Feb 12, 2011

I Heard The Choir

It¹s only 31 degrees outside, a temperature that couldn¹t possibly be described as balmy, but it¹s 51 degrees warmer than it was yesterday. Pass the Coopertone.

It¹s just that time of year here in the big woods ...Spring! Well almost.

It¹s just a little wishful thinking. But it is the time of year when the weather swings back and forth faster than a politician on the campaign. I¹ve seen 30 below one night and 30 above a day or so later. How about a foot of snow overnight that melts by lunch time the next day? Though that can be kind of exciting. No matter how a storm may rage at the time, it¹s a case of, ³grizzle bear roar with a chipmunk punch,² there¹s nothing to it.Old Man Winter, while certainly not down or out, seems to lose interest after an initial blast. He¹s lost his enthusiasm. It¹s the cold I hate the most.

Twenty below, even if it is only for a day or two, is brutal. Cabin Fever is in the air.

I¹m luckier than most as I¹m out in the woods every day.Cold, snow, rain, wind it doesn¹t mater. I hear the breeze in the pines everyday. I see deer and turkeys and listen to the cackles and caws of crows and ravens echo across the tree tops. In the darkness before the dawn an owl hoot echoes loud and frightful. It sounds like something mystical and mysterious, something not of this world.

Today, however, was a little different than most late winter days. Oh, like I said it was cold, though it¹s suppose to get warmer any day now. We¹ll see. Yes Sir, the difference today was something else I heard. It was a song, a chortle, a sweet melody from a bird practicing his love song for spring. I¹m thinking maybe a goldfinch who are already turning gold again.I mean that sounds like something to sing about. I stood still and listened for a long time. The song echoed through the winter drab forest like an angel¹s song in church. My dad use to call these very woods, where I now walk, God¹s Great Green Cathedral. He was sure right about that and today, in late winter, I heard the choir warming up.