Spring Arrives in The Valley
Spring arrives in the valley.
It always does, doesn't it? And this year it is showing up with a vengeance ( for the 2nd time in 3 years).
We've been home two weeks now and done most of the tedious little chores that awaited us. I've done the taxes; six times in fact -- I found that I disliked the amount I owed the government to be painful so I kept trying again for a different answer, lest I be accused of insanity. I paid the taxes and most of the bills and sorted out a bunch of financial crap that I couldn't do from the road. Lorraine started painting the dining room . We had good visits from Max a few times and Bobby once. Max and I even went scouting to find Turkeys so I can get my Turkey license and go hunting in the next month.
And then we both got the flu. Real old-fashioned influenza mitigated only by the fact that we did both have the flu shot. We were a lot less sick than Bobby and Alex and Brian (my co-grandfather, grandfather-in-law? Is there a name for that?) sounds sicker than any of us. So that put a stop to any new work for about a week. But it didn't stop spring.
Last week Spring Peepers made their first appearance, competing with the barred owl calling from way at the back of the woodlot, and they've been peeping by the ponds on the warmer evenings when I walk the dogs. Not every night yet -- I think they are thrown off by the flooding; The water in the pond across the road is about a foot higher than usual and has flooded several sheds and is close to the backs of a couple of houses. Many homes in the area along the lake, on the local creeks and on the Bonnechere River are flooded worse than in 2017. The road in to our camp has been totally covered in water at least 5 feet deep in many places. Our friend Rudy who lives on the Riviere Noire Road year round has been trapped in his driveway and will be stuck there for at least another week. Of course, the flooding is all through The Valley -- the second 100+ Year flood in three years.
But Spring still comes at us apace. Buds are breaking this week, daffodils are in bloom on my lawn. New birds roll through the feeders every day although some of the winter birds are still here. Evening grossbeaks wait for the grackles and red-winged blackbirds to give them some room at the sunflower seed feeder. Cowbirds slip-in in the evening. But a few redpolls are still around and juncos are still scavenging along the ground for the leftovers.
We've started planning our next trailer trips -- we'll likely use that as a hotel room and base of operation for Ted's wedding if we can find a campground we like close enough to Andrea and John's. And we are planning to go camping again with Ann and Brian and the grand-kids in mid-summer. Maybe we'll head out east as well if we can't get into the camp in June ( if the bridge is gone then our property becomes boat access only and I'll have to swim across to get the boats...). We've both wanted to see the maritimes before. We may try as well to head down and meet my friend J.C. Doineau who will be camping with his family in August between Quebec City and Montreal.
In the meantime with our health improving we've started working outside while the weather is nice. I got peas and spring onions planted; Lorraine cleaned out the carport. I raked the back-yard and cleaned the deck and side-yards. Today, Alex and I drove down to Quadeville to load the back of the pick-up truck full of oak, beech, maple and a little poplar wood chips and then planted the mushroom garden in his backyard. We'll get more in a couple of weeks.
The next few days, as the weather swings back towards winter, we'll get back to painting in anticipation of finally finishing the hardwood floors. We're expecting 2-5cm of ice-pellets, snow and freezing rain in the morning before it switches back again to a cold hard rain; just what the valley needs is another 4cm of water across the entire watershed. There's still snow on the north sides of the hills, Round Lake is probably still about ten percent covered in ice -- but that will flush out with the rain tomorrow and Thursday.
And of course tomorrow is Bobby's second birthday -- a May Day baby -- he's growing up so fast.
It always does, doesn't it? And this year it is showing up with a vengeance ( for the 2nd time in 3 years).
We've been home two weeks now and done most of the tedious little chores that awaited us. I've done the taxes; six times in fact -- I found that I disliked the amount I owed the government to be painful so I kept trying again for a different answer, lest I be accused of insanity. I paid the taxes and most of the bills and sorted out a bunch of financial crap that I couldn't do from the road. Lorraine started painting the dining room . We had good visits from Max a few times and Bobby once. Max and I even went scouting to find Turkeys so I can get my Turkey license and go hunting in the next month.
And then we both got the flu. Real old-fashioned influenza mitigated only by the fact that we did both have the flu shot. We were a lot less sick than Bobby and Alex and Brian (my co-grandfather, grandfather-in-law? Is there a name for that?) sounds sicker than any of us. So that put a stop to any new work for about a week. But it didn't stop spring.
Last week Spring Peepers made their first appearance, competing with the barred owl calling from way at the back of the woodlot, and they've been peeping by the ponds on the warmer evenings when I walk the dogs. Not every night yet -- I think they are thrown off by the flooding; The water in the pond across the road is about a foot higher than usual and has flooded several sheds and is close to the backs of a couple of houses. Many homes in the area along the lake, on the local creeks and on the Bonnechere River are flooded worse than in 2017. The road in to our camp has been totally covered in water at least 5 feet deep in many places. Our friend Rudy who lives on the Riviere Noire Road year round has been trapped in his driveway and will be stuck there for at least another week. Of course, the flooding is all through The Valley -- the second 100+ Year flood in three years.
But Spring still comes at us apace. Buds are breaking this week, daffodils are in bloom on my lawn. New birds roll through the feeders every day although some of the winter birds are still here. Evening grossbeaks wait for the grackles and red-winged blackbirds to give them some room at the sunflower seed feeder. Cowbirds slip-in in the evening. But a few redpolls are still around and juncos are still scavenging along the ground for the leftovers.
We've started planning our next trailer trips -- we'll likely use that as a hotel room and base of operation for Ted's wedding if we can find a campground we like close enough to Andrea and John's. And we are planning to go camping again with Ann and Brian and the grand-kids in mid-summer. Maybe we'll head out east as well if we can't get into the camp in June ( if the bridge is gone then our property becomes boat access only and I'll have to swim across to get the boats...). We've both wanted to see the maritimes before. We may try as well to head down and meet my friend J.C. Doineau who will be camping with his family in August between Quebec City and Montreal.
In the meantime with our health improving we've started working outside while the weather is nice. I got peas and spring onions planted; Lorraine cleaned out the carport. I raked the back-yard and cleaned the deck and side-yards. Today, Alex and I drove down to Quadeville to load the back of the pick-up truck full of oak, beech, maple and a little poplar wood chips and then planted the mushroom garden in his backyard. We'll get more in a couple of weeks.
The next few days, as the weather swings back towards winter, we'll get back to painting in anticipation of finally finishing the hardwood floors. We're expecting 2-5cm of ice-pellets, snow and freezing rain in the morning before it switches back again to a cold hard rain; just what the valley needs is another 4cm of water across the entire watershed. There's still snow on the north sides of the hills, Round Lake is probably still about ten percent covered in ice -- but that will flush out with the rain tomorrow and Thursday.
And of course tomorrow is Bobby's second birthday -- a May Day baby -- he's growing up so fast.
Beautiful, thank you!
ReplyDeleteOkay, you're way overdue. Have you left your fans forsaken?
ReplyDeleteTrying not too... The new floor has taken a huge amount of energy... And then there’s working outside and grandparenting and mushroom forays and starting school again... Plus I needed a bit of a break after writing every day. Hope you enjoy today’s post — I look forward to seeing you this weekend.
ReplyDelete