This winter has been water and ice. Mostly ice. It's March 11 and we are expecting another 20 inches of snow tomorrow, soon to be more water - or ice. Lake Champlain is frozen from Vermont all the way to New York. It hasn't done this since 2007. 99% solid ice. And Lake Champlain is the 6th largest lake in the United States. That means it's been mighty cold.
It's been treacherous walking, exciting to look at, and impossible to wait out. Spring is here in about 9 days and we are not even close to the great thaw. Our barn door is frozen open, and stray cats have come to howl there. Racoons have devoured one chicken - our Emily gone on a late night, dinner to a family of four masked looters. The chickens are finally brave enough to come out and skid across the crusty snow. Our driveway gate is frozen in place. Ice everywhere.
The boys have skied a lot, sled down sheer ice hills, and carefully picked their way down icy sidewalks while I have been thinking our luck will surely run out before an elbow or wrist is broken in a fall. We have a household bet going on the date our driveway (which is covered in 6 inches of ice still, maybe more) will finally be free of its last trace of ice. I put a bet in for the end of April. Everyone put a dollar in the jar - all of us hoping to lose. And despite this unusual science experiment of a winter, we have noticed the beauty. Ice is remarkably beautiful. Even so, we have had enough and are ready now for the return of the equally beautiful and much warmer green.
