Spring happens, and it will officially happen at 11:32 a.m. (MDT) on this Saturday, March 20, marking the moment when the sun will pass over the equator, marking the equinox, when hours of daylight and darkness are approximately equal around the world.

For the next three months the hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere will continue to increase until we reach the Summer Solstice on June 21, when the process reverses and daylight hours will shorten.

The varying hours of daylight and our seasons are due to the 23.4-degree tilt in the Earth’s axis. In the coming months the northern hemisphere tilts toward the sun, receiving more direct sunshine, and after the fall equinox, we will tilt away from the sun. This, of course, gives us seasons, and makes it possible to grow gardens and crops at this latitude.

While the season officially begins on Saturday, signs of spring start much earlier, of course. At our house, I plant garlic in a vegetable plot along the south side of our house every October. Right on schedule, the first shoots popped through their cover of mulch on March 1. A few days later, tulips emerged as well. At our high elevation and cold, dry climate, it’ll be awhile before we can do much serious gardening, but some things are up and growing.

A week and a half ago, I spent a couple days in Billings, and enjoyed being able to walk around outside in a short-sleeve shirt, and noted that grass was beginning to green up in spots. That, of course, is not typical this early in the year. Returning to Butte in a snowstorm was more in line with the seasons.

Another sign of spring is birds returning north from their winter homes. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, snow geese began showing up in north central Montana a week ago. Freezeout Lake, between Fairfield and Choteau, is a major staging point for waterfowl, especially snow geese. If there is colder weather to the north, populations in the area can build up to over 100,000 geese, typically peaking near the end of March. It’s a favorite destination for birdwatchers every spring, just as it’s a fall favorite for waterfowl hunters. The sight of tens of thousands of snow geese filling the air is memorable.

FWP does note that people taking a trip to Freezeout should be careful about muddy roads. Those signs, so common in the Rocky Mountain Front country, that say, “Impassable when wet” don’t exaggerate. People who ignore those signs will, assuredly, be both older and wiser by the time they escape.

While we talk of spring, we shouldn’t forget that this is St. Patrick’s Day, and while my ethnic background is Norwegian, I’ve always enjoyed observing, to one extent or another, St Patrick’s Day, and a dinner of corned beef and cabbage will be on our table. A sentimental memory, perhaps, that much of Ireland was a Viking colony a thousand years ago. And we’ll close with an Irish joke.

Two leprechauns went to the convent and begged an audience with the mother superior. “Well, how can I help you little people?” asked Mother Superior. The larger and more intelligent looking of the leprechauns asked, “Oh Mother Superior, would you be knowing of any midget nuns here at the convent?” “No,” says Mother Superior, “I don’t have any midget nuns here at the convent”

“All right than, Mother Superior, would you be knowing of any midget nuns in all of Ireland then?” “No, no,” replied Mother Superior, “I don’t know of any nuns who are also midgets in all of Ireland at all.” “Well then, Mother Superior, in the whole world of all the nuns, would you be knowing, then, of any midget nuns?” “No, I would not; there are, to my knowledge, no midget nuns in the whole of the world!” replied Mother Superior, “and would you please tell me what this is all about?”

The asking leprechaun turned sadly to the stupid leprechaun and said, “See, it’s as I told you all along, you’ve been dating a penguin”