The coldest December since I’ve been here on the Wood river Canal; down to -25 F on a couple of nights and never above freezing for a couple of weeks, followed by the driest January imaginable, and very spring-like temperatures. Now in early February, it’s been raining instead of snowing. The Redwing Blackbirds are back, 2 or 3 weeks ahead of schedule, and the Canada Geese are making a terrible racket out in the wetlands, already squabbling over nesting sites.
This morning I walked outside, listening to the blackbirds and geese, watching the juncos flit about the yard, and a flicker speeding by. The sun was shining, no need to wear a coat, and the air smelled like fresh rain. Spring is in the air. And all confirmed by the daffodils already pushing through in the protected garden near the house.
Based on the theory that we have to get a bit more of winter sometime, it makes me think that April might be really awful this year…..
