Spring is Here!

 Today has been an ideal  early spring day! The sun has been warm enough to do some serious damage to our snow cover and we can almost see the snowbanks receding in the 50+ temperature. I was impatient for the banks by my driveway and walkway to melt, so I went out this morning and helped the process along a bit.  I checked a few minutes ago and not all the chunks have melted. But there are more warm days coming at us!

When I came inside, I checked my email and found this photo from Andy Rudin. He said he always brings in the first daffodil bud in his garden and here it is - after a day or so, it is in full bloom and beautiful.

Thanks, Andy - nice to see some flowers - but there won't be any sign of them in my garden for a few weeks!

It's difficult to guess what mud season will be like each year, but we know there will be one - either a doozie or an easy one.  The next few days should tell the story.  The towns are doing their best already - Danville has given some attention to their end of West Shore Road, and the hone has been over the Cabot roads, so with the roads built up with decent material that allows for good drainage, we may escape having one of those horrible years when the mud holes swallow up normal passenger cars, immobilizing them in the goop and slime until some monster truck or tractor comes to their rescue. Some years even the town trucks get mired and have to call for assistance.

A number of years ago there was a young doctor, Dr. Bassett, who lived where Mike and Barb Pupino are now. He was totally unprepared for the road conditions at that time. It didn't take him long to figure out he'd made a mistake and he sold the place and moved to St. Johnsbury - on a paved road. I suspect that has happened to any number of people in the past, but the good news is that our roads are much better now than even 15 years ago. That is a dangerous statement, I know. We could still have a bad mud season and I will regret saying that. I like to be positive about these things. 

I'll always enjoy telling how I used to leave my car "on the other side of the mud holes" and walked home when my parents lived on Cabot Plain and I would come home for a weekend. On Monday morning I would put my spike heels and other gear in a backpack and ski down what we called "the old road" that comes out where my mailbox is today (back then there was a shortcut to the Plain, but it wasn't plowed in the winter), to wherever I'd had to leave my car. I was dressed for the office except for my ski boots, business suit, nylon stockings, shoulder bag, etc. I did that routine several times over the years, and I don't remember falling. I do remember that the snow was deep and very fast because nights were below freezing and there were icy spots. I had a big old Packard sedan - a 1942, I think it was. I hated that car, but it was dependable transportation and I got it used and cheap where I worked, at Lesnick's DeSoto-Plymouth. After a few years pounding through the mud, the rust on it was pretty bad and if I went through a puddle, water would splash up over the motor and I'd have to pull over and dry off the spark plugs. It ended up as power for the sawmill on the farm. It had a great motor, but it was the clunkiest looking car I ever drove! Back then cars were all rear-wheel drive. I still usually take mud boots with me when I have to drive during mud season - just in case I have to walk home.