Today I ran around doing fun things.  Along the way I saw lots of things that made me smile.  Here’s the short version:

I was outside working with Katie because we have doggie school tomorrow night.  After a little bit of sitting and staying she got bored and went to sit in the shade.  I sat down with her in the long grass under the tree and we just watched the world go by.  That in itself was nice, but as we sat there a wild turky ( http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/i3100id.html ) walked out of the shurbs near the house, strutted across the lawn in front of us and disappeared in the underbrush by the road.  Katie and I were both still as we watched the turkey go by.  Me because I was amazed.  Katie because that was the biggest bird she’s ever seen!

Later in the day I dropped by my library.  In the yard was a kildeer( http://www.kildeer.district96.k12.il.us/kildeerBird/KildeerBird.html ) with three tiny little round baby kildeer birds running all over.  The babies were about the size of a golf ball and just the cutest thing.  Then I drove down to Milford on my way to a mall.  Going through town I noticed the families of Canadian geese   each complete with 3 or 4 yellow dumpling baby geese.  Apparently spring is happening everywhere, whether or not I’m ready for it!

After my quick trip to the mall I stopped at Kensington Metro Park http://www.metroparks.com/parks/pk_kensington.php# to check on the blue herons who are nesting now.  I wanted to see if the young ones had hatched, but I think the adults are still sitting on the eggs.  On the way out of the park I saw a whole mess of swans out on the lake, so I turned down a road to get a closer look.  Pulling into the first picnic parking area I found a pair of sand hill cranes http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/i2060id.html    right in front of me!  I sat and watched those from my car for quite awhile.  When they finally wandered off into the woods I began to try to count the swans.  There were over a hundred out in the lake, it was impossible to count them all.  It was pretty spectatular.

When I got home I walked the dog and realized the lupin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin  is beginning to bloom in my yard.  See, not everything that makes me smile is a bird!