring, it indicates that we've had a few nights of warm weather.
On the other hand......

Mesquite trees know their shit when it comes predicting Spring. When they finally started sprouting new foliage, you know it's Spring. And, as you can see by this one beside my shop, not a single speck of green.

Weather and Global Warming has kind of been kicked to the back by the Economy now a days, but, at least the big boys are beginning to pay attention. No doubt that things are changing, but just how much is the human family shitting in their nest and how much is just the order of things in nature? (More than likely, a little of both) The last couple of years around here we've had more than normal rainfall which has resulted in the desert sprouting grass (2 to 3 feet high) History books talk about it being belly high on a horse, but I had never seen it before. In, even my short stay here on the planet we've experienced high temps and extreme droughts, before anyone noticed the hole in the ozone layer. I guess it matters very little, at this point, just what's causing it, but the idea that even if we didn't cause it, we should be doing things to alleviate it seems the way to go. (Sorry, Rush Limbaugh) Actually, the Economy crisis just might have a silver lining in it if we really re-examine classic capitalism and materialism.