~
Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
34 degrees, windy, fog
The wind is from the north but doesn’t feel
nearly as bitter as yesterday’s hearty gale.
It was hard to remain vertical between the house and the
barn; since our anemometer is
currently disabled, I would have to take a guess that the
gusts were close to fifty mph. I was
very happy to see all the rain the past couple of days,
but we still notice the water level in local
ponds, creeks, and even the canal in Boonville being
lower than usual for this time of year. Hinckley
Reservoir in Cold Brook is drier than ever, so measures
will be taken to reduce the outflow of that water
source to try and conserve the supply. The forecast for
the next few days is that there will be a significant
warming trend, but I wouldn’t put away the long
johns just yet. The birds are going nuts this morning,
sing-
ing lustily and doing the deed with wild abandon. Tom
turkeys have begun to gobble and strut about with
their tails fanned out for the harem to admire. I have
seen more woodchucks in the past week than usual
too, fourteen of the dozy little critters on my way to
work yesterday. Perhaps the wild things can sense
that sunnier days are in the immediate future. I
can’t wait to see what the sky looks like above all
this fog!
Have a happy day,
Daisy
Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
31 degrees, windy, cloudy
A stiff northeast wind has found its way into the
house through spots where
our insulation has either settled or been shifted around
by mice. I remember living
here in our early days on Gomer Hill, before we had done
any renovation to the house;
there were holes around the window frames that you could
have pitched a baseball through.
Three chimneys were not attached to any stoves, and the
former tenants hadn’t thought to block
them with anything, so most of the heat from the oil
furnace went right on up and out. We patched
and tightened and stuffed fiberglass fluff into holes the
best we could until finally we just ripped every-
thing back to the clapboards and did a whole-house
rebuild. The sow’s ear has become not a silk purse,
but a very serviceable canvas tote bag. On most cold
windy mornings we are cozy and snug, but occasion-
ally the wind blows just right and reminds us that there
really is very little separating us from the elements;
how very fortunate we are to have a warm house and plenty
of food and clean water. And, of course,
even though we still have a two-holer outhouse attached
to the back porch, thank goodness for in-
door plumbing! Meanwhile, yesterday was a beautiful misty
day, as calm as today is blustery. We
walked through the meadows and saw dozens of robins
paired up and mating on the fly, a twisting
double helix of acrobatic excellence that often led to
one or both birds momentarily stunned after
hitting the dirt, literally. I wonder if birds banter
about being members of the Fifty Feet High Club?
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Monday, March 29, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
42 degrees, overcast, breezy, drizzle
Just past midnight I looked outside and there were a
couple of inches of snow all over everything;
I was surprised and maybe even a wee bit delighted! Then
the temperature started to rise, and hard
rain ensued. This morning there is just a thin smattering
of snow around the cars and rimming the hum-
mocks to show that there had ever been any at all. We may
see more white stuff before the scene starts
to warm up later this week, and then all of a sudden it
will seem almost hot at seventy-something. March
is nearly over, and we look forward to April showers to
build a good depth in the water table for summer.
It is not impossible for a big snowstorm or two to dump a
little more wintry goodness across the land; in
fact, by my reckoning, we fell about eight feet short of
our average annual amount. Wouldn’t it be a good
joke on us if we got it all in April, with interest ?
Come on, Mother Nature would be laughing with us...
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Sunday, March 28, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
32 degrees, windy, partly sunny
The wind is back, but this time it blows form from
the southwest. The laundry that
I left out on the lines overnight has become twisted
around the lines, and some of it has
landed at the edge of the hayfield. There was practically
no breeze at all yesterday, so the
clothes only half dried. Although fairly chilly,
conditions were perfect for a long walk yesterday
afternoon, and we made it to the corner of Smith, Smith,
and Smith. Most of the snow is gone from
the snowmobile trail, and the road is fairly dry with a
few short stretches of gooey mud. All of the vernal
ponds are iced over, and there are a few water clogged
ditches look like they may overflow into the road
if we get much rain tonight. We heard ravens well before
we saw them; three of them were giving us the hairy
eyeball when we passed by a particular spot both coming
and going. Perhaps they have young nearby, for this
is when they hatch, during the uncertain weather of mid-March.
A pair of hairy woodpeckers were performing
an interesting dance while a third looked on from another
tree; it was pretty obvious that we were observing
a mating ritual of some kind. Whether the third bird was
waiting its turn or was merely there for the show
was uncertain. When the pair was finished with their
dance, each proceeded to hammer away at the
tree they were perched on as if nothing had happened, and
the third bird still just sat quietly. It is
possible that this was a year-old offspring who will now
have to go into therapy. Clouds are
rolling in, and the wind has picked up, so I think that
rain will arrive sooner than later.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 9:30 a.m.
24 degrees, breezy, sunny
This is as warm as it has been in the last thirty-six
hours, and it sure isn’t very warm.
