Birches

Several inches of snow today contrasts with the wonderful sunshine of yesterday.  Here are a few pictures of paper birches taken during a morning walk, accompanied by favorite lines from Frost's timeless poem, "Birches."

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them.

But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay

As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. 

I should prefer to have some boy bend them

As he went out and in to fetch the cows—

Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,

Whose only play was what he found himself,

Summer or winter, and could play alone.

One by one he subdued his father's trees

By riding them down over and over again

Until he took the stiffness out of them

So was I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be

I'd like to get away from earth awhile

And then come back to it and begin over.

May no fate willfully misunderstand me

And half grant what I wish and snatch me away

Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:

I don't know where it's likely to go better. 

I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,

And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk

Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,

But dipped its top and set me down again.

That would be good both going and coming back.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. 

Fresh snow for February

January didn't bring us much snow, but three inches fell late yesterday into this morning.  Wednesday could be a big storm, depending on the track.  Although we didn't get much, the tractor was out this a.m. to clear the way, just in case we get a foot later this week.

Snow was sliding off the roof all morning, thanks to the temps above freezing.  We'll get a good deal of sun Monday and Tuesday, so the cleared solar panels will be happy!

This deer was pictured last week.

Red on White

After our latest cold snap, temps have been spring-like for days.  Lots of rain, too, so there isn't much snow on the ground.  If all the rain was snow, however, we'd have six feet of new white stuff.

There's plenty of white on our paper birches, though! Sometimes you'll find one with red hues on the peeling bark.  Below are some pics taken this afternoon.  Really sunny, and our solar panels are happy!

   

21 below!

It might not be a record, however it sure is cold outside!!!  We, however, are nice and toasty inside - the wood stove is roaring as the sun creeps over the hill.  Our firewood supply is still in great shape even though usage has been steady with a fire in the early morning and another in the evening.

We have a beautiful winter wonderland all around us.  Critter tracks (bobcat, raccoon, deer, moose, turkey, porcupine, squirrel, mouse) can be seen crisscrossing the driveway, near the house and down on the trails on the flat terrace just below the house.  Sooner or later we'll see that moose!!!!

Although the tractor was a bit stubborn to start the other day, and has thrown a couple of shear pins (this happens when ice or rocks are pulled into the snow blower), it has performed beautifully clearing the area in front of the garages, the driveway and the part of the road that is not maintained by the Town.  Most likely, our neighbor, who is in his late 60's/early 70's and drives an older model rear-wheel drive car (think older person, 4 door 'boat' or 'tank' like vehicle) appreciates that we have cleared the street from his driveway to the paved part (we have to do that in order to get to the paved part ourselves).

Miss Peaches quickly figured out that even the screened in porch is not a place she wants to go with the cold temps we have here.  She seems very content to sleep on the hearth rug (when we aren't loading wood), or nearby in a chair.

Warmer temps are on tap for later today (high of 18 above zero) and then tomorrow it might even get to 30!!  yahoo!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our first posted picture of 2014 is another one of our lovely yellow birches.  The transitional bark stages on birches are always neat to see.

This very old red maple has been a stalwart of the woods for a really long time.  Some branches have broken off, but the tree is hanging in there.

Big rocks can be seen throughout the woods.  The snow-covered rock in this picture serves as a lounge chair in warmer weather.

A densely packed part of the forest, with four excellent paper birches visible.

Snow scenes

South side of house

 North side of house (with double-trunked red oak)

Snowy conifers

Paper birch

Bobcat print!

First snow blowing adventure

We were expecting more than six inches of snow, but that's all we got.  That was enough to test out the tractor's snowblower.  It passed with flying colors.

The temperature was negative 9 on Saturday morning.  Time to get out some puzzles! Here's the first one we completed.  It's of "the Ugly House," located in the United Kingdom.