The lamb and the lion have each been taking a turn at the March weather. It provides a bit of variety as we await the coming of spring – to stay. One learns to accept what March provides, knowing that April will give us days that are more welcome.

Bird watchers are now finding new kinds arriving from winter homes and songs are heard as we watch the traffic at the bird feeders. Regular grackels and “boat taits” have arrived and make short work of the seeds in the places under the feeders.

The most interesting wildlife event last week was provided by a squirrel. I have one steady gray squirrel year around. He thinks he owns the yard. When the mercury climbed to summer heights last week, he was across the road on the bank – just opposite my sliding glass doors. He began to dig in the dirt. I thought he was looking for seeds that were buried, or perhaps some hickory nuts left from fall. Not so. That little ball of fur dug until he had a place about two feet across, with fresh dirt showing. A few more scoops with those strong paws, and he suddenly put his white belly down in the dirt and began to squirm. He was soon rolling over and over and dragging himself across that dirt. A couple of times he rested a minute and then began again to complete his dirt bath. Perhaps it was also a treatment for lice or mites!

A lot has been written lately in the papers about the ambulance services and their relationships with hospital personnel and other agencies of the state. I have had personal experiences these last three years with ambulance transportation and am quick to defend their service. Required to have special training to be certified in working on this important community project, these people have a special kind of dedication along with their expertise. They must have special training to even drive the vehicles.

If residents of the town consider what the cost would be in places like Newtown and where I live in Heritage Village, they would be apt to more fully support these volunteers. I suppose the balance of power in the operation of such a service comes into play, as the providers try to regulate the volunteers who are doing such a good job already. Let’s hope the providers and people with whom they work can be understanding of one another as they discuss the issues being debated. A trip in an ambulance that is not volunteer-related can cost more than $300. I was charged $100 just to go from a rehab center to a doctor appointment: and that was service provided in a car, not an ambulance. Let’s hope the public will get behind the groups that are doing such a great job to provide a health service that is greatly needed.

We won’t be having our usual get-together for Laurie’s birthday this week. She is celebrating it with a visit to long-time friends Mimi and Pete Schultz in Florida, at a condo where they are spending a vacation. Mimi will have a birthday this week, also, so it is a double celebration.

When my neighbor in the apartment across the hall returned from a visit to Virginia, she brought me a copy of The Quotable Nature Lover book, by John A. Murray, editor. It is a treasure of quotes by such people as Willa Cather, Margaret Mead, Walt Whitman, John Muir, Rachel Carson and many others. You may be sure the quote that ends this column will have been found in this great new reference book.

This is corned beef and cabbage week as the observance of St Patrick’s Day falls on Friday. Certain foods belong to certain times. It is also the season of hot cross buns! Such seasonal specialties provide a good change, occasionally.

The quote we used last week was by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Who said, “One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the mark of a March thaw, is the spring”?