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Sunday, February 28, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
28 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, snow
Snow is falling fairly heavily, big wet flakes
that have already buried our footprints
from an hour ago. According to the current Nexrad Radar,
there is no snow over Turin
at this time. Hmmm. The older I grow, the more I realize
that weather is something that is
happening right at this very minute, no matter what any
meteorologist or radar screen tells me.
I look outside and see a whole messa snow coming down,
therefore, it is snowing! As little Bobby
Zimmerman once said, You don't need a
weather man to know which way the wind blows.
I am
going to wipe down my fishscale skis with a skimcoat of
graphite wax and see if I can get around
in this heavy wet snow. Hopefully it has settled down and
compressed a bit since the foot and a
half of new stuff arrived. If I can’t get around the
woodlot with ease, I may head over to the State
trails at Carpenter Road and see if a good track has been
set. The DEC has placed Rangers at that
site to deter or catch the rogue snowmobilers that tore
up the trails last weekend. Yesterday we walk-
ed with our dogs up the road for a couple of miles, and
it was a very nice afternoon for that. Snow
stuck to the dogs’ coats and it took my little guy a
long time to drip dry. It won’t be long before
I can trim his long dreadlocks off to get ready for mud
season. As the flies and ladybugs begin
to emerge from their hidey-holes, and geraniums burst
into bloom, I am encouraged to know
that soon we will be able to trade in our ski boots for
hiking shoes and bicycles. It’s all good !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, February 27, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
30 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy, flurries
Another couple of inches of soft white snow drapes the
view on this quiet morn.
Traffic has been scarce, and even though the snow is deep
I can hear the soft gurgle
of meltwater running under the Smith Road at the culvert.
Horsie Creek is buried under
huge snowy cornices that meet in the middle, but I
imagine gravity and temps in the mid-thirties
all last week have started to shift some of that trickle
downhill as well. I am headed to Lowville
to visit the P & C Fresh Market up there, and show my
support for that particular store. I work
in Boonville, so it is easier for me to get produce and
such in that town, but our local P & C is
in danger of closing if they don’t move a certain
volume of product. Do you really want the
only grocery choice in Lowville to be Wal-Mart? Ugh. Even
if it is a bit inconvenient, shop
at P & C Lowville; they have wonderful fresh produce
(with a great selection of organic
goods) and a very nice bakery. I hear the meats are very
good too, with a butcher
that will hand cut or grind anything to order. The prices
are competitive (and
often cheaper than Wal-Mart), the staff is friendly and
helpful, and the
place is clean; I sure hope we don’t lose another
local grocery store.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, February 26, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
30 degrees, windy, partly sunny, snowing
Snow is being driven from the northeast at a high rate of
speed,
not as heavy as it could be but still a real challenge to
push around
with the plow truck. I won’t be surprised if the
mister parks the plowtruck
and switches over to the tractor and snowblower to move
all the goo from the
yard. We received at least eight inches of heavy wet snow
in this latest storm, probably
more, but hard to tell as the wind has been fierce enough
to push it all around, creating some
very interesting effects in the meadows. Some spots have
been blown nearly bare, and big domes
of snow have appeared to balance the view. I was lucky
that it was still light outside when I drove
home from work yesterday, as it was snowing hard and
there was not a town plow in sight. In fact,
I only saw one other vehicle on the road during the
twenty minute drive home, which was another
bit of luck, as the going was tough enough without having
to worry about other drivers. My AWD
car climbed our hill with no trouble, but I was relieved
to finally pull into the garage and shuffle
across the blustery yard into the warmth of our kitchen,
to stay put for the night. I am a little
surprised that our local school has not been closed for
the day; we had planned to travel
to Rome for errands, but have decided to wait for better
weather. Of course, maybe
it is wild and wooly here on Tug Hill, but calm and clear
on the flats;
that often happens with a winter storm such as this.
How is the weather in your neck of the woods ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
31 degrees, calm, overcast, snow
Wet snow is falling and we have about two inches
of new stuff since yesterday,
very slippery underfoot and heavy to shovel. I think
instead of a cross-country ski
outing we should plan a snowman party, simply go out and
play like we did several
decades ago. This should pack well into buckets for
forming castle walls; how long
has it been since you built a fort? Snow has arranged
itself into some very pretty cor-
nices that overhang several of our windows, and icicles
drip from the ends of each one.
The aluminum ladder that rests against the porch all
winter long sports an icy beard on
every rung. We are due to get quite a lot of wet snow
during the next twenty-four hours,
so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get rid of some
accumulation on the rooftops before then.
