The Ice and Cold

About this time of year everything is frozen solid. There is a nice layer of insulating hay/straw that has spread over the old snow, thus there is a glacier growing underneath the corrals. Even the warm days that melt the snow don't penetrate the glacier. Barn doors barely close, some gates have been abandoned with the easier choice of climbing the fence - but the days are getting longer. As I was out in the foggy frozen morning the other day I heard a flock of Red Winged black birds singing from a tree further down the valley. It reminded me of my grandmother's farm where thousands of them show up around Christmas time. The sign of them here, in the colder farther north region is a sure sign that spring is out there.... somewhere....