Winter storms are seldom boring. Our most recent brought more rain than snow, plenty of wind to prune a few weak maple limbs, and a surprise visitor to our lake bluff.
His/her visit was announced by crow calls from nearby branches – I just had time to find the camera before a gust and wings carried this eagle downwind and away.
The bite of the first wood tick and a glimpse of new red fox kits were clear signs of Spring on the Bluecircle this week. 
Patches of fleshless groundhog fur and a fresh limb in the middle of the farm showed the young were being nourished by their ever-watchful mother.
Few rabbits have survived the fox’s nightly inspection of the woods and hillsides. The groundhogs have not been spared but are not missed since their excavated mounds and burrow openings can sink an ankle or a wheel.
Threads of green are restoring color to the field but for a few more weeks the dead grass and leaves will provide scant cover for our hungry mother’s prey.
The calendar says Spring. Frosty ground that crunches underfoot and ice-glazed puddles argue otherwise, backed by a stiff north wind. Hat, coat and gloves are still required these March mornings, and even later unless you find shelter in the sun. Or better yet, in a warm porch or car.
It’s the season of poplar cuttings, set indoors with one brown bud just above the potting soil. Fewer are needed now than in years past, but these rapid-growers tolerate Michigan clay and hot summer days better than any of the other plantings. Orders for a few dozen more walnut and norway spruce seedlings are placed; bright pink flags where they will be planted wave in the breeze. Tiny sugar maples and sycamores will fill gaps here and there in the existing pine and spruce plantings to provide eventual diversity.
Neither grass nor weeds have broken the bonds of Winter. On the other hand, the 7 Bluecircle hens are laying eggs again. Their first hours in the run beyond their coop were filled with scratching, pecking and happy cackles.
Paw Paw Lake was flooded and ice-free weeks ago but lake-effect snow squalls from the big lake have lingered. The afternoon sun dims and shines moonlike on the icy water, longing for April warmth.
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