Yesterday we had a high temp of twenty-two, not typical
for the end of March. At least
the wind isn’t a raw gusty bluster. Yesterday we
undertook a brief walk through the meadows,
dressed head to toe in winter garb, and a fierce north
wind cut right through the layers. The sky
was blue and the sun bright and beautiful, but holy moley,
that wicked wind made it a challenge
to be outdoors in comfort. The upside was that the low
spots that are normally muddy and wet
at this time of year were frozen, so our feet didn’t
get wet. I checked the nesting boxes and two
of them have dried grass fragments in the bottom,
indicating that either a tree swallow or a blue-
bird has marked the spot for future use. Since I cleaned
out all of the mouse nests earlier this
month there have been no other tenants. I picked up some
dried apple branches that had
blown free to use as kindling, and hauled a nice stack of
aromatic twigs back with me;
I really should start carrying a length of twine in my
pocket to bundle sticks together.
The dog kept warm by careening from one hummock to the
next, nose to the ground,
snuffling up all the good smells of the season. However,
when I headed back to the house,
he was way ahead of me and shivering in the woodshed by
the time I got there. We had good
fires burning in both stoves by the time we headed off to
bed, and I still wanted an extra com-
forter. By the end of the coming week the weather should
have settled down into a more
spring-y aspect. But yesterday, boy howdy, that was March
going out like a lion for sure!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, March 26, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
14 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
The calendar may say that spring is here, but that north
wind indicates otherwise.
When the gusts are twenty-plus mph at this temperature,
it feels like minus five. I hope
our newly emerged garlic and daffodil bulbs won’t
get frostbite; at least they aren’t too far
out of the ground yet. The crocuses look a little
surprised, but I am sure snowdrops can handle
just about anything. All of the seeps and big puddles are
frozen solid, and the trickle of water in the
drainage ditch is framed by icicle draperies along both
edges. I tried to hang out on the back porch
for a few minutes, but when the wind isn’t straight
out of the north it tends to be from the east, which
was right in my face, so I opted for the comfort of
watching the view from behind a double glazed
window. There are many kinds of birds pulling up morsels
from the turf, but they are not as vocal
as on a warm morn. This cold snap will stick around for a
few days; it doesn’t look like the
nights will be above freezing until later next week.
Although the snow is gone from the
gardens, any dreams I had of planting early greens might
have been just that, dreams.
The soil is still too wet to till anyway, but it
won’t be long.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, March 25, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
38 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Sunrise was very colorful this morning, red in the
middle and radiating warm
cozy tones all across the view. Clouds have moved quickly
onto the scene, and
the breeze is chilly, a little daunting. If I had thought
to put on a hat and mittens along
with my winter coat, I might have enjoyed my early walk
with the dog a little more. Oh,
and shoes, I should have worn shoes. Duh. There is a
little chance of rain or snow or both
moving in later today, but at least it is above freezing,
which is more than I can say for tomor-
row’s forecast. I was planning to ride my bike on
the plowed roads, but I believe I will wait for
a warmer day than this. We walked quite a stretch on the
Smith Road yesterday, and the snow has
disappeared from more than half of that area, making for
some interesting trekking conditions. Where
it wasn’t snowy it was very muddy, and in places the
snow was frozen solid into very slick ice. A few
trucks have been over the road, who knows whether they
were coming or going. The woods are still
mostly under snow, but meadows and other open spaces are
nearly bare. Bluebirds have returned
to the Hill in full force, now that there is so much open
land. When we passed by our old potato
field at the end of our journey, a fluster of robins
lifted off and perched in the trees nearest
the woodlot, all singing their lovely mating songs, a
wonderful tuneful clamor. Although
the weather says brrrrr, the birds say otherwise; perhaps
they are brrrrrds.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
29 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
A teensy bit of snow fell during the night, barely
enough to coat the yard,
but it looks very fresh and pretty out there, a nice
change from the goo and mud
of the past week. Every now and then a flake passes by
the window; whether it is from
the sky or wafted along from a tree branch doesn’t
matter, the visual effect is that of a brief
return to the first flakes of winter instead of the dawn
of spring. There are far fewer birds outside
this morning than usual; the redwing blackbirds sing
lustily in the maple trees no matter what, it would
seem. We are due for some sunshine later, and I am
looking forward to walking along the Smith Road
to see what treasures have been left behind by the hoards
of snowmobilers that passed by this winter.
I already found a sphygmomanometer bulb, probably dropped
by an ambulance crew member when
they pulled someone off a tree; there was plenty of that
going on. We usually find a few wrenches,
flashlights, and lately, cell phones. Of course, I will
take a green bag to pick up cans and bottles,
so I can finally see some of the big money that
the “sport” brings to my neighborhood.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
41 degrees, breezy, overcast
We had enough hard rain showers throughout the night that
the drainage ditch
across the road is roaring right along like some much
bigger river. It is cool to have
waterfront property for a couple of week out of the year.
The thaw happened so slowly
this season that there has been a little musical gurgle
in the ditch every evening, very soothing.
This morning’s cataract is a little more riotous but
still sweet to hear. The valley is buried in fog,
such a thick opaque ribbon that visibility must be close
to zero under the veil. I drove home through
dense murk last evening, and it was slow going because I
didn’t want to hit any deer or slow-moving
skunks or raccoons. The roadway is littered with small
unlucky critters, and I saw several living deer
hovering near the roadside on the entire journey home.
