Bill Felker

Poor Will’s Almanack for the third week of Early Spring.

On this date many years ago, Buttercup the family bulldog and I were walking along the river into Mint Hollow. It was a rainy and windy afternoon, full of the scent of the thawing ground. I was thinking, while I walked, about spring, and about Lent, and Easter coming, and then about my childhood Irish Catholic fasting and abstinence this time of year.

This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack for the Second Week of Early Spring.

When pussy willows open all the way, then all the snow crocuses and golden aconites come into full bloom, and woolly bear caterpillars come out from winter hibernation. Pussy willow time is the time when clover and wild violet leaves start to grow; horseradish stretches out to an inch or two, and red rhubarb unfolds in the sun .

Poor Will’s Almanack for the First Week of Early Spring.

Mountain bluebirds are returning to Yellowstone. Bald eagles are laying eggs. Ravens pair up for spring, frolicking as they court. Snow midges appear as the weather becomes milder along the mountain streams; they provide early food for birds and fish, which become more active as equinox approaches.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the Final Week of Late Winter.

The days are lengthening a minute every day, but it is still hard for me to believe in spring. In the garden, daffodils and snowdrops have budded. Pussy willows are emerging with every thaw.

But I always want more, and I want it sooner, and I think that it is accepting just part of the whole that causes the problem. Considering just warmth and green as normal and good: That is what makes it hard to wait.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the Third Week of Late Winter.

Between the first day and last day of February, the day increases by more than an hour throughout most of the United States, and natural history shows the growing power of the spring. Like the steady shifting of the sun and the stars, precedents from previous years make promises for the fledgling seasons