I guess I will fill some pails with water in case of a
power outage, it never hurts to be pre-
pared. Yesterday we had the Hill to ourselves, and walked
along the Smith Road, blessedly
clear of all snowmobile traffic. The snow was packed down
by the groomer, and although a
little squishy in spots, the footing was good and the
silence of the surrounding forests and
thickets was absolute. Our dog stopped at one point and
stared at the middle of the road
up ahead, standing stiff-legged and growling a warning
low in his throat. I couldn’t see any
danger, so we kept going, and he stopped again after a
few paces and woofed. If we were
in a Wes Craven film, this would be the point where a bit
of the snowbank would eerily rise
up, some snow monster that had been lying in wait for a
passerby. There could have been a
predator in the area earlier, but whatever spooked the
dog was long gone; I looked for tracks,
but could find none. We saw a few chickadees as we walked,
but this winter the Hill has been
empty of most songbirds; even the blue jays have
abandoned us. It won’t be long before
the robins and bluebirds scout out the area, spring
really isn’t that far away. I will remind
myself of that fact as the snow swirls around, assuming
the big storm ever truly arrives.
Get out and play,
Daisy
Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
32 degrees, calm, overcast, snowing
Wet snow is falling straight as pencils, and we
have picked up another two inches since
we plowed the yard yesterday morning. The texture is odd,
wet but not really too sticky,
more like a combination of snow and grauple mixed
together. I think the next couple of days
will do much to improve the base layer for winter sports,
both alpine and nordic. There is a winter
storm watch in effect through late Thursday night, with
all manner of things scheduled to fall from the
sky. For now, as long as the wind is not an issue and the
precipitation is in somewhat solid form, it
looks like a good morning to take a walk. Crows are on
site for the first time in several days, and
seem to be inviting me outdoors to join them in
appreciation of this unusually calm winter scene.
I have no appointments scheduled for today, no jobs or
commitments that require leaving the
Hill; perhaps the best use of a day like this is to
restock the freezer with oatmeal bread
and make a batch of slow-baked beans as long as the stove
will be burning anyway.
Oh, the aromas alone will make this a nearly perfect day
!
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 8:45 a.m.
30 degrees, breezy, overcast, snowing
We received about eight inches of snow overnight, and it
is still falling.
This is wet sticky stuff, perfect for making snowmen and
forts, or for snow
lanterns. I first saw these beautiful lights at a winter
carnival many years ago and
they are simple to make. Build a pyramid of snowballs,
and set aside one for the top.
At dusk, stick a votive candle in a small jar, place it
at the bottom of the structure, light it,
and use the remaining snowball to cap it off. Even if
there is a breeze, the frosty tower will
shine a soft glowing light until the candle burns out.
Yesterday we traveled across the Slivka
Road to the state ski trails, and were disappointed to
find that not only had snowmobiles made
a total mess of the official trails, they had overrun the
track that we had set from our road through
the plantation, going so far as to follow our exact trail
through the new growth and across the creek.
The state trails were very challenging, as snowmobiles
had created many moguls and off-kilter sideways-
leaning angles, hard enough even for someone of our
advanced expertise and experience to navigate. For
a new skier, I would think a trip on trails as messed up
as these might make one hang up one’s skis out
of frustration. Out of literally hundreds of miles of
snowmobile trails here on Tug Hill, why would anyone
deliberately overrun what is obviously a cross-country
ski trail? We enjoyed the day in spite of the van-
dalism (yes it is vandalism) as it was the first blue-sky
day we have had in quite a while. Many little
critters had been out and about, tiny mice and voles, the
heavier red squirrels with their long leaps
and bounds, and bunnies galore. We saw bobcat tracks
clear as any that we have ever found,
perfectly round and clawless, with a double indentation
at the back of the paw that is charact-
eristic of all cat tracks. There were the usual deer and
coyote prints all over the place, and
those of a much larger dog as well. The snow was just
beginning to get sticky and slow
when we exited the woods at noon. The mixed precipitation
that we are due to
receive for much of the week might help straighten out
the backcountry trails;
conditions should be much improved by the weekend.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, February 22, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
16 degrees, calm, fog
I can see the sun shining up above the fog, and indeed
the mist has a bluish tint to it,
so I think when it lifts we will have a beautiful sunny
day before us, a late winter gift. Yes-
terday was supposed to be fine and bright, but a cold
wind and a few dampish flurries were
a bit daunting at the outset of an afternoon ski tour. We
decided to head into the forest, which
was the perfect choice, for once in the deep woods we
were sheltered from the gusts and actually
became quite warm as we skied up and down the hills.
Trail conditions were perfect, and we criss-
crossed back and forth under the tall trees simply
enjoying the peace and quiet. We saw a deer car-
cass at the bottom of the gorge, picked clean by
scavengers. Further down the trail we found a big
patch of deer hide with the fur still attached, no doubt
dragged there by a coyote so he could eat
unmolested by vultures. I had seen several of those huge
birds circling over the woodlot during
the weekend; no doubt they played a part in cleaning up
the remains. Whether the deer fell to
its death or was brought down by a large predator is
uncertain without hiking down to the
bottom of the rift to examine the bones. Coyotes or dogs
will disable a deer by severing the
hamstring muscles at the back of the legs, while a big
cat will leap onto a deer’s back and rip
open the big veins at the neck. Tooth marks on the femur
bones will almost always confirm a
canine kill. We saw many deer trails throughout the woods
but only one set of tracks leading
down the steep slope to where the carcass was. There were
several deer beds as well, shallow
depressions melted into the snow by their body heat as
they rested. Tracks of two coyotes or
possibly rogue dogs followed the deer trails closely. We
also saw the dainty pawprints of a fox,
and those of a porcupine, pigeon-toed and dragging its
tail. After we returned for a snack and a
long drink of water, I took our dog around the back
meadow for a romp, which he thoroughly
enjoyed. Like his cousins the coyotes, he is also a
mighty hunter, and took every opportunity
to burrow into the snow after some little rodent or other.
