My Favorite Time of Year

This morning I went out on the front porch and caught the sounds of geese...no, wait...not geese, turkeys!  Funny how I was ready to hear geese and my foggy early morning brain was carrying on watching the dog and hearing what it thought it was supposed to hear down in the Back River.  My brain snapped to attention though when it realized that was not the sound of geese, but of the turkeys.  I have neither seen nor heard from them since fall.  It's exciting to know that they will soon be strutting across the yard again with their brood.  Every time I see them all puffed out, I think how disappointed the Pilgrims must have been with their first turkey.  "Wow, look at the size of that bird!"  And then they deflate.
About an hour later,  just as I was heading out the door for work, I saw under the bird feeder a little red squirrel and a big gray squirrel together eating bird leftovers.  For some reason we don't have squirrels out here, red or gray.  We are in the middle of the woods, but no squirrels (nor rabbits, for that matter).  I've seen one squirrel in the 12 years we've been here.  Now this morning I've seen two...one of each.  It was such a novelty that I hesitated long enough to be just in time for work instead of early.  Of course, as soon as they heard me open the door they scurried away.  I really hated disturbing their mealtime, but I had to get to work.  I'm hoping they remember the fine cuisine and return soon.  They'd better be quick though; the turkeys like that spot, too.
It's such fun hearing and seeing everything come back to life in spring.  It's my favorite time of year.  Shhh...just don't tell autumn.  It thinks it's my favorite time of year.