Another spring-ish day, but no sunshine. There was a chill in the air, but things are still showing signs of spring. Fred took some pictures of the shoreline on his way back from West Danville this afternoon. You can see there isn't much melting there, although Ray Richer mentioned the ice is mushy on top where the ice fishing traffic has been off the ramp at the fishing access.

This afternoon Fred caught some cedar waxwings in our crab apple tree out front. He got a couple of pictures from our living room window. They are such pretty birds! I was out on the deck at lunch time to free a spider I'd caught cruising across my newspaper, and the chickadees were buzzing me. Fred thought they were after the spider, and maybe so; but he scampered under the railing on the deck right away so I think it would have been unlikely they could get him. Even if they did, that's better than me squashing him.

Speaking of birds, yesterday as we were leaving Danville, a big turkey flew over the road in front of us just beyond the Beattie farm and new sugar house. I was really glad it got across without our hitting it. It was very low, just right to be caught by an auto's windshield, and a big bird like that would surely do some damage and kill the bird. We'd seen a partridge as we were coming up W. Shore Rd. onto Rt. 2, but she was running across the road. Looks like the birds are telling us spring is just about here.

There have been warnings about hungry bears awakening from hibernation and looking for garbage or bird feeders to raid, so be sure you don't leave anything around for them. They'll find enough food in the woods if left on their own, but if they find an easy meal, they'll keep coming back and we don't need wild animals in our midst. For their safety and our own, please don't feed them.

The latest newsletter from Burr Morse over at the Morse Farm Maple Sugar Works says they're making lots of maple syrup these days. I can believe it. Seems to me it's been just about perfect sugaring weather. Some friends were wondering if such a good year would mean prices will be lower, but somehow I doubt prices will go down very much. Production costs remain high and if producers are using fuels other than wood from their own lots, that cost is still high, according to news reports.

I've been working on the Joe's Pond Association newsletter again today, putting together ads and making phone calls. Diane Rossi tells me Ice-Out tickets are beginning to come in better now. We think people have been waiting to see if our unusual weather was going to persist before they filled in their tickets. Some folks are saying there is surely going to be "more winter" before March is over, but nobody can really tell. Nothing is melting rapidly yet - each day the snow in our back yard goes down just about half an inch. This morning I reported 18 inches. That's down from 24 inches reported on March 1. There's rain in the forecast for Sunday, but not much, and it could be snow here.

One sure sign of spring is Daylight Saving Time starting tomorrow. I like "springing ahead" much better than "falling back." My internal clock will be confused for a few days, but then it'll be ok. And don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke detectors, etc. Even though it's irritating when the one in our kitchen goes off because I've let oil get too hot or toast burns, it's good to know even a little smoke will set the darned thing off - that's reassuring.