Here we are already four months through 2008; it seems like we just started the year. After an impressively snowy winter our spring has been warm and dry for almost three weeks. Yesterday was our first rainstorm in a while and it made up for the nice weather. We had a heavy rain with strong winds and every brook and stream was out of its banks. I am hoping to do some fly fishing for brown trout as soon as the water level falls back to normal again, but that will be a while.
Winter is definitely over now. I heard bluebirds singing this morning and yesterday I heard flickers for the first time since last summer. Our barred owls are back in the woodlot behind the house and calling "who, who, who cooks for you" in the evenings and early mornings. The weather has changed as well, there is still frost at night but the days are warm and sunny. The snow is almost completely melted and I noticed on Monday morning that the ice is almost completely out on Seven Tree and Round Ponds. Every day is a little warmer and it is light a little longer in the morning and evening.
Slowly the snow is starting to recede, first the edges of the fields show through and then gradually I can see the areas of brown grow. Hopefully this slow melting trend continues with all of the snow here and further north the last thing we need is a rapid melt, the resulting flooding would be a big problem. The days are moderating and a sunny day is a real treat. The cold has really lost its bite even though many mornings are still below freezing.
