Butch has awoken!

It was tense. We watched the radar all day last Wednesday. And the thermometer. The big branch kept lowering layered with ice. Saturday another 13 cm snow...

There was ice all down the balcony glass. 

Out front I chewed my fingernails... all was well, though. 

2026

No branches lost during this storm. Whoopeee. The last one, and the one before, cost us several thousand dollars to clean up. [The arborists were here!] We had ice storms in 2013, 2016 and 2023.  

#75 is doing cleanup.

We had the first sign of Butch March 7th. Butch makes a good clean up crew. Sort of.

  

Cats were chomping at the bit Thursday morning. Going outside with them on the deck I noticed that some thing had moved the hornet's nest. The cats were very keen on looking out onto the lawn. I saw nothing unusual.

 

On the back deck some stones had been moved out of the rabbit's bowl. I usually plant paperwhites in this container. Deeply suspicious I was. 

Off to check out the Crumbly Acres camera footage, I found them! Butch doesn't hibernate. They tend to hunker down in the deep cold around here. Something like 5 - 10 degrees below zero. 

I prepared this a few days ago. Since then we've had snow. This morning we're back in a deep freeze. to -16℃. We've been going back and forth between rain and snow. Coffee is a welcome ritual this morning.

 

The last snowfall?

Turns out it wasn't! We had 💧2 mm rain yesterday (Mon., March 16), and 🌨 5 cm snow in the wee hours today! But I'm getting ahead in my story! 

March 13th...

13 cm

I accidentally blew some snow on the sidewalk. Seeing as we were supposed to have rain Monday, I left it! 

The asphalt is very warm from our warmer days, and I had to work quickly. It clogged the auger down at the highway. One cannot use the snow blower on slushy snow.

I worked on the end of the driveway. As I returned to the house, our two deer were at the feeder!

At the end of the day the sun came out.

Back to square one!

🍀 March Break!

☘ ☘️ I've put out March decor. As a teacher, I never really did a March theme. St. Patrick's Day is always surrounded by March Break and there was no school. Over the years we learned to embrace it at home when we did Gramma Camps.  

A poem by Grampa, March, 2018 during Gramma Camp day 4.

Be gosh and Begorrah
It's already tomorrow
So sing to be happy
This story not sappy
The day is not feared
 Nor shed we a tear
For what do we hear
The wee folk been here
In the kitchen he wrote
Are items of note
Three to girl
So be off in awhirl

(You need not click on these, but Grampa might like to revisit them!)

March Break with the Grandies!

March Break with the grandies- episode 2

March Break with the grandies – episode 3

I've dressed up Guinivere. She looks sassy!

Things are emerging from the snow.

March 17, 2012

Sláinte from the Bears
March, 2022

Close Eyes, March 2012

March 2023

I could have made a snow person, it was snowball snow, but once I shovelled I didn't have anything left in me!

Jesse, Cluny, and Bryony are still skiing out in B.C. They've a two-week March Break, as I recall. I shudder at the notion of British Columbia going on permanent Daylight Savings Time. We'll be 4 hours ahead of them. It's difficult enough to catch up! 

Caitlin, JL, and Aster are on a road trip to Quebec City! What a beautiful old town. Good food, good fun. 

 

I've garbage to put out, in between rainstorms. It's going to be a mess out there again. We just had snow.

Springy Acres

 What a beautiful day on Tuesday. I began the day with a moon photo! 

The birds have come back. Grackles (5 of them) and one robin.

The goldfinches are year-round, but they change to an olive colour in winter. I can see tinges of yellow, which is a good sign of Spring!

Merlin the app identified the songs for me. It is always exciting to see them return. 

It was about 15 ℃ on the back deck, but in the front, in the sunshine... facing south, the sun 

Here we were! I texted this photo to Caitlin who was hard at work while we played. She'll be able to return soon, the way things are going! 🕰 Time passing so quickly and all...

All hell broke loose on Wednesday with the ice storm. I watched the power outage map and felt we'd be okay. It was tense, though. Living amongst shallow lakes and snow, RVCA is warning of possible flash flooding. We are OK on a hill above the wetland. 

I went into town to return empties, bought my weekend wine, picked up kitty litter, return library books, and pick up my grocery order. All is well with our world.

I was wondering what was happening here. The taxi driver let an old man with a walker get out of the car.  I met him in the LCBO store buying my wine. She stood around and had a smoke. She didn't bother parking the car, and people had a tricky time getting around her. This is right at the cross walk. 

Happily the day before was wonderful. A bit of a teaser, since winter was back on Thursday (-3℃). Back into the freeze zone. Until the 13 cm snow fell on Saturday! 

The Arctic Winter Games are being held in Whitehorse! This will give you a taste of it:

 

The Waterfront Gastropub has a live webcam!