Pond Thaw

This is significant. It is April 9th, nearly the 10th since it's after 8pm. On my way home tonight after work I can finally say our pond is finally free of ice. I think maybe there was one small spot left, but it may have just been leaves or the reflection. Last year the pond was thawed by the middle of March, which shows just how much colder this winter has been. They were boiling at the sugar house when I passed it too, and I'm pretty sure they collected for the last time. Bucket washing will probably be next weekend, but I do have to work bot Saturday and Sunday. The temperatures have climbed into the 60's today and tomorrow, and maybe 70 on Monday, and today was mostly sunny, but we do have some rain in the forecast. It does feel like Spring is coming now.

My daughter and son-in-law and two granddaughters left for their yearly 2 weeks in Cabo San Lucas. I hope they survivied the plane ride and are happily enjoying the sun and warmth. They have time share there and return every April to the place they actually got married three years ago. It was a beautiful wedding, just like the one up here in Middlebury last year. Its exciting seeing them start their lives just like we started ours so many years ago. They have everything ahead of them.

Is it really April?

Mother Nature delt most of the New England area an April Fool's joke with a big nor'easter snowstorm that dumped close to a foot of snow in some locations. I woke up yesterday morning expecting vivid white everywhere, but all that was out there was the snow that still hasn't melted from our unusually long winter. There wasn't a flake or a flurry anywhere, despite the warning that snow would develop shortle after midnight. My drive to work was effortless, I only encountered a bit of rain/snow mixture my last few miles, and certainly nothing that was causing more than wet roads. Last night, as the temperatures dropped to freezing, the snow did begin sticking to the trees and open grass a bit, and now, this morning, there is still a light dusting that will disappear quickly as the sun rises higher in the sky. Hard to believe its even April. We did warm up into the 50's on Thursday, but we need lots of days with high temperatures to warm up the ground. On the plus side, the sap is still running like crazy. Even with the warmer temperatures, many of the maple trees are still sitting in a foot or more of snow, so who knows when they will decide to bud and stop producing sap. This time last year, the sugar season was already over.

Nevertheless, we know Spring will somehow arrive here in the next few weeks. The maternity store that I work in will be going thru some major changes in the next month. Maybe once it warms up we will start to see more sales of Spring and Summer clothes. I think that is what is hurting our sales right now. And then, I will be starting with nearly a completely new staff by May. In some ways I am anxious to put together my own team that might just manage to somehow work together. I want to put so much blame on my assistant manager, but I guess I also need to look at myself and see where I really need to improve. The turnover here is crazy, that really needs to get under control. I can't put my finger on exactly what is causing it, and what would improve it. I am off for the next few days, maybe giving myself a chance to get things together, and go back next Thursday ready to face what's ahead of me.

Mild days, warm sun, melting ponds, leaves, flowers, and a new staff of team members. Its all in the forecast!

Maple Sugar Time

The sap is running! I went out to help collect this afternoon, and the weather was perfect. It had rained earlier in the day, but by noon most of it had quit, and by 3 o'clock the tractor came crawling down the driveway, and it was time to gather the sap in buckets and bring it back to the sugar house to be boiled into maple syrup. The snow was so deep it was difficult to reach some of the buckets, then turn around with a full pail of sap to bring to the tractor. But everyone was in good spirits and it felt wonderful to be out in the thawing warmth. Its 10pm now and I can still see the steam rising across the meadow. Maple time is such fun. The sap might run all night, and tomorrow they'll make the same run once or twice and boil down the sap all day. It would be a great time to make sugar on snow. I can hardly wait, except I have to work tomorrow and Sunday. I'll probably stop by the sugar house on my way home. I can smell the sweet maple scent already!

Here is a sap bucket on our huge maple tree!

SNOW!

The snow piling up on our deck yesterday.

