The Big March Melt

After we received four feet of snow in February, we thought winter would be quite visible for some time. A major thaw began on Friday, thanks to rain, wind, and warmth. This below/after shows the same scene from Friday morning to this morning. What a change!

Another chilly walk

We've had more major temperature swings, as can be expected in late winter. At 7 p.m. last night, it was in the mid-50s. Twelve hours later when a walk started, we were 30 degrees colder. The scenes on either side of sunrise today looked grand.

Chex Mix Monday

Perhaps we've had the last negative temperature of the season??? Minus 3 this morning! For the cold start, a beautiful batch of Chex Mix was made.

Grabbing the sun

This baby birch seemed so ready for spring this afternoon! It's trying to grab the sun! Temps reached 40 for the first time in quite a while today. Cold has plenty of time to return, but the sun looks great.

In another interesting sight today, these old apple trunks retained a snowy top, looking like a double ice cream cone.

Snowy and cold

We've received more than two feet of snow in February, with low temps regularly at or near zero. Two sunny days (although with highs still well below the freezing point) led to some nice snow clearing work to widen the cleared width of the driveway or move lots of white stuff away from the frost walls. Happy Win-tah!!!

Long way to growing season

Based on frost and freeze data, our growing season lasts 148 days a year on average. As obvious from the raised garden bed, we're quite distant from Day One.

Great loaf

The first 2025 loaf of cocoa pumpernickel just came out of the machine! The aroma for the last two hours has been truly marvelous.

Birches rule the winter

About 8 inches of snow has fallen since the New Year's thaw. As usual, the forest becomes even more beautiful when the horizontal white mixes with the vertical variety.