Da blooz

Woke up this mornin'
Took a look outside
Was that frost I saw?
Thought I'd stay in and hide

The dog is tellin' me
She has to go
We went out the door and found
We'd been dusted with snow!

Got those late springtime blues again, mama 
Nothin' I can do
I'll just dream of summer
And have a beer or two

Of course the other way to start a blues tune is "I've got a woman," but since the Cooker sometimes reads this I'm not going to go there. Mama didn't raise no fool!

This was taken last weekend. The good news is most of the snow in the open areas is gone, but there is still plenty in the woods. Minnesota fishing opener is next weekend and the fear is that most of the lakes in the Arrowhead region (where we live) will still be ice covered. I don't fish much anymore, but in this part of the country it is considered to be one of the higher intellectual pursuits.

Migratory birds are starting to look for nesting material and they find it here on the farm. You might remember the ravens grabbing beaks full of horse hair from Vedas. Now the smaller birds are at it. I think these are cowbirds that don't know the difference between a cow and a horse.

Click on the pic for a better look.

Imminent signs happen every day. Raccoons have been caught at the bird feeder during the dark hours and now the striped rats (chipmunks) have come out of hibernation.

Even the Big Lake has lost its ice in these parts. Down by Duluth, however, it has been piling up and the cargo ships and ore freighters have been going with a coast guard escort in order to make it to the locks at Sault Ste. Marie. Usually they are just referred to as the Soo Locks, but they have been a real bottleneck since the shipping season started this "spring". 

Yesterday I stopped by the harbor on my way to work. Yes, I have to work an occasional Saturday. I missed the more colorful part, but managed to get a few shots of the rainbow (not a snowbow this time) over Grand Marais and its harbor. There is still a chunk of ice in the foreground, but you can see that the rest is actual water! I'll bet the folks in the U.S. southwest would love to see this much fresh water. Their drought is getting pretty severe.

We are well into mud season and soon things will be greening up. At least by next month, anyway. Time to go outside and watch the spring slowly creep in. The sound of rushing water from the snow melt is like music, especially when the birds add their songs. A natural cacophony of orchestral proportions. It even makes this grumpy old fart smile a little.