Aaaaah! Spring Time!

The weather here at the Aerie has definitely swung into full spring mode. The temperatures have risen to the mid to upper 70s today and the lows at night have been in the upper 40s for the past day or two. The forecast is for more of the same until early next week.

Terry and I washed all the windows today and put all the screens in so we can air the house out. The three cats acted a supervisors and occupied the window sills as soon as we moved on to the next window. They too appear to be enjoying the fresh air.

While none of the trees have yet opened their leaf buds, the poplars have begun to flower and their silver-gray catkins are providing a welcome softening to the hillside. The red maples are on the verge and will be popping out in flower any day now.

All the redpolls have long gone to be replaced by the purple finches and even a goldfinch or two ave been showing up at the feeders. I'm sure, their numbers will be increasing as word gets out that there's a free lunch to be had. Somewhat surprising to me is that there are still six to ten evening grosbeaks around. I thought they would have taken off for their northern breeding ground by now but, perhaps, they too have been lulled into staying by the pines in the area and the free food that's available.

I'll be heading out early tomorrow for a few days up at the Bolt Hole to asses what maintenance needs to be done. There's a growing list of rebuilding and landscaping chores on which Mark has been working. Too much water has gotten into the garage from both the roof and poor drainage around the base. All that snow we had, when melted, just ran into the garage and froze on the gravel floor, effectively cementing the ATV, brush hog, and log splitter to the ground. Something has to be done about that. The roof sagged considerably under the weight of the snow and ice and small, but damaging leaks persisted for much of the winter. And the back corner of the garage has been slowly sinking because the wooden sill is pretty much crumbling to powder from beetles and rot.

Luckily, cutting firewood will not be a priority this summer as we burned very little of what we cut last year. And if we decide to cut any, there are more than enough maple and cherry trees blown down by the storms of last August/September to provide.

If Mark is there for a day or two we'll do some emergency work on the garage and clear out some scrub pine from around what used to be an apple orchard in the hopes of bringing back some of the trees that have persisted in growing there. We (meaning mostly Mark) have already opened up a nice little area behind the garage and some of those trees produced apples last year that helped attract deer to the property.

It will be good to get out and start doing some physical labor again that doesn't include shoveling snow. The trick will be not to jump in too deep and over do things. After a winter of leisure that could lead to more than just a few aching muscles with my back history. Before you know it, I'll have to be making regular trips to the Bolt Hole just to cut the grass.