Ah Spring

Spring comes on in fits and starts, snow one day, balmy temperatures the next, then some snow again.

It had been pretty warm here for several days, warm enough that virtually all the snow had melted both at the house and in the Big Woods. Then, one recent morning as we were eating breakfast, large flakes began drifting lazily down. That kept up for about a half hour; the flakes didn’t melt when they hit the ground but there weren’t enough of them to whiten the ground either. 

Breakfast done, I headed for the Big Woods where, only three miles from the house, the ground was now covered with well over a half inch of the white stuff. Not far from where I’d parked was a fresh coyote track – the animal had obviously passed by in daylight, not long before the snow stopped falling. In about three and a half miles there were three separate sets of coyote tracks, some newer than others, all headed in the same general direction.

I also crossed two fisher trails, apparently made after the snow had stopped –

By the next morning all the snow had melted, and it felt like spring again. In a wetland the first of spring’s wildflowers was in bloom. They’re a flower that most people don’t notice since the blossoms aren’t showy. The skunk cabbage had melted their way through the thin layer of ice on the wetland –

Some were just poking up, while in areas that got more sun others were fully open –

Then, yesterday morning the snow began falling again; slowly at first –

But more heavily later on, so that by mid-afternoon three inches of heavy wet snow were on the trees and the ground – creating a spring wonderland.

The forecast is for temperatures in the upper 40s today and the upper 50s tomorrow so the snow will soon be gone and it will feel like spring again. Such is spring.