My April Fools Joke

Last night before retiring to bed I thought, ha, tomorrow is April Fools Day and I don't have a single person that will play a trick on me.  Both our girls are out of the home and my husband just doesn't do that kind of thing, much.  After eating breakfast and before the LDS General Conference came on television, I thought I would venture out for a walk.  From inside the house, it looked like a pretty nice day and when I stepped out onto the back porch, I wasn't disappointed.  There was a big, fat robin sitting on the grass right out the door but wasn't interested in getting it's picture taken and promptly flew away.  There were little birds all over the place singing at the top of their lungs.  What a beautiful April day, so I thought.  It wasn't until I got a ways from our home that I noticed how cold it really was and how much the wind was blowing - burr-r-r-r-r!  I thought, well, if I keep walking it should get warmer - NOT!  There was my April Fools joke......the look of a nice warm day, that really wasn't.  Here's all the proof I need to show you that first appearances can sometimes be deceiving.  Just outside my back door seemed beautiful, but once I started walking, no matter which way I turned, the wind was blowing and the hills and mountains were covered with snow.

All the trees are still barren with not a trace of a bud.  I must have been disturbing a nesting area because a pair of these big, black birds kept flying all around me.  You can see one of them flying above the tree in the first photo.  There was also a pair of hawks circling me but I wasn't able to get a picture of them. 

All the area around me looked so dreary and drab.  The only exciting thing of color was the orange tones in the fence post.  But, I guess when you look at the picture enough, you can even see the beauty here, too, and not just in the fence posts.

This is one place I don't mind not seeing signs of spring.  This place is not too far from our back door.  It's what I call the "Mosquito Pond".  This area fills up pretty good with sub water and along with that comes those pesky, little blood suckers.  Still trying to figure that one out - why, oh why, or what purpose do those little creatures have for even existing.

And for no other reason than I thought it was pretty did I take this next picture.  I never thought I would say that sage brush was pretty but looking at the hues of blue, yellow, and green in this picture made me happy.  Putting my happy on - aha!

I haven't seen too many deer on the lawn lately but by the looks of the path I took today, I'd say they're not too far off.