Issues Galore.

3-29-23 VERMONT: It’s been sunny and warm in the afternoons for a few days, and a little of the snow has melted. I expect that we will have some snow or ice until early May. The big piles under the eaves are high and wide and compacted—most of the flower beds are under those piles. 

We have had a series of house issues to deal with. The hot water heater in the new house started leaking from the bottom, and at 23 years old, that’s a death sentence. It was replaced today with a hybrid electric unit, except that it needs a new electric line that will be installed tomorrow. 

A leak in the old house basement seems to be coming from the roof around the bathroom vent and, perhaps, is also causing soffit damage. Also in the old house, there is damaged floor from a leak in the toilet water line that has been fixed, but the floor damage needs repair.

The heat pump installers come back Friday to, hopefully, finish the job.

New blooms: snowdrops.

These are the piles I mean. Those under the deck are five feet tall.

On the south side of the house, the snow has melted enough at the foundation to let the snowdrops blossom.

The Game Cam by the small pond caught the fox again on his/her rounds.

Here's a new night time visitor, apparently dressed for a formal function.

Back to Winter.

3-25-23 VERMONT: I am reminded once again that  March, in Vermont, is a winter month. We came up yesterday in dry weather. Today was overcast, about thirty when we went to the dump with recycling from before. The roads are muddy, but without deep ruts. We got home just before it started to snow. 

The snow on the ground around the house is several inches deep. The piles under the eaves are huge. Both ponds are still frozen, even if the upper pond has softening around one part of the edge. The new snow has already covered the bald spots and dusted the trees.

I brought some firewood in the house and put lights on the new painting with Judy’s help. 

Not quite spring here.

The front porch.

Sometimes those piles under the eaves have gotten so high that they meet the snow on the roof, making the porch a tunnel.

The piles in back of the house are too big to get out of that door. The big pond is still frozen.

The little pond.

The new snow '...snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak mid- winter...'

Officially Spring.

3-21-23 SHORT HILLS: All traces of the snow are gone. It’s about sixty today, sunny, no wind. The gardeners were here and did the spring clean up. Usually I do it, but it’s now too big a job for me. Maybe I’ll tackle it next year if I’m younger. Actually I did pull down and cut up some big dead fall in different parts of the yard. The birds have been active around the feeders.

The problem of the dead and dying ash trees, sick from borers, requires us to have them cut down—a disaster and a big expense for what had been a heavily treed yard. This winter large tree limbs have fallen, and it’s a hazard. 

Bill was here for dinner when Lynn was away, and we were in the city for Sunday brunch with Bob, an old friend of Ken’s.We go back to VT this weekend.

New blooms: Andromeda, forsythia, marsh marigold.

 

Cardinal. We have two pairs this spring.

Red-bellied woodpecker.

House finch on the feeder. They are easily confused with the Purple finch.

Red-wing blackbird in front and mourning dove in back.

House sparrow is his name, but he's actually a finch.

Andromeda has enough flowers open to call it in bloom.

Crocus are still coming up.

Spring is NOT Here.

3-14-23 SHORT HILLS: It’s been snowing since early morning, and bushes and trees have a dusting, but nothing has stuck on the ground yet. This nor’easter is dumping a ton on parts of New England, but we’ve dodged the snow bullet, so far. 

We had dinner with Bill and Lynn and the next day with Ellen and Bruce and tomorrow with Ronnie and Bebe. Judy and I each had medical visits this week and last. 

Forsythia and Andromeda are both on the verge of blooming, but this cold day will set things back a few a while.

We saw a pair of buffleheads on one of the ponds in town, but the iPhone camera wasn’t up to it. When I went back with a real camera, they had gone.

 

Snow falling on junipers, even the cardinal wants warm and sun.

There are a pair of ducks, I think they're buffleheads or mergansers. That's the best the iPhone can do.

Spring Is Here.

3-5-23 SHORT HILLS: Alison came to visit yesterday, Dan is in Florida with his book club, well that’s their story anyway. We shared Jo’s from the Millburn Deli and went to the Great Swamp Refuge. It was cool and breezy, but there were a lot of people with cameras walking the board walks. We saw a few birds and visited the raptor center also. 

Last night we had dinner with Bette and Lonnie, and today we were in the city for brunch with Sara and Jon at Bar Boulud. Before we went to NYC, we walked the dogs around the block and saw that we have crocus up. It’s not very warm, and it’s breezy with a west wind and partly cloudy, but good enough for crocus and snowflakes and vinca.

New blooms: elm, red maple, snowflake, crocus, vinca.

A Merlin, a smallish raptor, posing on a dead tree close to the viewing platfporm.

A pair of American black ducks, the male has the yellow bill.

Everybody's favorites, a pair of Canada geese.

Black vulture resting while a couple others circle above.

Crocus. I have officially declared that Spring is Open.

Vinca minor is always the first ground cover to bloom.

Snowflakes, cousins of snowdrops, have been open for a few days.

Snow in NJ.

3-1-23 SHORT HILLS: The storm from Monday night chased us back to NJ during the day. The roads in VT were wet, but not snowy or icy. When we got to MA, the roads had dried out, and there was less and less snow as he moved south. CT, NY and NJ had little of no snow and dry roads. 

Now we have snow here, maybe two inches left of three that fell, slush on the paths and snow dropping off the trees and shrubs. I haven’t seen any damage as yet. Today is in the forties and tomorrow will be in the fifties, which should melt a lot of the rest of the white stuff.

The feeders were all empty when we got back to NJ, so I filled them all with seeds and suet blocks. Within minutes they were swarmed. I noticed a couple of red-wing blackbirds, males, on Tuesday, and thought that they usually travel with the grackles. A gaggle of grackles appeared that afternoon, at least three dozen, who mobbed the feeders and ate all the seeds and chased away all the regular customers. 

 More snow due in a few days. Even so, I always feel winter’s over when we hit March 1 even though the sun is still below the Equator, and the Equinox isn’t until the 21^st this year.  

Snow on Tuesday morning, only about three inches, but coating everything.

After the driveway was plowed.

Cardinal is easy to spot in the snow. There's a wren in the picture also.

The grackles have arrived. There are a couple female RWB's in there also.

One grackle and two female RWB's.