Spring Spring Spring

Super super excited....Phil, the Groundhog, is predicting an early spring.  Can I saw loudly and clearly....WOO HOO.

(My personal groundhog...I have named Harley....ground 'hog'...Harley...hog.  It works for me. Under my apple tree in summer last year.  )

Groundhog or woodchuck...I asked myself.  Well...they are one and the same.  The largest member of the squirrel family also called a ground squirrel that can climb trees and swim in water.  This little one had clearly come up from the Milwaukee River at the foot of my property as she was totally wet when I first sited her. They are one of the few mammals that totally hibernate somewhere between October and April, waking in the spring to raise six little ones.  Their spine is lined with two layers of fur.  They let out a high pitched sound when alarming the approach of a predator and they have their own little bark and grinding or chattering of the teeth when upset and protective. (This I know for a fact.) And...well...they are just downright cute.

Thank you for predicting an early spring this year.  Thank you.



Can not wait.  Early spring.  I do love the winter...when it is about 28 or 32 or 35 and covering us with a fresh blanket of snow...as it did last night (oh wait...it is 7 degrees out).  I have a new found love of getting out and photographing when it is snowing...not necessarily when it is 7 degrees.  I love the four seasons but I hate the length of the extremely low temperatures.  A day or two here and there, fine.  It helps me slow down. (Which is my one little word project for this month...to slow down.  Maybe it is the Dear Lord's way of helping me out.)  I find...that as I go through the years...I'm a woos about the cold...or just getting ....lazy. Nah.  Just. Need. To. Slow. Down.

Spring. Tulips.  Crocuses. Daffodils.  New growth of tree cover. Migrating birds.  Pelicans returning.  Daily trips to the Horicon.  Hikes in the woods. Spring flowers. Sitting out on the 'patio' drinking coffee and writing.  Sunrise.  Sunset.

Digging in the dirt.  Digging in the dirt.

I just can't wait.  Super excited.

For now....a day of riding the roads for a fresh blanket of snow covered landscape.  In the cold.

Spring Showers

I woke to the sounds of our first 2011 Spring Shower this morning. Of course, I didn't know until I looked out the window. My favorite window overlooking the park. The snow has almost completely melted now except in the areas where the piles were five and six feet tall.

I realized....and spoke outloud....that I miss thunderstorms. Not the kind with the scarily close lightning strikes (although I know they kind of come hand in hand). The kind that have thunder rolls - light ones, then loud ones, short ones, long ones. Sometimes making you jump. Sometimes....making you smile.

Not even 30 minutes later, I was greeted by some 'off in the distance' thunder rolls and shortly thereafter, some nearby thunder rocking...making my Lexi lift her head from her late morning snooze....looking around, wandering what the heck is that mom.

My next home must...no ifs, ands or buts....have a covered deck area on which I can sit and enjoy my morning coffee, afternoon water, evening tea while watching the drip drip drizzle or downpour of a good rain and listening to the thunder roll...in the distance....or nearby.

Hello....Spring. You make me smile thunder roll.

What first signs of spring make you smile...and ponder...and wish?