LOON!

Tuesday brought mid 60's and a Loon! As you can tell by the wall paper on my blog I love Loons! It wasn't on Gilmore but on the open water where the sand river runs from Lake Ida into Little Sand. Boy does that lift my spirits even higher! Tuesday night I heard a few frogs making a little noise in the swamp across from the house. The peeper frogs should be singing any time now.

On Monday I seen a Blue Heron in the little slice of open water near the Eastern Shore of the lake. The last few days have been sunny / breezy and in the 60's so the lake ice is really starting to take a hit. The ice in front of the house is starting to honeycomb and break up.

When I drove by Little Sand this morning and after work I seen the Loon again today! Cant wait to hear the first loon tremolo and wail.

The snow is almost all gone in the woods and the yard is starting to dry up and a little more green is here and there.

Take Care.

Jon

The changes in a week!

Early last week we received about 10 inches of snow! Yuck! Although I must admit it was a really pretty snow that was wet and sticky so it covered all the tress with a blanket of white that was in stark contrast to the dark and dingy greys, browns and blacks of early spring.

This week has been warmer with highs into the 40's near 50 again. The forecast for Saturday is for the lower to middle 50's so the snow in the woods and in piles about should vanish fairly quickly now. I have even seen a little green starting to appear in the lawn.

I seen my first Blue Heron of the year yesterday! (actually I saw many Blue Herons in February but that was 1850 miles SE of here, its amazing that they make that journey twice a year) It flew over County Road 40 heading towards the North. I take that as a good sign that lakes are starting to open up around here. The shore line in front of our house has thawed and frozen many times over the last few weeks. I think we had about one foot of open water yesterday. Hopefully with the sun and warm south winds forecast for this Easter weekend it will do some serious damage to the ice!

Yesterday morning the birds were really singing up a storm. The robins were almost drowning out the Cardinals and the chickadees, sparrows and nuthatches were trying hard to be heard. In the distance I could here the faint sound of a Red Winged Black Bird! The peeper frogs should be starting to emerge I cant wait to hear them.

Take care

Jon

Signs of True Spring

So a recap of last week. Last Sunday I seen my first Robin of the year, we actually saw 4 flying together across the road. Then the weather turned cold and we had some more snow mid week and lower teens for lows and lower 30's for highs. This Saturday and Sunday we have had highs in the lower 40's today was 47 degrees but with the bright sunshine it felt much higher than that. You can tell by the warmth of the sun that winter is really losing its grip on us.

Today the kids seen a Red Winged Blackbird! Yes! One of my favorite sounds and sights of the spring is the Red Winged Blackbird, its song does wonders to lift my spirits from the winter doldrums. Cant wait to hear its song now. If you have never heard the Red Winged Blackbird song you can hear it here http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=25

Take care and enjoy the coming spring.

Jon

A break from the melting

The weather dipped below freezing this morning to put a stop to the melting for now. It has been in the 40's since last week and the last 2 days we have received about 3 inches of rain so add that to the snow melt and we have some serious flooding conditions around us.

The ice is just starting to separate from the shore with a little open water visable. After all the water that has been on the ice I am sure it is getting real week. No more ice walking for us until next year.

I hate to wish for a few cold days but it would be nice if it stayed dry for a few days and the temps stayed below freezing. We dont need anymore water run off right now and they certainly need a break in the Red River Valley.

Take care.

Jon

My personal pond!

Well the weather has been awesome since Saturday. We have had highs in the 40s or 50s everday since Saturday. It is hard to belive how much snow has melted. The anual spring tradition of having a pond in my back yard started on Monday. The pond is up to 8 inches deep in some spots. Yesterday the lake had waves on it! No the ice isnt even close to off yet but between the snow that has almost all meleted off the lake and the runoff from around the lake, we had quite a bit of standing water on the ice, enough so that the wind was making small waves! Cant wait for open water.

Monday morning on my drive to work I witnessed an awesome sight. Two swans were doing their spring dance in the Sand River between Ida and Little Sand. The water was so calm that you could also see the reflection of their in time bobbing heads on the water. What a majestic bird.

Take care.

Jon

After the storm

Well we ended up with 10 inches of new snow on Gilmore and some pretty impressive drifting. Nothing like the drifts on the prarie land to the west though. This morning was -9 and hopefully we can now be done with the sub-zero weather. The forcast is for highs above or near 40 all next week! YEA! We did end up with -28 yesterday with a pretty good breez so it was nasty.

Hopefully the flooding isnt too bad over the next few weeks. There is quite a snow pack to melt.....

Take care.

Jon

Not agian!

Its been way too long since my last update....

Well after the 2 plus weeks in Florida the weather on Gilmore wasnt too bad. It was a little cold on March 1st when we got home it dropped to like -15 but was then in the upper 30s almost 40's most of the week. We did get to miss out on a 2 inch snow fall while we were gone and quite a bit of below zero weather.

Today the schools closed at Noon because a blizzard is aiming right for us. Expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow with 20 to 35 MPH winds so it will drift real bad. Ish is all I have to say cant wait for spring!

Take care.

Jon