He ran around like a crazy dog,
dug several holes, and snuffled along the seeps until I
finally called it quits because
his paws had loaded up with snowballs. He stayed in my
tracks all the way
back to the house, one happy pup. He is getting on in
years, but still
plays like a youngster, a great role model for us humans.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Sunday, February 21, 2010, 8:45 a.m.
20 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, flurries
A few small patches of blue sky give me hope that
we will see a sunny day before too long.
A light flurry of snow has just appeared, but it
doesn’t look like it will amount to much. For
all the clouds, it is a bright morning nonetheless.
Yesterday I skied around nearby meadows
and the snow was sugary and very fast; it hissed like an
angry serpent as I moved through it.
Sometimes I would encounter a deep drift that brought my
forward momentum to a screech-
ing halt, and the zippy glide became a bit of a trudge
until I plodded out of the deep snow.
There were no animal tracks at all, but I soon realized
that some of my ski ruts were scour-
ed away by wind not long after I made them. The snow was
in constant motion, and the air
was filled with twisters and shapes that seemed almost
human, but were created from ineffable
zephyr. It is less windy today, and a longer ski trek is
in the works for later. Hopefully most of
the vacationing snowmobilers will be gone from the Hill
by the time we head out; I was never
out of earshot for more than a few minutes yesterday;
some of the sleds seem to be sporting
loud-ners instead of mufflers. Friends who ride report
the trails are wearing mighty thin, and
are icy and/or muddy in many spots. Friday’s
freezing rain at lower elevations has made
the trails unpredictably slick. As I look out over the
valley, I can see less white than
usual for this time of year. We should pick up more snow
throughout the week;
although spring is less than a month away, winter is far
from over.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, February 20, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
29 degrees, breezy, overcast
The temperature is almost above freezing and there
is no snow (for now)
so I have been hung out some bedding and table linens to
dry. Even if they
come in a little damp at the end of the day, I can finish
them off on the drying
rack and they will release the wonderful scent of a
winter day, full of fresh out-
doorsy goodness. If I could put that aroma in a candle,
it would be a best seller
for sure. Any fancy candle that I have ever sniffed that
is labeled country morning
or clean linen falls far short of the real thing.
Yesterday we traveled down to Little
Falls and Utica, and passed through a pretty good
snowstorm just past the little village
of Middleville. Visibility was poor as we drove along the
winding road at the top of a
hill. When we descended into Little Falls, it was a
pretty nice day, although very windy.
By the time we arrived in Boonville just after sunset,
there was a pretty good glaze of
ice all over everything. I dropped a friend off at her
home, and her walkway and deck
were dangerously slick with ice. As I climbed Gomer Hill,
the rain turned into snow,
and there has been no glazing at this altitude. Snow may
be a little sticky under
our skis today, but it has been too long since the last
adventure,
so we are headed into the woods no matter what.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, February 19, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
22 degrees, windy, overcast, snowing?
So much snow is being driven across the meadows by
a very stiff west wind that
I can’t tell how much is new and what is old stuff
being shifted in the gale. Some small
drifts have formed across the width of the road and
visibility is certain to be poor in the
usual spots between here and Little Falls; today we are
headed down to the valley to stock
up on staples at the Community Co-op, the nearest source
of reasonably priced organic and
whole foods. There is certain to be a plenty of
northbound weekend traffic, and I hope they all
drive with their headlights on, but I know there will be
many who don’t. This makes passing slow-
er vehicles dangerous when the visibility is limited;
don’t forget, the main reason to shine those lights
during daylight hours is so that other drivers can see
you better. Meanwhile, I have been seeing many
groups of deer, yarding up as if it were April
instead of the middle of February. They were gathered
in farmers’ fields all along my route to Boonville
and back, and on our own forty acres, down by the
springbox overflow. There were nine deer down there this
morning, sipping icewater from the seeps,
standing with their backs to the wind. Perhaps the
snowpack on the lowlands meadows has become
so thin that there is forage beginning to emerge, old
seedheads and bits of forgotten greenery. It has
been a fairly easy winter so far for the deer, and
barring any huge dumps of snow in the next six
weeks or so there will no doubt be a population explosion
when the fawns begin to drop.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
27 degrees, breezy, cloudy
There were a couple of sparse snow flurries
earlier this morning,
but for now the air is empty of everything except a few
wisps of smoke.
