Sun and Solitude in the Refuge

~~Squirrel dogs on the alert~~

I was glad to see a number of blog postings yesterday, confirming that I'm not the only North Idaho resident on the verge of going beserk cuz of lingering winter doldrums.

As my niece said, the unyielding shackles of winter seemed to be in the air yesterday---depression, grumpiness, downright disgust, etc.

Yup, we had more snow on the fifth day of spring.

On the fourth day of spring my front yard looked like the photo above. I saw the dogs out there Monday morning eyeing the limbs of our Scotch pine tree, so I snapped a photo. Yesterday, the ring around the tree was once again white as the snow once again fell relentlessly.

I refused to let it get me down, though, cuz I knew I had the day completely to myself. Bill was gone to Moscow, Mother had Cis helping out at her house, my brother and his wife were coming for the afternoon, so I finished my morning chores and took off for Bonners Ferry.

As I drove north, the snow turned to rain, and by the time I reached the Kootenai Valley, the rain had stopped and a hint of sun was casting its way across the vast expanse of flat farmland. The mountains to the west looked pretty snowy, but they seemed to be holding on to their weather, not allowing it to pass on to the east.

If I was lucky, I could get down there in time to soak up a little sun and walk on bare ground.

I was lucky.

Thankfully, the mountains kept that fog and snow corraled while I set off down a trail to the north. Birds were singing, screaming and yelling from all directions. I spotted several woodpeckers darting in and out of naked cottonwoods.

Geese were taking off, squawking, soaring over the valley and bound for splashdowns in different wetlands within the refuge. Swans were just kinda quiet and sitting there.

And, as I walked back to the car, a crow stood out in the field of bent-over stubble, gabbing away while pecking at the ground for goodies.

The refuge was hardly at its prettiest stage with it lack of color, but it was dry and peaceful.

Both were very satisfying to me as I walked briskly down trails matted with last year's cottonwood leaves, embraced the slight wind blowing in my face, admired the sun shining down from blue patches in the clouds and savored my welcome sample of solitude.