mud season

Temperatures in the 50's over the weekend. Mud season has started. Ruts in the road on the other side of our property as sap is being gathered there. Water in the fields in the usual places south of Brandon. Chickadees start to make some different calls this time of year as they begin to stake out their territories for the upcoming mating and nesting season.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Clear and cold. Sun pillar seen in the east when driving to morning meditation. Ice melt in the roads causes dangerous driving conditions when it refreezes. Frost heaves appearing. The drive into Rutland at this time of year always reminds me of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland.

spring training

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training. This is actually important.

water

Yesterday the temperature was in the 50's with rain. Like it or not, we got to test out the new water removal system in our basement. Roads were treacherous.

Back from California. Skated into the morning sitting in Rutland. Sidewalks were a sheet of ice. Happy to be back where I belong.

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

Henry Miller
Zen page a day calendar.

sugaring

Crackle of birch bark in the wood stove.
The days are getting lighter, but there's a lot of winter left. I've always thought that the first sign of spring was the frost heaves which appear to rise up like mushrooms on Rte 133 some time in February. I'm seeing some earlier signs of spring this year, however. We have a new young man from Ira who is handling the sugaring on our property this year. He has already been very busy in the past few weeks setting up his lines for spring. He is leaving lots of track marks in the snow along the fence lines in the back. 

icicles

When I got back from California recently, I saw something I hadn't seen for a long time, icicles. It's been a mild winter, and icicles have been in short supply. Of course, during the warmer months the only place you can find icicles is in the back of the freezer. This seems to be the way it goes for many of the phenomena in the natural world; snowflakes, dandelions, wild apples...they're either everywhere or nowhere to be found.