The rain has stopped for now, and has brought
out all manner of earthy aromas, most of them pleasant
and evocative of springtimes past. The sugar
shack up the road has finished its run, so the
neighborhood no longer smells like a giant bowl
of steaming hot Maypo. The rain has washed most of the
snow from the meadows. Deer
have come out of the deep woods in full force this
morning; right now there are
twelve of them scattered across the east meadow,
picturesque and quaint
as a Hallmark card. I believe I will put on my winter
parka and sit
on the back porch for a little while, and drink in the
morning.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, March 22, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
38 degrees, breezy, overcast, sprinkles
It is a wee bit chilly out there this morning,
what with the light rain and all,
but the birds pay no attention to the weather and are in
full-throated song,
even several of the robins. A pair of swallows has been
checking out one of
our nesting boxes, and while I have seen bluebirds in the
area I have not noticed
them attending any Open Houses yet. just before dawn
several deer worked their
way across the east meadow, heads down and nibbling at
anything edible. Our fields
are mostly snow-free and extremely juicy. We walked
around in them yesterday after-
noon, and while I couldn’t find much new growth I am
sure things are just waiting to spring
into greenery. Some of our purple crocuses have bloomed,
and garlic is poking up through the
straw; it looks like germination is perfect for those
hardy pungent bulbs. Yesterday was a day
for snow geese to pass overhead in great numbers on their
way to the true north; a friend com-
mented that they look like ripples on the water,
liquid in their flight... an apt simile. Canada
geese were aloft as well, but the white flocks
outnumbered the grey two to one. I think I
will get out for a short walk before the heavy rain
arrives. We can use a good soak;
although the meadows are wet as can be, we didn’t
receive even half our usual
amount of snow and I worry that the water table is low
for this time of year.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, March 21, 2010, 10:30 a.m.
40 degrees, calm, partly sunny
A few snow flurries drifted in this morning,
barely enough to turn the cars white.
The birdbath had formed a skimcoat of ice so I poured
some warm water on it;
there have been many birds taking advantage of the little
pool the past week or so.
This morning the grackles returned in full force, so now
the roster is complete for the
inky black contingency, crows, ravens, redwings,
starlings, and the aforementioned grackles
all present and accounted for. The song of the redwing
blackbirds still overpowers all other spring
sounds for now, although I have started to hear robins
trying out their stuff before going into full-tilt
serenade mode. I saw a pair of bluebirds on the wires
across the road yesterday, but they didn’t
hang around very long. We tried to ski late in the day,
but the snow is nothing but deep slush at
this point. The woods still have excellent coverage, but
snowshoes would have been a better
choice. We ended up skiing alongside the Smith Road,
which is riddled with bare muddy
stretches. A truck passed us, spraying us with slush; I
don’t know how far it was able to get
without getting stuck. In all the years we have lived
here, there are always a few people who
show up at our door in the spring wondering if we have a
tractor that can pull their truck out
of some Smith Road ditch or other. (The answer, by the
way, is no.) I have cleaned up my
skis and put them away for the season. Although the
conditions were disappointing yes-
terday, it was wonderful to be outdoors with a good
friend, laughing at our sluggish
progress, gathering pussy willows, and drinking in the
sun and fresh air as a star-
ving person would approach the Radisson brunch buffet.
Mmmmmm, brunch...
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Saturday, March 20, 2010, 10:00 a.m.
42 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
This morning I awoke to a beautiful sound, that of
a robin trilling its first mating aria of the season.
How appropriate for the first day of spring! Yesterday I
saw a male bluebird by a neighbor’s pasture,
sitting on a tall telephone pole, and flitting to the
ground over and over to snatch a wriggling worm from
the wet sod. He would return to his high perch to gulp
down the morsel, and every time he was in flight the
deep blue of his back and wings would be revealed to me.
I passed by dozens of pussy willow bushes in
full puff, but they were all in the middle of shallow
vernal ponds, and I wasn’t ready to get my feet that
wet. The dog had a good romp through our back meadow, and
got so muddy that a bath was inevi-
table. He had also picked up a few burdock burrs, so I
dabbed them with olive oil; by the time his
bath was over they had softened up enough to be easily
removed from his tender lip area. This is
a little trick for those of you with long-haired furry
friends. I plan to give him half a haircut today,
just his legs and belly, so he will look like he is
wearing a dog Snuggie when I am done. There
is snow in the forecast for next week, and if I shear off
all of his hair he will be too cold. It
is shaping up to be a fine day; perhaps just one more ski
trek before we call it a season.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, March 19, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
42 degrees, windy, sunny
I am finally beginning to get used to the early
morning darkness, and it is okay
to watch the sun come up after I have been awake for a
while. This morning it rose
slowly through some atmospheric dust that caused it to
appear as red as molten lava,
but that effect was gone almost as soon as it cleared the
horizon. It is very nice to have
that hour added back in at the end of the day; now I can
take a little walk even after arriving
home from work, during my favorite part of the day, just
before sunset. Last night the sky was
filled with many flocks of geese headed north, and dozens
of redwing blackbirds roosted in one
of our big trees, making such a merry racket they drowned
out the braying of the geese. We had
chickadees and nuthatches at the birdbath, and a pair of
mourning doves seems to be interested
in making a nest in the lilac bushes. It is very windy up
here this morning, but it blows from the
south and bears some lingering whiffs of a warmer clime.
