Good bye, Winter

In the wee hours of Tuesday a.m. (tomorrow, Eastern Daylight Time) Winter will pack it in, making way for Spring to officially begin.  We will hardly notice the difference as we are having unusually warm weather as I write this, and Winter was as easy as I remember in my lifetime.    Today I noticed the little white croci are in bloom in the front garden plot.  

I have heard and seen robins for the last couple of weeks and the cardinal which hangs around all winter is staking a claim on the topmost bare branches of the oak tree next door.   He sits up there whistling and warning, and another across the street answers.   Fun to imagine what they may be saying to one another. 
WHen I put Nick out this morning I could hear the hen turkeys chirping across the street between #s 28 & 29.   I have not seen or heard the Tom this spring. Could it be that he doesn't realize his ladies are waiting for him?    I think there are six or eight hens in the resident "rafter."

I would be headed for the beach about three miles away to take  walk with Nick, but my printer is down and I am waiting to hear from the repair man to call me back.   
For some reason, practically in the middle of a job, it will not print what I write.  I love this equipment when it works, but when it is "fritzy" I wonder if there is any way I can manage without it.   A great nuisance when it is down.
AH, 75 degrees on the patio.   I out of here.    Happy Spring!

LEO ROARS

March first brought the third snow of the whole winter season in this area. And it came by the shovelfull. About a foot landed on patio over the course of 24 hours. My thoughtful neighbor shoveled about half of it, making huge hills which my "wonderful Wheaton" played "King of the Hill " of for a little while this afternoon. Not a lot of fun in that game without a challenger, but he enjoyed himself . I could not leave him out there very long because yesterday he went to get his spring shearing.

Now the wind howls and the plows are beeping as they clean out the driveways. It is early Tuesday a.m. so the shovelers will be around before long to make short work of the clean up. Rain is due on Saturday which might take care of it anyway.

In like a lion and out like a lamb, we can hope by April Fools' Day we will see the bare ground, which was bare until today, and the spring flowers will begin to come up again - for the second time if we are lucky. I am not sure what a snowless winter does to them. Some were already up quite a bit, crocuses (croci?) were blooming, the robins have been returning, and I heard the cardinals calling across the tree tops to one another.

The nice thing is the sun is higher inthe sky so all will be right again soon, and come 90 degree weather in July and August we will be wishing we had some of this snow again. RIght now, we are wishing "hurry summer."

Heating oil is over $4.50 a gallon; gas for the car is $3.80, closing in on $4 a gallon. Watch out, south of the Mason Dixon, we're all comin' just like you asked us to.