Another pretty day.  I opened my mail this morning and found this lovely photo from Cousin Ora in Rhode Island.  In spite of having more snow than normal there, they are still way ahead of us here at Joe's Pond.  That said, I understand that being on a northeast facing slope, we tend to have snow a lot longer than the happy folks on the opposite, southwest facing shore.  I was prompted yesterday to check on some of my own daffodils, the ones that come sooner than anything else in the flower garden because they are in a raised bed at the south end of the house.  The snow has been off there for about two days, and now the daffies are showing up.  They are way ahead of any of the others scattered about among other perennials in the garden - those are still under mounds of snow from the snowblower action all winter long, but by the time the early ones are going by, I'll have a new batch in the front lawn garden.  The only other sign that spring is here are the pussy willows.  They are definitely coming to life.


Everything is very wet on our lawn - there are spots where the water is sheeting down over the grassy areas under the snow with only an occasional bare spot sparkling with running water letting us know there's melting going on underneath.  In back of our house where my small vegetable garden is, we have a small brook carrying the water away from the house as it comes off the hillside and the wooded area above.  There is still a foot or more of snow in the woods.

Speaking of wet ground, there is a notice in today's Caledonian Record that the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) is off limits now due to both mud season and because it is unfinished.  The trail will remain closed so that work can continue as soon as it has dried out enough on the section from St. Johnsbury to West Danville.  The trail saw lots of snowmobile traffic this winter, and walkers have used it during the summer except last year and again this year it is officially closed during construction.  It is expected this section of the trail will be opened late this summer for hiking and biking.  The other section that is being worked on this summer is Morristown to Cambridge.