Did the Squirrel see his shadow?

One day last fall I noticed the silhouette of a small bushy tailed critter at the back of the yard. I didn't get a good look at him but I thought that it was a squirrel so I put out some peanuts for him. I put food out for him all winter with hopes of getting a glimpse of him, it didn't happen. He must have been visiting his cache of peanuts in the night. I fed this little guy for five months without seeing him only tracks in the snow and and empty cache. He finally made an appearance this morning in the back yard searching in the exposed grass for peanuts that the blue jays might have dropped.

I don't know if he ever saw his shadow but I think that spring is on its way regardless.

Opening the paddling season

Monday, March 1st was a gorgeous day for a paddle, the temperature was only -4, the sun was warm and the breeze was light, how could I resist. When Zoe got home from work we went down to the boathouse and I took one of the Saskatoon Canoe Club boats out on the river.

It had been a very long time since the last time I paddled due to a broken wrist last summer (which took close to 7 months to heal) so this little outing in the afternoon was great, but I could tell that I was out of condition because soon after we were on the water my muscles began to burn.

Zoe and I were not the only ones out enjoying the warm weather, along the bank we saw 2 Robins flying in and out of the trees. It's always nice to see them, I always take it as a sign that we've made it through the worst part of the winter and spring is just around the corner. Some might think that I'm being a bit optimistic and spring is still months away but as far as I'm concerned summer begins on April 1st and lasts into November.

No matter which way you look at it, winter is on it's way out and spring is on it's way in and now is the time to switch daydreaming of winter adventures to anticipation of cold running spring creeks and then the long hot days of summer.