Spring???

Today is the last day of March. The temperature outside is -34C and the sun is shining brightly at 5AM. I opened the door with some difficulty as the frost on the door latch refuses to leave until July, but spring is in the air. The ravens are noisy in the morning. They gather in small groups and hop around on the roof. They cackle and caw as they dance around, pecking at each other. The neighbour's dog is being harrassed by these large black birds.
I watched the birds and as usual, I was astonished at the bird's intelligence. I really think that they organize thier actions. This morning, the dog has a full bowl of Kibble laid out in front of his dog house. Dogs love Kibble. Ravens love it even more. I stood on my porch with a steaming cup of coffee and watched as the birds surrounded the dog in a circle. One bird would hop up to the dog, squacking and dancing around while the others would stay in quiet formation around the dog. The birds were out of reach from the poor pooch. They maintained a perimeter just outside of reach as the dog's chain would not allow it to reach the birds. As the dog became annoyed by the lone squawking and dancing raven, I could see that he was about to try and pounce upon his tormentor. The dog jumped at the raven as fast as he could and ran about ten feet before the chain pulled taught. The annoying bird had kept just out of reach of the canine captive. The dog barked and whined. During this brief attempt at birdocide, three of the birds at the opposite side of the commotion hopped up to the dish and stole several Kibble each. The dog reared his head and dashed at the thieving ravens but they hopped back into formation before he could reach them. The birds cackled a bit as they all hopped about clockwise untill they all held a new position in the formation. A different bird now became the tormentor. Cackling and pecking at the dog until he attacks, then three other birds grab a bite to eat. After a few minutes, all the Kibble was gone, the dog exhausted and the birds full of dry dog food. The birds would gather around and chatter for a bit. Then off they flew, looking for a new source of Kibble. I watched them fly off over the sea ice and could see many other ravens gathering in the sky. They were soaring in large groups high above the sea ice. This told me that the weather would be windy later on in the day. Sure enough, the winds picked up and the snow began to blow. These birds can teach a person much if one observes thier behaviour.