The sunny weather continues to amaze and astound everyone. Even the birds. You can tell when Spring is in the air because at some point you realize that the forest is alive with sounds again. The birds are chirping and the squirrels are chattering.
The "hush of winter" is really true out here in the sticks. In deepest, darkest winter, I can stand in the middle of the yard amid the snow and hear absolutely nothing. Complete and total silence. That level of silence is sort of astonishing. Realistically, in this day and age, few people get to experience that type of absolute stillness and absence of sound. Personally, I think it’s good for the soul.
Nature knows that winter is the time to hunker down and shut up. Nature also seems to know when it’s time to start making noise again. This afternoon I was reading in our sunroom and realized that there was a tremendous squawking outside. Apparently, Mister Blue Jay was really incensed about something out there in the forest.
Although I don’t believe for a second that winter is really over, it’s been nice to pretend it’s Spring for a while. The only bad news is that Schweitzer announced that the last day of skiing is on Sunday (making this season the shortest in their history). But I’ve lived here long enough to know that closing the ski resort pretty much guarantees that we should have a blizzard before too long. All those people getting their studded tires removed and buying plants are in for a rude surprise.