Tomorrow is the official first day
of spring, and the current streak of pleasant weather
certainly agrees with that.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Thursday, March 18, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
45 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
A steady west wind is both balmy and chilly, as it
delivers warmer air passing over
the snow that lingers in the woodlands. Our meadows are
steadily losing their snowpack,
and now are about thirty percent bare. The forests are
still under a good layer of heavy snow,
and it will be a while before the mossy duff and ferns
emerge in the deep woods of Gomer Hill.
Our neighborhood has been blessedly free of snowmobiles
for a week or more, and there is still
too much snow for ATVs to maneuver the back roads; I
deeply appreciate the peace and quiet that
will be all too fleeting. This morning the only sounds I
hear are those of the many birds that are thrilling
to the advent of the spring mating season. Waterfowl have
been on the move, and yesterday I watched
a long line of snow geese pass overhead, honking up a
storm. There have been ducks doing a flyby in
pairs, and scads of canada geese in the area as well.
Deer haven’t been hanging around the meadows
as much as turkeys have, but there are deep rutted trails
in the woods and many beds along the gorge
rim where they have rested for the night. Snowdrops are
blooming in profusion, and I have a bouquet
of them on the windowsill, mixed with pussy willows and
myrtle greenery. I planted one little patch of
snowdrops thirty years ago, and now they seem to be
popping up all over the place, little clusters in
the yard here and there and a huge clump under the rose
hedge, which is still under snow at this
time. I have never seen any thing naturalize as well as
these early blooming bulbs; poke some
in the ground this fall, they are such a nice little
flower, the first to bloom up here.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
43 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
A few high thin pale clouds form broad streaks
across portions of the sky,
but for the most part it is a fine sunny morning. I just
came in from enjoying a
cup of steaming rich guatemalan french roast on the back
porch, comfy in a sweater
with the sun so shiny I needed a ball cap to shade my
eyes. Nuthatches and chickadees
were fluttering from hedge to hedge, and the redwing
blackbirds’ friendly greeting permeated
the air. Robins have been around for a few days, but they
have not yet begun to sing their spring
songs. Snowdrops are blooming where the snow has melted
next to the porch, and crocuses are
covered with tight little buds that will no doubt burst
open during the next few days. This is most
certainly a false spring; indeed, snow is in the forecast
for early next week. For now, we will grate-
fully accept this lull in the wintry action, and soak in
every bit of lovely warmth that the days afford.
Yesterday I skied with a friend through the west meadows
and over to our woodlot. Where the
snow had been melted and compacted by sun the surface was
lovely, firm and crystalline, and
we could really get up some good speed, even on the
uphill sections. The snow in the forest
was very tricky and unpredictable, solid and slick at
times, but rotten here and there, giving
way underfoot unexpectedly. The conditions were only
secondary to the beauty of the day,
however; the sky was such a deep blue as to seem almost
hallucinogenic, vibrating above
the stark dark tree trunks and deep greens of the balsams
and pines. All that was lacking
was a Pink Floyd soundtrack. Today will be another great
day, and we are headed
north to Watertown for some errands and appointments. It
will be nice to see
a different view, but I will be glad to get home in time
for a good long walk.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
41 degrees, calm, sunny
I am finding my body wants to sleep on Eastern Standard
Time; rising in the dark
has been impossible these past few days. I will stick
with the alarm clock for a week
or so and gradually the night and day will sort
themselves back into shape, and I can find
the rhythm once again. I don’t like to arise too
late, for then I get a slow start on enjoying the
day’s offerings. A gorgeous morning like this one
deserves to have every inch of it appreciated,
not just the hours when the sun is high over the horizon.
Soon the robins will be back in full force,
and their cheerful songs will drift in the window to
awaken me before dawn. I need to get the screens
in, so I can fling the sash wide open without wondering
if bats or bugs will come in for a visit. We will
probably take some of the wall panels away from the back
porch as well, so we can sip our morning
java al fresco and watch the turkeys strut across
the meadow. Yesterday the sky was filled with
many small flocks of geese flying north, strangely silent
except for the swoosh of their wings,
heard clearly if they were low enough in the air. In the
fall it seems that every goose loudly
announces that they are skedaddling in favor of sun over
snow; in the spring, they sneak
back into Canada, perhaps a little embarrassed at their
disloyalty. It is good to see
the seasons flowing onward, some continuity in otherwise
troubled times.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, March 15, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
34 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
Yesterday’s much-publicized washout never happened
in our neck of the woods.
