just sit and observe -- maybe you've done some good

I'm standing in my garage right now, big door open, cold fingers and toes as I type.

The sun came out a bit, and it has some kick. And I'm watching a dozen of our courageous overwintering juncos working my very long country driveway. Which I cleared by hand after a magnificent Alberta clipper, just to prove I still had the mojo to do it.

The juncos are working an area of our ridiculously steep driveway where I throw down fine grit instead of native silt/sand for traction. The are obviously looking for grit for digestion. Everything else is under a foot of heavy snow.

So I think I accidentally did some good. Cheers little buddies; you brighten my days.

So far we;ve been grateful to be sandwiched between the snows both north and south of us and don't really need the rain that we could be getting.  One of the yard hydrants is still frozen below grade and is my benchmark for the frost finally leaving the ground.  Something is moving down there because the sump pumps are becoming more active even with no recent rains.  Just the frost releasing water when the temperatures provide the nudge.  A bit of ice left of the river now so the gate was opened to let the geese out of the yard and man were they ecstatic to wash of the dust and dander of winter!  Imagine the equivalent of a good hot shower after 4-5 months in the same thermal one-sie.  After several hours exploring the river banks again and diving, sparring, and preening, they came back through the gate to rest up before dinner.  They get pretty jazzed as well with the enormous Canada and Snow geese migration overhead....suddenly such a noisey time of year!