Messy Weather

 After a couple of sunny days to spoil us completely, we are now "paying the fiddler" as we endure a  messy rain-sleet-snow-wind event. As I was clearing off my deck and measuring the new snow we got overnight. I at about 9 o'clock I began to feel rain on my head. The temperature was 25F so I was wearing no hat, only earmuffs, and in no time I began feeling cold rivulets on my scalp, then running down the back of my neck, warming a bit but no less wet and uncomfortable. I was pushing 3.5 inches of pretty heavy snow across the deck to the one corner that still had room for snow to drop off the edge. The north and front side the snow has built up so I can no longer just shove it under the deck railing and let it fall four feet to the ground. It is tough on my back to actually pick it up and toss it over the railing, so I use the push and scoop method whenever I can. This morning I needed to get it done a.s.a.p. so I used a combination of methods to dispose of it and reminded myself that this morning was easy compared to what's coming at us this weekend. That may be a job for Jamie and Marie.

Yesterday was pretty much a lost day for me. I went for my eye shots in the morning. Everything went well, as expected, but with my eyes dilated and irritated from the shots and strong antiseptics, I had to wear dark sunglasses on the way home and kept the window shades  lowered when I got home. Consequently, I missed most of the pretty sunshine. However, that is a small price to pay for keeping my vision. Today I will be catching up on emails and TV shows I couldn't watch yesterday.

I had a call from Michelle Walker on Tuesday asking me if I knew about some sort of social group forming on West Shore Road. She said she had an email inviting her to join and asking for names of her friends who might also like to join - but she was suspicious and we decided it was another scam of some sort. Like Shelly said, it sounded like a fun thing to do, but it came from someone she didn't know, so the alarms went off. I haven't had anything like that, but I'll be on guard.

Middle son, Bob and I went on a short road trip Tuesday afternoon to enjoy the pretty day. We picked up coffee at Maplefield's in Plainfield and took Route 14 through Woodbury to Hardwick and down Route 15 to home. We were impressed with the snow on Cabot Plain - and how much more snow there is in the Cabot/Walden area than other places. The town road crew pushed the snow well into the open field by the Plains Cemetery and that serves as a "snow fence" to catch snow before it drifts into the road. That is a big trouble spot every winter for drifting. The wind Comes right out of Canada and never seems to quit.

There used to be snow fence along  that stretch, but I don't think the town uses that now. Instead, they plow snow into breakers well away from the road and that is better than snow fence. This winter is proving to be pretty close to those "old time" winters some of us love to reminisce about. Years ago, before automobiles, roads were rolled which was about the same principle used for snowmobile trails today. A well-rolled path worked fine for horses pulling sleds and sleighs. Also, the course of roads changed during winter months. On the Plain, the winter road kept to the wooded area to stay out of the wind, so instead of passing by the cemetery where the road is today, travelers were routed through the maple woods below the covered bridge. Instead of trying to keep the hillside road that is now Route 2 open in winter, as soon as the ice was safe, travelers used the level stretch of Molly's Pond to get from Joe's Pond to East Cabot area. Young Henry Durgin (24), and a nine year old boy named O. W. Gorham drowned in Molly's Pond in late April, 1864, having gone through the ice on the "winter road."

 And that leads me to the ice thickness at Joe's Pond this year. I don't have a recent measurement, but my source reports that around the first of February there were 14 inches. Since then we've had a stretch of pretty cold weather, so I expect there may be more than that now; however, we also have had small amounts of snow almost daily, and that works as insulation, so the measurement might not have changed much. That doesn't seem like a lot of depth for this time of the year. I'll post an update as soon as I get one.

In the meantime, be safe, warm, and stay healthy. This changeable weather is great for all sorts of "bugs" and lots of people are suffering through colds, flu, Covid, and other mean stuff, so beware!