Rain for Maine

Many of the folks whose blogs I enjoy have been buried in snow over the last few days--while we in Maine, who have had way more than our share of snow--had nothing but rain. The rain started Friday evening and when I awoke on Saturday morning, I heard what sounded like little birds tweetering outside. The rain had stopped and I imagined that they had been blown north by the storm. Wishing to welcome the birds to my yard, I hurriedly whipped up a batch of Zick dough.

As I melted and measured and mixed the ingredients, I realized that the insistent sound of the birds was coming from one of my kitchen cabinets--opening the cabinet, I discovered little kitten Judith, trapped within. Apparently, it was her little mews for help that I had heard--not a yard full of hungry traveling birds.

Well, I put some of the dough out anyway, hoping that the two chickadees or the one bluejay who have been visiting my feeder would enjoy it and within 30 minutes, a huge flock of birds descended on my birch tree suet feeder. They weren't the most well-mannered birds that I've ever seen nor the most attractive, but beggers can't be choosers and I was happy to see something alive and flying and it was fun to watch them devour the food.

Signs of Spring

Somehow my postings about anticipated storms are losing some of the glee that they contained in December.

We are expecting another 9-14 inches tomorrow night as even the promise of a snow day loses its luster and fear builds of going to school into the summer.

Chores are getting difficult. In order to feed the bunny, I have to walk over a four foot snow pack and then kick my way down to the hutch door. Despite, his virtual burial, he seems fat and happy with plenty of nice warm hay.

But despite the difficulties of this much snow, the days are getting longer, the sun is at a higher angle in the sky and easter candy is in the store.

Further positive signs of Spring: according to the Stokes Birding Blog, robins are preparing for their northern migration and in Florida, baseball players are preparing for the season.

Good-bye, January Thaw

January thaw is such a euphemism--it brings to mind, winter-weary folks treated to a sudden burst of flowers, green grass and nesting songbirds.

It isn't really that way at all, at least up here in the nation's eastern tippy top. The air does get warmer and that is a nice relief but the snow begins to melt during the day and then re-freeze at night and that process continues for the duration of the thaw. Much like spring, the January thaw is not an attractive time, it gets slippery and dangerous and every one's nerves are on edge because much of our winter economy is dependent on skiers and snowmobilers. While we still have plenty of snow up here for those activities, if people in southern New England don't see snow in their backyard they tend to forget that we still have it up here and they put the skis away and move onto other things. Those of us not directly dependent on the snow for our incomes but who love it for personal reasons start to get anxious that our winter may be winding down.

Conditions have improved over the last few days, though. The temperatures this weekend are hovering around freezing making the snow pack solid and actually improving it. After a rough week of canceled ski practices, C was able to take his nordic team to a race yesterday and the conditions were fast and the track was well-set in the woods.

The difficulty will be forgotten about 3:00 tomorrow morning when we start to get another big snow storm. The teacher and the teenager in our house like the starting time of the storm--not enough time to get the roads cleared before the buses need to get out but enough time for the roads to be slippery.