I KNOW…we are barely half way through Winter and I am thinking Spring. It is the recent balmy temperatures …albeit, mixed up with some very cold. But then, yesterday morning, I noticed that it was light…at 7:30 a.m.!

I love Winter and snow and snowshoeing and cold but about this time of year I am ready for less of it and what I really enjoy is the back and forth nature of Montana’s transition to Spring. It is a good thing I enjoy that as we do the back and forth thing until mid-June at least…one day warm, the next a snow squall, rain, etc.

It is early February, there is still snow on the ground and a new 6 inches yesterday.

But what made me realize we were turning the corner was the light…at 7:30 a.m. At 48 North the change in where and when the sun rises and sets is fairly dramatic but in the height of Winter or Summer it seems to be stable for a bit and then it starts what feels like a rapid change…or maybe we are just ready for a change and start noticing.

For me, it is always welcome, whether it is that shortening of days in the late Summer that foretell Fall or the lengthening days in late Winter that speak of Spring.

And the wild things know…

Some of them are awake a bit more and feeding in different places…

…or familiar places.

Good stuff or editorial comment???

Either way, we are all noticing that we are turning the corner to Spring.