The first forecast was for a few inches of snow. By the time it was over, we had about 26" in about 30 hours. Everything was closed yesterday; the mall I work in, schools, colleges, businesses. Thank goodness it was all closed. The neighbors who normally plow our driveway were out in Seattle, but about 9am, here comes a different neighbor in his big John Deere tractor, moving snow to clear the way. Behind him comes another neighbor in a smaller John Deere to help, then another more distant friend in his truck and plow. So, by noon we were pretty much cleared out, and Big John came over once more in the afternoon. This morning I didn't have any trouble driving down to Burlington. There was still a little sluch on Williston Road, but otherwise all the roads were cleared down to the pavement.

Birthdays

My Birthday was yesterday. It was no big deal, as birthdays seem to be once you get past the age of say, 21. Its hard to remember birthdays from year to year since I normally don't do anything noteworthy. Maybe that should be something I should think about doing, planning something unique on my birthday so I can actually remember it. My fault really. All I did was do my normal, Thursday day off stuff like grocery shopping, an errand here and there, got my car washed. That was noteworthy because it was soooo filthy from all the salt muck on the roads, and here in Vermont, you just don't go thru a car wash when the temperature is 8 degrees, or your locks and doors and trunk will freeze shut and you will either not be able to get into your car, or possibly even, not be able to get out of your car! So it felt really good to have a clean car especially since I don't work for 3 more days which means it will stay nice and salt free in the garage until then.

Next year I will try to think of some way to celebrate it for just me, something I can remember, something that will mean more to me when I end the day and look back on it before I go to sleep.  

Here is a picture of my granddaughter after she blew out the candle on her second birthday cake.

Warmer Days

There was a touch of spring in the air today. We drove down to Burlington for a vet appointment with one of our dogs, and actually saw a car with its convertible top down! Now that is quite crazy because it was only about 45 degrees out, and roaring down the highway at 65 miles per hour meant that his wind chill was about, maybe 20 degrees. Cold enough to freeze his drippy nose. But it felt nice out, and it was also sunny, which made it seem even warmer, even though there are still heaping mounds of snow everywhere. Here is a photo of our two dogs in front of a snowpile by our house last week.

Kuma and Mishka in the snow!

They love it in the snow, but after their walk this afternoon they were so muddy. But it will freeze again, and then there will be ice everywhere. Here is another picture from last week.

This is Mishka going up the driveway.

It was a bright, but cold day, but the sky was so blue. It can be so beautiful around here, even if it is 11 degrees and there is snow everywhere. Soon it will warm up on a regular basis, and then it will be time to tap the maple trees and start to collect the sap to boil it down for maple syrup. We should tap next week sometime if it seems like it will warm up enough. The sap normally runs for most of March, and by the end of sugar season, the snow is gone, the trees are starting to bud, the peeper frogs are out, and the sap will stop running. I can smell the sap boiling in the sugar house already. Its a great time of year!



White-Out Driving

I decided, on my way home from work tonight, that I really prefer not to die in a horrendous car accident on a snow packed interstate. I don't want it to be because of something stupid that I do, or because of something that a crazy driver does because he needs to pass me when you could barely see past the front of your car, and sure can't make out even a single lane of the road you're driving on. Tonight's drive home was pretty awful, probably my worst drive home since I began commuting to Burlington nearly 2 years ago. And my thoughts about not wanting to die in a car accident was because my 2 hour drive home 4 days ago was because a woman who lived in a neighboring town was killed driving into Burlington, and worse yet-she was wearing her seat belt. I know this isn't the most up-lifting post to make, but it is a fact of life living in Vermont, that you will most likely have to make several questionable drives each winter, deciding which driving habits will get you safely to your destination. Mine tonight was to follow the car ahead of me who was going about 35 miles an hour, which felt just about right to me. That is until he decided 20 to 25 mph was a better choice, at which point I made the decision to pass him and venture into the great white void on my own. If it wasn't for the banks of snow on either side of the interstate, I wouldn't have known for sure that I was even of the road. But I made it home all in one piece, thankful for another safe journey, and glad that the snow should end about 7am, about 2 hours before I need to drive back down to Burlington to open the store for the day. I will end this now because we are in the middle of a bunch of lightening and thunder, and the 3-6" of snow has just been adjusted to 9-12", with periods of rain, freezing rain and sleet mixed in. Sounds like the perfect recipe for a power outage...