Easter Sunrise

 

It's not just me that is anxious for Spring to spring.  The Sandhill cranes are back (no mistaking their rauctious call).  Small flocks of Canadian geese are flying overhead (not sure where they are going).  A red-winged blackbirds came to the seed feeders.  I've seen a few robins and the harrier was flying over the fields.  The voles and field mice have been protected in their tunnels under the snowpack all winter but now underground burrows are under water and even in a few places their above ground paths are exposed.   The harrier is the only early bird that has easy pickings.  The dog and I even saw a couple of deer.  Ever since the big storm in December, I haven't seen any in the meadow.  In the winter deer form larger groups but I hadn't even seen tracks in the snow.   Neighbor Mr. Vos told me it was because of the deep snow.  The deer were congregated higher in the hills for the duration of winter.   Like I said, I'm impatient for Spring to really get started.  I planned on putting two pictures on this blog - one taken yesterday morning and one taken this morning to show how fast the snowpack is receding.  When I looked at both pics, though, it was hard to tell the snow depth had changed at all.  Should have remembered when we lost electricity last December how long it took for a bucket of snow to melt even in the house. You might still see "before and after" pictures since the rest of this week the temps are forecast to be above freezing.  That should give Spring a kick in the pants.