With the clocks already set ahead an hour, spring cannot be far behind. I know Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, but …

On March 14 we celebrated the Spring Equinox – the time when the daylight hours and nighttime hours are supposed to be equal.

The first thing we noticed was there were skunks on the road. To date we have seen three dead skunks – of course we noticed the odor as well. A couple weeks ago on a Friday when we were getting ready for our Friday night date night, I noticed the lawn littered with robins. While I know that some of them stay behind for the winter, not this many of them. I told the people sitting across from us at the restaurant we visited about seeing the robins. They were excited!

That got me inspecting my lawn. I have crocuses that come up everywhere. Last year they were visible on February 24, but they were late this year. I did not see them until March 10. They have had a tough go of it getting frozen beneath a coating of ice and then popping up again.

The daffodils, narcissus, and hyacinths are not far behind. They are poking out of the ground as I put this together.

I love spring. I love the new growth that appears. That spring green is so pretty. Of course, I love the blossoms as well. No, I do not take them inside to enjoy because of my allergies.

Speaking of allergies, they have alerted me to the beginning of spring as well.

My eyes have been itchy and at times they hurt. Even sometimes it is hard to watch television because of the pain from my allergies.

My nose is also a little stuffy but not too bad. I have suffered through allergies my whole life, but I guess if that is my only complaint, I am fortunate. Since at one point I took allergy shots I have been able to control them with OTC (over-the-counter) meds.

All winter we have been feeding the deer. Don jokes that he used to hunt them, but now he feeds them so we can watch them.

We sit on our couch and look out the back window. We have had as many as ten deer at a time. It has been fun to see them rear up and fight over the food. One deer had his antlers until just recently.

I do not know what was up with that. When the deer are finished, the turkeys move in.

Sometimes they come before the deer are done. There is a flock of nearly thirty of them so they would certainly eat all of the corn.

Another sign of spring was always our church’s Pancake Supper. Last year it was cancelled because of COVID 19. We were hoping to have it this year, but have postponed it at least until May. We are looking for a date that will not conflict with other fundraisers in the area. The United Methodist Women who sponsor the event use the money raised for local mission projects. Unless we are able to have it, we will have to scale back our efforts.

I look forward to seeing the baby animals. Down the road at the farm it is fun to watch the baby goats and sheep as they play. They hop sideways and chase each other around. They are so cute. Of course, the deer will be having their fawns as well. The mothers and little ones come often to our yard.

That reminds me of the year when we raised a fawn. My husband chased it out of the hay field when he was cutting hay. He put it back when he was done but the mother did not return so he brought it home for us to nurse. It had a buggared up, front leg.

We put him in a basket in my kitchen and woke up to feed it. It was a very young one. It was only about ten inches high when we started, but he grew up just fine.

He never lost the limp though but it did not seem to deter him. As soon as he was able to eat and get along on his own, we let him outdoors.

He stayed around the barn and often came in when it was feeding time for the cows. He liked cow feed. He also liked our German Shepard. The two of them often lay in the lawn together. That nearly caused one or two accidents.

We had a lot of wild animal pets through the years. All of them were different but all of them were fun to have. We never kept any of them tied up either. They just seemed to know they were safe here.

The other day we bought a new oriole feeder. Don had one that he brought up, but the bear got it.

He is hoping that we get orioles again this year.

We also put up humming bird feeders as well as some with seeds.

We got smart after the bear incident and now put them around our porch. We put them out each morning and take them in each night. I hope that works so we get orioles to watch.

Nature puts on a wonderful show. Now all we have to do is watch and enjoy.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net