March didn’t come in like a lion this year. This year March came in like an unobtrusive house guest who never gets underfoot and maybe even helps out in the kitchen. Once she got comfortable, she threw her weight around a bit, but the equinox was approaching, the days were getting longer, and the clocks “sprang forward,” causing the usual dislocation. I’m still waking up later than I like, but Travvy wasn’t begging me for supper an hour early the way he does with “fall back.’

Then word went round that a snowstorm was due to arrive the same weekend as spring. This threw Facebook into a tizzy, of course, and was even good for some eye rolling at the post office, where people are a good deal less excitable than they are on social media. “Eight inches!” the initial reports predicted. The forecast accumulation slipped steadily downward. When the storm arrived, it brought mostly rain. The snow totaled maybe two inches at most and was nearly gone in 24 hours, but it was pretty while it lasted.

Mid-March was warm enough that I brought two chairs up from down below and actually spent some time sitting out on the deck. Not this day, however.

The slush in Trav’s outside water dish didn’t coalesce into a disk, but I did don my boots with the Yaktrax on. Last spring I had an ice disk on April 21, so I’m not betting against the possibility for this year. On the other hand, last winter was, well, last winter. We barely glimpsed bare ground for at least six weeks. This winter the snow sometimes arrived with great fanfare and in great abundance, but it always departed before anyone got sick of it.

My snow shovel got what may have been its last workout of the season. It wasn’t an arduous one. The winter lights are still twined around the railing, but it’s been two weeks since I had them on. When there’s still light in the sky at seven p.m., there’s no need to keep the dark at bay.

Earlier in the month, soccer players returned to this field. Trav woos at them. If he weren’t on leash, he’d be scrambling for loose balls — of which there are usually at least a dozen in evidence. Once in a while one gets left behind in the woods. We think those are fair game.

No one was playing today.

Late afternoon shadows do wonderful things to this field. So does a dusting of snow.

The fire lane seems to go on forever, though I know it stops before the county airport.

The monochromatic days of winter are passing. Crocuses and daffodils have been blooming for a while, along with the dandelions, and I’ve even seen some forsythia: yellow season is arriving early. Still, in the woods only the pines are green, along with the brambles and the moss. The deciduous trees are still playing it close to the chest.

Trav remains gray and white all year-round. In the right light I see the reddish highlights in his coat.

March often seems like such a long month, but this March has blown by all too fast. Nevertheless, my income taxes are filed and Malvina Forester has passed inspection, so I think I’m ready for April.