Another Snowy Day

The storm that socked much of the nation finally got to us yesterday, and while we weren't impacted as seriously as other areas, we got a solid 14 inches of snow over the past two days. Today it's hard to tell if it's snowing or if the snow in the air is from the wind. There's a pretty stiff wind that seems to change from NW to SW and it is taking snow off trees and roofs, piling it into soft drifts along pathways and across roads. With the temperature still in the teens, the snow isn't packing down much, but it is biting  against exposed skin. 

The snow does have beauty - wherever I look from my windows, there are picture-perfect views of snow-laden trees and smooth, rolling white landscapes. Gretchen Farnsworth sent me this really exceptional view of Pearl Island that she took this morning. I think this is prize-worthy! Thanks, Gretchen!

 I almost enjoyed shoveling off my deck this morning - except that my nose got really cold and my hands were aching from the cold even with double gloves on. I normally wear mittens, which I find keep my hands much warmer, but I recently found some wool liners that I used in leather gloves for driving back in the day before heated steering wheels, and a pair of Fred's fleece gloves from LL Bean, so I paired them up and they are great - except for prolonged shoveling when it's really cold like this morning. My fingers were tingling and numb by the time I came inside.

Last night I took this photo of my screened porch. There have been no sunny days, so my solar lights are not operating much at all - however, who needs lights when there are little snowballs and squiggly designs everywhere? There won't be any "porch sitting" for a few months, but I do enjoy my porch, even if it's just looking out there from inside.

The forecast is for warming and rain by Wednesday, so all this snow may wind up rushing into brooks and rivers, raising pond levels and flooding lowlands - again. Or, we could get more snow here at Joe's Pond where we often seem to have our own microcosm where weather is concerned.

An interesting aside to all of this: Ruth Goodrich, who owns Goodrich's Maple Farm on Route 2 in East Cabot with her husband, Glen, stopped in last week. Ruth and Glen have some 150 trees tapped in the area to supply their maple business. Ruth explained that with so many taps and lines to look after, even this time of year there are some trees that are tapped and have open lines as workers circulate among the thousands of trees to inspect, clean and re-tap as needed. She told me that during these alternating cold and then warm spells, they have made some syrup. That amazed me, and I asked her if having those trees tapped and running compromised the health of trees and she said it doesn't. She said that  eventually the tap hole will dry up and has to be redone, but the old hole heals over and the tree isn't injured.

It makes sense that with some 150,000 trees to look after, there is no way all of them could be tapped and lines set up just in the spring when sap normally runs best; so tapping and caring for them systematically in sections is the only option. It is a year-around process to keep all of those lines productive. Ruth told me the quality of these odd-season runs is varied - some syrup they have made was not great, but then there was also some that was really nice quality. 

I didn't tell Ruth, but my favorite breakfast these cold mornings is oatmeal with Goodrich's maple syrup!