Spring Skiing, Spring Fever

I was back out skiing after five days of being sick with a spring cold. Yesterday's "historic blizzard" left a layer of frozen rain and snow on the tracks that had been set by Fargo Parks right before the storm. The high winds blew a lot of branches on the trail, which I did my best to clean up as I skied. It was 23 degrees, which meant crust skiing! I slid over the frozen surface of the snow without sinking in the deep snow on my way down to the river.

The only creature to use the trails since the storm left his footprints in the track.

Once there, I looked around to see the results of the storm and to look for signs of spring. It felt good to be outside again--I was getting cabin fever from being inside so much. Weakened from being sick, I skied pretty slowly and stopped to cough and blow my nose a lot.

The river is thawing and also rising from the warmer water to the south. 

For awhile, a reddish little squirrel raced next to me through the willows growing along the bank before veering off toward the river. On my way back, I heard the gobbles of several turkeys from the Minnesota side of the river. In looking for where the sound was coming from, a movement in the sky caught my eye--a bald eagle! I wonder if the turkeys were vocalizing at him?

Even though there is a lot of snow, the angle of the sun is high and there are many signs that spring is almost here. I'm glad to be up and about to witness them.

Buds are already forming on the tree branches.