Outdoors

Oh, how good the sweet fresh air feels. I am sitting in the yard at the Life Care Center, and I can’t begin to describe what a pleasure it is to get outside.
Yesterday was Friday, March 18, and a small band of mule deer wandered through the yard. The band included one male, two females and one young.
He was no longer spotted but was very small. I wondered if it would make it through the winter.

Reprinted from March 15, 2006

March came in like a lamb, but it was a very frisky one. The day was warm, blue and spring-like, but that little lamb kicked up its heels, creating a considerable amount of wind. Since then, March has been as fickle as usual, with warm near-70-degree days spiced with spring snow and typical wind.

Deep winter is rather a quiet time in the out of doors in this area. Black or near black seems to be the predominant color. Even the endless forest seems to be more black than green against the white of winter snow.

The bitter cold of early February brought a stark black-and-white panorama as cold and sterile as an operating room. However, color is present in small amounts, and the first warms days of March bring forth to welcome spring. The buds and bark of deciduous tree twigs are often quite brilliant and announce the coming of spring long before it finally arrives.

One of the few deciduous trees native to this area is the box elder, Acer negundo, also known as the ash-leaved maple. It is an interesting tree that has made its way all across the Great Plains with a little help from mankind.

People brought this tree to their early homesteads and planted it in yards as windbreaks around their homes. It is still found in many yards and along many plains water courses.