Waiting on Spring: I'm Not the Only One

By now the deer should be doing their courting out at the edge of the woods. By now the geese should be engaging in romantic antics on my rooftop. But by the looks of it, nature is on hold as we slog through one sloppy snow after another.

Only the frogs sound like they've gotten on with things. Their tune this year was by far the loudest I've heard since making our home in Minnesota. That could have been something to do with our new "waterfront" property, bringing them closer to the house than recent years. All the snow needed somewhere to go and it seems the wetlands are wetter than ever. Flooding makes it more like an extension of the lake than the usual marsh, so the frogsong was deafening until just a few days ago.

If the wind-toppled pines and snow-crushed trees and shrubs of this past season weren't enough, now part of my landscaping is submerged. Minnesota is not for the faint-hearted gardener.

Mink sightings are frequent out here between the ponds, however one of them is having fun using the dock as a fishing platform now that the water is level with the boards.

As for the other critters, it may just be my perception, but they seem to be biding their time with mating and nesting, sort of wandering aimlessly. The wild turkeys have taken to strolling through our front walk. When they get to the chain-link fence between them and the woods, they pace back and forth nervously until some sort of turkey sense kicks in and they either fly-jump over it or take the long way to its end.

The deer ladies pass through but the usual buck has been a no-show. This leaves them to peruse my just emerging perennials, but they leave just as disappointed as myself at the slow pace of the season.

I remember the first year we lived in England, a few of the locals said something like, "If we have summer..." and I quickly questioned them as to what they meant. They explained that some years summer didn't really happen. I spent a good deal of time worrying until, summer did indeed come.