Yep, I did hear spring..

While there will still be some more rain to come, and we could even get freak snow storms till June, Spring has, for the most part finally arrived here. Today, in addition to the cows, the little swallows were showing up, looking for nesting places. My grandpa called these Mud Dobbers, because they make a little rounded nest of mud that hangs from the eaves of houses. Their "true" name is the Cliff Swallow, and there are many different variations in Ca.

I'm amazed at how prolific these little guys are - producing sometimes two batches of young in a summer. They'll usually build two or three nests and then decide on ONE to actually use. Here, you can see where one of them is clinging to the eaves and getting ready to lay the first row of mud.

They also have a really pretty little song that they sing to each other, rather constantly!

While they're not really brave, they're not as afraid of us as some of the other birds are. They will buzz your head if you're in the way while they're trying to build a nest. They also sit right on the patio wall and wait for you to decide what you're doing - as far as they're concerned you should be vacating the area so they can get back to nest building.

Poor Chloe.... she could hardly stand that these little birds didn't cooperate with her version of what should be happening - the birds should be stopping, on the ground, so she can catch and eat them.....

In addition to the Swallows, the bugs have started to make their appearances... When they come in the house, especially the ants, it drives me NUTS. However, I don't mind them so much when they're outside. They serve a purpose out there... inside, not so much.

Ever since our trip to Ft. Bragg last month, LD has become fascinated with crawly things - which is good, because not too long before that they kind of freaked him out. Today, when we took a break in our gardening, he found an ant carrying some other bug....

I actually sort of felt sorry for this little ant, for a minute at least.....And then I went back to remembering that if he came in the house I'd smash him in a hot second.

The next thing I knew, LD had taken the mystery bug from the ant and was chasing the ant till it disappeared under the bricks.... run little ant, run!!

All in all a great day... made even better by dessert....