Mid-Winter's Dream

It is winter.  It has been a long winter.  Not in terms of days, but in terms of snow.  It's not a lot of snow, I've seen more.  It is a continuous snow.  It keeps falling in one inch, two inch sometimes more.  It takes a long time to fall.  The sun comes out briefly, then the clouds come back and the snow comes again.  It doesn't seem that winter will ever end.  
I have my plants huddled in the basement, waiting.  They grow towards light that only comes because electricity makes it so.  They are warm because the furnace blows warm air into their confined space.  They are patiently waiting for the longer days of summer when they can put down roots and reach towards the sun.  I am not that patient.
On the sunny days I enjoy the warmth that comes through my truck window.  I have to get out, and it is cold.  Not 20's or 30's cold.  Below zero cold.  Day after day.  The sunny days make it all tolerable.  The furnace makes it livable.  The alcohol makes it bearable.  This is Wisconsin.
I thank God for the birds.  I feed them and they come. Cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and of course, sparrows and finches.  They add life to the white landscape that is my yard.  The cardinals have been coming in flocks.  I notice this the last two weekends.  Up to six pairs at a time.  February will start the songs of mating.  So far they are quiet.  They come and eat the sunflower seeds, taking turns at the feeder.  They do not sing.  They eat.  When I hear the males break out their songs of spring, I know that we are headed towards spring.  Until then...we eat.