.
Despite the intense cold of the past few days and vestiges of snow, early signs of Spring are now in evidence.
.
“You sure about that, missus?”
“Our hooves is still mighty cold!”
.
It was still a bit stark…
.
…the day we went to Bennington.
But there are subtle changes you hardly perceive.
.
It’s not something you notice unless you focus on it, but the tips of tree branches are rounding out…
.
..reaching up?
.
Perhaps it’s just my imagination, but ever since I began really paying attention to trees, I’ve always had the impression in early Spring, that trees begin to stand up straighter and appear to reach out to the Sun, as if for the spark of new life.
They look cheerful.
.
No?
.
Why wouldn’t they be cheerful?
Having survived a long hard Winter.
.
While I know it’s not right to put human emotions on other species and even more so on plants, it is our only frame of reference.
There are other signs of Spring…
.
As we made our way home from Vermont, we came upon a familiar shape in the middle of the road.
A thin-looking creature was making its way across our path and appeared to have stopped to absorb the warmth.
It scurried off as we approached, but it was this year’s first groundhog sighting.
.
The following day, Grant looked outside at just the right moment…
.
..to see another mountaineering up the snow and rushing off into the woods.
.
At the same time, Zoomer the chipmunk turned up in search of a bite to eat.
.
Furthermore, the red-wings are back.
.
Until I downloaded the pictures, I hadn’t even realised it was them.
Blinded by sunlight on snow, I’d taken them for starlings.
.
With the red-wings often come grackles and I’m not sure, but the little brown bird in the foreground I think is a female cowbird.
Certainly, we have seen a couple at the feeders.
.
We had another visitor a week ago, one that we more often see at dusk or after dark, but there it was plodding across the snow in the front garden in the middle of one afternoon.
Some people don’t like possums.
Surprise, I find them endearing!
.
Adult possum tails tend to be blunt.
Who was responsible, I’m not sure, but this poor dear was in the process of losing the tip of its.
We’d wondered about bloody patches we’d seen on the snow and here we had our answer.
.
Another sign of Spring:
“I goes for walks.”
.
“But don’t turn my heater off yet!”
.
Spring seems to come at quite a pace. I suppose there’s a lot to do for all the plants and animals so they need to get on with it!
My acquaintance with possums is limited but I became endeared when one took to rolling in a tray lined with cat pee soaked newspaper.
Thank you, Carolyn, for your cheerful photographic update of your world. Apologies for not commenting after reading but as you know I am not living in my house at the moment due to lengthy renovations, and I am surrounded by people in the evening. If I am not commenting, you will understand why. Thank you!
Joanna
That’s OK. I understand! I hope it gets done quickly and efficiently!
Lovely to see the animals reappearing to enjoy the Spring, and I agree with you about Possums. It is very Spring-like here at the moment, with temps up to 14C earlier today, and brilliant sunshine.
Best wishes, Pete.
Possums are protected in Australia. We had a couple in a roof once, and they ran relays up and down our roof all night – awful noises and pee everywhere. We had to get “Peter the Possum Man” to trap them, close up the entrances to the roof, and they can only be released 20 metres from the capture point – ludicours! So, you can see, I’m not a possum fan or a Bush Turkey fan, as both are destructive!
Our possums are quite different and they are gentle creatures who don’t cause trouble. And they eat ticks!