We burn fairly hot fires in our two stoves, and the smoke
usually rises straight
up and is quickly dispersed by the wind; today the breeze
seems to be blowing it
back down towards the ground. Before I went out to the
barn I tossed a small balsam
sprig into the firebox; the chimney was transformed into
a big incense burner, and the whole
yard smelled like Christmas morning, rich with fragrant
resins. I can see a few places in the valley
with huge plumes of smoke hanging in the air, no doubt
belching from the outdoor wood-burning
furnaces that have cropped up all over the county lately.
The good news is that the bark, dirt, and
bugs of a normal load of firewood are left outside, and
the heat generated by the furnace is used
to fuel the hot water heater as well warm the house. The
downside is that any kind of wood can
be (and is) burned in these giant stoves, including wet
or green wood which tends to smolder
rather than burst into flame. I hope that folks who have
these outdoor furnaces also know
not to use pressure treated scraps or plywood, as those
items may contain toxic gasses
when burned. Meanwhile, it looks like the sun may soon
shine through a thin spot
in the clouds. I am off to walk the dog; perhaps the
Smith Road will be rela-
tively free of snowmobile traffic for a while, as folks
rest up for the weekend.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
23 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, flurries
Snow has been falling in fits and starts, but I
don’t think we will see much out of the lake effect
bands that are scattered all over the map this morning.
We received a little more than an inch yesterday,
which is the way this whole winter has been rolling. We
had one good storm in the middle of December,
and then little flurries just about every day since then.
The total amount on the ground isn’t very deep, but
there is still enough for some excellent backcountry ski
and snowshoe trekking. We haven’t had to plow
the yard more than a half dozen times this season; last
year at this point in February we had plowed thirty
five days. When I drove home from Boonville last night, I
noticed that there are hardly any snowbanks
by the roadsides between there and Turin until you climb
Gomer Hill; ours are three or four feet high,
and thanks to our almost-daily sprinkle of snow, as clean
as the country lanes pictured on a winter
holiday greeting card. Yesterday we stayed out of the
woods and walked up our road, happy to
stretch our legs and give the dog some much-needed
exercise. The horses in the neighbor’s cor-
ral came over to the fence to greet us, and fat
snowflakes decorated their winter-shaggy coats
with frosty victorian lace. A flock of crows was milling
around over the paddock, no doubt
gleaning seeds from the hay scattered about. The horses
and crows were the only critters we
saw, although there was evidence that many deer had
crossed the road, mostly at the same places
snowmobiles had run. Even though the snow isn’t very
deep, it is still easier for them to follow a trail
than to flounder their pointy hooves through the
untracked depths. Our ski trails are also overrun by
deer prints, and we seem to have created several new
runways for them. The wind has picked up,
so today’s outing will no doubt take us into the
woods and out of the breeze.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 9:45 a.m.
25 degrees, breezy, overcast, flurries
The flakes are fat and far between, and not
amounting to much on this fine February morning.
I have been on a short walk, and noticed that the banks
on either side of Horsie Creek have finally
met in the middle, covering over the last remaining
trickle of water at the upper end of the stream.
I am sure that there is open water farther down the gully,
and later this morning I will take my skis
out and go explore the woodlot to see what new
developments there are. The last time I was there
I saw more then a dozen deer beds and several deep trails
by the lip of the gorge. I will have to
leave my dog at home, as porcupines are beginning to be
more active as the days lengthen. A
friend just called to tell me she spotted a bald eagle
not to far from here, so I will drive to work
on the West Road today to see if it is still in the
neighborhood; it was by the Markham farm.
There have been many eagle sightings at this end of Lewis
County this winter. I wonder
what has shifted environmentally to bring them this far
from the seaway ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, February 15, 2010, 10:00 a.m.
24 degrees, calm, cloudy, snowing
Light snow is falling and so far has added about
two inches to the little dribs and drabs
we received yesterday. There are thin spots in the clouds,
so we may see some sunny breaks
later in the day. We have had a wonderful three days of
backcountry skiing with friends, traveling
mostly through the Slivka Road plantation and on to the
State trails. The weather cooperated, with
clear blue skies for much of the time, and user-friendly
temperatures while the sun was shining. The
snow wasn’t too deep; most of the trails had been
skied on and a neat track was set. We saw lots
of porcupine runways, and one prickly little buddy was
perched high up in a hemlock tree. We look-
ed up there because the ground was littered with small
branches that had been nibbled off, a sure sign
that a porky had dined recently. We visited a beaver pond,
but the only tracks on the ice around the old
lodge were those of a deer. The dam seemed to be intact;
apparently nobody has been using the lodge
this winter. One day we skied all the way to the top of
the Snow Ridge Ski Area, and enjoyed a snack
with several members of the National Ski Patrol in their
warming hut. That was a fairly long trek, and
we skied past many interesting tracks and trails, with
the smaller critters (mice, voles, squirrels, and
shrews) being represented by the hundreds. One of our
crew skied closer to the place where I had
broken through the ice last week, and of course he went
through the ice as well; he didn’t fall down,
but sprinted quickly on his skis to higher ground. We
kept our eyes peeled all weekend for birds, so
we could report them to the Audubon Society for the Great
Backyard Bird Count www.birdcount.org.
