Family, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized, Weather

Has It Sprung Yet?

38 Comments

Today’s post comes to us from our Ben!

The ducks have separated. We have 9 white ducks and four brown ducks that all hang out together. But last week, two browns and one white were off by themselves. It happens as the weather warms. A young ducks fancy turns too….?

And now that one white duck is totally by itself. At first, I thought maybe it had hurt its foot that it was sitting there all alone. But the next day it was toddling along just fine. Except alone. Occasionally I will get a couple mallards that we raised come back for a visit and maybe a pair or two will stay in the area, just not with all the other ducks. Sometimes we see them flying over and land in the swamp just over there. So home, but still independent like all good kids.

Also, the door on the chicken coop has been getting easier to open. It’s just a plain home-made wood door. In winter, presumably as the ground heaves with the frost, it gets harder to open as it drags on the ground. But the last week it’s started to open easier. Meaning the ground is settling again. And sometimes, the sliding doors on the North end of the shed will also get hard to open, again, because of the ground heaving. It helped that I shortened them a few inches. But when they open again, I know spring is coming.

I mentioned the other day I was ready to order baby chicks but the tank was buried in a snowdrift. Got that out. I’m thinking another sign of spring may be when the chick raising tank emerges from the snow.

What signs of spring have you seen?

38 thoughts on “Has It Sprung Yet?”

    1. I was going to say I’m hearing birds more in the morning now but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you if they were chickadees or not.

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      1. This is the time of years when cardinals fill the air with their song, especially in the morning. They have several vocalizations. Early in the day you often hear their “what, what, what, what CHEER!”> call.

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        1. Here’s my favorite YouTube bird expert, Lesley the Bird Nerd, talking about cardinals. Kids often play with bird whistles that are half-filled with water. The bird they speak to and imitate is the cardinal. If you whistle to a cardinal, making a weak copy of the bird’s song, they are almost sure to answer.

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        2. I’ve also been hearing what seems like an unusual number of woodpeckers. I don’t know enough to differentiate them.

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        5. That’s a good idea. I’ve got an area in front of the chick coop with a radius about 30′ and it all turns to mud in the spring. I’ve put rock down, I’ve put other material down, but give it a few rains and with the chickens pecking it all turns to mud.

          Course the dogs, in and out of the house, need their feet wiped every time in this weather. Oh my gosh; make a choice dogs!

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        7. I’ve taught Guinevere something I called “the double dance”. It’s a couple of turns around that she has to do on a rug that’s down on the back porch. This helps a lot with the muddy paws as well.

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  2. Sure sign of spring around here is that there are two pieces of plywood covering the mud at the bottom of my backyard steps. These keep the muddy paw prints down a bit in the kitchen.

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  4. Geese are returning to our area. I drove to Minnesota yesterday in freezing drizzle. Thst is a sure sign of Spring. Friend’s surgery has been postponed until Monday or Wednesday. The doctor considers it essential surgery, so it will presumably happen.

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  6. I saw and heard my first robin of the season at the end of February!

    Funniest thing, I was at the post office the other day. All of a sudden, Iheard a bunch of “cheep, cheep, cheeps” coming from the back of the post office. My first thought was that a group of sparrows had flown in through the loading dock doors and were panicking. Then the clerk comes out carrying two boxes of baby chickens for a customer!

    Those of us waiting had a good chuckle when we realized what was going on.

    Happy Spring, TBers. If nothing else, we can battle this crisis with warmer days (eventually) and more daylight.

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. Yeah, mine are due to arrive on April 1. I’ll go to the post office counter and say “I’m here to pick up chicks”.
      And I’ll crack open the box and show people who might be interested. It’s always fun to get them the mail.

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        1. Yeah, I’m careful who’s around before I say that. But usually, as you noted, you can hear them in the back, “Cheep cheep cheep”.

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  8. I’m starting to think when this is all over that I have to go to Paris to walk in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. After we talked about it several weeks ago, I asked for a book from the library (where the murders take place in the cemetery) and also the documentary about the cemetery. They showed up on the same day at the library even though one of them was an inter-library loan. And now while I’m sitting here working from home, I’ve got Sabrina on in the background (One of the very rare instances where I think the remake is better than the original) and I looked up just in time to see her walking through Pere Lachaise. I think it’s a sign.

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  9. A friend of mine, an attorney who is working from home at the moment, reported that five Tom turkeys are lurking in her back yard looking for romance. She’s finding it rather distracting.

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  10. At my neighbors house, they come up on the deck and fuss w/ their reflections in the glass. They sure make a mess. Neighbor is a little sorry she encouraged it.

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    1. It’s funny, Ben. Wildlife managers are so proud of the big achievements of the 1960s and 1970s. We restored wild turkeys. We saved the giant Canada goose (thought to be extinct in the 1950s). We brought whitetail deer back from low numbers.

      The story has a twist, the old “be careful what you wish for.” Turkeys are doing so well they have become a menace in some areas. Giant geese waddle around parks and lawns, leaving disgusting stuff underfoot. Deer have moved into the suburbs and are dining on expensive landscaping.

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  11. OT – “Have you been living in your PJs all week in quarantine? This Friday, the FlipPhone folks are hosting a fancy happy hour where folks are encouraged to dress in their weekend finery, formal tea look, or rave gear and post their looks with the hashtag #FormalFriday. Use the tag and surf through fun images on the Facebook event page, Instagram, and Twitter. 6 to 9 p.m.”

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      1. I didn’t think so, but then again, perhaps you’d surprise us all. For the record, I don’t expect that Steve will either. I’ll admit that if my vision weren’t quite so blurred, I might do it just for the hell of it.

        I’m home alone, and can be as crazy as I want to be. Martha and Bernie will never tell on me.

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  12. I spent a decade living like a slob, only wearing sweatsuits. Then someone convinced me to become social in this senior community, so I bought clothes nice enough I no longer look like a homeless person. I had to relearn the use of belts and zippers. Today they just announced all socializing is ended. To preserve social distance, we now dine alone and rarely leave our rooms. I’m back in my old, comfy sweats. Thank god I didn’t throw them out when I upgraded my apparel!

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    2. You’re not alone Steve. I have several pairs of sweatpants and I haven’t been in anything else this week. Sweatpants, big fuzzy socks and T-shirts. Although I will admit I have brushed my hair every day.

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