We are waiting for the rains to come. It is unusually warm today - my thermometer is reading 64.4F, and a little while ago it was 69F. We had a little sunshine this morning and a couple of breaks this afternoon, but mostly now it's clouded over.
     Fred and I have been out back turning water. It isn't a serious problem, but with the rain coming, we wanted it to run around our house, not into it, so we cleaned out a small ditch along the back side of our lawn that every spring catches most of the water that comes off the hill and runs it down into the culvert below the house - and ultimately into the pond, of course. The snow was melting rapidly and there were sheets of water coming from underneath onto the growing bare spots around trees and hummocks. The rain that's forecast may be two or more inches, and that is a lot combined with the snow still on the ground.
     Tom Dente sent this picture yesterday of a restaurant in near

where he and Camilla are. Here's what he wrote:

Starting to see some Connecticut River flood here in Middletown. The river is up about two and a half feet above the flood stage. The picture is the Harbor Park Restaurant flooded by the Connecticut river. Easter dinner will not be available this year at the restaurant. This weekend with all the rain will bring more challenges. In June, 1984, the flood waters from the Connecticut reached the top of the restaurant so only the roof was showing. The flooding at that time was caused by severe rain for several days in New England.

 

    That must be awful for the owners of that place and other businesses and homes in the area. There may not be as much water heading down the Connecticut this weekend as in 1984, but there is certainly going to be a lot. There is still a lot of snow in the hills and mountains and the ground is saturated already - or frozen.

     So much going on everywhere - bad weather, fires, avalanches, shootings - I hope most people can enjoy a calm Easter Sunday doing things they enjoy, whether it's going to church, having dinner with family and/or friends, or just quietly doing their own thing. We wish you all well. Be happy, be safe, and as Mr. Spock would say, "Live long and prosper."