Friday, March 14, graced us with 75-80 mph winds, a coating of dirt that I swear you could measure with a ruler-not just dust-dirt, and tree branches and litter that became an obstacle course. The sky, the horizon, the ground, everything was brown. I had to check on the cactus that I had covered, retrieve some of the covers I had on them, and truly thought I was going to be blown down before I could make it back into the house. The sound of all that wind and everything flying by was downright scary.

Things really had not calmed down by Monday; it was another day from Hell. But then, as I walked by the bed with all the Wyoming cactus, Pediocactus simpsonii, and rocks, I was greeted by a bright spot of pink in all that wind and dirt.

And then, by golly, on Thursday, here were some more blooming!

The Wyoming cactus are always the first cactus in the garden to bloom for me. They are a little later blooming this year, perhaps due to dry cold weather, but they still beat the other outside cactus.

So then I checked in the greenhouse and found some surprises in there, too. Several pots of albucas were putting on quite a show.

So, even though the wind and temperature are wreaking havoc all around us, there is hope that spring really is going to bust out all over.

Well, one can hope.