Vermont's Variety Called Weather

 We woke up this morning to a white world - again. Just when we seem to be making progress towards real spring, the weather takes a turn and it's winter again. Today was absolutely beautiful, but the wind was ferocious - and pretty darned chilly. Mid-morning I decided to go outside to find some pussy willows. I knew it was chilly - I'd been outside to measure snow earlier. When I opened the pedestrian door in the garage, the wind literally whipped it out of my hand. Fortunately, I was able to grab it again before any damage was done, but it was close. The snow hadn't melted in front of the door because it's shaded there. The rest of my driveway was clear, and so was the lawn where the sun was hitting it. The wind was straight out of the north and very gusty and strong. I really enjoy being outside in the wind when it isn't freezing cold. Today was borderline - cold to just stand around, but in the sun and working, it was really quite nice. The smell of spring was in the air, although there was also the smell of wood smoke coming from my neighbors who have pellet burners. I  decided as long as I was out there with my clippers, I would cut some bushes and prune a tree or two. I also removed the rope I'd put up last summer to support the small maple Ben dug up and transplanted for me. The stakes around it are still frozen into the wet earth, so I'll need to get them later.

The hillside above the house has water running down into the new pond, and it has made paths through the soft earth where the grass was just beginning to take root last fall. I'm hoping that dries up after the spring thaws and showers are over, but if it's coming from springs that have made their way to the surface, getting the hillside dried out may not be easy. For now it looks like there could be a fairly large natural marsh forming along the lower hillside next to the pond. It will be interesting to see what takes root there. Cattails, maybe? Irises? Wild rice? Anything is possible. Perhaps even some surprises are in store for me. I'm excited to watch how it comes together. I'll leave it as natural as possible and hope it will be good habitat for some ground-nesting birds and other wildlife.

Sunday was cold and not really very pleasant. I didn't venture outside except to measure precipitation. Diane Rossi messaged me that there was a para-glider on the ice on the big pond. At first she was concerned as the person seemed to be just standing still out in the middle. She took a photo, and within a few minutes messaged me again saying he/she was  moving. She sent me these photos - first, standing with the sail spread on the ice, and then getting launched. That last photo looks like the wind had picked up considerably and that guy is moving fast! I hope that backpack would also serve as a life preserver if the ice happened to give way. I'm sure whoever that is knows the dangers of being on the ice this time of the year; but there is one advantage, and that is that there are no ice fishermen or shanties to dodge. The only obstacle is the Ice-Out flag - or open water. I think the wind today would have been too much of a good thing for a paraglider.

The Ice-Out contest is officially closed, and now we wait for warm weather to begin the melting process and let the flag and block fall into the water. We are expecting some nice, warmish, rainy weather later this week, and that will move things along. The Ice-Out Committee has no idea how many tickets were sold this year - that won't be known until all they are all logged in, and it will be a while before Henretta will be finished with that tedious process. All dates and times are recorded by batches on a computer spreadsheet, and the paper tickets are filed by numbered batch. Once the clock stops, Henretta will do a quick search to find the winning ticket for the committee to verify all the information before the winner is contacted, and finally announced to the public. It is still a simple process, but also takes time.

Entering thousands of ticket is quite a different process than the first years when a hand-written list of ticket holders was kept at Hastings Store. Back then there were a few hundred names, and later when a computer was used, there was a paper printout with names and picks all recorded. Now it would be both time consuming and expensive to print the thousands of names, so only vital information is entered on a spreadsheet so finding the winning date and time is very easy. Then they match the information to the ticket and find out who the winner is. Diane said on-line ticket sales were up a bit from last year, so indications are that overall sales will likely be as good or perhaps better than last year, which means the winner will probably receive over $5,000.

Another nice day tomorrow, and perhaps I will get more outside work accomplished. Stay safe, be happy.