Crocus, Kites, and Windmills

Spring is coming. The first daffodils and crocus are in bloom. Buds are swelling on the maples, and some leaves have already opened on bushes in the back yard. The peeper (frogs) chorus is in full voice, and mourning doves coo in the late afternoons.

Last week was National Severe Weather Week. NOAA weather radios were available at a reduced price as part of a program to help the public understand and prepare for “Tornado Season,” now through May. (KFSM, Harps, and the Midland Weather Radio Company were one of the partnerships making this offer.) For more information about storm preparedness, check the National Weather Service site. 

Wind, hopefully not the destructive kind, is a part of the mystique of March. Visions of the conclusion of Mary Poppins where the children and their parents are flying a kite to the strains of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”  merge with the sight of local children racing to get their kites airborne in parks and playgrounds on a windy afternoon. If that sounds like fun, you might want to take part this Saturday in the 10^th Annual Cain Hill Kite Festival.

Not only is March remarkable for its windiness, it ushers in a new wind turbine (a newfangled windmill) on the John Brown University campus in Siloam Springs. Put through its paces for the first time Wednesday, the turbine will power lights on a cross-campus walking trail. This is part of a statewide effort on the part of colleges and universities to both use green energy alternatives and prepare students for jobs in the field of renewable energy resources.

What has the winds of March blown your way recently?