Mundane Monday: Frost

It’s a large awkward chunk with holes riddling it, part of an old carpenter ants’ nest. It came from the big cherry tree on the old fence line. It must be one of the oldest trees on the property with three big trunks and when one of them broke and fell it landed on the neighbors side. Cherry is about as good of wood as we have for burning at our place, so I quickly sent John over to negotiate. Our tree, his land, we will clean it up quick, thank you very much! firewood carved by ants

My brother happened to visit just about then so I put a chainsaw in his hand and he cut the limb into rounds while I heaved them over the old wire fence. Straight into all the kinds of prickles that grow in Wisconsin. It took another day with John running the chainsaw to finish clearing everything. And then, over the course of several months I smashed my wheelbarrow through the brush to a little clearing I had made. There I split the big rounds into firewood sized chunks. There I also learned it’s important not to catch brush on the top of your arc while splitting wood. Then I loaded them all up and brought them to the wood pile. That was the time that I learned that even if those ants are frozen solid, they thaw – alive…

My firewood piles near the house are dwindling. I need to move more from the big stacks a bit further away but I need a better system. The tractor would be ideal. Hopefully it’ll be fixed soon. Maybe a sled would work. I think there might be a half dozen hard to split pieces back by the fence. I must have given up on them when I hurt my shoulder last year. I should check. And I should learn to use a chainsaw so I don’t have to rely on the boys. Of course that gives me an excuse to spend a day working outside with John or my brother or my dad. Maybe I’ll stick with the splitting maul. Our chainsaw has issues anyway, I wonder what else we can try to fix it…

I put another stick of firewood on the fire and I wonder what people think about when they turn up the thermostat.

This Moment- Cold Weather Layer

Jan6

A Friday ritual.

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. chicken

Not Just Any White Stuff Will Do

Dec30

There are all different kinds of snow.

There is the icy, crystally kind that hurts your cheeks when it drives down out of the sky and the impossibly fluffy kind that falls out of the sky in feathery clumps that compact into almost nothing by morning. There are the super cold drifts that squeak beneath your boots and the terrible warmed and refrozen kind that is really just snow shaped ice covering the ground.

The best kind, that never seems to come around as often as you hope, is the wet pack-able kind. This snow, that snowballs and snowmen are made of, shows up on warm days. And those days, when the snow is debating disappearing altogether but hasn’t yet given up it’s hold, those are the days for sledding.

The track becomes hard and packed so you fly down the hill. Ivy sledding

And between the climb of the hill and the warmth of the day everyone can stay out for hours. Jonas sledding

The soft snow that might be turning to slush at the bottom is forgiving of crash landings. Grandma Mary and Ivy sledding It will melt on your face and your clothes, until snow pants start to sag with the weight of it. Grandma Mary, Clara and Ivy sledding

It takes a certain kind of day, a certain type of warmth, a certain amount of snow and a perfect hill. Tyler and Jonas sledding

Not just any white stuff will do… John sledding

…if you are looking for…
Jonas and Pete sledding

… a perfect day on the hill. Jane sledding

Snowy Sunset

Dec20

winter sunset

I just love those late day winter blues!

Spring Always Comes

Apr8

Spring never slips over the earth in an instant, instead it comes in fits and spurts.

A flower pops up here, while a bit of snow falls there. A chilly day today is followed by blue skies and sun tomorrow as winter slowly cedes to spring. snow drops

This year instead of sharing time, winter and spring are sparring. The ground’s dusting of snow is quickly burned off by the hot sun, only to be replaced by evening. Warm days are chased with frigid ones. A sunny day is repeatedly interrupted by howling wind and snow. Its a war between the seasons, but I know who will win. DSCN1816-(2sm)

Life always marches on. Spring always follows winter.

The baby chicks are peeping warm and safe out of the biting wind and the daffodils are slowly blooming despite their occasional covering of snow. New bees have been installed with plenty of honey to keep them fed until the weather warms and new fruit trees have been planted in spraying snow with fingers crossed.

Spring always wins, but that doesn’t mean winter has to make it easy.

This month we said our first hellos to brand new family, brand new friends.

And this month we said our last goodbyes to others. crocus

Spring always comes, life always goes on, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

An Icy Reminder

Mar28

Last week, after a few warm days, winter came back to ensure we all didn’t forget about her while in the throes of spring fever.

She showered us with sleet and rain and snow and ice – just because she could. DSCN1711-(2sm)

Winter stopped by for a day, perfectly encased the world in ice, then let the sun out the next morning to show it off.

By the end of the day she was gone. Every last bit of her.

Today the daffodils are showing yellow in their buds.

I told them to hold on.

Winter has gone but I think she’s still hiding just beyond the next bend.

I encourage you all to head over and visit Jerry Johnson on Dispatches from a Northern Town and read Glazed. He got hit a bit harder than we did with the same storm and he describes this weather perfectly. (Also I’m pretty convinced that he has re-adjusted the “in like a lion and out like a lamb” saying about March just right…)