Signs of Spring

One is sugaring. From the news it appears the local maple producers are busy as bees. My single tree isn't producing much sap though. Ideally we would have frost every night and above freezing every day. The sap then runs up and down the tree with every transition, and a portion flows out the tap. What we've had since I tapped is several days where it was above freezing day and night followed by several days where it didn't get above freezing at all.

Another is the Joe's Pond iceout contest. You buy a ticket and guess the date and time when Joe's Pond will thaw. Winning time is determined by a concrete block out on the ice. A rope runs from the block to shore and when the block falls through the melting ice the rope pulls the plug on a clock, which will stop, displaying the official winning time. It's nowhere near time for the block to fall, but ticket sales stop on April 1.

On our paddle yesterday we had a couple of people I haven't seen since fall. Sam is up and able for a good winter paddle, but the snow for back country skiing has been too good and that's always his first choice.

Some of the shore front camps had signs of life. People hanging out on shore at some, others it was just hired help sprucing the place up for the season.

While many bays are still iced up, we didn't see any free floating bergs suitable for landing. This ice roll was on the edge of Converse Bay:




Not sure if it is a particular sign of spring, but I was driving in "the big city" (Burlington) on Saturday to drop off my kid and see if the harbor was open (no) and an eagle flew across the road in front of me at about phone pole height.

Right now, snowing.