Besides the usual ravens, crows, partridge, starlings and
turkeys we saw a bald eagle flying low over
Carpenter Road; what a treat! Today I am enjoying the
peace and quiet of a snowy day alone,
relaxing after a fairly strenuous long weekend of outdoor
fun. It’s all good !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, February 12, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
13 degrees, breezy, sunny
The morning view is very clear, and I can see the shiny
chrome bits of vehicles
as they move along Route 26. There seems to be a lot of
traffic down that way,
and many trucks and trailers have passed the house as
well, out-of-towners on their
way to their vacation homes for the upcoming week. The
sun is also sparkling off of the
snow, so sharp and bright that shadows seem to have a
life of their own. I can see every
tendril of the dried bean stalks that still cling to the
tall poles, twice as long and in vivid detail,
nearly black against the white snow. When I was in art
school, we were taught to visualize the
space around an object rather than focusing on the actual
form of the thing we were supposed
to draw. I find that to be a useful skill even without a
pencil and sketchbook to hand; look at
what is going on in the spaces that are not occupied by
stuff. Shadow gazing is a good place
to start and a day like this is perfect for admiring the
stark beauty of the shadowlands. Skiing
yesterday was absolutely perfect, and although I was
cooking up a storm here at home, friends
went to the top of Snow Ridge and back, through the
spruce plantation and over the state trails,
laying down the trail that we will follow tomorrow. For
today, we plan to ski off-piste through
some nearby swamps that should be frozen enough to allow
travel just about anywhere.
I will catch up with you all on Monday;
enjoy your weekend,
Daisy
Thursday, February 11, 2010, 7:30 a.m.
13 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Cold and clear, fine motes of frost glitter and glow in
midair, not snow,
just little bits of wintry goodness spinning in the sun.
The temperature is slowly
on the rise as the sun slides higher in the sky, and it
looks like it will be a fine day
overall, as long as the wind doesn’t pick up.
Yesterday’s ravens are back on the scene,
only two of them this morning, cavorting and canoodling
all through the airspace above the
east meadow. I wonder if they can see the tiny crystals
sparkling around them as they enjoy
their brief ardent embraces? The Great Backyard Bird
Count begins tomorrow and runs through
Monday. For details on how you can participate in
reporting the number of birds in your neck of
the woods, check out http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/
. Last year’s count was a washout for us
on Gomer Hill, as it took place during an extremely snowy
and windy weekend; if there were birds
out there, we simply couldn’t see them. It has been
a funny winter for birdwatching anyway, with
turkeys, crows, starlings, and ravens being the main
players so far. We often have blue jays,
evening grosbeaks, and pine grosbeaks all winter long,
but they have kept out of sight.
Perhaps we will see many birds on the ski trail this
weekend. I will be taking Saturday
and Sunday off to host a backcountry ski trek, and will
tell you all about it on Monday.
Stay tuned,
Daisy
Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
22 degrees, calm, overcast, flurries
A slow mosey of snow floats dreamily down to the
ground, small perfect flakes just
dusting the surface of the blacktop. It looks like folks
to the south of us are getting quite
a bit of snow, but for now, the morning is calm and quiet.
Earlier the meadow erupted in a
riot of ravens; I counted five, and at first I thought
they were fighting. On closer observation,
I could see that what looked initially like full-contact
aerial martial arts was most likely a mating
ritual. They were loud, they were feisty, and what gave
it away was the fact that a couple of them
smoked a cigarette when the dust cleared. Just kidding. I
could see just two birds actually making
a connection, so I am uncertain of the gender or family
ties of the other birds that were adding to the
fracas. For a long time we have had a single raven
patrolling the area, and about a month ago it was
joined by another. Perhaps the other three birds that
showed up this morning were rival males, or
year-old offspring cheering on the old folks; who knows?
It was a great way to start the day, and
a reminder that soon the Hill will be filled with the
more melodious birdsongs of early spring.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 9:30 a.m.
15 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
What a fine winter morning, filled with sunshine
and sparkling fresh snow !
Just a few flurries fell yesterday, but it was enough to
put a fresh face on the view.
As the new year stretches closer to springtime, the days
are becoming somehow more
cheerful, not only because they are increasing in the
length of daylight by leaps and bounds,
but the quality of that light is somehow more optimistic
that that of, say, November. In November
we are soaking dried beans for soup and eating the last
of the fresh crisp wild apples, and even though
the days are about as long as they are now, they are
growing shorter and just a mite more dim with use.
As February marches on into, well, March, we are filled
with thoughts of soaking beans not to stew up,
but to check their germination rate to see which
varieties are still viable to put into the soil in May.
The
apples that garnish the weekend pork roast are store-bought
New York storage fruits, suitable for
salads, chunky sauce, and desserts, but a little too
mealy for eating out of hand. We may poke a
few winter-stored crocus or narcissus bulbs into some
peat to try and force an early bloom or two.
