"Ruckus"

Turkey vultures (buzzards) came back this week.  I caught my breath when I saw one floating above the street.  Spring has truly come back to Ohio.  It's still cold, but not so cold you always have to have your winter coat zipped up.  The first flowers poked their heads out of the frozen ground.  The river runs free again.

I stepped outside at work and heard the little brown birds raising a ruckus.  They're fighting over nesting spots and best twigs for those nests.  A few crows live here all year, but their friends and relatives have come back.  They loudly gossip and get to know each other again.  They filled the maple tree with their evening discussions, cawing over each other about the latest gossip.

The winter tension dripped off my shoulders and melted at my feet, watering the crocuses.  I feel like I can breathe again.

I wish I had the money to be a snowbird because winter is hard for me.  I endure, that's all.  I don't want to hear perky people telling me to dress in layers or go skiing.  I am an angry, semi-hibernating bear in a cave.  If you come into that cave you may get swiped by my claws.

Then the sun comes out, the birds return, the flowers nod in the breeze and I am as pleasant as a puppy.  I went to the garage and reorganized the stuff my brother put in there 2 years ago.  I reorganized his stuff in the basement too.  I feel like I can breathe again.  I anticipate new projects, or maybe I'll keep up my nesting and reorganize my own stuff too.  My puppy and I will start taking our evening walks again.  I found my brother's bike in the garage and might start taking bike rides too.

Suddenly there isn't enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do.  My legs and back ache from all the sudden exercise, but it's a good ache because all my parts are moving again.  The hungry bear lumbers out of the cave and starts living again.  A squawking goose flew over my head and I heard summer.

When I was little, this was the time of year that I could start exploring my greater world again.  I saw the first snowdrops and studied them with intensity.  I looked at the things that are usually hidden by plants or snow.  An old cistern, tools dropped, things washed up in the flood could all occupy me for a minute, or an hour, or until it was time for supper.

I love spring, even when it comes in fits and starts with weather people hanging onto dire warning of more snow even when the sun is shining.  They can't fool me anymore.  I've seen robins and mourning doves.  Winter's back is broken and things are living again!

My brother has a second job cooking at Waffle House in the middle of the night.  He sculpted this butter bunny when he had some free time.