Snow signals

One of the best things about spring time snow is that there is usually enough light outside for you to be able to see it snow.

The second best thing about spring time snow is that if you get to see it in the morning there is usually a lovely pink sunrise peeping through it which turns the whole sky into a painting.

The third best thing about spring time snow - and maybe I should have put this first - is that by tomorrow or the next day at the latest it will all have melted. No shoveling required.

Snow snow snow snow

It's wonderful to have the day off and be inside enjoying a snowfall. And today I got to do just that!

My DH took care of all of the details so the only thing I had to do was make a nice hot dinner (borek), knit as much as I wanted (socks) and look out the window at the snow.

It's so much prettier when you don't have to shovel it!

No Denying Them

Even though it snowed yesterday, the daffodils will not be denied.  They will make their stand.

Here.  Now.  

This Spring.  

They will not surrender to the snow.

Spring is Coming

There's still 9 more days of winter left, but today it was all about Spring.  Everywhere I looked, there were the signs.

• The truck didn't have to be plugged in to keep it warm enough to start
• No mittens and scarf required this morning at the train platform
• Shocked looks on people's faces when they saw me in my winter coat (there's a 25-degree difference between where I live and where I work - and it's Spring, not Summer)
• Sparrows nesting and calling each other
• Daffodils in the park
• People strolling down the street and (get this!) smiling
• Stepping into the shade to cool down - on purpose
• Street vendors everywhere
• Sidewalk cafes were jam packed
• Rolled down windows on the drive home

It feels a lot like Spring and I'm going to enjoy it.  It's the best part too - no bugs!

(And no, I'm not planting anything yet.  Ever heard of an Easter snow?)

The (Hopefully) Last Snow of Winter

The pachysandra are harboring what is, hopefully, the last of the winter snow.  Those few little patches, more ice than snow now, are all that remain of last week's little surprise.

The snow does act as a reminder - stay off the lawn.  Until the ground firms up from all of the melting last week, walking on it feels like walking on a wet sponge - and every footstep just compresses the ground making it impossible for new grass to grow in the yard.

So if you aren't aware of this little 'stay off the grass until the ground firms up' rule, you'll end up with footprints of dead grass going right across your lawn.

Not that that ever happened to me.  Nope.  I deny it.  Never happened...

Vitae Worries

Every year I worry about my little arborvitaes during the winter.  Okay, I obsess.  They turn bronze.

It gets dark, they get cold and they turn bronze.  And I panic.

Every year.

I ask my girlfriend gardening expert extraordinaire whatever shall I do!?!? My poor arborvitaes are turning bronze. I fear they won't last the winter!!!

And she goes through the same thing each and every time - which basically boils down to "they are what they are".

So today when I went out and looked at the arborvitae and saw just how bronze they were, I panicked.

I remembered that they are what they are. I took some deep breaths.  Then a few more.

Then I looked at how lovely the bronze looked as it contrasted with the bit of green in the center of the shrub.  And I noticed how it brought some life to the space especially when contrasted with the bit of snow on the ground.  Then I saw the contrast with the reddish bronze and the rhododendron's lime-green and I thought.

How lovely.

Then I came inside and googled why leaves turn bonze in winter.  But I didn't call my girlfriend this time!

Baby steps.

Sad Little Plow

So sad to see this little plow all alone in the rain.  He's just sitting there waiting for next winter.  Nothing to do now but sit there and rust.

I almost felt  sorry for this little guy when I spotted him hanging out at the edge of the parking lot.  Almost.

Then I remembered.  I remembered the years of snow.  The backbreaking shoveling.  Searching for cotter pins for the plow at 3a.m.  Freezing as pellets of ice swarmed around me, stinging every bare patch of skin.  And this little guy warmed up and zipping around the parking lot in all of his glory.  I remembered this.

So have no pity for the little plow at the edge of the parking lot.  His day will come again.  The Canadian winds will rip through my carefully constructed layers of warmth - chilling me to the bone.  Blizzards of snow will coat every surface, burying my truck and freezing the doors closed.

And this sad little plow will be happy again.

Footsteps in the Snow

This morning I was greeted by a carpet of snow.  Surprise!  Crunchy, slippery, heavy, wet snow.

It was great just hearing it crunch as I walked down the driveway to the truck.  Little footprints from nighttime visitors crisscrossed the patio explaining clearly why my puppy was so excited last night.  But now there was nothing but a still calm and the crunching snow underfoot.

There's no way I can possibly complain about 2 tiny little inches of snow in mid-January this year.  It was warmer than this weekend.  The snow slid off of the truck in big clumps.  No trees were falling.  No roofs needed shoveling off.  There's not enough to shovel - let alone plow.

There wasn't even enough to stick to the road for slush or ice.

I could get used to this.

Warm Hearth, Warm Toes

We've been really lucky this winter because so far it hasn't been too cold.  That's changing now though - this week it was 2 overnight.  And no, I didn't miss a digit on that - it was 2 degrees.