The wind did blow, but only a smidgeon of water fell late
in the day, and it was pretty
nice up here over all. This morning is more of the same,
although the radio guy in Boonville
reported big fat wet snowflakes outside the station
window. Gusty wind has kept most of the
birds under cover, but as the sky brightens and the front
passes by I have no doubt that they will
soon grace the yard with their songs once again. Snow is
starting to withdraw from the meadows,
and there are several areas of wet vegetation appearing
that have drawn deer and turkeys into our
view, pecking and pawing at the forage for that first
taste of spring greenery. The woods are still
100% under cover, and so far the snow bridges across
creeks and streams are solid. I don’t be-
lieve I would trust the ice on any beaver ponds, or try
crossing anything that contains water deep-
er than knee-high. The snow is pretty solid for the most
part, but there are places where it has
rotted and one ski will suddenly drop a foot or more
straight down, creating some interesting
challenges. It is best to keep your weight evenly on both
skis this time of year, and be
ready for a surprise or two (or ten) while wandering
hither and yon. This week we
will have some sunny warm days; perhaps it is time to get
the bikes out of storage.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, March 14, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
39 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We didn’t receive more than a few sprinkles of rain
yesterday, and even though
there is 100% chance of rain in today’s forecast, it
appears like it may blow right on
by without making much of a fuss. The wind is the big
story, blasting steadily from the
east and picking up a mighty chill as it passes over the
snow that still covers the forest floor.
The wind was so loud last night that it kept me awake,
its roar cutting through my earplugs and
rattling the windows of my dream cottage. We walked up
the plowed road yesterday and I noticed
that the shoulders are very dry, now that the snow has
been pushed back and is slowly melting into the
ditches where it belongs. If we don’t get some rain
soon, it may be a very dry spring, one in which much
time will have to be spent watering newly planted crops
and soaking the berry patches to get them grow-
ing. Our garlic is still under a foot or more of snow,
but it won’t be long before we can check its
progress,
see how it survived the mild winter. The snowdrops next
to the house have emerged, and I could see tiny
buds forming on many of them; all it will take is one
warm day to bring out their pearly-white nodding
blossoms. I planted peppers, tomatoes, and basil
yesterday, and now the flats sit in a row on top of
the warming oven, the cling film cover weighted down by
dried scarlet runner beans at the corners.
I am going to plant a large tray of spinach today and
park it on the sunporch, which is cool but
probably won’t reach below freezing again this
season. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be
able to eat some baby spinach in a month’s time?
I’ll keep you posted.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Saturday, March 13, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
40 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
Rain seems imminent; the wind is zippy and from
the southeast, whence cometh
our next change of weather. I can overlook the general
drabness to the morning,
because the trees in the yard are filled with spring
birds; there are redwing blackbirds
inviting me to stay-and-plaaaaaaaay ! Mourning
doves have returned, cooing softly to
each other, and there were robins on the lawn, not yet
sounding off but a welcome sight
nonetheless. Starlings, ravens, and crows have been
coming and going all morning, noisily
announcing their arrival and departure, but somehow
blending in with the redwings and doves,
a wonderful cacophony that would makes me think they
could be channeling the spirit of John Cage.
We went to Rome yesterday, and all the snow but for the
larger banks is gone from that area. It won’t
be long before crocuses and snowdrops begin to bloom in
the spots that melt first around here. Today
I will plant pepper, broccoli, and tomato seeds, and set
aside some flower seeds for the next round of
sowing. I can only fit six flats on top of the wood range
warming oven at one time, so I plant in shifts.
The heat coming up through the bottom of the flats is
just the ticket to aid speedy germination of
most seeds. Another good place to start seeds is atop a
refrigerator; generally, warm air rises
from the condenser and it is humid as well, a perfect
environment. The sky is brightening,
and it looks like the rain might be holding off for a
while, so if I am going
to get outdoors for a hike it had better be soon.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, March 12, 2010, 7:30 a.m.
42 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
It is definitely a spring-y morning out there,
with starlings and crows hailing the day in their
exuberant manner,
flies waking up in the sunny windows, and skunk tracks
fresh around the perimeter
of the house. It is time to keep the dog leashed up even
in our own yard for a while. We have
some appointments in Rome today, and will probably run
into rain as we travel south; the forecast for
our own neighborhood is more optimistic until tomorrow,
when the wet moves our way. Yesterday we skied
crosslots to the Smith Road, and found conditions on the
snowmobile trail to be very fast, although the snow
was filthy from oil and exhaust from thousands of sleds.
We veered off the trail onto a farm lane back to a
hidden meadow, where the snow was pristine and marred
only by scores of animal tracks and scat. A dark
blur bounding through the forest caught my eye, and we
were lucky enough to see the end of a fisher’s mad
dash as he ran full-tilt away from our conversation and
into the deeper woods. It was a large critter, and
nearly black in color, very handsome. We found a big
pussy willow bush in the middle of the meadow
covered with tiny buds bursting into fuzz, and picked a
few to bring back with us. We trekked through
an old orchard and found a deer spread out over an acre
of new growth, scattered by a pack of coyotes.
We found the head up by the road, grinning at us, creepy
and cool at the same time. That deer covered a lot
of ground, even after death. We climbed to the top of an
old barn bridge and found a primitive deer blind that
someone had built last fall, three sided with branches
and boughs woven together to make walls. By the time
we skied home, the sun had softened up the snow so that
it was a slow slog for the last half mile,
but worth every bit of effort to be out on such a fine
late winter day.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, March 11, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
45 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
A soft breeze brings the sweet bakery whiff of
maple syrup along with it this morning,
from the steam pouring out of the sugar shack up the road.
