Spring is here!

Looks like Steve and I aren't the only family looking to bring new life to this beautiful place. This spring has been like no other for me in regards to all of the new life I see around me, specifically when I take Stinky on her daily walks. I have noticed baby bunnies (which Stinky tries to go after and attack). There is also a bunny that forages in our neighbor's back yard each morning. I always try to look out and see if he is there, and sure enough, he is.

What we believe might be a Robin or some such bird has built a tiny nest in the awnings of our upper deck, and when we peer through the cracks in the deck we can see the four tiny blue eggs in the nest. This has proven to be a very precarious situation for the mama bird, who flies away each time we open the back door or when Steve is out in the back yard fiddling with the grass and the landscaping. Most recently, Stinky got into an unfriendly altercation with the birds, who believe she is a threat to their incubating eggs while she lays on the back deck to sun herself.

The most moving of all the spring babies however are the two families of geese who have recently hatched their goslings. Each day when I walk Stinky around the lake in our neighborhood I get to watch these two families take their goslings for a swim. It is so sweet to see them all swimming together in a perfect little line, with one parent in the front and the other trailing in the back so as to protect their little family. If we are far enough away, we can see them foraging on the banks. The closer we get, they begin to make their way to the water with the adults taking care to go slow enough for the tiny babies. One family has five goslings, which we've watched double in size over the past two weeks. The other family recently brought their tiny ones out from hiding, so I am excited to watch them grow.

Though Baby Rowland will be born in Indian Summer or close to the fall season, he is incubating, too. This is a spring I will surely never forget.