SPRING HAS SPRUNG?

Yeah, yeah, yesterday March 20th was officially the first day of spring and there was sunshine and the continuous sound of the rush of the melting snow water down the End of the Rainbow Valley towards Coon Creek which juts westward to continue down towards the Mississippi. Our heavier jackets still need to be worn even if the calendar says it's spring.

We did spot the first robins at the feeder this past weekend and the red wing black birds in the fields alongside the county highway.  

A couple of weeks ago the first blue bird showed up to check out the south facing birdhouses along with a male grossbeak at the birdseed. 

Ducks are in flight above and the sandhill cranes are back near the creek. Yes, the birdsong has increased and woodcocks drumming are good spring indicators but those spring peepers (frogs) aren't expected until the first week of April when the frost should be totally out of the ground. The peeper noise will intensify after 50 degree days along with that anticipatory smell of spring.

But believe me when I say the countryside is still really brown with not a crocus in sight much less daffodils pushing their leaves out of the mulch. The forsythia has the beginning of buds but nowhere close to blooming.

Add in another good 2-3 weeks for our five truckloads of gravel to be delivered to repair winter damage of our mile drive back to the End of the Rainbow Valley after it dries out and the road bans have been lifted.  Meanwhile mud season will wreak havoc on any clean vehicle which makes its way back here while I get good use out of my monthly car wash membership. 

Natureman and I know Spring's coming when we can say goodbye to the last vestiges of winter and announce we survived another Wisconsin winter...