The sap has been flowing steadily
on the Hill for about a week, and the quality of the
syrup has been extra fine so far. I like the dark
amber liquid at the end of the run, and will gladly wait
for that; it has a wonderful rich maple flavor
lacking in the fancier grade. Yesterday the temperature
rose into the mid-fifties, and it was a perfect
day for being outdoors. We took a long walk with the dog
in the morning, and he got thoroughly
muddy from trotting thorough the mucky bits at the
roadside. After lunch we headed out on skis
and explored the swamps, pastures, and hayfields in our
neighborhood, finding the conditions
much better than we had hoped. There were a few mushy
spots where the sun was at its most
intense, but there were also long stretches of firm corn
snow and fast icy runs in the shade. It was
as near to perfect as spring skiing ever gets. I cut a
twig from a pussy willow bush and this morning
the little fuzzy catkins are beginning to poke out of
their hulls after spending the night in a jar of water.
They are very small; I know where some larger specimens
are, but haven’t been back that way yet
this year. It has been dangerous to ski on the Smith Road
due to heavy snowmobile traffic, espe-
cially on weekends. Perhaps the middle of next week will
afford a day or two of peace and quiet
and then we will head back to the pussy willow patch and
snag some branches to decorate the
kitchen windowsill. Alpine skiing is winding down, and if
you are planning to visit Snow Ridge
during March, be sure to check the schedule on their home
page at www.snowridge.com.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
42 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
This is the warmest morning we have seen since last fall,
and the sun feels great !
A downy woodpecker is hammering away, perched on one of
the smaller branches
of the big maple tree by the driveway. Several starlings
fill the airwaves with song, or
conversation; I’m not sure what to call it, but it
sounds just fine to me. The snow got really
soft yesterday, so I didn’t get out on skis at all.
The Smith Road is in full-out thaw, and the
places where snowmobiles have churned up the mud will
suck the shoes right off any pede-
strian. The town crew came by yesterday and put down some
fill next to our blacktop road,
as the shoulder had eroded quite a bit during the January
rains. This is the first winter we have
had a paved driveway, and there are still some bodacious
patches of ice that seem to be taking
forever to melt. The snowpack in general is slowly
disappearing under the warmth of a late winter
sun. We had a difficult day yesterday, as our youngest
cat left this physical world, surrounded by
those who have loved her and cared for her for seven
years. I am sure she will visit us often in our
dreams, both waking and asleep, for she contained such
vital energy, more than enough to last be-
yond her short lifetime. It is too bad that none of
humankind’s pets has a life span that will match
or exceed that of a man or woman; is this to help us
learn to accept their unconditional love at its
purest, and endure their passing with heartfelt grief and
eventual acceptance? There must be some
grand plan, or we wouldn’t feel the urge to bring
pets into our lives. As much as we will miss
her, our remaining two cats and the dog don’t seem
to notice one way or another
that one of their circle is gone. Life is short; some
lives are shorter than others.
Just for today, I will be grateful for my many
blessings.
Daisy
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
37 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
What a lovely morning ! There is very little
breeze, and when it comes it is a gentle puff
from an indeterminate direction, more of a suggestion of
a breeze than the actual event. There
were a dozen or more starlings in the big maple tree by
the yard; all were singing, whistling, clucking,
and cackling up a storm until a few crows arrived, then
they grew quiet. All of the black birds, big and
small, sat in utter silence, then the starlings lifted
off as a single unit, leaving just the crows to return my
gaze.
Finally they too departed. Soon I heard a flurry of wings
and a metallic scraping overhead. A phoebe was
probing the eaves at the peak of the barn roof, looking
for a spot to build a nest, months earlier than I have
ever seen one of these birds before. They routinely try
to nest under the back porch roof, but usually not
until the end of May. Of course, the sidewalls are still
on the back porch this time of year; it is possible
that they would be there in March if we removed the
panels sooner. It was a sweet surprise to hear
that lovely two-note whistle after the raucous cacophony
of the starlings. Yesterday the temper-
ature climbed to forty-nine degrees, and a walk up the
Smith Road left our shoes (and the
dog) encrusted with mud. Today and tomorrow will be warm
as well, and I wouldn’t
be surprised to see robins on the bare patches of lawn
tomorrow morning.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, March 8, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
35 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
A light mist moves across Gomer Hill, not exactly fog but
dimming the lights a bit.
The valley sits in a bright haze, and the Adirondack
Mountains are nearly invisible this morning.
A small flock of geese just flew past the house, headed
north; do they know something that I do not ?
I don’t know where they will find any open water.
The west wind is fierce, but not daunting. I took our
dog skiing around the meadowlands yesterday afternoon;
the wind was stiff then too, but refreshing rather
than raw. it was fairly warm outside, and the snow was a
little slow but we stayed right up on top of it,
even atop some of the tall drifts. I cleared mouse nests
out of the bird boxes; all were empty of mice,
but they must have been cozy places to begin their wee
lives. Most were made of cattail and milkweed
fluff, soft as eiderdown. When they fell onto the snow
the wind picked them up and skittered them across
the surface like wintry little tumbleweeds. It won’t
be long before male bluebirds stop by to check out the
real estate, and now the boxes are all ready to go. A
small chance of rain shows up in the forecast towards
the end of the week; will spring be early this year ?
Perhaps the geese do indeed know something...
