The following entry was written four days ago - and since then spring has speeded up considerably. The days have turned warm, and sap has started flowing quickly. We have about five sugar houses within a mile of the house, and the morning air smells sweet with smell of maple. Today we are in Argyle, here to do a reading at my old school - Argyle, I attended the school there k-12, and we had a wonderful welcome. The girls spent a lot of the day outside, and Zoe found handfuls of pussywillows. The ice is breaking on the ponds, crocuses are poking up their heads, and the air is filled with the sound of geese returning. Its nice to see spring back.
Twelve hours of daylight and the chickens have stepped up production – lately we have been finding four eggs a day – and our basket overflows. It makes me think about the symbolism of the egg, rebirth & spring. It is a constant wonder to walk out to the chicken coop and find eggs. No wonder they use the egg as a spring treat to find on Easter morning, the concept has a whole new meaning. But spring has not sprung yet , much to Zoe and Lizzie’s amazement, they have been waiting for the first day of spring, and still think that it will suddenly turn warm and green. But it’s still cool but there are still a few tell-take signs, snow and Canadian geese returning and the igloo that we made back in December is just about gone, offering up the last of the treasures the girls had stowed away inside.
Despite the great plague that beset our house this week, Zoe pulled herself out of bed long enough to build herself a leprechaun trap. Here are some little known facts: place shamrocks near your trap, it lulls the little guys into a false sense of security; bait your trap with chocolate chips or oreos, leprechauns have a sweet tooth; lock the dog out of the room you set the trap in, yellow labs have a sweet tooth; It IS possible to ask every hour through the night if you have caught a leprechaun yet; If you catch a leprechaun they will give you gold, if they get away they will give you gold chocolate coins, but being caught at all makes them grumpy, they may TP you house, and leave green footprints and green glitter everywhere.
There has been a little annoyance that has pestered us since the day we moved into the house - two heating pipes at the end of the hall. When we moved in the hall had orange shag carpet, and a brick archway built into this doorway that hid two copper pipes at the end - it was a dark little cave, with a ceiling falling in ta boot. we long ago pulled up the carpet with mom's help, and smoothed the walls (they were textured) - pulled down the brick, fixed the ceiling and, finally decided to take this week of vacation to bury the pipes in the wall. we had waited so loing to do this because it wasn't an easy chore, it too a lot of cutting, drilling and soldering but Mom and Dad came up last weekend and I am happ to report the job is nearly finished. It only took four trips to the hardware store and the pipes, so far, are holding water.
The March sun is working away at the snow, and we took advantage of a warm afternoon on Monday to tap some maples behind the house. Today we gathered the sap, and started it steaming on the woodstove. These are busy days, filled with anticipation. Each day sees a little more of the grass appearing as the snow slowly recedes, and the woodpile is slowly getting smaller. The sun stays up a little later every day, and creeps in through the girl’s window a little earlier everday. I am anxious to plant seeds inside, but we have not seen the end of the snow yet. I will have to be content with boiling sap.
