Throw Your Windows Wide

It is a 'throw your windows wide' kind of day.  Bright sun and finally reaching a balmy 12 decrees C for us.  I do have one window cracked and it is letting a little of the outdoorsy scent indoors...here to mingle with the doggy aromas and leftover fire smells.  Not exactly a floral bouquet.
This is day one in the garden.  The snow has retreated enough to enable a good raking of the flower beds and I enjoyed the little bit of exercise it gave me.  I couldn't believe what I saw when I scraped away the old leaves and bits of snow; these perennials had already sent up some shoots, which had to have happened underneath a cover of snow.

Sprouts everywhere in each of the beds...I can only stare at this and marvel.
That small creek I was walking with the dogs not that long ago has broken out completely and is now racing with great force across our land.  No danger of flooding here but there are flood warnings for many parts of the region. So much of the terrain is traversed by numerous rivers and creeks all of them now widened by the melted snow and added rainfall from last Friday.  I guess each season brings with it challenges weather-wise.
The Canada geese have landed (surely this means spring is really here) and are paddling in whatever water they find; there are huge numbers of them all over as always. Yesterday I watched a skunk make its way along the ditch.  It looked thin and bedraggled; I think it must have had to stay in its den in hiding longer than usual what with the winter lingering on the way it did.  I heard on the radio that our spring is 3 to 4 weeks later than usual.  That would have had a detrimental effect on many of the woodland creatures, for sure.