Signs of Spring II
A month or six weeks ago Venus and Mars disappeared from the western horizon before dusk. Now driving home in the morning I see they have reappeared on the eastern horizon in the hour before dawn. Jupiter is a bit higher in the sky slightly to the south-east.
The greenbelt behind the house has been covered with flocks of robins. One day I stopped counting after I got as far as 25. A pair of stubborn mourning doves sat unmoving in the driveway as I arrived home yesterday morning. I continue to spot quite a number of hawks; mainly red-tails. This past week has seen the return of turkey vultures. Tonight while getting ready to come to work I heard Lynda hollering at me to come out to the yard. Thinking something must be wrong with one of the dogs I hustled out there only to find her pointing skyward. 'Check this out!' A group of three had passed directly overhead and soared to the eastern end of the greenbelt.... wheeled about back in our direction again and were joined by two more. They passed by again heading across the tracks and out over the golf course. None of them flapped a wing so much as once.
Today was the first day in awhile that the wind direction had changed from being out of the north. By the time I was up for the day the temperature was up around 50F and by dinner time perhaps 55F. I had heard the forecast driving home in the morning and got some steaks out for dinner. Good choice - first BBQ of the season before coming to work tonight. Daylight hours are lengthening and we must be up to about 13 hours now. The lawn is greening up; shoots are, well, shooting up all over the gardens. Irises, daffodils and tulips are in the offing. Some trees have plenty of buds; some are still awakening and are bare. Say goodbye to the fawn, dun and grey coloured landscape. Hello vivid hues. That might inspire me to dust off the camera and start shooting again.
What else?? Well, the frost has barely left the ground and I saw the first mosquito of the season last week. There are some other sorts of bugs out; moths and such. After one heavy rain early last week the driveway was alive with worms - little skinny ones, big fat dew worms - you couldn't put a foot down without stepping on one. The other night there was a tiny toad hopping around in back of the centre here. Passing some streams leading down into Lake Ontario I've seen some guys parked by the side of the road. They're either netting smelt or checking to see if the lake trout are running yet. A few larger rivers also get the lake salmon spawning runs. There are a few brave and foolish souls roaming around who are already sporting t-shirts, shorts and sandals - rushing things just a little bit, donch'ya think.
One more thing... folks are getting their vehicles out of winter storage. All the expensive muscle cars are reappearing; some classic cars; lots of motorcycles. Lots more bicycles and joggers have been getting out and about. Heads up; eyes front; hands on the 'ten and two'.
The greenbelt behind the house has been covered with flocks of robins. One day I stopped counting after I got as far as 25. A pair of stubborn mourning doves sat unmoving in the driveway as I arrived home yesterday morning. I continue to spot quite a number of hawks; mainly red-tails. This past week has seen the return of turkey vultures. Tonight while getting ready to come to work I heard Lynda hollering at me to come out to the yard. Thinking something must be wrong with one of the dogs I hustled out there only to find her pointing skyward. 'Check this out!' A group of three had passed directly overhead and soared to the eastern end of the greenbelt.... wheeled about back in our direction again and were joined by two more. They passed by again heading across the tracks and out over the golf course. None of them flapped a wing so much as once.
Today was the first day in awhile that the wind direction had changed from being out of the north. By the time I was up for the day the temperature was up around 50F and by dinner time perhaps 55F. I had heard the forecast driving home in the morning and got some steaks out for dinner. Good choice - first BBQ of the season before coming to work tonight. Daylight hours are lengthening and we must be up to about 13 hours now. The lawn is greening up; shoots are, well, shooting up all over the gardens. Irises, daffodils and tulips are in the offing. Some trees have plenty of buds; some are still awakening and are bare. Say goodbye to the fawn, dun and grey coloured landscape. Hello vivid hues. That might inspire me to dust off the camera and start shooting again.
What else?? Well, the frost has barely left the ground and I saw the first mosquito of the season last week. There are some other sorts of bugs out; moths and such. After one heavy rain early last week the driveway was alive with worms - little skinny ones, big fat dew worms - you couldn't put a foot down without stepping on one. The other night there was a tiny toad hopping around in back of the centre here. Passing some streams leading down into Lake Ontario I've seen some guys parked by the side of the road. They're either netting smelt or checking to see if the lake trout are running yet. A few larger rivers also get the lake salmon spawning runs. There are a few brave and foolish souls roaming around who are already sporting t-shirts, shorts and sandals - rushing things just a little bit, donch'ya think.
One more thing... folks are getting their vehicles out of winter storage. All the expensive muscle cars are reappearing; some classic cars; lots of motorcycles. Lots more bicycles and joggers have been getting out and about. Heads up; eyes front; hands on the 'ten and two'.
Labels: spring
posted by Norm at 4/15/2009 03:40:00 AM
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