April 24, 2007
What a difference a week makes in the weather at this time of year! We have gone from winter to summer and skipped spring altogether, it seems. Mol and I were out in the canoe in the cove by the yacht club a few days ago, and tested the ice, which is slowly melting. We saw six loons as they swam by us at its edge. They were paired up and waited patiently to get to their nesting sites. They reminded me of runners approaching the starting line before a marathon.
As we rounded the cove by the yacht club heading for the Mill Stream, a loud honking started up, and in the distance we saw a pair of Canada Geese, the male making protective noises to warn his mate of our approach. They flew over us as we neared them on the shore behind the library. Several pairs of ducks also headed off as we continued our paddle.
Androscoggin Lake is filling like a bathtub, since the Androscoggin River is cresting and there’s nowhere for the water coming in from Pocasset to go, and we were able to paddle in and out of trees and bushes, where there is normally dry land. When we got to the edge of the ice, Mol insisted on hacking away at it with her paddle, in an attempt to get rid of it more quickly. I thought this was a futile and silly gesture, until I remembered that for the past several days I had been out on the lawn at home shoveling and raking the last of the winter snow to get winter to leave us finally and get on with the next season. It’s been difficult to deal with the weather these past weeks, and we so often find that April is like some cruel joke being played on us.
But yesterday was a record setting 84 degrees, and I exhausted myself doing yard work from dawn to dusk. I ache all over, but gaze out proudly at my brown, but neat, lawn.
Tubby’s is open, another sign of spring, the ice on Pocasset is breaking up, the flooded waters of the Mill Stream are receding, and as of this morning, the ice is officially out of Androscoggin. Time to get the boat in the water, and celebrate that, once again, life is good!
What a difference a week makes in the weather at this time of year! We have gone from winter to summer and skipped spring altogether, it seems. Mol and I were out in the canoe in the cove by the yacht club a few days ago, and tested the ice, which is slowly melting. We saw six loons as they swam by us at its edge. They were paired up and waited patiently to get to their nesting sites. They reminded me of runners approaching the starting line before a marathon.
As we rounded the cove by the yacht club heading for the Mill Stream, a loud honking started up, and in the distance we saw a pair of Canada Geese, the male making protective noises to warn his mate of our approach. They flew over us as we neared them on the shore behind the library. Several pairs of ducks also headed off as we continued our paddle.
Androscoggin Lake is filling like a bathtub, since the Androscoggin River is cresting and there’s nowhere for the water coming in from Pocasset to go, and we were able to paddle in and out of trees and bushes, where there is normally dry land. When we got to the edge of the ice, Mol insisted on hacking away at it with her paddle, in an attempt to get rid of it more quickly. I thought this was a futile and silly gesture, until I remembered that for the past several days I had been out on the lawn at home shoveling and raking the last of the winter snow to get winter to leave us finally and get on with the next season. It’s been difficult to deal with the weather these past weeks, and we so often find that April is like some cruel joke being played on us.
But yesterday was a record setting 84 degrees, and I exhausted myself doing yard work from dawn to dusk. I ache all over, but gaze out proudly at my brown, but neat, lawn.
Tubby’s is open, another sign of spring, the ice on Pocasset is breaking up, the flooded waters of the Mill Stream are receding, and as of this morning, the ice is officially out of Androscoggin. Time to get the boat in the water, and celebrate that, once again, life is good!