Spring Has Sprung (?Question Mark?)

Today is the first day of spring -- huzzah!

However, you'd never know if based on the view outside of my window. The trees are starting to bud, but there is strong, cold wind and snow in the air. On the ride home tonight I saw the very first robin red-breasts of the year ... they sat, almost motionless, eyes wide in my neighbor's front yard. I imagine that they had been elected as lookouts for the the rest of the robins -- advance scouts, if you will. I also imagine that they were wondering what the HELL they were doing back here when it was so obviously still January and also? Where was the spring? The sun? The prancing, leaping fluffy bunnies? Instead of coming back from their winter vacation (The Carolinas? The Keys? Boca? Who can say?) to a warming earth gracefully sprouting greenly back into life, they were standing in mud amidst icy piles of blackened snow and weathering a storm. It had to be a bit of a shock.

If I were a robin on the first day of spring, I have to believe that I would be hella pissed.