Post #4 -- Say Goodbye to Winter

We woke up this morning to the hammering of a hairy woodpecker drilling holes in the siding of our caretaker's cabin.  The bird's incessant noise removed all hope of sleeping in and made it clear that the daylight  hours in the great white north are getting longer.  Winter's days are numbered.

Easter is early this year but that is no guarantee of an early spring.  The woods and meadows are still white and deep with snow.  The snowshoe hare has not begun to change colours.  Jays, grosbeaks, red polls, nuthatches and those noisy woodpeckers continue to empty Vera's bird feeders.

Still, there are signs of spring.  Lovesick owls that in early February hooted all night long are now feeding big-eyed, fuzzy owlets.  The coyotes have gone quiet.  Water is dripping off the tin roof forming puddles that turn into ice ponds and make travel around the yard hazardous.  Yesterday I saw a small flock of grackles and then there are those woodpeckers drilling for bugs that have been brought back to life by the heat of the sun.  Even in the warmth of the cabin the coming spring can be felt.  I am the keeper of my grandfather's rocking chair.  Yesterday, I placed it in front of a south-facing window and settled into it to do some reading.  The warmth of the sun relaxed me and before long I drifted off into dreamland.  A perfect day.  Well... almost.

No day is perfect without spending time with children and an old dog, so Nana and Pops set out with Owen and Ian on a hike to hand-feed a chickadee or two and say good bye to winter.