Our daily walks or ski treks are not intended to check
how broad the stripe is on a wooly bear cater-
pillar, but to see if we can find even one little fuzzy
catkin on a pussy willow bush. And, best of all, we
have daylight extending into our drive-time home from
work, allowing for a twilight walk with the dog
before dinner, a simple pleasure denied during December
and January. I love this time of year, in a
different way than I love the truncation of day length
leading up to the winter solstice. That is a quiet
time, a period of rest and relaxation after a long season
of hard physical work to fill the cellar with
food and the barn with firewood. And now, we look forward
to those busy times once again; as
the days grow longer, so does the list of chores
appropriate to the season. We sort old seeds,
order new ones, prune back the houseplants to get them
ready for their riotous blossoms,
and dream of long summer days bent over a row of carrots,
thinning them as the sun warms
the kinks right out of us. Sure, there are most likely
still some wintry storms left to weather,
but as long as the days continue to grow in length, we
know that spring isn’t really all
that far away. What is my favorite season ? Which one are
we in now...
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, February 8, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
11 degrees, cloudy, breezy, flurries
This morning is typical of February, bright even under
the cover of clouds, breezy
and a little dampish, and full of possibilities.
Yesterday turned out to be rather pleasant,
warmer than I had hoped, and it too had a cold and windy
start. I took the day off from
skiing and walked with the dog instead, up the Gomer Hill
road, hoping to avoid all the
snowmobile traffic on the Smith Road trail. How did that
work out for me? Hrmmph.
Trail? We don’ need no stinkin’ trail...
let’s just speed up any road we want !
Anybody walkin’ had better get the **** out of our
way... When the noise and
fumes got bad enough, we turned around and came home, and
played in the barn in-
stead. It is important to remember, if you decide to play
fetch in an old barn with your
pup, use a toy or ball that is brightly colored enough so
that you will find it if it skids under
the feedbags or falls into the old straw pile. Now we use
a Sesame Street Ernie doll that I
picked up at the Salvation Army Store, easy to find even
in a dimly lit barn. Once, we were
playing with a little brown rat, an official dog chew-toy,
and it got lost, even the dog couldn’t
sniff it out... until the following spring, when we were
cleaning up the barn, and it surprised the
heck out of me when I almost picked it up. It looked real,
I screamed like a little girl, and then
I realized it was his old toy. Duh. At any rate, you can
find a fine array of dog toys at the second
hand store in the infant section; make sure they
don’t have any parts that can be pulled off, like
plastic eyeballs or whatnot.On a more somber note, a
young woman drowned over the week-
end from attempting to cross a channel on a snowmobile in
the Fulton Chain of lakes north-
east of here. From my own experience Saturday, I know
first-hand that there is plenty of
rotten ice to be found; even though the temperatures have
been very cold for the past
couple of weeks the January thaw left a lot of unstable
surfaces all over the
North Country. Make sure you know what lies beneath the
snow.
Let’s be careful out there !
Daisy
Sunday, February 7, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
5 degrees, breezy, overcast, snowing
Snow flakes so tiny that I first mistook them for
fog are flying through the air,
and many of them have attached themselves to the twigs,
trunks, and branches
of leafless trees. It is very cold out there this morning,
and I think I will stay indoors
for most of today, taking a much-needed day of rest.
Yesterday we skied in the tree
plantation on the Slivka Road, and it was super-chilly
until we got into the deep woods.
The wind was right out of the north, and the temperature
barely reached double digits,
even in the middle of the day. Once out of the wind, the
sun felt wonderful as it streamed
down between the tall balsam and spruce trees, and the
exertion of breaking through the
fresh snow warmed us quickly. We skied past many snowshoe
hare trails, and of course,
where there are bunnies there are wily coyotes; there
were several of their pawprints run-
ning parallel to the hares’. We found a single
exploded white pine cone on the snow by the
creek; it had been stripped bare of seeds and the husks
lay scattered around the bare stalk.
Some nondescript small tracks emerged from a hole in the
snow, probably those of the critter
that had eaten the seeds. Since there were no pine trees
of any variety to be found in the area,
we assumed that the cone had come from that
critter’s winter cache of seeds and nuts. We de-
cided to follow the creek for a while, which turned out
to be a poor choice. Unbeknownst to us,
during the thaw a couple of weeks ago, the creek must
have overflown its banks, creating a flood
plain that had frozen over and is now crusted over with
porous rotten ice hidden beneath a foot of
snow. I was skiing along admiring the view when I felt
the bottom drop out from under my feet.
