Today marks the final post for winter 2012-13. We’ll say hello to spring on Wednesday the Vernal Equinox.

Connecting with Nature can be difficult. Maybe you had a bad – or scary – experience with nature as a child.
It could have been a bad weather event – maybe a tornado or hail storm.
It could have been a bad experience with an animal – a dog bite, or a horse that didn’t want to be ridden.
It could have been a nature adventure – camping or hiking – that went bad, and turned into a disaster.

A beautiful day here in Oklahoma, but I hear from the weatherman than things are not so great for Chicago and the eastern seaboard and northeastern US are in for it later today. It may still be winter now, but don’t despair — spring is coming.

I can’t help but believe Spring is here. With the beginning of March, this year, as last year, winter seems to have been banished. I was reminded today that Daylight Savings Time begins next Sunday – surely one indicator we are sliding into a different season.

Hmmm – I’m debating whether or not this is a winter experience to share with you. But then, it is only March 1, and still technically winter,
right?

Fact is, I returned home about a week ago after a wonderful week in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. TB is on the southwestern coast of the island, away from big towns. Slow-paced and safe, with no big
resorts in the immediate vicinity, it’s the laid back Caribbean vacation place I’d always …

A few more weeks of winter left – and here are a few more facts about how some species adapt for winter with changes in habits, changes in fur
thickness or coloring and even changes in the composition of their blood.

JumpForJive — Dark-eyed juncos can clear 12 inches in one hop! During winter, these little birds can be seen hopping along the ground for up to six hours a day foraging for
high-energy snacks.
…

Today is a day for the record books – heavy snowfall and high winds in the western part of my state, Oklahoma. In other words, a blizzard. In my home over a hundred miles to the east, I am cozy and warm, watching the rain (expected to turn to snow with darkfall and a temperature drop) and the wind rustling the dried leaves and shaking the bushes. Today’s meditation features writings about nature’s winter fury . Hopefully you are not enduring what these men (real and fictional) endured during the coldest season.

With Spring just around the corner, it’s time to remind ourselves, as we plan our escapades for the warmer months of the year, that it is still
possible to be an explorer! We may not be the first to visit some natural, or civilized, place but if it is new to us – we are exploring!~

Get out there! Explore a place unknown to you. Maybe it’s your back yard! Maybe it’s a neighborhood park. Maybe it’s Oxley Nature …

The Farmers’ Almanac is a great source of ‘truths.’ Always entertaining, and sometimes they work. The following selections are from the month of Febtruary in the 2013 Almanac Engagement Calendar.

Minute differences are often found in the animal kingdom. Some species are sooo close in appearance and in anatomy, but yet those differences exist. The DNA is different, and most likely, the species will not interbreed. If they do, the resulting young may be sterile.
So – is there any real difference between a Lynx and a Bobcat, a Grizzly Bear and a Kodiak Bear? Or how about an Emperor Penguin and a King Penguin? Read on to learn more.