Nicest day of the year

Full sun today with the high surpassing 60 degrees. This before/after shows some melting that took place in a bit less than 12 hours.

This a.m.

Early evening

Minus to start March

The morning low dipped a bit below zero to start March. February offered wacky weather, including thaws into the mid-50s, followed by very rapid drops in temperature. Spring beings in three weeks. Daylight becomes evident before 6 a.m. now, with a nice sunrise over the mountains about 50 minutes later.

Two types of fuel

Before some snow blowing this a.m., rum raisin french toast started the day. Forest raspberries frozen last summer made things even more special!

The tractor received 2 and a half gallons of new diesel after the work today. 

Year's first loaf

 COCOA PUMPERNICKEL!!!!!!!!!

Closing out another year

The final walk of the year occurred this morning. Weather warm for early winter, but we likely won't lose all our snow. The cold comes back with a vengeance by Monday morning. The final work in the woods for 2021 was the dropping of a small ash to help an unpictured oak. A nifty blade Santa delivered did the job.

After the walk and work, a fave dish was made for the final lunch of the year: Manchurian Style Cauliflower.

Windy with lack of snow

A snowstorm of up to eight inches will start this afternoon. Prior to this, we've been warmer than average for late autumn. All 13 inches of our snow so far has melted. A major windstorm this week brought down two big pines about 500 feet north of the house. The root balls were torn out of the earth, something quite common for pines in the region. Here is a picture of the bigger of the two trees.

A small sugar maple was lucky to not be hit by the massive force of the falling huge pine. This little fellow will hopefully have hundreds of years to grow and thrive after the near miss.

Birches never boring

 Wherever you are on Hardwood Hermitage, birches never get boring.