So this is spring

Saturday it was 35 and raining heavily. That’s not particularly great weather for doing much of anything outside. That wet cold seeps right into one’s bones.

There’s a lot of rain in the forecast and not a lot of warmth. The rivers have been high, either at flood stage, over it, or right on the edge of it. One effect that most people don’t think too much about is what this sort of weather does to trees. A lot of our trees are shallow rooted, species like spruce, fir, and hemlock. When the ground gets super saturated it doesn’t take much wind to topple a forest’s worth of trees.

Friday night my lovely wife and I were driving back home from the movies. The wind was strong enough to move our little car all over the road. Between the darkness, rain and wind we practically crawled home. It was a long long drive. There was the constant threat of high water, falling trees or just getting blown off the road.

The returning snowbirds are quite disappointed. My sympathy is . . . limited.

While it’s been cold, temperatures have generally stayed above freezing. Sometimes just barely above, but warm enough to melt snow. The ice on the lake has turned a darker color. All the rain has super saturated it. As the ice gets more rotten, a good strong wind could break it up. Sometimes the wind piles the ice up on the shore. There’s enough force to destroy docks and boat houses.

Right now there’s not much that can be done except hang in there. Vitamin D pills are an inadequate substitute for sunshine.

-Sixbears