Is it spring?

Saturday was a lovely, sunny, spring-like day. I knew it was just a tease, but I got out to enjoy it anyway. The chickens were out tromping around in the mud, happy to be out where they could run around. As soon as they saw me, they rushed to the fence, thinking that I might have treats for them. I didn’t, as I had not yet peeled the carrots for my lunches. They soon went back about their business.

Treats? Have you got treats?

With temperatures in the 40’s, I put on my Wellies instead of my pack boots. I still wore wool socks underneath. It wasn’t that warm! The Wellies were also a good choice because I would be walking through water. Rain earlier in the week had left us with huge puddles in the low spots. Since we don’t keep rain gauges out in the winter, I don’t know how much rain we got. It might not have been as much as the puddles suggest. With the ground frozen, nothing soaked in. Here is the puddle by the willows. No tadpoles yet.

Puddle by the willows, with full south exposure to the sun, had no ice

All the snow was gone from the field except in pockets out of the sun’s reach.

The last bits of snow in the field

I walked to the creek where I saw evidence of a recent flood. The grasses on the bank were matted down and surrounded by fresh silt.

Matted grass and fresh silt by the creek suggest a recent flood

There were coyote tracks.

Fresh coyote tracks

And raccoon tracks.

Raccoon tracks

But no deer tracks. The creek was running swiftly.

The creek had plenty of water in it

The west trail was under water. Unlike by the willows, this puddle, shaded from the west by trees, was covered with ice. With childlike delight, I broke through the ice, my feet warm and dry in my boots.

My trail through the ice

Farther along the trail, the ice (which probably started as snow) had melted around the grass to produce artistic patterns reminiscent of stained glass.

Ice imprinted with grass designs

The south path, which is shaded on the south side and thus gets hardly any sun, still had ice an inch thick.

The south path was covered with an inch of ice

At first, the ice was close to the ground so it merely cracked and sagged underneath my feet. I was able to skate along as long as I didn’t get my feet too far away from my center of mass. As I approached the road, though, the water got deeper, and I went all the way through. This slowed me down. I had to step carefully until my foot went through the ice and the water underneath to rest on the soil. I shifted my weight to that foot, picked up the other foot, and gently planted it on the ice a little farther ahead to begin the sequence over. I was pretty proud of myself for getting to the other side still dry.

It was so nice to be outside in the sun, smelling the damp earth, and splashing around in puddles. Surely spring is just around the corner!

But no. The next day was below freezing again. The sun came up in a blue sky while I was doing the chicken chores. By quarter to nine, clouds started moving in. Flakes of snow drifted in the wind all afternoon. Winter is back. Bah.