Friday morning and it is grey and cloudy and 45°. But the rain has left the area and we are waiting on sunshine. The good news is that today is the end of winter and spring officially begins at 5:45 this evening. However, winter is doing an "out brief" up in the northern Atlantic states and dropping more snow on them on the way out.

The bad news is that Ms. Kate isn't doing any better with this cold/virus thing that has had her in bed since Tuesday night. I know a lot of people that have had this thing and they have all been miserable with it, and it totally zaps your strength. She's on the phone with our daughter Heather right now and our daughter Julie will be here later today. I know that those two things will make her feel some better. Family contact has a way of making things better. Well, it does in our family anyway. With some families it only increases the tension. But we are very blessed to have a loving family. I have no doubt Lisa will be calling later; she does every day. Say a prayer for Ms. Kate please.

I filled a few feeders this morning with suet and bark butter. Later today I"ll go out and top everything else off. There is a good dozen cardinals out there this morning.  The Downy Woodpeckers were here earlier before I filled up their feeders and were going from feeder to feeder looking for food. Several varieties of woodpeckers have come in since I filled them. A single squirrel is on one of the feeders. I have no doubt it will be joined by others shortly. There were several out there when I first came out to the sunporch but a couple of BB shots later and they decided to eat elsewhere. This guy out there seems to be the advance party for the gang. My BB gun doesn't hurt them, it just annoys them. Some times, depending on how hungry they are, they will just sit there and let the BBs bounce off of them and keep on eating. Other times they will take off as soon as I open the door. They have gotten so used to it that they will perk up when I cock the BB gun even though the doors are closed. Its like they are waiting to see if I'm serious or not.

Mr. Mocking bird appears to maybe have a problem with one leg as that is al it is using to stand. I'm often amazed at the fragility and size of these creatures and yet their adaptability to the elements is phenominal. It just alwasys amazes me to sit and truly watch the intricate nature of God's creatures. I simply do not understand how anyone could enjoy the wonders of nature without a fundamental belief in God. I don't understand how anyone could look at the billions and billions of intricate details that make this planet or this universe and the creatures on it work in total harmony and then claim that "it just happened by accident". God is no accident.