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Hadn’t realized the Bradford Pear would get this big. Nor did the city. The cafe is the Recreation Center (opposite Bike Works), where Erin says you get the best chili dog in Fredericksburg. Friend Morgan of Tree Fredericksburg says they are not good trees (despite their beauty); they tend to split and are very messy. “Bradford Pears are a disaster… grow way too tall to be planted under power lines!”
Entering Fredericksburg after crossing the Rappahannock River by the Chatham Bridge. That’s Saint George’s on the left, behind the Old Stone Warehouse, then Bike Works in the middle, and William Street as the avenue of Bradford Pears. Below, having turned right onto Sophia Street then looking back over the river into Stafford County, see Chatham Manor up on the hill, where Lincoln addressed the troops and Walt Whitman served as a Civil War hospital volunteer.

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All those pink buds turned black two nights later when we went down to 24 degrees.

March 1st 2017, a drizzly morning after several days of unseasonably warm weather.
The day of the bleak mid-winter tea was one of several this month reaching 70 degrees.




Didn’t catch much with the Wildview camera this month, other than myself going to check the camera from time to time. Had been hoping for a fox I’d seen go this way. But just the one squirrel, barely visible, on the small tree at lower right. That’s Sandy’s barred owl nesting box at upper left, still owl-less after all these years.

I measured 2.75″ on the patio table at 7am, but nothing on the patio. It had stuck to everything except hard ground. The county closed the schools anyway, so that meant the nearest middle school track was available for public use. I went to run about 10am. The track surface was mostly just damp, and almost dry in places by 11am.

Drizzly January afternoon, looking NE from Brock’s across the Rappahannock River to Stafford. I counted 68 seagulls on the bridge. Stylized B&W version is buried here.
Today’s maintenance report is appended as a comment at the bottom of this page: https://ridout.net/edwin/?page_id=255.