Signs are everywhere

Winter’s icy grip seems to be loosening a bit now that March is underway. Subtle – and not so subtle -- signs are appearing here and there. A ferocious thunderstorm moved over our area last night – lots of thunder and lightening and torrents of rain, instead of snow. The wet weather spring was flowing this morning for the first time in quite a while.

Several varieties of crocus grow in my garden; some came up a bit too early and succumbed after about a week to a sudden hard freeze; but another variety is now starting to bloom and doing well. Yellows buds are forming on the daffodils, and the forsythia are starting to show a bit of yellow as well.

A few birds are singing.And a pair of blue birds has been house hunting.

He is trying to entice her to come join him, but she seems disinterested.

After about a week of very cold temperatures, small animals that do not hibernate were suddenly out and about in the daytime, no doubt very hungry after being kept “in” (wherever “in” is for them) during the bitter cold. Our cat went nose-to-nose with an armadillo that was rooting around in the front yard one afternoon. Of course, I had no camera at hand to take a picture of this hilarious scene.

The yellow-rumped warblers are mobbing the suet feeders I have hanging on two sides of the house.

They will leave soon for parts north, and perhaps they are building up reserves for the flight.

For several days running, this little fellow was also out and about in the daylight.

Then we did not see him for several days.

A few days ago as we left for our walk, I spotted him on the ground.

Dead.

We wondered what happened to him. It was like he was just walking along and collapsed and died.

I have been taking care of our pastor’s little dog for a couple of days while she recovers from having had some tests on her heart. She is stuck in Springfield for reasons I won’t go into, but this is a classic case of health care managed by insurance companies: The doctor always keeps his patients at least 24 hours after an angiogram – if for no other reason than to make sure there is no problem with the femoral artery access site --  but the insurance company says this is an outpatient procedure so he had to discharge her.

This little guy is smaller than the cat, and she is tolerating him surprisingly well. I am not sure what he is – maybe a Poodle crossed with a Bichon Frise. Our pastor found him running down the middle of the street while she was at a yard sale so she doesn’t know what he is either. He is mostly fluff. I have missed having a dog so much, and I am enjoying him, even though being around such a small dog makes me a little nervous. I put a collar on him that has a bell (it belongs to the cat) so I can hear him and not accidently step on him by accident.

I cooked two turkeys today, and he quickly discovered that amazingly good little bits appear magically (accidently and on purpose) on the floor.