We had our first big thunderstorm in the early a.m. today.  I had gotten used to the unseasonably warm weather we've been having here in the Upper Midwest and had planned on visiting the farm I frequent in the warmer months this morning. The milk shortage during the winter months is officially over, so the girls on the farm are in full milk production now.  Their calves began being born on All Snakes Day this year.  All are born as of today, March 30, 2012.   I will plan on getting a head count and meeting the cows and their calves on a warmer day, since the weather this morning was very cold and rainy.  High today is 38 degrees.

After bundling up in several layers, I headed outdoors to discover something new.  My first discovery in the gloomy morning chill, was this old cornfield (pictured above).  I stopped and took in the dark sky of the morning and watched the clouds move NE across the sky.  I noticed the pools of rain collected in the field and felt relieved to know we're finally having March-like weather, rain and all.

Yonder down the road, Covered Bridge Park was also fairly flooded (as seen in above photo and top of page photo).   I don't think it was typical for a human to be wandering around at the park in the early morning rain, since I startled up several Canadian geese and a pair of Sandhill cranes only a few yards away from me. They merely flew up a few feet and moved a few more yards away before settling on the bank of the Cedar Creek again.  Although I was bundled up, I felt frozen to the bone after about ten minutes.  A pair of crows across a flooded area from me, flew up and over the top of my head and into a large oak tree behind me.  I took it as my queue to get back into some warmth.

After finding a warm drink in Cedarburg, I headed to Lime Kiln Park in Grafton, WI.  The above photo is part of the Milwaukee River East-West Watershed, which is part of the Milwaukee River Basin.  I followed the river SW to softer current.

Last week the DNR reported the sturgeon in Wolf River had started to spawn due to the warm weather.  Currently, there are several area sturgeon reintroduction projects in the SE part of Wisconsin.  It's one of my hopes to see a healthy population of this incredibly beautiful and awe-inspiring fish.

My hot drink was long gone, and I was fully frozen from the morning's discovery adventure.  I decided it was time to get back to the mundane world of work and chores.  But before completely out of the park I discovered this fella who looked like he was on his own discovery adventure.

It was lovely to end this morning's gloomy adventure with the sighting of this crow.  This morning's discoveries spoke patience and waiting to me.  Soon the flooded fields will slowly drink up all the standing water, but for now it is a slow drip-by-drip process.  The green world slowly begins to uncoil from the earth, branch, or stone from which it grows from.  The birth of land, air, and water animals grow in strength and wait for the shelter and source of food the leaves of trees and plants provide.
 So we wait, in patience, on this cusp of lush vital green explosion.