Spring is definitely in the air. At least all the birds are feeling it. The mornings are filled with bird song. The other day on my walk to the end of the street to snap the crocus, several hawks were wheeling around in the sky shrilly calling out to each other. They were making quite a racket. Each morning before the sun is up I hear turkeys, either clucking like a bunch of overgrown chickens, or sometimes a full-fledged gobble.

This morning was a little different. Again, I heard them before the sun came up. After feeding the dogs and going through my normal morning routine I looked out the study window and saw a few hens coming over to where I normally feed them. I went to get some food and noticed that there were hens everywhere! They scattered when I came out the door but it didn’t take them long to all come running across the yard flapping their wings. I counted sixteen hens. Once back in the house I looked out again and to my delight and amazement four huge toms were coming—and they were strutting their stuff with tails fanned out and wings down. I quickly ran upstairs to the the one window without a screen so I could get better photos.

What a show they were putting on for the girls! So important and all puffed up!

It soon became apparent that this was no ordinary visit. This was all about mating. The toms strutted and danced around a few of the hens, courting them. It was all very intricate and there didn’t seem to be any fighting or jealousy between the toms, which is something I’ve noticed before. Almost like they work together to help each other to get a date. In fact, here is an interesting article about how male turkeys help each other out in mating season. I’ll spare you the details of the actual mating, but it was pretty interesting. Let’s just say it didn’t look like she was having much fun. How many people have seen wild turkeys mate right in their front yard?!

At times they looked like Geisha girls performing a dance with their fans. I’m sure these macho birds would not like my analogy! But just look at this “dance of three tom turkeys.”

I guess we’ll be seeing little turkeylettes before too awfully long.

(The last photo was taken through the screen as they left the yard.)

A serious weather advisory is out for New Jersey today and tomorrow. This kind of weather can bring on fevers! And that weather advisory is ...

Oh my.

63 degrees F.

Sunny.

Warm enough to sit outside without a sweater on.

Laundry on the line outside.

Unbelievable!

Since I don’t have any crocus of my own, I walked down the street yesterday while the sun was out and “stole” these images of neighbor Larry’s (the fig tree giver) little blooms. They brightened my day! Goodness knows I need a little brightness since today dawned dark and rainy. Again.

Since our snow is basically gone now except for a few stray patches, I am ready to move on to the next season. The dogs aren’t quite as happy as we are about the changing weather. They miss their snow! Therefore, the iceberg that is still on the pool cover draws their attention. Here is Alex chilling out.

The other day I looked out to see all three of them laying on the icy pool cover. Of course by the time I got the camera out they had moved on to other things.

We finally got the last of our Christmas decorations down over the weekend. I can hardly believe this was pretty much our first chance since the day after Christmas. Last weekend the snow was gone but it was raining. But, it’s done now and good riddance! No more red-bowed wreaths over the windows. No more net lights on the dwarf Alberta spruces. No more outdoor extension cords. All gone and packed away.

The flooding has crested here now. Our closest mall, Willowbrook Mall, is under water and closed. Our TJ MAXX store that was flooded and closed for most of the year last year is now closed again. I don’t know if they will have to completely gut the store like they did last year or not. I was just thinking about going there when I was down that direction last week and then decided not to. I guess I should have since I haven’t been in it since they reopened! We are expecting nearly another inch of rain on Wednesday. I don’t know that will impact the current situation but it certainly won’t help it any.

Our weather has been cloudy and dreary, seemingly so for the past several months. Our temperatures have at least risen to the 40’s (and if we’re lucky we’ll hit 50), but it’s a chilly and damp 40—not a warm one. We managed to grill steaks outside last night but it wasn’t really grilling weather.

The trees have not budged since releasing their catkin pods. All it would take is a little warmth and I think they’d start popping. Goodness knows, they’ve certainly had enough water!

I am so ready to move on! Ready to put my fig tree back outside. Ready to retire Johnny to the back yard and get him out of the garage. Ready to take drives in Mia. Ready to go to the farmer’s market in Warwick on Sundays. Ready. Ready. Ready!

puddle reflection in my driveway

Flooding is plaguing us here in New Jersey. That’s how we know it’s the beginning of spring! Where our house is located we live pretty much at the top of the “water chain”  and we are not affected. In essence, we are the problem since everything is downhill from here. The rivers and streams were already swollen from our over 2 inches of rain that fell on last Sunday, but add to that the 3.56 inches of rain (measured at our house) that we had yesterday and overnight and you’ve got more trouble. The ground is about as saturated as it can get, and now several rivers in Wayne (where Rick works) are over their banks. Roads and schools closed, people evacuated. It’s a mess, but it’s not all that unusual. It happened last year around this time too. Remember my post on the falls in Paterson last year? It’s bound to be spectacular again but I don’t know if I will go or not.

Last night the rain came down so hard after midnight that I found it hard to sleep. The deafening drumming noise on my roof kept me awake. My driveway (which slopes downhill) was basically a river this morning and a miniature stream had formed in my side yard. The little stream behind our house is running like crazy and sounds more like a river with rapids than the normally placid little stream. It’s kind of a nice sound, very soothing, if you don’t think about why it sounds like that. If it were just a little warmer I’d have my windows open so I could listen to it.

But look what all that rain finally revealed under the last bit of snow in the flower beds ... daffodil eruption!

Things may look a bit dodgy right now, but I think we’re finally on the road to spring.