A half-inch of water returned to the grass overnight.

The ice was gone from the low places by dawn. Where it had been, a brown water moved just slow enough to catch on the grass. The willows stood with their feet back in mud for the first time since November.

A half-inch lower than yesterday, and falling. The frost line had lifted off the lower branches. A handful of juncos were already in the grass, which meant the grass was warm enough to hold them.

A neighbor on the bridge said the creek was coming up fast. I told him it was going down. We agreed, after a minute, that we were both right, which is the way of creeks in the spring.