Been weird for birds recently. The sandhill cranes came through a couple weeks ago, way early, and today I saw my first violet and green swallows, birds that typically don't arrive until the bluebirds are sitting on eggs. So odd. Yet, I'm inclined to think they know something I don't.

Even so, it's been an odd week for weather. A lot of wind, wildly shifting temperatures (again, wind), rain, sun, rain, sun, and this morning, snow. The pond is full and the ground soaked through. Puddles everywhere going nowhere anytime soon. The blooms are starting to finally show on the decorative plum, but at least four weeks later than last year, and we're down to about a quarter-cord of wood.

No salamander newts to be seen in the pond. Maybe the pair of mallards and another of wood ducks have something to do with that. I am still caught unaware when I hear the quacks, wondering for a split second if I somehow forgot to put our long-dispatched ducks in the coop the night prior.

Wednesday is the day the local paper arrives. Usually,  the first thing I'm after is the fishing report  but the front page caught my attention. After a thirty-year hiatus, FFA is coming back to the high school. An agricultural area without an FFA. So odd.  Yet some folks have had the foresight to provide some initial funding for the group, which I also would be inclined to do if I could somehow finagle one of their jackets for myself.

Saw this today:

 A bit odd, no?