Suddenly, I was knee-deep in icy water, with one ski
trapped under the ice and my leg bent at
an unusual angle. I told my friend to head for higher
ground, even though she wanted to help me;
the last thing we needed was for both of us to be wet. I
had to break away some more ice with my
fist before I could get my left foot out of the hole, and
then belly-crawled up the bank to a safe spot
to scrape the ice from my skis and do a quick body scan
to see if I needed any first aid. Since I was
dressed head to toe in garments made from a combination
of polypro and wool, my own body heat
soon warmed the parts of me that were soaking wet, and
nothing seemed to be hurt except my cred-
ibility as a backcountry guide. The miracle of modern
fibers saved the day, and we finished the trek in
comfort, with the only really frosty minutes being those
while we loaded the skis into the car, buffeted
by strong winds. We laughed about it after we returned
home, but for a few minutes trapped under
the ice I was just a little bit scared. I had a cell
phone with me, and had left a message at home
telling where we planned to ski, which are essentials for
the off-piste trekker. I also carry a
thermal mylar blanket and fire starting kit in my pack,
but there was still that moment of
ice-cold immersion that had me flashing back to the worst
of Jack London’s survival
stories. This tale ended with dry clothes and a hot meal,
but still is a reminder that
any activity has the potential to become more complicated
at the drop of a hat.
Be prepared,
Daisy
Saturday, February 6, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
6 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
Brrrrr ! A north wind is making me think twice
about our plans to ski later,
although once we get into the shelter of the woods we
should be okay. We
had a grand explore yesterday, heading down through our
back meadow, across
a little creek, down a big hill, across Mill Creek down
where it is flowing freely be-
tween icicle covered banks, grateful for the footbridge
that the State had put in a few
years ago. Then we climbed up a great big hill, skied
through old farmland that has grown
up into brambles and burdocks, through old logging trails
that wound through some awesome
deer and coyote runways, and finally arrived at our
destination. Our guide had led us to a big
tree with two holes in it, left when limbs had rotted and
fallen away; a while ago he had seen
a raccoon and a porcupine in occupancy, both at the same
time! Yesterday only the porky
was home, and he looked sleepily out at us before
retreating into the corner, turning his
back, and ignoring our pleas to smile for the camera.
There were no recent tracks in
the fresh snow from the little guy, so he must have been
having a good nap after eating
his fill of poplar bark. The trek was through some
challenging steep terrain, but the snow
was deep enough to slow our descent when necessary, yet
not too deep to make breaking
trail too difficult. I always say, when you get back from
skiing and have to pick twigs out
of your hair and burdocks out of your underwear, now that’s
backcountry skiing
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, February 5, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
20 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, snowing
Big flakes fall, a nice surprise, as I had thought
today would be as sunny as
yesterday. A snowcloud hangs directly over our part of
the county (according to
Nexrad radar), trudging down from Canada, not from across
the lake as is the norm
for our winter storms. The air seems colder than twenty,
somehow damper than usual
and carrying with it a frosty chill right from the polar
ice cap. The country’s midsection is
bracing for another blast of winter; in fact, the
governor of Virginia has already declared a
state of emergency before the first flakes have even
appeared. Here in the North Country,
we are well equipped to clear our driveways, and our cars
have winter tires so we can get
out and about. Our wardrobes contain thick wooly socks,
fleecy pullovers and parkas, and
warm hats so we can go outdoors and enjoy the snow. We
see this kind of weather on a
regular basis, and plan our days (and often our nights)
around the snow. Almost every gar-
age or tool shed in our neck of the woods has its full
compliment of snowshoes, skis, and
of course, the ubiquitous snowmobiles. When we first
moved up here, before we had
much in the way of cold-weather toys, we would slide down
the snowy hill on pieces
of shiny coated paper that we got from the scrap heap at
Pajco, or built snow forts
packing plastic buckets full of snow and upending them to
form walls. We made caves,
and igloos, and had snowball wars, winter cookouts in the
yard and dug couches in the
banks so we could bask while our hot dogs cooked. I would
like to think that the folks
in the mid-Atlantic will be able to find some joy in this
storm after the wind dies down
and the clouds part. As for Tug Hill, this is just
another gorgeous winter day,
and there seem to be too few hours in a winter day to
wring it dry of fun.
But we try, we try...
Daisy
Thursday, February 4, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
16 degrees, calm, sunny
The thermometer showed only four degrees when I went out
with the dog
first thing this morning, but there was no wind so that
single digit didn’t feel too
cold. An orange pre-dawn glow tinted all of the snow with
warm tones, and the icicles
on the back of the house also captured much of the hue;
the whole scene was beautiful if
a bit surreal. Enough new snow has fallen every night so
that every morning has a clean and
polished aspect, and the plowed banks have become gentle
curving mountains of clean white
instead of broken and twisted piles of snirt. Wind has
shaped graceful drifts and cornices, and
the topmost layer of snow could as easily be in the
middle of the vast Northwest Territory as
here on Gomer Hill, with its trucks and trailers and
snowmobiles blessedly absent for the past
couple of hours. We spent the day in Utica yesterday, and
snow was melting so fast that I was
wishing for my Wellies instead of the sneakers that I
chose to wear. It was definitely not a win-
try day in the Valley; all was sunny and warm, and the
call of many land-gulls lent a seaside holi-
day air to the outing. I could close my eyes and easily
pretend to be on the coast of Maine in
August. We drove through a few flurries on our way back
to Turin, and arrived home in time
for a spectacular sunset, with big neon-edged clouds
releasing a shaft of fire from time to time.
