Snow, Solar, Crocus.

3-27-24 SHORT HILLS: Our trip home last Friday was uneventful. It did storm here on Saturday and Sunday. We got a ton of rain, but Thetford and the Connecticut Valley got almost two feet of snow. Our cautious decision was the right one.

The solar panels were installed while we were there. Same Sun of VT put them up and connected them to Green Mountain Power, and we are running on sun power and send excess to the grid.

NJ is way ahead of VT in spring openings. The grass is green, all the early plants are flowering. The gardeners were here to do the clean up, but a new crop of sweet gum balls has fallen.

We hung the pocket watch trade sign in the pantry entry. It looks great. 

The birds have been very active and emptied the feeders over night.

New blooms: forsythia, Andromeda, daffodil, pachysandra, vinca, pussy willow, marsh marigold, cherry, quince.  

The time is corrrect twice a day.

From neighbors Steve and Diana during the storm.

New solar panels on the roof. The goldens seem pleased.

No snow here, as yet, but we have crocus.

Red Maple is why I'm sneezing all day.

New Storms.

3-21-24 VERMONT: I have always said that March is a winter month in Vermont. Last night we got about three inches of new snow. Today the sun is out and some of the new snow will melt. The upper pond has melted a lot of its ice cover. 

But another storm is predicted for Friday night to Saturday, and it may deliver 9 - 12 inches of new snow. We were planning to come back to NJ on Saturday, but will now travel on Friday to avoid the storm. 

Here's how things look this morning.

More new snow and the opening upper pond.

Chilly Vermont.

3-19-24 VERMONT: We came up on Saturday. It was a fairly pleasant day, but has gotten progressively colder since. Today there was a snow flurry early, and now we have sun and 30° temps and wind. The snow is largely gone, what remains are the piles under the eaves and the plowed and shoveled piles. The ponds are still frozen, but the upper pond had melted around the edges as of yesterday, but is re-frozen today. Snowdrops are in bloom in several spots, daffodil shoots and day lilies are up about an inch. Spring is arriving, but very slowly.

Same Sun of VT is here today installing the solar panels on the roof of the old house. The panels were delivered yesterday, 23, 2 X 4 foot panels, which will cover that roof except for the spot where the bathroom vent exits the roof. 

We also have to have more work done on the furnaces—an ongoing project. 

Diana and Steve are coming for dinner tonight, and we have dinners out scheduled with John and with Shari and Dave. All before we go back to NJ this weekend. 

I rescued one of the game cams from the pasture where it had been since last summer. It was busy taking pics of deer, turkeys, foxes, horses, a couple neighborhood dogs since last August but no bears, moose or wildcats.

New blooms: snowdrops, maple trees. 

It's sugar season, and Steve has buckets on all the maples.

Turkeys in February out for a snowy walk.

Foxy friend on a hazy day.

A big patch of snow drops. The yellow stalks have just melted out from the snow.

Blanca was in the pond for a short swim. Both the air and water temps are in the thirties. This little pond always melts out early.

Judy walking the dogs.

Solar panels getting an install.

A Taste of May.

3-14-24 SHORT HILLS: It’s Pi Day, and Judy informs me, Albert Einstein’s birthday. I started the day with an attack of vertigo, a first for me. Is it the first sign of some new, dread disease or just because I’ve got a stuffy nose?   Time will tell, I guess. It happened just after I awoke, but was still lying on my back in bed. I felt like the bed was suddenly standing on end and I was sliding off onto my head. I knew I wasn’t moving and after several seconds it was gone, but recurred when I sat up and again when I stood up. There were a couple brief further episodes, but nothing for several hours. Is that the end, or will it be back?

We were in NYC to visit Emmett on Sunday. He is Growing and Developing. His parents were there also. We had dinner with Bill, and he was here to visit a couple of days ago in the afternoon. We sat outside in the sun. Last night we had dinner with Bette and Lonnie. This weekend we go to VT for the week and for the solar panels installation.

This week the weather has been like May. Daffodils and crocuses are open, the elm trees and maple trees are in bloom, a cherry tree has huge pink buds. Vinca is in flower. Next week though is forecast to be back in February.   

The birds have been eating tons of sunflower seeds and suet blocks. We have lots of house sparrows and house finches this spring, but not so many grackles. The juncos have moved on.

Vinca minor flower cluster.

Emmett learning to point.

March First.

3-2-24 SHORT HILLS: It’s cold and rainy today. The snow is gone. The early shrubs show the beginnings of leaves. I always feel that March 1 is the end of winter even though we have had huge snow storms in March and even in April. There are less than three weeks until the Equinox, and next weekend is the start of Daylight Savings Time. 

I drove to The Home Depot a few days ago to get bird seed and suet feeders. I used the shopping cart instead of my cane, which worked out well. It’s a big store, and I did more walking than I anticipated, but that’s good. 

We are both still very despondent about the loss of Maizie, but struggle on. Keeping busy is the best diversion. We had dinner at Bill and Lynn’s yesterday.

At the feeders, grackles and red-winged blackbirds have arrived. Robins are patrolling the yard. Finches are developing summer plumage. They are all eating a lot of seeds. 

I saw this dove, and a second one, a few mornings ago in the elm tree out of the bedroom window. They looked huge up in the tree, far higher than my window. I couldn't tell what species they were until I got pix to enlarge.

The second dove.