- This morning, a few minutes after eight, I set out
to capture an image or two for today's story. Only a little more than a block from
home I stopped the bicycle and listened to the enthusiasm that the birds were expressing
for the bright sunlight and the promise that perhaps the temperature would creep
above freezing.
The wind this morning seemed to be blustering from the South but with -1ºC it
was not the sort of thing one would expect for the last week of April.
Robins were everywhere, jumping all over snow covered lawns and fluttering around
in the trees as they are no doubt working on nests for this season and if not, definitely
very heavily into courtship. You really have to admire these little guys, they have
made it home after a long winter South and its time for them to set up house and
get this year's family on the way.
Yesterday, I asked a farmer what his situation was and he said, everything's ready,
just need that soil to warm up so planting can begin. Many years, seeding would be
at least half done but he was surprised to point out that they are already seeding
down in the Southwestern portion of the province. The cold weather has certainly
made seeding and the greening of the countryside seem like some remote idea.
The rainfall and snow early in the week gave the ground a sip and with only modest
above freezing temperatures the grass would quickly turn from the brown of late summer
to a fresh hue of green.
I rolled on to main street and headed on into today's wind and as I dismounted at
the post office a red convertible pulled up and parked. I mentioned to the driver
that perhaps owners of convertibles should look into getting "top down"
insurance. My thinking is that since there are only so many possible days a year
that you can actual put the top down on a convertible, you should be able to insure
your investment. Certainly actuary types could work out a reasonable expected rate
for the area a person lives in and could set up a policy.
I peddled back down main street now with the wind behind me and coasted two blocks.
I headed off toward St. Theresa park to see how it was handling the coming of a possible
spring and with the trees still nude, the ice on the doghide glistened in the morning
sunlight, it was a perfect picture. (You have already notice there is no such
picture here! Exactly! Alkaline batteries and -1 means that there is only so much
time before they refuse to respond and not only were those in the camera unresponsive
the back up set in my pocket were just as cold.)
Nice thing about being a Robin, no digital camera to keep in batteries and no computer
to crash. In fact, Robins have a fairly good life, on a warm day.
To hear the great Al Jolson sing his praises to this great little bird click
on the arrow to play.
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