Spring and Ice Report

 l.

I think mud season is upon us, but if this is all we get this spring, I'm sooooo happy! Aside from too many potholes and pretty rough washboard on our road (West Shore Road), from my house to Route 2 is really pretty darned good. Slimy and slick in spots, but no deep boggy ruts with ridges that defy riding. I was in St. Johnsbury early this morning and decided to get my car washed. I confess I drove no faster than a leisurely walk on the way home to keep from dirtying it up again, but I was confident I wouldn't be slipping into any deep mud trenches that would pack mud and gravel into the underbelly of my car. Our roads have been remarkable this year. Kudos to our road crews - although I know a lot of the credit is due to our mild weather. No deep frost this year. I needed to stop at a friend's on North Shore Road and even that is remarkably good. There have been years when the stretch past the Joe's Pond Association pavilion was nearly impassable. 

Although our winter and spring have seemed a bit unusual, it's interesting (and somehow reassuring) that some events are pretty much on schedule and normal. For instance, it looks like the ice will hold until after April 1 for the Ice-Out Contest; maple sugaring season has been a really good year for most producers, in spite of the wild temperature changes; we're beginning to see tulip and daffodil sprouts poking through the snow in our flower beds; pussy willows are starting to show; and there is a lot of bare ground everywhere except at Joe's Pond. Things like this that are a normal part of our spring waking-up process are like a light at the end of the long tunnel of weird stuff that made up our winter. 

Speaking of spring at Joe's Pond, my friend Bob Mackay reported in about the ice depth, as promised, a little after noon today. He told me he intended to go fishing at the same spot where he's fished all winter, and he'd taken only a few steps onto the ice when it gave away and he went into the water. Fortunately, it was only about up to his knees, but it surprised him, he said, and he also said "that water was really cold." Only last week he'd been out on the ice at the same spot and there was at least a foot of ice; today he said there is much less than a foot and his prediction is that "it's going to go fast" now. 

So, be warned. DO NOT GO OUT ON THE ICE - anywhere!  

 

 Here are some pictures from  past mud years.  The first picture was in 2004 on the flat just north of our mailbox. There was a huge hole in the middle of the road, so Fred and I stuck a log into it so nobody would lose a wheel by running into it. The culvert had plugged and water washed out the road around it. The picture on the right was taken on April 15, 2008 about in front of Mason's on West Shore Road. That mud was deep and there was really no place to go that was firm. Anyone who dared advance into it had to be skilled and ready to "gun it" because if they hesitated even a moment and lost momentum, they would be hopelessly stuck.

And as the picture on the right shows, just when you think you've made it through all the nasty weather, nature can turn on you. This was a late April snowstorm in 2010 - the heavy, wet kind of snow that is back-breaking to shovel and heartbreaking to contemplate. Honestly, I don't believe my daffodils (below) were ever the same after that spring. So sad!

Have a safe and happy Easter Weekend.