Signs of Spring

There was a bit of running water on the pond along the shore yesterday - frozen over by nightfall - and up at the boat landing off Rooks Road. Birds are in abundance at my seed feeders along with chipmunks and gray squirrels. And today (Sunday) I saw a red fox running through the back woods. What a thrill! I haven't seen a red fox since two years ago when there was a mother fox and her three kit babies at the abandoned structures in the lot next door (now gone) playing. What a wonder that was. So seeing the red fox running through the back woods this morning brought a smile. I'm hoping there are more babies somewhere in the area for someone else to see and appreciate.

I haven't seen any deer since the first snowfall even though I know there are some in the area because I've seen their tracks when driving down neighbor's driveways. They were sure digging up the snow looking for the acorns after the first few snowstorms. I'll have to remember to gather acorns for them this coming Fall. But for now, I'm looking forward to the ice thawing on the pond - even though the trucks and snowmobilers who've been driving all over the pond these past weekends probably don't share my feelings. Lordy, they can make some kind of racket! One would think there is a low-flying plane coming in for an unexpected landing.

Today will be the beginning of two days of acknowledgement of the passing of someone special in my life, Dr. Tom Palmer. How appreciative I am for the long visits we had these recent months. He was always someone I thought of as a gentle, gentleman - the epitome of a professional man of wisdom and kindness. To think that I knew him as a teenager and then, now when I see things as an adult, we were able to talk together from that perspective was a gift to me. I'm thankful for that but shall miss the talks we might have had. May he rest in peace with his wife, the lovely Mary Ellen.