Pre-Spring 2011 - An Evaluation
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Click thumbnails below for a larger picture |
March 4, 2011 |
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Another thaw has arrived, it feels
like spring is on its way! (Mar. 4, 2011) |
And none too soon -- the firewood
supply is running low, with only one-and-a-half racks remaining. |
Six wood racks have been emptied over
the winter so far, moved out of the way. |
I might make it through the wood stove heating season,
but with another good month to go it's going to be close. |
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Chip Ahoy looks just as I left it last fall after
covering it with the tarps. Vaughn McGrath's mast resting alongside it
seems to have fared the weather well too. |
That's more than I can say about the bushes and trees in
the yard. This one in the middle looks like being buried under so much
snow has done it in. |
The tall arborvitaes along the path between Barbara's and
my houses took a beating from the
first heavy snowfall of 2011, on
Jan. 12. |
The weight of that two feet of snow snapped a few large branches, bending the
trees painfully. |
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The trees bent over the path, the broken branches became
roadblocks. |
I had to cut through them with my chainsaw to open the
path. It looks like we'll need a lot of clean-up come spring. |
Another tree along the southeast perimeter suffered a broken
branch. |
The last sumac was felled in that big storm, will need to
be removed. |
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The apple tree too is down, another
victim. I'm hoping it's not dead but
expect the worst. |
A view of the back of the house with its lean-to. More
firewood is stored beneath for emergencies, along with the snowblower.
Chip Ahoy is parked on the far side of the house. |
A view of the shed and covered picnic table furniture. |
No more snow atop the table -- a big
improvement from
Feb 1 -- but it's still surrounded. |
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The wood stove's ash heap behind the shed. |
A view of the kitchen side of the house, with firewood
cart and barbeque grill outside the cat door and sliding glass entry. |
One of the bird feeders, alongside the shed. |
The arborvitaes still have quite a bend to their tops. |
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Even the mountain out front that's blocking Chip Ahoy is
diminishing, though hardly noticeably so. |
Looking down from the mountain peak. |
The mountaintop up close. |
The melt-and-freeze is creating some interesting
structures. While above freezing is becoming more common during the day,
night temperatures are still dropping into the 20s and even teens. |
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Yours truly atop the mountain, planting the flag.
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It's going to be a while
yet before I can pull Chip Ahoy out
to the front of the house and begin Sailing Season 2011 launch preparations.
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