Spring Begins in VT.

4-19-19 VERMONT: We’ve been here since Wednesday. There are huge piles of snow and ice under the eaves and at the end of the driveway. These are the places where the shoveled and plowed snow accumulates. These piles turn to ice at the bottom and last forever, or at least until May. The rest of the yard and pasture are mostly free of snow. The ground is wet and the grass matted down when the snowmelt is recent, and the grass is showing a little green where the snow has been gone for a longer time.

The pond has melted around the sides, leaving a big floating island that the wind blows around. By today the island had vanished and the frog opera has started.

Neighbor Andy took his farm equipment out of the barn a month ago when the ground seemed frozen so that the tractor wouldn’t make ruts in the newly graded pasture, but one small section in front of the barn did get rutted. Today he and I worked on the ruts and flattened them out pretty well with a tamper. Later Judy and I limed, seeded and hayed the area. It’s getting rain tonight. There’s a big frost heave under the barn and the center of the floor is raised up about a foot. I’ve done a bunch of other chores, mostly undoing the winterization I did in the fall.

One thing about this time of year is the sight lines. The snow has gone and the leaves aren’t out yet and the grass hasn’t grown tall so one can see into the woods and see the shape of the land and the terrain.

There were a pair of mergansers on the pond for a few minutes, and I saw an Eastern bluebird both yesterday. The bluebird was incredibly blue. Sorry, no pix.

In the parts of the beds that are snow free, plants are poking their heads up. The snowdrops are everywhere. Hellebore are starting to flower and daffodil have flower buds.

New blooms: snowdrop.


Massive snow piles under all the eaves will take weeks to melt and give me access to the flower beds.

Most of the snow cover is gone from the pasture and woods.

More snow and ice piles.

Broken branches litter the yard, literally thousands of them have appeared with the snow gone from the yard.

The pond has started to melt. It has a large floating island that blows around.

Snowdrops pop up through the debris and snow.

Two days later the island has lost much of its real estate. A few hours later it was only a memory and the frogs have started singing.