Harbingers of Spring

I knew that spring was REALLY coming the other night when I fell asleep planning a garden instead of my next scrapghan.  Plus, Greenhouse Day was February 11th.  That's the day that the earth has tilted southward on its axis enough that there is heat in the sun's rays--enough heat the the garden centers can fire up their greenhouses to start the little plants going so I can plant the garden I was dreaming of. 

Greenhouse Day is way more accurate to my mind than the unreliable rodent from the East Coast!

Mother Nature must have gotten the memo also that winter is going to have to give up the ghost soon--please, please, please--and blessed us over the weekend with a beautiful day full of warm (ish) temperatures, blue skies, and lots of sun.

Captain and I took advantage of the mild weather and had a date day.  We had this planned for over a week and I was so excited about it I told everyone I saw about it.  I know, I'm a nerd and it doesn't take much to excite me.  Ask my coworker who listened to me rhapsodize about a pen I liked. 

Anyway, date day.  We are not fancy dinner people, we are not casino people, we are not movie theater people.  We are outdoors city, county, and state park people.  As such our plan was to snow shoe at Oxbow Zoo near Byron. 

Captain had to do chores at a neighbor's in the morning but he was home by 11:00 and we got ready.  Or, we tried to get ready.  Or, more accurately, Captain got ready and waited for me.  I have a pair of muck boots that are great for winter activities.  I have hat and mittens that keep my extremities warm.  I do not own long underwear or snow pants.  I have fleece leggings and a second-hand snowmobile suit that is starting to rip out in the butt.

This is why I was struggling into the pair of snowpants that Molly left here last year when she went ice fishing with her dad.  Remember, Molly is taller and slimmer than I am.  I am what my mom described as squat and sturdy. 

The legs of the snowpants were three inches too long, and I couldn't get the zipper up by myself.  I had to hold the two sides together while Captain zipped me up. 

And then I realized I had to pee.

So then it was reverse the whole dressing thing, pee, and do the dressing thing all over again.  By now I was sweaty, short of breath due to tight snow pants, and ready to get this over with. 

So off we went. 

At Oxbow Zoo, we saw several groups in the parking lot and outside the nature center preparing to cross country ski, but we were the only ones getting snow shoes.  For $3 a pair, it was the cheapest entertainment around!

Captain is trying to figure out his buckles

We snowshoed at Oxbow several years ago, and I am glad to say they have upgraded their rental equipment.  What we had the first time reminded me of tennis rackets with twine string on them.  This time it was the fancy-schmancy aluminum frame ones with straps and buckles.  Lots of straps and lots of buckles.

Eventually we got all strapped in and off we went.  We headed toward the campground via the children's interpretative play area.  Goodness, things look a lot different covered in snow than covered in grass! 

Captain celebrating his inner child

   

Even with the newer equipment, it took awhile to get into the rhythm of walking in snowshoes.  I had to stop every five minutes or so to rest my legs.  I used the excuse of photography to mask my true intent!  Still, I got some nice pictures. 

That's Captain down there waiting for me

Doesn't this look like a little railroad track?!

We looped around through the campground walking beside the cross-country ski trail.  The way they groom it, it looks like a little railroad track!  As we were "resting" in a campsite where we have actually camped in the past, a man came along the ski trail.  I asked him if I could take his picture because the vast whiteness against the blue sky behind him was just too impressive to pass up.  He was a good sport about having the weird old fat lady ask for his picture. 

We continued on along the river over to the picnic area with a bridge across the river.  We have had many picnics in this area over the years, and I have actually played with Cubby on this playground set. 

As we got closer to the bridge, we saw a family group coming across on snowshoes.  They stopped at the top of the steps down the bridge and contemplated the best way to descend.  The two pre-teen boys just plopped on their butts and slid down.  The dad and grampa came down backwards becuase they could dig their toes (with metal gripper teeth) into the snow.  Mom and gramma came down sideways one step at a time holding onto the railing for dear life. 

We stayed back to give them room, but did call out our congratulations on getting down the steps.  At this point, these two pre-teen boys went R-U-N-N-I-N-G across the snow in their snowshoes.  Up to that point, I had been feeling pretty righteous about my snowshoeing capabilities, but now I was a sail with the wind sucked out.

Since standing on that bridge happens to be a tradition of ours when we visit Oxbow, we ascended the steps as well and I did get some nice pictures.  Excuse Captain's shadow; I could avoid it.  When it was time to go back down the steps, I apparently forgot the lesson I'd learned watching the other people do it.  Instead of going down backwards, I tried going down sideways holding onto the railing for dear life.  Yeah, not so graceful but at least I didn't end up on my butt. 

We followed along the river for a little ways and then looped back because someone's (that'd be me) legs were getting sore and crampy.  I'm pretty sure Captain could have kept going for another hour.  I guess that new hip of his is working well. 

Back at the nature center, we returned our snowshoes and then wandered out to the zoo to see who was awake. 

Not the otters, darn it!  The wolves were awake and moving and actually came over to sniff in Captain's direction.  We decided it was because he was wearing his chore coat and probably smelled like supper. 

The zoo staff were just feeding the bobcat and lynx when we got there, so that was fun to watch.  And we learned something new--I love when that happens!  Another group of visitors who were also watching the cat feeding routine noticed that in the next block of cages about 100 yards away, the foxes were anticipating their lunch by tearing around in circles in their pens. 

Deciding that lunch was a darn good idea, we loaded up and headed to McDonalds in Byron.  Normally we avoid fast food places, but we didn't want to waste time taking off our outer gear to be presentable to go to a sit down place. 

By the time we got back home, we were both pretty tired, but it was a good kind of tired.  The kind of tired from having been active and energetic. 

I know that Mother Nature will throw more rounds of winter at us before I can actually plant that garden I dreamed about, but getting out into the fresh air and sunshine for awhile will help me get through whatever she has in mind. 

Plus I got to spend the day with my guy!  Isn't he the cutest thing?

That's my guy!