Sunny, Breezy Saturday, March 24, 2018

Even though it's still wintery-cold, there are at least two sure signs of spring: the boats are back and so are the turkey vultures. That's a tug pulling a barge.

 Monsieur Renard has lost his shaggy and well worn winter coat and now is sporting his, well, courting fur. He doesn't let me get close so these are a tad blurry. He's looking for small mammals along the long driveway. You can almost see him getting ready to do the "fox pounce" on a mouse or vole. Yes, we still have snow.

I love winter aconites. Can't get enough of their bright happy yellow faces actually and they spread so easily by seed too.

The first early crocus have now joined the earlier blooming winter aconites. These are small wild crocii. (Crocusses??)

Even the crows are doing their aerial acrobatic nuptials and are stalking the grass for food and/or nesting materials. I'm hoping this pair will nest again somewhere close to the house so they can annoy the dogs and pleasure me.

I think I enjoy seeing the colors of the emerging rhubard leaves almost as much as rhubarb pie and stewed rhubarb with cream for dessert after the stalks are mature.

I have a pair downy woodpeckers (below) and a pair of hairy woodpeckers scouting for suitable sites in my trees to create nest holes. Again, I hope they stay close. Normally I've stopped feeding birds by this time of the year but winter persists.

Iris has tempted me to add an owl nest box to one of my dead trees. The winter winds from Lake Huron blew down four dead trees in my north forest. I always leave my dead trees up so that the nest hole building species have places to carve new nests.

There was a five year old male Icelandic Sheepdog in need of a home; I offered but "they" refused me because, apparently, I'm a multi-dog home and that's not suitable. I've been a multi-dog home since forever and know how to acclimate and handle dog "issues". Is it "Che sera, sera" or "Que sera, sera"? I've seen it both ways but the Italian makes more sense, pronunciation wise.