I noticed a pair of robins hanging around our house and they seem to be inspecting the place with more interest than most birds.

It didn’t take long before I knew they were looking for a place to build a nest.

They tried two different locations, one where the eaves trough is next to the siding and another place above an outdoor light fixture.

Over two days we had two different rainstorms with high winds that each time reduced their day’s work into a pile of rubble scattered on the ground.

Robin’s nests are not exactly items of neatness to begin with but despite their hard work and best efforts there did not seem to be any system in their work that resulted in anything close to a nest.

So they tried a third time in a third location above another outdoor light. I can not say this is going much better but I thought I saw something that might resemble something that could hold eggs with more work.

I can not say this location is any better than the previous two as far as being safe from the wind.

All in all, in spite of their setbacks and even with the third attempt not looking that promising, I will still bet on those robins. There will be a nest and there will be eggs in it somewhere, somehow.

Those robins are not that much different from my neighbors for hundreds of miles in all directions who are putting in their crops this spring season.

When we started we were in dry conditions with no promise that the drought of the past many months was going to end. Fertilizers spreaders, tillage equipment and planters rolled anyway.

Robins and farmers have the same attitude every spring. Conditions may not be exactly right, but robins and farmers are going to do it anyway and away they go. They will make the best of today and hope for the future.

Those two strong storms ended any doubts that our drought was still around because we had a total of 3 inches of rain here. Even higher amounts were reported not that far away.

Last Sunday morning every low spot and depression that could hold water was filled. I saw every low spot in my fields with its own pond and ducks swimming in them.

I took the swimming ducks as a sign that the drought of not quite a year had really ended with our soil now saturated and the tile now flowing.

Nothing has moved since those storms of last week and the first planted seeds have emerged. We are about half way to completion like most everyone else.

The weather forecast looks promising for the next few days and everyone has had their rest, fixed whatever needed attention, and is ready to go as soon as conditions are favorable.

In the spring time, do not bet against the robins building their nest and do not bet against the farmers who have crops to plant.

They both know the jobs that need to be done and both have their hearts set on accomplishing their respective tasks.

There may be setbacks, but those are only temporary. Neither will rest until their goals have been reached. It happens every spring.

Birds of a feather do flock together even when they are robins, ducks and farmers.

Rye is a Farm News staff writer and farmer from Hanlontown. Reach him by e-mail at crye@wctatel.net.