All winter we have had one lone turkey come to the bird feeders everyday.  I called him Hopalong, because he had a hurt foot, missing toe, and he hopped .  It was amazing to me that he survived not only a frigid winter, but lots of snow, and all by himself.  Was he a loner by choice or did the rest of the turkeys avoid him because of his hop?  At our Cabin Fever party, my neighbors saw Hopalong in the front yard and remarked "there's George - Lonesome George", their name for the bird.  Anyway, last Friday when I came home from School, Hopalong had a visitor, a big tom turkey that kept strutting around him, looking at his reflection in my living room window, and even attacking the porch window.  He must have thought it was another amorous male turkey.

So it turns out that maybe Hopalong, or George is really Georgie Girl.  Today another tom turkey, not quite mature was following her around.  It takes four weeks for the eggs to develop so if George or Georgie Girl starts bringing a family to the feeder, that mystery will be solved.

Another sign of Spring, the Carolina wren is building a nest in our grill again.  She did this two years ago, and is back in the same spot.  She goes into the grill through the hole in the bottom where there used to be a grease can to catch the falling grease.  The grill hasn't worked for years, so it's no problem.  We just don't know how to get rid of a big broken grill, so it stands guard near the propane tank in the back yard.

I've gotten past the "no burning" ordinance in our village.  I picked up lots of broken branches and sticks - all signs of a bad winter and the cicada invasion of last summer.  Anyway, I make a big pile of burning material, start my little Weber grill up, and burn in pieces all the yard refuge. " Just  having a little camp fire, no sir, I am not burning brush, " I imagine my response to the fire truck in the front of the house.  Spring and burning wood is in the air.

And today, I hung up clothes outside for the first time.  The big pile of snow under the clothes line has finally melted.  It felt wonderful to hang those clothes, and to smell them as I took then down, completely dried in the wind today.  Spring - good to finally have you.