Signs Of Spring

We drove over to Owatonna this morning to attend the Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo. We visited exhibitors, got some information on new products for bowhunting, saw our friends Jim & Michele Leqve, and Marty Stubstad, owner of Archery Headquarters where we buy our bows & bowhunting equipment. We heard an informative talk on making & using mock scrapes for deer hunting & how we can start preparing them already this spring while turkey hunting. It was a good day, topped off by a visit to Cabela's (also in Owatonna). We're getting ready for our spring turkey hunt with bow & arrow (starting on May 18). Now that it's nice outside I can go out to start practicing with my new Mathews Switchback XT bow that I bought in January. Look out turkeys!

On our drive over & back we saw many signs of spring: lots of puddles in ditches where snow is melting, a hardy soul out riding his Harley, a car-killed raccoon in the middle of the road (yuck), lots of rooster & hen pheasants out in the fields, & a kestrel sitting on the electric lines watching for something to eat. I was on the lookout during the journey for a red-winged blackbird, but never saw one. I've been expecting their return sometime this week because the records I've kept for the last 5 years tell me that they've always returned between March 5 and March 14. As soon as I got out of the truck when we got home I heard him . . . I dashed out of the garage &d there he was, sitting in the top of the big maple tree in the front yard, singing his lovely song.

Other signs of spring are shown below:

Lots of snow melting in the yard revealing more of our metal dog sculpture (& the pheasant).

Rick getting all of the slush off the driveway blacktop - "Attaboy Rick!"

Best of all, we fired up the charcoal grill & cooked some venison brats for supper.

All in all, it was a good day for nature & for knitting because with Rick driving & in between taking notes at the seminar, I was able to get this headband knitted for next winter.

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead 1 hour!