A Taste of Spring

Look what happened today:


That's right: temperatures above freezing! Despite it being just 7 degrees for my errands downtown yesterday morning, today it was sunny and almost 40. It's the first day like that all month, and after shoveling away last night's snow (yes, it's still snowing here), we enjoyed a walk without our coats and hats. 

When we got back, Kirk fired up the snow blower again to carve out part of the patio:


First he had to find the entryway. If you look carefully, you can see that on the right side of the path a bit of the lavender has been exposed. That was excellent: It made the whole area smell great.


After getting through the beds, he cleared away a decent-sized circle. This heretofore untouched blanket of snow is a great reminder of just how much of the white stuff there still is. This is about 3 feet deep, though the entrance to the pathway is above my shoulders. 

This area should be just big enough to set up the fire for boiling down sap for this year's maple sugaring. Today's weather definitely felt like it's time to get out the taps and buckets, but tomorrow it will be back to the same old frigid air we've had all month long. Still, it made sense to get prepped and ready for when the temperatures are consistently this warm. 


The bird's eye view of our maple sugaring "room" shows just how much snow is still here. I think it's been easy to forget that this isn't normal. You get used to seeing giant piles of snow everywhere, and it starts to feel pretty regular. Opening up this spot today was a good reminder that this winter has been something else entirely.

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