Since we are still in the process of restoring our bucolic manor home, it still has the original insulation and an ancient heating system.  They both work equally well - on other words, they don't do much to keep out the cold.  One thing we do is close down most of the house so we only have to heat what is absolutely necessary.  But the rest of the place needs to at least be kept above freezing.

We do have a lot of trees here.  And some of them were downed during a summer storm a few years ago.  So we chopped them up into logs and let them "season" (dry out).  Now we have firewood!

Let me tell you, nothing beats a warm fire on a cold winter's night.  So for the next few weeks, we'll be heating the old fashioned way with wood stoves.

We start with a cleaned out stove.

Then add crumpled newspaper.

A layer of ripped up cardboard.

Some kindling - twigs and small branches and small bits of the logs that were pruned from the gardens.

And finally some split logs from our trees.

Close up the grate.

Light the newspaper layer.

Make sure it's going.

And close up the stove, just leaving the bottom cracked open for a good draught.

In about 5 minutes, the fire gets going and the cast iron wood stove heats up providing warmth that will last all night long.

Toasty warm!

We save the ashes and will use them instead of salt on the icy walkways this winter then whatever is left over we will take and work back into the soil in the gardens this spring.

Believe me when I tell you it is backbreaking labor to heat a house with wood.  If you have oil or electric  central heating, take a moment and rejoice!  

When we lived in Manhattan we had no control over the temperature in our apartment.  It isn't unusual to see windows open on the coldest bitter February days down in the city - some of the buildings are just that hot.

Up in the country, though, every window and door is shut tight, every gap filled in and layers of clothing go on before the fire is lit.  Heat is something we appreciate during the winter.  And we really appreciate those trees that came down and are keeping us warm this winter!

Wood stoves - they're a beautiful thing!

Frost Predictions

Two weeks ago there was a frost warning, so we gathered up and brought in all the tropical plants.  They stay outside from the first warm day until the last.  They're our instant hit of summer that starts in spring - big blossoms, great scents, vivid colors.  But two weeks ago everyone got a haircut and came inside.

There was no frost that night.  No frost for 7 days.  Then we got a huge snowstorm - so we felt really good about having hauled in these guys from all over the gardens, dragging them up to their winter home, and a lot less guilty about scalping their green blossomed locks - turning them from Cinderella at the ball into Cinderella way before she even knew what a fairy godmother was.

Poor little bald plants.  They'll grow back and be even more beautiful next year!

Hydrangea

Happy Halloween!  Mother Nature played her tricks on us this weekend, so we had no ghosts and goblins knocking on our door.  In fact, the only knocking we heard was from our knocking the snow off of the trees and bushes.

This lovely beauty was weighed down to the ground by the heavy October snow.  After a good shaking midway through the storm she straightened up a bit and I am hoping she will survive to bloom another year.  

Her formal name is hydrangea paniculata and she is 8 years old this Fall.  She is a standard - pruned into a tree form - and fills our flower bower with her creamy blossoms in summer which fade to this fabulous tea rose.  I hope that I can get enough blossoms to make a little wreath or flower arrangement for Thanksgiving, but at this point I'm just happy that she lived through the storm.

Snow Days

When you live in the Northeast, you have to expect snow.  And we do expect snow - just not so much - at the end of October!  It was a bit more than we were prepared for.

This Saturday morning was a beautiful Fall day.  I was out in the garden bringing in the last of the tender plants for overwintering indoors.  Just as I finished up, the first flakes began to fall.  And they kept coming down for the next 12 hours.  After 5 hours of the heavy wet snow, we lost power.  Cell service lasted for another hour, but then the tower went out as well.  Luckily we have the wood stoves for heat and the water stayed on during the entire outage.

Midway through the wintery blast, we went out to do maintenance on the property.  Shaking the snow off of the bushes and trees, checking the outbuildings for snow-load, and running away from the larger trees when we heard the *crack* of a limb breaking and crashing to the ground.

I have to say we were very lucky.  The large limbs from our 150 year old pine trees did not fall on the house.  The black locust limbs that plummeted from hundreds of feet in the air slicing through anything they encountered in their path to the ground only hit gardens - not us!  One of our rescued apple trees was pruned by Mother Nature and seems so sad at half of its' height, but its' roots are snug in the earth.  We were lucky.

Once the snow stopped on Sunday and the roads were clear of emergency vehicles, we shoveled the driveway (the tractor is still set up for mowing - not plowing) and ventured out.  As is usual in the country, we stopped  to move downed trees from the road (sans power lines!).  Our little town was out of gas, so we headed north where we found gas and hot food.  After filling the truck and warming up, we headed back home to our bouncy puppy and another night of monitoring the water lines.  

Our power came back up on Monday, the snow is almost all gone now, but the damage to the gardens is bad.  It could have been worse, though.  Like I said - we were lucky.