Spring is not for the faint of heart! It’s the only season that teases, mocks and frustrates all of us as it struggles to make its entrance and lead us to the promised land, summer.
As I write this blog we are being punished by forty to fifty mile an hour wind gusts with the promise of up to six inches of the white stuff tonight and tomorrow!
Our snowbanks are slowly receding and just as we begin to breathe a sigh of relief and prepare for the sunny, warmth of spring, wind and several inches of new snow arrives and the melting process begins all over again.
But snowbanks scarred with streaks of black top soil are slowly changing into streams of cascading water that quickly finds its way into the Mustinka River. As the water flow increases the river ice rises until chunks of ice and water overflows the river banks.
The flowing water filled with huge chunks of floating ice actually groans as it forces it way to the lake. The force of the floating ice chunks reforms the creek and river banks so each summer a new topography appears as areas of the river and creek banks topple into the raging waters.
The chunks of river and creek banks fall into the rushing water and the soil is carried into Lake Traverse where it settles to become lake bottom.
Forty years ago as I watched the grinding, scraping ice chunks making their slow journey to Lake Traverse I dreamed of lowering myself from the bridge that spanned the river and ride one of the huge ice rafts to the lake. It has taken years to reconsider this heroic act and I have decided to relinquish that dream to someone much younger and braver then I! 🙂
The huge chunks of floating ice continue their trip to Lake Traverse where once the melting process has been completed the water continues on its way northward into Canada hopefully not flooding towns upstream as the runoff continues.
Wildlife is awakening. Even as the water and ice makes the journey to the lake under the floating ice chunks walleyes are swimming upstream where they will lay their eggs insuring that fisherman in the years to come will be able to fill their stringers.
The skies are filled with tiny black specks that on closer inspection prove to be thousands of migrating waterfowl such as ducks, snow geese, Canadian geese and swans heading to their northern breeding grounds.
The calls of these migrating waterfowl fill the air and their sweet music is a promise that spring is surely arriving.
The majestic bald eagles are migrating through too. The melting snow in the highway ditches are revealing road killed deer that did not survive a winter collision with a semitruck and what an awesome sight to see several bald eagles feeding on the dead deer’s carcass.
This has been an especially difficult spring as just as we think winter is loosening its grip wind and a few inches of snow blanket our yard.
Several weeks ago I was staring out the window viewing another two inch snowfall when nature sent me a messenger of hope. Hopping through the white carpet of snow toward our bird feeder was a robin! It’s blazing orange breast was a promise of better things to come. 🙂
Many of the farm fields have large temporary ponds teeming with mallards, pintail ducks, and blue-winged teal all taking a break as they continue their migration to their nesting grounds. Canadian geese are paired up and beginning their nesting duties too.
Another promise of spring occurred when I saw a male goldfinch at our bird feeder this week dressed in feathers that were beginning the change to the bird’s bright yellow summer plumage. Its drab dress of winter will soon end.
The goldfinch is one of the last birds to nest as it waits for the thistle flowers to ripen and release their thistle down which the goldfinch will use to line their tiny nests. By this time the male goldfinch is a brilliant yellow with black wing feathers and a splotch of black on the front of its head.
So the schizophrenic behavior of spring continues and may do so for several more weeks. But the new arrivals of wildlife and the warmth of the sun bolster our desire for spring to arrive.
Swelling leaf buds, the greening of the lawns and an occasional dandelion will raise our anticipation even more.
After reviewing all the activities that initiate the arrival of spring I’m getting fired up. Let’s see I need to go shopping for garden seeds. Refreshing my mechanical skills I’ll need to change oil on lawn mowers and a rototiller. I suppose lawn mower blades need to be sharpened too and spark plugs replaced.
Oh that’s another thing! Spring will bring the return of the mosquito and the wood tick!
Come to think about it another small blizzard wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen. That will give me a little more time to get my mind mentally ready for the arrival of the new season! 🙂
Until next time.
