Spring has sprung

By Nellie Curtiss …

Spring is here; and the wind is bully-ish like it is king of the sky.  How is it that March is famed to come in like a lion and out like a lamb? Here in the Valley, the third month of the calendar comes in like a lion and out like a pride of loud and hungry lionesses.  Yes it is April first after all.

With snow showers and temperatures at 18 degrees, some mornings are too cold to even imagine spring; but afternoons upward of 60 degrees or more are welcome delights for those gardeners like Robin James, Gayla Nietsche, or everyone at North River Road Garden Center. Tulip bulbs and other seeds are in the ground.  Some ranchers have already welcomed spring air with their newborn calves, lambs and kids bumping into life.

Evelyn still raises goats. She managed sheep not that long ago, too. In years gone by, she and her recently passed brother Ed would put goat moms and kids in the barn with enough hay and straw.  Once, a pair of kids was born in the field, away from the barn.  They safely retrieved them and established them with their mom in a clean barn nook.

Spring comes in atypical ways in different geographical areas, like Galveston. I learned from a long-time friend Kayla that she once was greeted by a house’s roof brushing by her second story office window, not far from the San Luis pass on Galveston Island. She described it as a beach house without its stilts just sauntering by. Her description of the wooden house nearly careening through that office window must have been such an adrenaline rush.  What a rush and burst of laughter to catch a whole house and its sliding glass doors moving along the double lane highway, a stone’s throw from the beach. 

Pam, another friend, marked her retirement from the university eight years ago.  She promptly filled her retirement calendar with family and grandchildren in Galveston.  She shows necklaces and earrings she created at From the Heart Gallery in Galveston, Texas where Kayla also shows her watercolors and “itty bitties.” When I visit by phone, I can hear them lounging on a veranda sipping iced tea! Seems to be true that spring is a good time to retire.

Family pets also get rambunctious these days as April opens.  My cats are stricken with electric flutters as they scamper away from each other and tumble across the yard.  Then they crowd as I feed the ten or twenty on the deck with high protein kibble. My cocker spaniel is also close at foot as we fight the winds and realign pet bowls for feeding. He is waiting for a morsel to drop. “Any little bit will do,” I can hear him think.

As the earth axis tilts for spring, wildlife along the valley floor have increased their travels as bison did eons ago with Ute and Navajo. Bald eagles and hawks perch on barren cottonwoods. Ducks and geese move slowly in the waters around Alamosa Wildlife Refuge and Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge, too. A month ago, noisy migrating Sand Hill Cranes alerted viewers to the annual Crane Festival in Monte Vista in March. This week, a few stragglers still squawked when they dipped down close to Ski High on Sherman.  Spring has sprung.

— Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com

Cutline for picture: The picture is titled Spring Wind and is made with watercolor markers and pencils.