The First Day of Spring

My Spring Fantasy

Whenever I think of the first day of Spring, this is the way I picture it.  I found this little painting at a Goodwill store years ago when I was digging through the racks of donated pictures looking for a good frame for my mother's oil paintings.  I don't know who the artist 'C. Jaffey' is, but I love the colors.  I never grow tired of looking at this scene and often fantasize about what it would be like to live there.

 But then my pessimistic thoughts kick in and I worry about the logistics of having a stream so close to my abode.  This looks to be a flood plain, doesn't it?   All it would take is one good gully-washer of a thunderstorm and there goes my pretty stone cottage floating downstream taking all the landscaping with it.  Sheesh, so much for pleasant daydreams about Spring, huh?

The reality of Spring in Wisconsin is much different from the pastoral painting.  Here's what it looked like out my kitchen window this morning:

The First Day of Spring: Blowing Snow

We had about 4.8 inches of snow on Monday which wasn't too bad, but then Monday night the winds kicked in and blew for two straight days in the 35-40 mph range.  The temperature on Tuesday night was 5 degrees above zero and on Wednesday we struggled to get past 25.  I watched with fascination as the snow drifts in the back yard grew taller hour by hour.  I wish I'd had the foresight to set up a time lapse camera, it would have been fascinating to watch Mother Nature build her sculptures.

Wednesday morning

Since the wind just kept howling, I waited to plow out our driveway until Carl came home from work on Tuesday night.  We haven't had snowbanks like this in years and Carl was just able to get his car off the road and into the driveway.  It would have taken me a good couple of hours to use our walk behind snowblower and I doubt that thing could have gotten through some of the 4' tall drifts.  Joel wasn't around, so I was looking forward to using our tractor and the big snow blower attachment for the first time.

Carl said he'd handle the chore, which is unusual for him.  His stance on snow removal has been historically nonchalant.

"We don't need to plow or snow blow, it will all be gone by July anyway.  Why work so hard?"

But on Tuesday night, even Carl felt there was a definite need to get rid of some of the white stuff.  I'd been cooped up in the house all day and was rarin' to go.   I hadn't driven the tractor since November and I miss it.

Carl drove me up the road to Mom's house so I didn't have to walk headfirst in the high winds.  When we got to Mom's driveway it was impassable, too.   But there were truck tracks in her yard so Carl parked his car on the road and went in to find out who had been there (It was amazing they hadn't gotten stuck!) while I warmed up the tractor.  Turns out, Mom's furnace went on the blink and she had called the furnace repairman who had just left to go get some parts.  And no, she hadn't called me to tell me she didn't have heat.  She's so independent yet, but I do worry, which is why I suppose she doesn't tell me anything.

With the tractor running and warmed up a bit, I lifted the snowblower up with the hydraulics and cautiously engaged the power take off shaft and then revved up the rpms on the tractor as I backed into the first snowbank.  The blower is over 5' wide, so it takes a lot of horsepower and I had to ride the clutch constantly so the engine won't bog down, but it's amazing how fast I could clear the snow.  I made two passes down the driveway and was on my third trip when the furnace guy arrived again.  He must have thought I was done because he parked in my way, but he was nice enough to move his van so I could get by him and drive down to our house, too.  

Ernie the Urn looking forlorn (and still wearing Christmas lights!)

The road was icy and the snow blower is very heavy making the front end of the tractor light, so I drove in first gear.  I didn't need the tractor getting squirrelly and end up running in the ditch.  In less than twenty minutes I had our yard cleared too, and then I just had to brave the high wind in my face as I drove back up to the machine shed at Mom's again.

 I met our town snowplow on the road and we exchanged the standard two finger salute as we passed each other.  The township we live in does an amazing job of keeping our little side roads clear.  Back in my childhood we would have been snowed in for days before the county would have gotten around to our dirt trail.  That has all changed in the last twenty years, we're no longer cut off from civilization after a blizzard.  They wing out the ditches as far as they can with their plows.  Sometimes they get over a little too far; a few weeks ago Carl came home to find our mailbox lying in the middle of the road, poor thing.  I'll have to get Mom to do some touch up work on the flowers she painted on it.

Frost on the windows, reminiscent of ferns to me

I went out to the chicken coop this morning to check on the Girls.  They weren't liking the new snow and clucked at me sadly as they surveyed the scene outside.  Another day spent 'cooped up'.  Their coop window was frosted with dazzling designs and I was reminded of how our windows always looked like this in the farmhouse when I was a kid.  I have always loved staring at the sparkling, intricate designs and missed them once my folks installed more weather-tight windows. 

 After the chores were done, I tried to capture some of the snow banks left behind by the wind.  I should have worn gloves because it was only ten above zero, but I find gloves to be a nuisance when I'm trying to photograph stuff.  So, with no further ado, here's the stuff I photographed:

Aaargh is almost level with snow. 

East Quarry Hill, only a few rocks sticking out. 

The drift behind the house is of epic proportions though this picture doesn't do it justice.  The trellis is over 8' tall.

Amazing how the snow collects in these shapes.

Waves of snow, frozen in motion

'Fat Albert' spruce and accompanying snow sculpture

The Quarry itself didn't have much drifting, though the pond area is filling up.  Here's a bunch of random Quarry pictures:

I was amazed by the shape of this drift, about 3' tall.

The biggest drift of all is between the Escarpment and the Quarry garden itself.  This monster drift is over 7' tall and has completely obliterated the passageway that is big enough to drive our tractors through.

Monster Drift!

If I was standing in front of this drift, I would look Small, so trust me, this is a BIG pile of snow.  Ha.

The other side of the temporary mountain.  I wish we could get rocks this size.

Snowbanks distort the tree shadows in weird ways, too.

So, that's what the first day of Spring looks like here on the farm.  You know me, I'm happy with the snowstorm, I think it's great.  I've been keeping busy indoors with the ol' exercising and with stained glass.  I'm still working steadily on the big Wisteria shade, which is a whole lot bigger than the Pony Wisteria, below:

'Indoor flowers'

Once the snow melts, I have to get those seeds planted and go back to work on Aaargh and all the other stuff that didn't get done last fall. I never feel guilty or pressured when there's snow on the ground, I can go outside and just enjoy visiting the garden. 

Spring will get here soon enough and all the outdoor madness will begin again.

But not until it thaws.  Until then, I'm a Gardener on Vacation.

Please don't hate me 'cause I'm lazy.

And a procrastinator.

Yep, guilty as charged.  Christmas decorations in March.

There's two deer in there.  Somewhere.

No worries.

We'll find 'em by July.