---

   The lake level was high when the weather forecasters were calling for more rain. We knew the mother goose nesting on the island had to be close to hatching her eggs but also knew any amount of rain would wipe them out. That evening, before the rain started, we saw her swimming away with eight newly hatched goslings. By the next morning, the only part of the island we could see was the tops of the trees growing there. Her timing could not have gotten any closer. Disaster was averted by hours for her twenty-eight days of effort.

   Tuesday morning while relaxing on the porch, enjoying our morning coffee, we noticed a hummingbird fly up and briefly hover where the hummingbird feeder hangs during the summer. He had apparently been there before and expected to find the feeder still there. I got one of the feeders out of storage while my wife mixed up some sugar water. When we hung it up, within an hour, he was back and promptly took advantage of a free meal. In a couple more hours, there were four hummingbirds, both males and females fighting over the feeder and grabbing a quick snack.

   The next morning, during our regular morning routine of drinking coffee on the porch, we saw a Baltimore oriole fly through the yard. I quickly put some grape jelly in the oriole feeder and got it out for him. By that afternoon, there were three pairs of Baltimore orioles and one pair of orchard orioles flying back and forth from the feeder to nearby trees, filling the area with splashes of color and their mating songs.

   Wednesday afternoon, my anxiously awaited box of bees arrived. We had to wait until this time of year to get them so they could forage for pollen and get adjusted to their new home. We got them in their new hive, fed and watered, and tucked in to settle down from their being moved around. They seemed to tolerate the transfer without getting too upset. I was instructed to just leave them alone for several days to oriented to the area. It was difficult, but I waited until yesterday afternoon to check on them. Approaching the hive, quite a few bees were flying around the entrance of the hive. We could see bees coming in with the pollen sacks on their legs packed full. Others were coming out, going for more pollen. They seemed quite docile and unconcerned about our presence so we did not bother putting on the bee suits for protection, just wearing our veils so they could not sting our faces. On pulling a few frames, we discovered they had been busy as bees. New honeycomb was being built and cells were being filled with pollen. We spotted the queen working away, being tended by several workers. They had drank almost a gallon of sugar water so I closed up the hive while we went back to the house to make some fresh juice. When we opened the hive the second time to re-fill the feeder, we did not bother to put even our bee veil. The bees mostly ignored us while we refreshed their food. Those that did pay us any attention seemed more curious than anything.

   This morning, my wife glanced down the hill at the lake and noticed a duck with a bunch of baby ducklings swimming around. I checked with the spotting scope and saw it was a hen wood duck with nine new babies slightly larger than ping pong balls. We have seen a number of the beautiful drakes hanging around for several weeks, so we knew the hens had to be on the nest somewhere in the area.

   Everywhere we look, spring is in full swing.

---