Kavi Watching North Herd after the Storm
Yesterday there had been liquid snow on the ground in sunny places on the road. I believe they call that ‘ice water’ in some parts. The snow banks were lower. It was a hat free day. Last night as I headed up to the cottage under the light of the bright moon the weather shifted from a pleasant evening to a white out snowstorm in a matter of seconds. The dogs looked at me as if I was joking as I continued up the hill. Smart like, they hunkered down into drifts to wait out the night.
The wind howled all night and in the morning we awoke to a very white world where drifting snow had blunted the landscape. Yesterday it had looked like old man Winter was easing off his grip such that spring might be around the corner. After all, it is the equinox. This morning Winter had a firm grip on the landscape again with snow drifted across the driveways and paths hiding the edges of references. Snow devils raced across the fields picking up powder that they dumped into hollows and tracks. Snow continued falling through the morning although it was a little hard to tell how much was from the snowing and how much was from the blowing.
Spring will come another day. I’m pretty sure of that. On a day like this we just have to believe…
Outdoors: 12°F/7°F 4″ Snow in the morning, High winds, Sunny in the afternoon
Farm House: 49°F/40°F
Tiny Cottage: 70°F/51°F 65% humidity
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
Ah, yes! The battle at the change of seasons. My money is on Spring, but it may be a long game of give and take! Stay warm!
They have an Ice Out contest at Joe’s Pond a bit east of us to see who can guess when the ice will break. Me, I’m starting to do our annual spread our hoarded wood ash on the fields to raise the albedo so the heat energy of the sun will melt the snow. I find that if I do this we get up to a month earlier of snow field season and more pasture time once it solidifies. Think of it as our little contribution to global warming in our local climate…
Flowers will bloom and bugs will once again be flying around, but for now it looks like your warmer weathter is taking its time arriving.
We have a big portion of our garden planted, and fruit tress have blossomed. We only had one snowfall in these parts this year. I miss the New England winters !
The funny thing is we get used to winter. The ground is higher up. The fence posts are lower. White on white with bits of blue and grey seems like the normal color scheme. At this point in the season I almost forget summer… almost.
I just cannot even fathom having snow like that and this late in the year. One time we got about 18 inches here and it was incredible. I believe I would get tired of it pretty quick though; my blood is way too thin.
I often wonder if people who live where the snow and bitter cold season is longer than the warm summer growing season, get depressed and frustrated, like those folks who live in places where the skies are grey and rainy every day.
We’ve had a long winter here, but not too much snow, just the howling winds. I tolerate snow better than I do those winds.
The winds make me feel stressed and unbalanced.
I do hope that Queen Spring wins the battle with Old Man Winter very soon in your area, though.
The snow’s not bad, and I prefer it to winter rains or mud season. Heck, I prefer the snow to the spring thunder and lightning storms which can be quite destructive. With snow we just hunker down.
Wind’s the same, just keep out of it. The rough terrain helps, wind breaks help – they lift the winds up over our heads much of the time. This is the philosophy behind our pig dens. They’re open shelters but inside they’re nice.
The extreme cold, which we haven’t gotten this year, is difficult as it makes it hard to breath. But that only lasts a few days to a few weeks at most.
The hard part is in December when it is getting darker and darker and often the skies are cloudy as well. That’s depressing. We just get through it. I think that is the origin of all the holidays, the lightning traditions, bringing greenery into the house. People are trying to get through that period. Once we get into January the days are getting longer and typically they’re bright and sunny, and thus colder at night, so it’s nice. You just (almost) forget summer after a while and it get so we think living up on top of the white landscape is natural way of being…
I need to start thinking about gardens because we might see bare ground within a month. Sometimes I’ve had a greenhouse and that was always nice. Gotta build another…
Winter can be rough after a while… you sort of want to look up to the sky and say “Hey God! I get the point!” : D
At the same time, for those of you who don’t believe long winters build moral character, come down to Florida and experience how nasty everybody is down here! I was whinin’ to my mom (in Green Bay, Wisconsin) about the prevailing rudeness in our new Florida town and she reminded me that cold keeps the riff-raff out… “People who live in Florida can’t handle inconvenience, honey. That’s *why they’re there.*”
I love my mom… and really kind of miss Wisconsin.