Ice Water for Everyone.

3-14-08 VERMONT: Tomorrow is the Ides of March, beware, Caesar. Sorry, reader[s]. It doesn’t look like spring here. There is three feet of snow on the ground, the piles around the house partially cover the downstairs windows, the road is a maze, but it is all softening. In the afternoon, the road is muddy, and the snow is corn snow.

That purple thing is the top of a park bench.

The south end of the pond is always the first spot to melt because inflow, from springs and over the ground, erodes the ice from underneath. First Chloe broke through in a small spot, and a few minutes later Sam and Nick both exploring the new hole, enlarged it. Sam climbed out by herself, but Nick needed me to give him a tug. I carefully sidled up toward the hole and gave his collar a pull. A bit later Gus managed to fall in and Judy rushed up and, of course, splashed through up to her waist. She said that the water was cold. The hole was now the size of a bathtub.

After her shower and change of clothes and boots, Judy decided to cover the hole. She got a piece of plywood and went to place it over the hole, but got wet again, but only up to mid calf this time. So far, I have managed to stay dry.

Moral: Don’t stamp around the hole in the ice.

New blooms: Are you kidding? The sap, however, is running.

Maple sap collecting.


Puppy Play