Today is absolutely beautiful and we have so many choices
of ways to spend a couple of hours
outdoors, it is hard to figure out what to do once the
housekeeping chores have been tended to.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
21 degrees, calm, partly cloudy, flurries
Small flakes wander hither and yon in the still air,
adding little to the trace
amount on the driveway. We plowed the yard yesterday
afternoon, so any
snow out there this morning has fallen since then, and it
is less than an inch. We
had a wonderful ski outing to check out the condition of
the natural snow bridges
along Mill Creek. Not too far from here is a pine
plantation that brackets the abandon-
ed Slivka Road, which provides good access to the DEC ski
trails, as long as we can find
a way across the creek. In our younger days, we would go
to the spot where the bridge was
washed out , then ski down one side of the gorge, cross
at an ice bridge or fallen tree log, and
then climb back up the other bank. Many years ago, we had
even built a rustic bridge from sawn
tree branches nailed to two logs as an aid to crossing.
Summertime ATV traffic broke that bridge,
and has eroded the banks so badly that they are now steep
enough to qualify as X-game terrain, so
lately we have sought crossings that don’t involve
mastering any canyoneering skills. We were lucky
that last week was so very cold, and found a great place
to cross, frozen solid at a broad place near-
er the creek’s origin, so the climb up the opposite
bank was short and not too steep. The mile or so
of bushwhacking we did to get to the creek was untracked
and beautiful, a foot or more of light pow-
dery snow that wasn’t too much of a challenge to cut
through. When we got to the state trails, a snow-
mobile had been on all of them, which set a hard track to
follow but it was passable. The problem is, a
snowmobile doesn’t travel flat through the snow, it
makes a path that often tilts to the side one way or
the other; this creates an unstable surface for a
backcountry skier, who then needs to constantly adjust
the body’s center of gravity to keep the skis
traveling straight. It is much more pleasant to travel
either
through untracked snow, or on trails that have had a
track set with a proper groomer, which places
ski-width grooves at the proper distance apart for a
normal stride. Fortunately, we possess both
the core strength and ski skills to handle such
conditions, but what the heck? Do the snowmobilers
not see the signs that clearly state Motorized
Vehicles Prohibited ? At any rate, we skied around
the Mill Creek and Jack’s Track loop, enjoying the
wintry views and occasionally getting dusted
with big poofs of fresh snow from tree boughs as the wind
picked up. There were not very many
animal tracks to be seen, mostly rabbits, and one old
deer trail that was nearly buried. Perhaps
today the critters will come out of their sheltered spots
and there will be more to see tomorrow.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
22 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy, flurries
Three inches of new snow rests in the yard, light and
soft as eiderdown.
There is no wind, and the whole landscape appears smooth
beneath an even
layer of white. Big flakes float freely, lingering for
several seconds before finally
settling down. It is a black-and-white morning, from the
stark dark tree trunks iced
with snow to the crows, starlings, and ravens that share
the sky as they whirl around in
circles. The eaves above the sunporch are decorated with
long white icicles, and even the
dog is getting into the spirit of the day, rolling in the
fresh snow and turning whiter than white;
only his black nose and shining dark eyes showed up
against the snowbank background. His
hair is very long during the winter, and snow sticks
readily to it, especially this lovely fluffy pow-
der. The sun has just appeared, and the flakes have been
transformed into beautiful shining stars,
and every bit of fallen snow reflects sunbeams back into
the sky, causing the entire view to pulse
with life, as if some huge adamantine living being is
breathing in and out, stretching, then returns
to doze as the sun goes back behind the clouds. Wow, I
could watch this show for hours !
But, there are other things to do, so I guess I will
enjoy it for a little while longer,
then get on with the day. Take a look around, what do you
see ?
Daisy
Monday, February 1, 2010, 8:45 a.m.
15 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Four inches of powder snow fell since yesterday
morning, and the view is shiny-bright
with sun-kissed frosted fleece draped into graceful
drifts. A chance of lake effect snow is
in the forecast through this evening, adding wintry charm
to our North Country views. Crows
are on the wing this morning, too many to count, at least
a dozen hovering over the nearby meadows.
It is possible that they are gathering to seek mates, as
February marks the beginning of their breeding
season. They have been silent this morning, gliding high
from tree to tree, lacking the usual hue and cry
that sentinels usually sing out to the rest of the flock.
As the days grow steadily longer (by two and a
half minutes today!) we shall see more activity from the
local birds as they prepare for a new brood
of young’uns. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, and for me
this means six more weeks until the blue-
birds return, whether old Phil sees his shadow or not.
Most of our bird boxes are full of mouse
nests; I haven’t peeked inside lately to see whether
there are tenants, or if the bundles of cattail
fluff and old beechnut hulls are last month’s news.
At any rate, at the end of the month I will
scrape out all of the contents to ready the dwellings for
the returning bluebirds. They won't
be using them until Late April, but the males return in
mid-March to scope them out.
February is a wonderful month, well into winter, with
spring not all that far away.
Have a great day,
Daisy
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