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, March 7, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
32 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
A steady breeze from the northwest isn’t as
icy as I had expected,
but it is still a very raw morning out there. It looks
like the sun might be
appearing soon, and the occasional flashes of brilliance
almost instantly bake
the chill from the Hill. Yesterday we skied through the
swamps and pastures that
surround the Evans Road. The snow was perfect, firm
enough to support our weight
yet soft enough to get a good grip with our skis. We
skied in a big loop through land that
is usually too wet to hike through in any of the warm
seasons but is a wonderful trek in winter.
We stopped to rest at one of our favorite big trees, a
giant maple that has been tweaked and twisted
by age and wind. There were plenty of coyote tracks, some
punching through the snow as it softened
but many leaving ghostly tracks on the frozen top layer.
A few chickadees regarded us from the shelter
of small balsam trees, and two ravens called out as they
passed overhead. Turkey tracks became platter
sized after thawing and freezing a few times, but we
could sometimes see the three toes in bas-relief in
the center of the fade. When the stronger spring sun hits
critter tracks in the snow, it can distort them
so that the only way to determine what made them is often
by the stride pattern and the space be-
tween the individual prints. A fox and a cat have pretty
much the same stride pattern, and if the
track is blurred by melting it is hard to see if there
were claws, or the exact shape of the pad.
A cat usually travels in a pretty straight line, but so
will a fox if it isn’t actively hunting. This
time of year we can hope to see some actual animals as
they venture out to see if the
salad bar is open yet. Skunks are definitely around, and
raccoons have been show-
ing up in neighborhoods that haven’t wrapped their
garbage up tightly enough.
I wonder when the bears will awaken from their long
winter naps ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, March 6, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
33 degrees, breezy, sunny
What a beautiful morning ! There was a tree full of
starlings singing assorted melodies
when I first set foot outdoors earlier, and a fleet of
chickadees has swooped through the
yard twice since then. I can hear crows in the distance,
but haven’t caught sight of them yet.
We plan to ski through toolies and swamps this afternoon,
after this bulletproof snow has a
chance to soften up. As much as the north wind blew these
past few days, the snow has stayed
hard and crusty. Now that a warmish west breeze has
arrived the snow should become much more
user-friendly. The town crew came up yesterday and pushed
the snowbanks back with a front-end
loader, and now we have twelve foot tall towers of snirt
decorating the roadside across from the
house. As the temperatures rise for the next few days, we
should see a gentle thaw start to hap-
pen; now the meltwater will have access to the drainage
ditches instead of eroding the road-
side. There is no rain in the picture for our neck of the
woods, but temperatures are pre-
dicted to rise into the thirties and reach forty by the
end of the week. Of course, there
will no doubt still be several good snowstorms afoot
before true spring arrives,
but for now the small of thawing dirt and melting snow
affords a good preview.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, March 5, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
23 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
The wind is mostly out of the north, but sometimes it
seems to come from every which-a-way
at once. I was going to hang some bed linens out today,
but I think I will wait for the wind to settle
down a bit, which may not actually happen until April.
Yesterday was a windy day too, and we walked
along the Smith Road for quite a ways. When we got into a
corridor between tall trees, the sun was warm
as toast and the wind not an issue. There were plenty of
deer tracks overlaying the snowmobile tracks; hardly
any of them veered off the trail into the woods unless
there was a track to follow. The recent deep wet snow
is a little hard to navigate, be you man or beast. Our
little dog manages to tread on top of the crust, and in-
deed left no tracks at all the few times he explored the
areas beyond the bank. The only tracks on the
forest floor or in the orchard were those of larger
animals, coyotes and porcupines, and the occasional
deer. Skunks are out and about, and one left its calling
card quite close to the house a few nights ago;
we could even smell it in the cellar. It seems to have
moved on; we couldn’t find its tracks. Last night a
small black and white cat boldly came onto the back porch
where we were preparing to cook some steaks
on the gas grill; as soon as it saw us, it bolted away.
Yesterday I saw four robins in town, all gathered on a
small snowblown bit of lawn. It won’t be long before
every bare patch of grass sports these cheery harbin-
gers of spring. The first real sign of spring has
appeared at our old farmhouse, as I have to vacuum flies
out
of the sunny windowsills every noontime. I don’t
know how they find their way in through the tight
fittings,
but they are particularly bad on the sunporch, which has
not had the old wooden sashes replaced.
So far we haven’t seen any ladybugs, but they are
inevitable, so is the occasional wasp.
Keep your eyes open during the coming weeks; is it spring
at your house ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, March 4, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
26 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Pearlescent fair-weather clouds have been painted
across the blue sky with a light touch,
the kind of clouds that suggest angels’ wings and
gentle spring zephyrs. The wind is right out
of the north, and doesn’t feel all that gentle. The
sun is warm, however, and this is shaping up to
be a very pleasant day. Yesterday we broke a new ski
trail through the tree plantation on the Slivka
Road, crossed the creek, and entered the State trails in
the middle of the Mill Creek Run. No one had
been on that trail since we received over a foot of
heavy wet snow, and since we had just slogged over
a mile of the stuff and didn’t feel like working all
that hard, we turned around and skied back to the truck.
