1. The birds are back in town. And no, I don't mean robins or ducks. I mean seagulls. I have been seeing them everywhere and their sounds remind me of the ocean. Also, I have seen evidence of other animals out and about. There are plenty of squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and deer around. When Bates and I go outside we rush to the top plateau (to get an idea of the lay of our land, we are about 50 feet from the road, with a slight incline and then another 50 feet (inclined) from that we have a clearing with a pond. Behind that we have lots of woods. We are basically one football field wide and three deep) and have a contest of who can spot the deer first. It's not a question of if, but where. Bates usually wins. Sometimes we see 3-4 but lately we have been seeing upwards of 10.
2. The ships are back. The harbor is closed for about 2 months of the year and I saw my first ship in the lake approaching the harbor. I almost went down and watched it glide through the canal (for a nice webcam of the canal, visit http://www.lsmma.com/camfs.html). Watching the ships is a hobby for some and all the expected departure and arrival times are printed in the newspaper daily.
3. My dog is shedding. And we aren't talking strands of hairs. It is coming out in clumps as if he were a sheep. I could vacuum everyday (do I, no) and it wouldn't be enough. I have been brushing him everyday and it doesn't seem to help. We went down to the lake two weekends ago and walked on the beach (okay, it is covered in little stones, but it is a beach all the same) and he got horribly muddy. I can tell 'mud season' (unfortunately what everyone calls it here) will be fun.
4. The temperature has been above freezing during the day. Yesterday the high was 54 and the breeze felt...gulp...nice. Also, this means the pot-hole crews have been on our street twice already. They have two pot-hole crews that started in mid-February. One crew heads east, the other west. They fill up with 2000 pounds of warm patch and go until they run out. We had this really visious pot hole about 1 mile from our house. It was so bad we warned people who were visiting to look out for it. It wasn't very big, but the shape of it was such that it could change the trajectory of your travel. It was fixed in late Feb. We saw the crews out again on our street last week.
5. Dairy Queen opened. Enough said.
6. The snow is melting. The driveway is completely melted and it is full of mud and gravel. I took the dog yesterday down to our mailbox and he got completely filthy. All the natives say I am very lucky to be leaving during the worst time of year...mud season. Apparently this is much less desirable than winter. I am sad I don't get to see the first leaves and grass or the bears coming out of hibernation. After 90.5" of snow this year (yeah....just go ahead and think how much snow that is), we have 18" on the ground still. They say we are losing about 1" per day in the shade, so if the weather stays above freezing we should at least have the snow gone by middle of April. ..........Speaking of bears, we also hear we aren't supposed to feed the birds once the bears come out of hibernation. Unless you are like us and have a bear proof feeder (built by the previous owners). It is a steel pole over 8 feet tall posted deep in the ground with a bird feeder on top and hooks for suet. Our neighbors said it was bear proof because they once saw a black bear standing on its hind legs pushing and pushing on the pole and it didn't give out. I don't know if I am comforted or frightened by this.
8. People are wearing less clothing. I washed our winter coats and we are now wearing our spring coats. I see lots of young people wearing shorts, sandals, Capri’s, even tank tops. I think it is a little soon for that. The weather forecasters aren't even wearing their coats anymore. Why, you ask, does a weather forecaster wear their coats during broadcasts? Well, in Duluth the weather forecasters on television give their forecast outside. Yup...Outside. By the way, Sven Sundgaard (http://www.kbjr.com/anchor/anchor-story.asp?n=6) is one of the cutest meteorologists and probably one of the youngest to be chief. And yes Clay knows why we watch NBC news.
Well, my three months in Duluth are up tomorrow as I fly back to CA for my last quarter at UCLA. I hope you have enjoyed my tales. I won't be writing again until July when I am back in Duluth. I am sure there will be plenty to write as I share my first seasonal year in Duluth with you. I am sending another e-mail after this one with a couple of pictures of our snowbound house. I hope all is well with everyone!!!!
