Winter feel like it has finally arrived. It’s cold enough out to stoke the fire in the wee hours, and we’ve had snow in several different varieties already this year. Fine dust is falling now, but we’ve had clumpy flakes, styrofoam balls, and sleet in the past couple weeks. Not much sticking around yet, but that may change this week. The birds know it’s winter out there. This morning within 2 minutes, I saw a hairy woodpecker, a downy woodpecker, a redbellied woodpecker, and a pileated woodpecker at my suet blocks.
I’m from the north and have an enjoyable relationship with the cold weather. The buzz of the warmer months culminate in rifle season, which although I acknowledge is better for the deer than being hit by traffic, is still distressing to me and the dogs. The hushing of a steady snowfall and the still of a blanketed landscape is delightfully settling. Through January, the storms that roll through still carry novelty with them, and the late season storms that have become the norm with current climate change conditions are the new heralds of spring, finally are the balmy humid breezes powered by the rushing of spring melts.
