April 3rd: enough already!

This is April 3rd on Hillman’s Long Lake. Geez. We checked our logs. Last April 3rd we had just gotten the dock into the water.  Ice out occurred about two weeks earlier. On April 3, 2010 we were paddling in Ghost Bay and I saw a giant pike spring out of the big weed bed. There was a loon near Belly Button Island. And this year? Well, you’re looking at it.

We are crying “uncle” here in Michigan. And it has nothing to do with the fact that about a week and half ago we were paddling in the waters off Cedar Key, Florida.

I drove home today through sleet, freezing rain, and snow. Made it home without incident, but many others were not so fortunate. Cars were in ditches, flipped over in the median, and sitting by the side of the road apparently waiting for the blizzard to pass. I-75 was awash in emergency vehicles and motorists in trouble. There were definitely moments when I wished we had not followed our habit of  swapping out the snow tires in mid-March.

I hope our feathered migrants know not to head here yet. Loons? Stay where you are. And you ruby-throated hummingbirds? I assume you’ve left Costa Rico, but definitely hang out in Tennessee and warmer places awhile longer. Michigan is no place for the delicate ones this early April.