Welcome to Our World

8:00 AM temp: 59
Yesterday: 63/45
Normal: 73/45

The neighbors

We finally saw a fawn yesterday. I’ve been watching for weeks, but apparently they come later in the spring than I expected. This one was born next door, on a fenced lot of nearly an acre. The fawn is out of sight in the brush most of the time, but ventured out with mama this evening. Mama comes and goes, but the fawn will be on that property until it is old enough to jump the fence.

Last year a fawn was also born on that property, and one evening later in the summer we saw several adult deer on the outside of the fence and the fawn frantically running the fence line but unable to get out. It was hard to watch, but it is probably actually a safe place for a young deer to grow up, out of reach of neighborhood dogs.

Spring wind

8:00 AM temp: 33
Yesterday: 49/28
Normal: 46/25

Sun and clouds

It snowed this morning and clouds obscured the mountains for much of the day. In the afternoon the clouds lifted, the wind picked up and there were pockets of sun.

The afternoon wind sent waves smashing up against the ice, breaking off chunks. I watched a pair of Canada geese standing on a piece of ice about the size of a surfboard, bobbing in the waves, then navigating their way among the ice chunks back to open water.

Receding ice

8:00 AM temp: 45
Yesterday: 54/30
Normal: 45/25

For Tess it’s swimming season again. For the rest of us…well, we’ll wait.

The ice by City Beach shrank noticeably the past couple days, but hasn’t broken up yet. Usually the Whitefish Lake Institute has a fundraiser where they suspend a large rock above the ice and people guess which day in the spring the ice will melt enough that the rock falls into the water. Typically that day is in April, but that part of the lake never froze this year.

Early spring

8:00 AM temp: 32
Yesterday: 55/34
Normal: 44/24

I’m seeing lots of goldeneyes on the lake again. They are hanging out along the edge of the ice, sometimes sitting on the ice and sometimes in the water paddling along and bobbing under.

Yesterday at dusk we saw a large flock of geese on the far side of the lake, lifting off in waves, circling, and landing again. They looked small for Canada geese, making us wonder if they could be migrating snow geese. It was too dark and they were too far away to tell. We’ll keep our eyes open the next few days.

There’s big melting going on with this warm spell. It’s supposed to reach 55 again today. I can see patches of ground in the yard again, reminding me that I need to do something about landscaping – last summer’s repair work on the house left much of the yard torn up. Time to make a plan, a good task for early spring.