The Payoff

Spring is back (again)! I just looked at the extended forecast for the week ahead here in Flagstaff, and WOW! Spring weather all week! Starting today!

I had to come here and post about it, that is how excited I am...maybe a little ridiculous, but I can't express how tired of winter weather I am! Why live in Flagstaff then? Winter comes early and stays late in these mountains. Well...there are times I feel like moving, for sure. But...then Spring finally arrives in earnest, once She gets past Her mood-swing stage, and then you know Summer isn't far behind.

We live in a coniferous forest, and when the sun warms up all those Ponderosa pine trees, the air is scented with pine. Not like C'mas trees smell...but an almost butterscotch-y scent with pine undertones. It's hard to describe, but if you've ever been to the AZ mountains in the summer, you know what I'm talking about. I am sure it will be warm enough this week to have that delicious scent in the air!

I think we'll put out a couple more bird feeders this spring, too. Maybe the suet kind. We are lucky enough have a duck preserve a short walk from our house, which of course is home to many kinds of birds, not just ducks! So, we have a large variety of birds near by that will visit our yard if we tempt them with some goodies.

It's almost time to dust off the humming bird feeders too...maybe one more month. I like to put them out a little early, because it seems to attract a bigger crowd by mid-summer. One year we had what my husband jokingly referred to as a hummingbird "infestation"...I had so many! Clouds of them! I am not exaggerating when I say there were 40 or 50 of the zippy little birds flying around my front porch one year. I loved it!

I'm also looking forward to monsoon season. That's another one of my favorite things to do...my husband and I like to sit on the front porch during the big thunder and lightening storms, and watch the rain pour down in sheets. We don't even need to talk...we just sit together quietly, enjoying the cool mist from the rain, feeling the vibration from the great crashes of thunder, and watching the spectacular lightning arc across the sky.

Down in the Pumphouse Wash meadow, the elk will start showing up soon. There's usually a big bachelor herd that spends a lot of time there, munching on the tall grass. You can always tell whenever they are out there, because cars pull over and line the road as people stop to watch them. I'm often one of them, out there with my paparazzi lens, snapping photos. The elk will be frequent visitors there all summer and in to fall.

So...yes, I am excited about a whole week of warm weather. The windows will be open, baby Boo and I will be out there strolling, my camera will get a work out. The payoff for enduring the mountain winter is right around the corner!

P.