soupy

Kahle Road is turning soupy. Mud season has begun. The mixture of snow & bare ground sometimes looks like the hide of an Appaloosa.

At length the sun's rays have attained the right angle, and the warm winds blow up mist and rain and melt the snowbanks, and the sun, dispersing the mist, smiles on a checkered landscape of russet and white smoking with incense, through which the traveler picks his way from islet to islet, cheered by the music of a thousand tinkling rills and rivulets whose veins are filled with the blood of winter which they are bearing off.
Spring
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

rain

Rain and fog, first of those in a long time. Water in the basement, and in the ditch around the house. Man carrying an umbrella.

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten in the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter when it is already spring. In a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven. Such a day is a truce to vice.
Spring
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

made it!

At this point the field in the back is partly bare, and the hill in the back is almost totally free of snow. The other day I saw at least 20 deer scampering across this field in the back. That's the most deer I've ever seen at one time on our land. Every evening around 6:10, a flock of turkeys, 30 or so,  can be seen in this same area. It occurred to me that having land that faces the south, and offers bare ground might attract more animals to the area than usual. This seems to be what's going on. The other night there were a half dozen deer in this same area. They were gamboling around like lambs in the spring, kicking up their heels, and chasing each other around. There was no conserving of energy to allow them to make it through the long, cold winter. It was like they were saying, whew, we made it!

two bobcats!

two bobcats!

Allyn receiving seed catalogs in the mail. Annual letter from the Vermont Botanical and Bird Club. Spring issue of Vermont Life Magazine on sale in stores. Annual photo of indoor high school softball practice in the Rutland Herald.

nosing

bobcat

Skunk out nosing around in the road, a sure sign of spring. Flock of ducks barreling north in the skies above Middlebury.

birth

trail cam turkey

Driving Rte 7 on a Sunday morning; cold, dark, and wet. Feels like the world is giving birth to itself.

icicles

trail cam fox

Icicles gone from eaves of the house. A humungous block of ice pulled down one of the electrical wires at work. Walking outside in the morning before work. People out walking their dogs. Open water on Otter Creek & Woods Pond in Brandon.

spring!

The first day of spring.

The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever! The faint silvery warblings heard over the partially bare and moist fields from the bluebird, the song sparrow, and the red wing, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell! What at such a time are histories, chronologies, traditions, and all written revelations? The brooks sing carols and glees to the spring...The sinking sound of melting snow is heard in all the dells, and the ice dissolves apace in the ponds.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

Easter egg

Driving the roads on Sunday, ice-out contest on Woods Pond in Brandon. Waning moon in the western sky over the Adirondacks, its creamy, pastel-yellow color reminded me of an Easter egg.

The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather, from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim.
Walden
Henry Davis Thoreau

big flakes

Reddish tinge of buds on the maple trees. Car washes open and active. Car with a canoe on top. Snowing beg flakes of March, not the small flakes of January/Feb.

crystalline nuggets

Signs of the seasons at the supermarket; corned beef & cabbage, matzo balls & gefilte fish. Snow disappearing from south facing slopes. Snow turning from the flakes of winter into the crystalline nuggets of spring.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Driving to and from work without using the headlights. There is a ride at Disneyland called Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I often think of that when I am weaving my way around the pot holes and frost heaves this time of year. I have a sore back now which I actually think is from the jarring rides I am currently experiencing on springtime roads.

scalloped

Snow is taking of scalloped effect as snow pack is eroded by sun and wind. Hauling out binoculars to check out a small flock of birds around the forsythia bush. Driving thru Middlebury, Girl Scout cookies for sale along the road. I bought some.

One attraction in coming to the woods to live was that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the Spring come in. Fogs and rains and warmer suns are gradually melting the snow; the days have grown longer, and I see how I shall get through the winter without adding to my wood-pile.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

geese

Holy mackerel, flock of geese landing in a cornfield near the Otter Creek. About a week later I saw some geese sitting next to that same corn field. I've seen them sitting on frozen ponds before, but never on snow.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
Ernest Hemingway
Zen page-a-day calendar

thermodynamics

At this time of the year, there are interesting lessons in thermodynamics to be learned. Slight variations in temperature, angle of the sun, shade, reflection, etc., cause the snow pack to melt more or less rapidly. So why is the snow on the right hand bench melting more rapidly than on the left? I'm hoping some of the naturalists out there will hazard a guess. Shawn?

tracks

Daylight savings time started on Sunday. Temps in the 40's. Snowmelt dripping on the walkway at work. There is still a lot of snowmobile activity, however. When Allyn & Ellen went skiing, Allyn said that almost every field they saw had snowmobile tracks on it.

small miracles

February was the coldest month in Rutland in recorded history. Hearing more birds in the morning.

3/25/08
A couple of revealing moments about life in a cold climate. This morning on our morning walk we ran into Barb, and we all remarked about how it was getting light out. About two minutes later, we were walking by the Dufner's house. I heard a high pitched repetitive sound. I couldn't figure out what it was. It sounded like maybe a squeaky fan might be running in their basement. It finally dawned on me what it was. It was a solitary bird, singing to the rising sun. In a few weeks there will be hundreds of them doing the same thing. It has been so long since I'd heard that sound. It seemed like a miracle!
To a lesser degree I experienced the same feeling yesterday walking to production. The snow on the lawn has been receding, and it disappeared completely over the weekend. That which had been covered with snow and invisible for so long was revealed. Again, it seemed like a miracle.
On the one hand, there's something a little pathetic about living in a place where a singing bird is considered a miracle. On the other hand, it's a gift. Complacency is one of the greatest killers of the joy of living. Living in a cold climate continues to offer opportunities to appreciate and savor the small miracles of life. In many ways that is the heart of this daily journal. Opossum seen along the road in West Rutland last night. 

confused

Google Images

Fifteen below this morning, full moon shining brightly. Saw a robin in the lane the other day. It looked confused.

I live in the open mindedness

of not knowing enough

about anything.

Mary Oliver

Zen page-a-day calendar

Sa Ha world

The temperature yesterday was in the 40's. Tonight it's supposed to be below zero. Doug explained the implications to me the other day. The snow starts to melt & then freezes. Coyotes can then walk on top of the snow, but the deer break through. This is a very dangerous time of year for the deer population as they are already weakened by the snow, the cold, and the long winter season.
The other evening when John was here having dinner, he pointed out a deer running full speed through the woods in the back. We never did see what it was fleeing, but it gave me a very unsettling feeling. The only other time I saw something like that was in June one year when a fawn was being pursued by a coyote. You really feel for the deer this time of year, but coyotes are God's creatures just the same as the deer. Coyotes have to eat, too.
There's an old Sanskrit term, the Sa Ha world. It means "barely tolerable." Sometimes that's exactly how it feels, certainly for members of the animal kingdom.

triangular cinder blocks

Ice and snow in the wheel wells are an everyday problem. I try to kick them out whenever possible like everyone else. They are scattered across parking lots throughout the area like triangular cinder blocks.

town meeting day

Town meeting day is today, a longstanding Vermont democratic tradition. Lawn signs for Rutland mayoral candidates to be seen in snowy front yards in the area.

open water

Commuting to work, the sun is on a much more northerly track above the Green Mountains than even a month ago. Over the years, I have started to see ducks flying over the marsh in West Rutland at this time of year. I haven't seen any so far this year. Don't know what that means. Maybe the areas of open water are few and far between this year