Winter's end

God! I hate the dregs of winter here in Tidewater, Virginia!! It is to cold and damp most of the time to get anything accomplished outside, and warm enough that there aren't any winter sports to enjoy. It's damp enough outside that if you stand in one place for more than an hour mold, and moss will begin to grow on your north side. I actually get somewhat depressed late in February every year, and stay that way until our Florida trip in the middle of March.
The Ospreys haven't shown up yet. They should arrive any day now, and will start redecorating last years nests in a couple of weeks. Shortly after that the female will sit on eggs for what seems like an eternity. The Osprey's call is extremely irritating! There is a nest box on a pole about a hundred feet from our bedroom window. The call is a very loud high pitched, " cheep! cheep! cheep! cheep! cheep! It never changes. We do enjoy watching them though. Our windows are about as high as the nest so we can look down on the chicks when they hatch. It's enjoyable watching them grow, and fledge out, and finally they jump up in the air above the nest and flap their wings madly. Eventually they will fly and then I will see them sitting on my dock, boat, crab pots, etc, until they finally figure the flying part out. The pair nesting in front of the house are good fishers. They successfully raised three young ones in each of the last two years.
The Ol' Curmudgeon