Friends had been on the Carpenter Road end of the trail
system on Tuesday, and reported that those trails
were in great shape, with a good track set by many pairs
of skis. We drove back roads to Carpenter Road
and parked at the Douglas Creek/Larch Loop trailhead, and
had a fine ski back to the beaver pond. It had
been a cloudy dull day when we set out, but the sun broke
through and we were soon very warm and speed-
ing along at a good pace across the fast tracks. There is
still plenty of snow in the woods, but we noticed that
streams are showing more open water than the last time we
skied there. The beaver pond, while covered with
snow so deep as to completely bury the lodge, has quite a
bit of clear water showing at the dam end. There
were plenty of hare tracks crisscrossing the banks around
the pond, and the runoff stream was particularly
lovely, with ripples of dark water sparkling between
steep snowy banks. The banks along the edges of all
of the Tug Hill brooks are beginning to show the signs of
moderating temperatures, with fracture lines and
areas where the snow has been undercut by meltwater into
secret caves and tunnels. It is fun to pretend
to be only an inch tall, and wander in my mind’s eye
through all of the crazy natural wonders that such
a tiny person might encounter. Try it sometime; an
occasional flight of fancy is good for the soul.
Have some fun today,
Daisy
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
30 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The clouds seem to be thinning, and we are due to have a
sunny week of
gradually moderating temperatures. Yesterday we cleared
the heavy wet snow
from our rooftops; some slid off of the steeper slopes on
its own, making a loud
rumbling noise that startled me every time it happened.
One of our cats was sleeping
on the windowsill directly under one such avalanche; he
levitated two feet straight up
in the air and dashed into the cellar. away from the
ruckus. It takes a lot to frighten this
cat, who has been through a lot in his long life with us,
including a hit-and-run which claimed
one of his hind legs. It is so interesting to see the
different ways in which formerly feral cats adapt
to living within our family. Our three legged boy is
eager to go outdoors at the first hint of sunshine,
even if there is still deep snow hanging around. Another
of our foundlings, who showed up in the
barn after a week of wicked cold sub-zero days and nights,
won’t go out during the winter at all,
and waits until every last speck of snow has melted away
before resuming her fair-weather hunt-
ing trips. She is quite shy, and disappears into the
cellar if our normal routine is disrupted by
company or the occasional noisy project. Our old gal, who
is near the age of twenty as far
as we can tell, has been aloof her entire time living
with us, but in the last year she has be-
come quite sociable, curling up on a lap any time someone
sits down to read or watch
television. At first glance, it seems that our cats were
lucky to find our warm and safe
home; on the contrary, we have been blessed that they let
us into their lives.
Have a purrfect day,
Daisy
Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
29 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
As I strolled around the yard earlier this morning,
I heard two chickadees calling
back and forth to each other, the high two-note greeting
that signals their interest in
finding a mate. A starling confounded the courtship by
whistling a perfect imitation of
the call, and soon the three birds were all in the same
tree, having a sing-off that resulted
in the chickadees flying off in a dither; the starling
was left alone, chuckling softly to himself.
I tried the call a few times to see if I could coax the
smaller birds back into the yard, and soon
was joined by the black bird, who perfectly mimicked my
slightly lower pitched notes. I also
heard the rapid-fire tattoo of a downy woodpecker
somewhere behind the barn, hopefully
not on the actual barn wood itself. I haven’t seen
one of these black and white checkered
fellows all winter, so that was a nice surprise. Crows
abound as if they own the place,
but I have not seen our ravens for a week or more;
perhaps they have taken to the
deep woods to arrange their nest. It won’t be long
before the beautiful back-
yard cacophony of spring dominates the early morning
soundtrack,
full of birdsong and the rush of meltwater down the
ditches.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Monday, March 1, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
30 degrees, windy, overcast, snow
A steady breeze from the north occasionally blows a good
gust of arctic chill,
making my first impression of this new month one of lion-y
bluster, not lamb-y
goodness. There are several crows covering the west
meadow and woodlot, calling
loudly to be heard above the wind’s roar. I need to
go around to all of our nesting boxes
and clear away the mouse nests so that they will be ready
when the first bluebirds return, usually
well before the snow has melted sometime in mid-March.
Spring chores are starting to make their
way onto the list of things-to-do. I brought some seed
starting mix indoors to warm up, but then got
distracted and still haven’t started any vegetable
plants yet. Pepper seeds can go into their flats any time
now, but it is best to wait a few more weeks to plant
tomato seeds, usually around Saint Patrick’s Day.
Our winter basil has been picked over so many times that
it is beginning to lose the will to live, so I will
start a few more of those to keep on a sunny windowsill
for our salads and pasta dishes. We have
overwintered two rosemary plants, and it will be
interesting to see how they fare their second
summer outdoors in a climate that is anything but
mediterranian. I am already looking forward
to the first fresh greens of spring, those that Mother
Nature has planted for our enjoyment,
the dandelions and sorrel, leeks and fiddleheads, all
free for the taking. For now, a good
salad of organic romaine, avocado, grapes, onions,
gorgonzola, and candied pecans
will have to do. Check out tonight’s waning full
moon which will rise at around
7:30; it will appear full but it is one day past. Last
night’s was magical !
Have a great day,
Daisy
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