This afternoon was warm and sunny with a milky blue sky. I knew that once the afternoon sea breeze started the air would chill quickly. So I did the best thing I could think of, I loaded a canoe and headed down to the Saint George River for an hour or two. The ice is out of Seven Tree Pond enough so that I could launch and paddle up into the river. The water level is very high, those of you that have been on this trip will remember the rock up river that is at least six feet above the water level in the summer was nearly covered with water.
I’ve been getting each dog out for a half an hour every afternoon. It is good for all of us to run around (in my case amble around) in the woods a little each day. The pointers are finding a few woodcock but not as many as we hear on our walk in the mornings. Each day the snow goes a little more, on Sunday it was well over my knee boots in the woods and this afternoon there are patches of no snow and it is not over the tops of my boots anywhere. The last couple of afternoons have been warm and breezy (nearly 50 degrees) after a cold and damp weekend it feels great to have the sun.
I spent a great deal of time last winter working on a merger of the Maine Conservation School with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. There were a thousand details to work out in this merger and as with most things it took way more time and energy than I imagined. But at the end of the process I think that the future is bright for the programs at the Maine Conservation School and the kids that we all want to teach about their natural resources.
