Back in October, in the calm before moving, we peacefully enjoyed the fall colors at nearby Whipple Dam State Park.

Dropping in on Whipple again in late winter, here’s the same scene from a slightly different angle. Though this March 5 visit was clear and sunny, a thin coating of ice still covered the reservoir.

The ice was gone one month later, when we were back again --- this time with son-in-law, Louay, who stayed several days with us at the ranch as our first overnight guest. He and Jennifer and their two children will be moving to Virginia next March because she has landed a position with the American Foreign Service. She will be leaving her job in Jerusalem at the US Consulate to begin months of training in Washington before a foreign assignment. Wherever it is, we hope it's someplace we'd like to visit! Louay made this solo trip to get his papers squared away and decided to spend some extra time with us. A man who likes to stay busy, while here he fixed the Camry’s balky window that refused to close, trimmed a bush out front, helped install pipe insulation, moved furniture, lifted some wood pieces into the attic and helped put our dance floor back together again. A note to future overnight guests: manual labor is OPTIONAL and not a requirement!

In our wanderings about the PA countryside, once in awhile we encounter surprising --- some might even say “shocking” --- sights. Just outside State College, one creative soul has decorated the roadside with a few “Wizard of OZ” characters. From left to right, surely you recognize the Tick-Tock Man, Dorothy’s dog Toto, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. Though the Scarecrow would have been a natural in this rural setting, he was nowhere to be seen.

Last winter we stumbled on a field of teepee-like structures called "corn shocks". Thanks to the Internet, I learned that stacking corn stalks into these shocks allows them to dry (before becoming animal feed). It was a common way of drying corn before mechanical means came along. Today, only a few farmers use the method and they are probably all Amish.

The arrival of Spring brought a new helper into our family, a Toyota Prius. This thrifty hybrid wrings an incredible number of miles out of each gallon of gasoline. That will be most welcome for the long drives we have in mind. Here we are at the Toyota dealer, taking custody of the new baby.

Other than its wonderful gas mileage and Toyota’s renowned reliability, the Prius has several notable features that we like a lot. To name a few, there’s the backup camera, keyless entry and startup, an auxiliary port for an iPod to play over the car’s speaker system, a GPS navigation system and a small turning radius.

No car is perfect, of course, and this one is no exception. I wish it had power front seats to make switching drivers easier. I wish that pesky beeping would go away during backup and I wish I didn’t have to press the “I agree” button on the navigation display EVERY time the car is driven. Its peculiar shape is not entirely to our liking but it gives a low coefficient of drag that is partly responsible for the car’s high gas mileage. While it does have a small car’s feel and ride, it does hug the road well because of its low center of gravity.

Never intending to pamper this car, we put the Prius to work immediately. With tons of normal household stuff to move, its hatchback design is very useful.

So as not to leave the erroneous impression that all we do is work, here’s documented proof of leisure time well spent: an early Spring visit to one of Pennsylvania’s state parks. As in other years, we were apparently among the first visitors to this particular park since winter. Nothing like getting out early, I say.