Another Sign of Spring

"Look at the sky," I told my husband. "The sky is spectacular tonight."

The moon was nearly full, and the stars, so bright and welcoming, unlike the cold, distant sky of winter.

The sheep must have thought so too.

For, in the early morning sheep check, the sheep were not under the barn's overhang, the spot where they've snoozed every night this winter.

Instead, I found them in the pasture, sleeping on green spring grass, under the blanket of stars.

Ma Nature is Listening

Two mornings of
defrosting the horse waterers with my hair dryer,
coaxing the water pump to work,
walking the dogs in the cold, biting wind,
breaking ice out of the water buckets,
and carrying extra hay to sheep,
had me questioning my love of winter.

Then, the wind died down last night,
the stars came out,
the almost-full moon illuminated the ice crystals on the ground,
I was surrounded by thousands of twinkling lights,
and I loved winter once again.