SPRING IS COMING!

Dear Friend,

February is a month of contradictions for me. I am quite sick of winter by this time. The thought that spring will not come until April and I still have to survive March is a bit depressing. On the other hand, it makes me appreciate all the little signs that spring is right around the corner. Every year I notice some new thing that signals the coming of the warm weather. The first sign I always notice are the birds singing their new songs. I guess they are letting potential mates know that they are almost ready to start a family.

I've been walking Beau through the woods this year instead of on the road and I've noticed even more signs there. I see mouse tracks going from hole to hole. They are starting to come out of their miniature dens. I like to picture them hopping about. I see an extra long trail that starts out with a lot of distance between tracks until the mouse tires and the hops are shorter. I see the trail that sinks deep into the snow...a fat mouse? There are small tunnels close to the surface of the snow, I guess these must be moles. I see where the squirrels are now digging down through the snow to get to acorns that they stashed last fall. This is new and I wonder if maybe they first eat the ones stored in trees and now they are getting more desperate.

The weather has been warming up these past couple of days and I appreciate this more than I would once spring is here in full force. Every day that the thermometer gets into the 40's is a blessing in disguise! I know that the temperature will plunge once again but the closer we get to spring the less dramatic the fluctuations will be.

By February the windows on the vehicles are so encrusted with salt that we have trouble seeing out of them. Yesterday Tom went to wash the van at the car wash as a birthday present for me. With the warm weather people were out in droves washing their cars. The human hibernation is over!

So, although February can be draining it can also be inspiring. I don't take all those little things for granted.....once spring is here I will be happy but complaining about those monster Pennsylvania black flies swarming about my head!