ICE OUT!

Last evening, with a little bit of ice still left on the pond.

It's a cause for celebration, a sure sign of spring... or better yet, a sign that winter has passed.  There will be no more ice skating, ice fishing, or strolls across the pond for a long time.  Yippee!  Today the last bit of ice on the southwest edge of the pond has melted.

ICE OUT!  This evening!

This evening as we sit and watch the sunset in Bonita Bay on the bistro bench, the world is full of sounds.  Birds are singing in every corner of the woods.  A sandhill crane sails across the sky giving his prehistoric like call.  Red-winged blackbirds sing atop the trees along with robins and cooing mourning doves.

Canadian geese have returned to the pond and are starting to lay their eggs in the exact same spot as last year.  One egg from last spring never hatched and we left it sit there in the grass - but today it was gone.  Perhaps the geese pushed the old egg into the pond to make way for their new ones.

Melting of the pond ice is a slow process as we wait each spring from day to day while warmer temps and winds slowly open it back up again.  The pond has had ice on it for about four and a half months, from last November until today.  It's just a normal part of our Wisconsin winters, and saying goodbye to the ice is something we look forward to each year in March or April.

Now we can once again experience the reflection of sunsets on the water and see the swirls created by fish swimming near the surface.  Soon turtles will be popping their heads out of the water and the frogs will start singing.  I can't wait for the frogs!  But today it's ICE OUT!  It's a grand day!

Muskrats celebrating ICE OUT this evening!