REDWING BLACKBIRDS!
Pussy willows!
Big chunks of the river are going out.
We’re certainly getting more sun now, but the weather is still very mixed.
My first human visitor of the year (apart from the men who ploughed my road – they did not come inside) was Ryan, my soon-to-be new neighbour, who brought a load of stuff up to their place. It will be nearly a month before the family moves in full time.
Naturally, I put my visitor to work – helping to sweep the chimney!
Since the road was ploughed, it has become an icy mess.
Especially as it still keeps snowing.
There are now about 12 pine grossbeaks, 10 blackbirds, 12 redpolls, and 8 or nine chickadees of both species.
The shoulder flashes of the blackbirds are particularly vibrant in the snow.
The chickadees usually wait until it is a bit quieter. Blackcap on top, Mountain below.
Another sign of spring is that I made my first trip to town since early December. I wanted to be at the garage before 8.00:am and the forecast wasn’t great, so I left at 4.00:am. For the first two and a half hours I saw very little sign of life, no animals at all, and only occasional scattered lights from isolated settlements, two sleeping logging trucks, and one moving vehicle, which was some kind of freight truck. However, I had the rising moon for company.
By 6.30, the light was coming into the sky, and people were starting to move.
No snow at all in Williams Lake, but the dust from the winter’s road sanding was being blown around by furious winds. The weather stayed fine, though, until I was almost home, when I ran into a heavy rain shower.
Apart from the wonderful array of vegetables in my van, I also carried home my usual spring treat – a hyacinth still in tight bud. I will enjoy watching it emerge – and smelling it – among the cottonwood, soopolallie and willow twigs now in pots all over the windowsills. I got a kick out of the iconic instructions on the hyacinth… 
I suppose people might be tempted to eat it.
Then this morning (after another snowfall), another migrant arrived. A junco! He’s looking as though he rather wished he hadn’t.
Your home is so beautiful — all the windows and the greenhouse provide views and bring the sunshine in for use and enjoyment. I love the pictures that show scenes from the inside also. What a long way you’ve come — I remember in one of your early cabins the floor was so cold you used it for your refrigerator!
Spring brings flowers. The purchase of your hyacinth bulb and the marker with the iconic instructions fork and spoon, don’t eat label is for people like me. HA HA. There is a great deal of edible flowers for salads, cookies, breads and lovely cool drinks and the list goes on and on. When I was sixteen I went to a high school dance and on a date, in which I was given a lovely tiny bouquet of flowers and in that bouquet had pansies and roses. As the evening went into a walk in the moonlight I began to eat my bouquet. Plucking the pansies out and popping them in my mouth as we talked and walked. The evening and the dance went quite well, until I started eating portions of my bouquet. The young gents face was of shock, like I grabbed his grandma and shook her down. You’re eating my bouquet he said, like a goat. I said it’s my bouqet, you gave it to me. There was no second date. Apparently the young gent was not as keen on edible flowers as I was. But I learned a valuable lesson don’t eat your bouquet if given one until you get home from your date. Every now and then I laugh with friends over that one. I do eat flowers and have been known to munch down as I head for the cashier to purchase my flower plant. Sometimes I still get that, I grabbed grandma and shook her down look though. I have grown older and wiser and research most flowers for their edibility. But sometimes, just sometimes I need that label. LOL
Love the squirrel shot and the puffed up Junco. – Margy
Margy recently posted…Our Cabin Highlighted on Small House Bliss
Cool first shot of the black birds- seeing all the birds is great!
Not an early riser, that moon rise was quite the novelty for me, too.
Red buds, Camelias, and tulip trees are popping out here in the
North Carolina Sandhills.
I LOVE your birds.
It’s so neat to get an early heads-up on the bird migration from you! Good to know they’re on their way – may they travel safely.
Nicole recently posted…Little lives saved
I love that rising moon image.
I, too, am an early riser.
Barbara recently posted…Plymouth Barred Rock