Signs of Spring

A little thing, a fleeting thing...two red-tail hawks, soaring quite low near the hospital where I was driving the bus...

But the hawks say it's time to think about carrying on the future of the species.

The buds on certain trees are swelling noticeably...cottonwood, ornamental pear, elm, silver maple. I'm excited to remember the magic of last spring on the bus, passing each view every 80 minutes and seeing the unfolding of new growth like time-lapse photography.

Each day, the sun is shining (even if behind heavy grey clouds) noticeably later in the day. And rising higher in the sky at noon. Equinox in less than 2 months.

This morning, it thundered while it snowed/sleeted/rained; tonight, a friend and I walked back from a late movie downtown in an eerie fog, the trees randomly baptizing us with little drips of condensation.


The days between untying big round bales of brome hay diminish as the sheep eat more and more...feeding their fetuses as the unborn lambs enter their final growth spurt. Several of the ewes are looking very wide. Some are starting to waddle a little. Some udders are starting to round out, though still very small.

It's too soon to put my annual wonder-filled excitement over SPRING into frenzied action...that comes later. Now is a certain sort of Advent, to me...patiently, eagerly awaiting the birth and bursting forth of so many miraculous beings!

Sheep Shearing day details to come soon!