Spring. Please. Now.

There is a road...no, wait, that's "Ripple".

Danny Burns plays and sings "Ripple" so well, Jerry Garcia sleeps easy.

513 runs north from Converse to the Slocum Trail, where it angles west. East from the curve is a short road that deadends near the lake. It's deep-cut, providing shelter from most wind. A nice, shaded, albeit short, walk.

I saw a big fox, just a glimpse, crossing the the old road. Maybe my perspective, looking uphill, enlarged it a bit, but not a lot. Thought it might be a coyote, but it was way too red.

I slowed a bit, quieted my steps, hoping for a better look. My collie caught the scent, and was off like a rocket.

Sunshine is a joy to watch. He looks faster than he is, and he leaps, and pounces like a coyote on a field mouse, even when there is no prey. There was no way he could see the fox, since my sightline is about three feet higher, and I was looking. Had to be scent. He started barking, a few hundred yards off in the woods, and I trusted that was all.

It was. I worried could he find his way back, but he came along in a couple of minutes.

Saw a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds in the same area a week back. That electric blue always amazes me, and brings a joy bonus.

Today, the dogs disturbed a female cardinal. They are a bit disparaged, the boys getting the attention. For good reason. That red is the brightest we see here. And, in the snow, breathtaking.

But this girl was a show. The colors, while muted, were in sharp contrast. Beautiful.

Tuesday, in an area of a square mile, I saw a Turkey Vulture, a vanguard, the first in months, and four redtails. Banner bit of driving. Through the winter, I have noted a few kestrels, and lately, the Cemetery redtail in and around town, but not a lot. Brutal winter. Not way cold, but cold a lot.

The robin is the king herald of spring, but the more widely acknowledged harbinger is the Redwinged Blackbird. Seen neither. But that lone vulture was an omen.

Good thing. We all need the break.