The equinox storm has passed, as of last Tuesday, with the blizzard causing such “white outs” that at times I couldn’t even see the corral from the house. Remarkably, at the end of the day, there weren’t foot-deep drifts of snow in the lane leading to the house.

Now the snow has mostly melted so that the pasture and lawns here at Pipi’s Pasture are bare. Things are kind of “scary-dry,” though, and readers must be concerned as to the availability of water for wells, irrigation and the ponds on summer pastures.

One time during the storm I noticed a robin perched on a branch of the crabapple tree next to the window, the first robin of the year. Its breast was a light orange color so I think it may have been a species of robin that is more migratory in nature — not what we’re used to. Since then I’ve been hearing robins sing in the early mornings, a sure sign of spring.

My brother Duane (Osborn) spotted a flicker, a striped squirrel and a woodchuck at the family ranch, all of which are sure signs of spring at that high elevation. Yesterday I heard the sounds of newborn kittens, and I discovered that one of the big multicolored stray (wild) cats had given birth to a litter under an overturned mineral tub on the front porch. (The tub had served as a hiding place for cat food so that deer couldn’t get to it.) More signs of spring.

So as this week’s paper hits the newsstands, we’re into April, and that has me thinking about something besides the signs of spring — the April Fool Day tradition on April 1. I’m not sure how many people today participate in the tradition as we used to.

When I was a kid, my siblings and I could hardly wait to “get our dad” so early on the morning of April 1, while Dad was still eating breakfast, we would act real excited and say something such as, “Dad, look, there’s a new calf in the corral.” Dad was a kid at heart so he’d play along by jumping up to look out the window. “April Fool!” we’d shout.

However, the April Fool prank I remember the most came when I was an adult. Lyle and I hadn’t been married very long. I was a high school teacher at Ault and Lyle was enrolled at CSU, and we lived in a little house on a dairy farm at Timnath. On April 1, I went home from school. Lyle had left to work at a part-time night job, and I decided to do some deep cleaning.

Evening arrived, and I went to turn on a light. No light. I tried another. Again no light. That I was surprised is to put it lightly. No lights, but then I discovered that there were no light bulbs either — well, except one.

Then my prankster husband called. He inquired as to my evening. Then he started to laugh. April Fool!

He was thoughtful enough to leave me one light (I don’t remember where just now.) Eventually, he told me that the rest of the light bulbs were in a dresser drawer. Of course it isn’t so easy to screw light bulbs in when it’s dark so that had to wait until the next day.

Welcome to April.