February in these parts (Western Massachusetts) brings certain things both outdoors and indoors. Outdoors, as pictured here, buckets go up on maple trees to collect sap that will be boiled down to make maple syrup. Why February? Because that's when sap rises in the trees. An ideal cycle goes like this: Daytime temperatures in the thirties and forties draws the sap upward; nighttime temperatures below freezing forces the sap back down the tree. This process isn't completely regular. Some days aren't warm enough; some nights not cold enough, but you get the idea. This is one of the first signs of spring. What about indoors? Ladybugs show up inside the house, probably having spent the winter hiding in our many plants, but who knows for sure. Since they tend to cluster on windows, it's probably the stronger light of February days that draws them out. And what about the local human residents? Willie is making an excellent recovery from her cataract surgery; Dorothy, though still challenged by nerve damage to her left hip and leg, manages to walk without a cane or walker for upwards of eight hundred feet. Gerry? He's writing his first blog of 2024!