The Persistant March On

Greetings!

After exploding 4 hard drives and 4 cameras in 4 years, I am finally re-paired, re-homed, re-located and re-set.

New Beginnings in 2009, the Year of the OX and

March is my favorite month of the year. My favorite holiday week has almost begun as well.

The signs of spring are abundant, especially today, and life is getting better and better with each passing moment.

March is my favorite month for many many reasons.

Yes, it is still freezing, snowing and somewhat like the Ice Age, but I LOVE that. I love the variety of weather that Mother Nature throws at us. In March, it is a constant weather surprise.
 Like a gift you don't expect.

I enjoy watching generations of men and women, side by side, tapping trees for the sap that they will boil down into delicious ( and addicting ) maple syrup. This usually starts with the arrival of daylight savings. And sure enough, last Sunday was like demolition derby up here in the mountains.

Last week there were hundreds of pickup trucks driving the rural backroads, stopping every few feet to tap another tree and hang a bucket with a cover on it. 100 gallon plastic tanks, in assorted colors, sit in the back of 4 out of 7 trucks going up my rural road. The air is full of sweet smelling smoke from the many sugar shacks in the immediate area that use cords and cords of firewood every day to make the sweet "Liquid Gold" syrup.

Mud season happens in March and is one of rural lifes real challenges. Sometimes there is more than one mud season in a year and that makes life REALLY challenging. We had a premature spring thaw in February that made my most travelled roads one big sludge fest. I watched several smaller vehicles drive right off the road in front of me because their tires got stuck in a rut that took them off the road and into a ditch.

Desperate motorcyclists come out in March. I saw 4 last week.

Calving season starts in March and every day is like Christmas. You just never know what you will find out in the barns or the fields. All the anticipating and guessing comes to a climax in March. I pray that all the calves are born alive and healthy and all the Mama cows just pop those kids out like bullets. No more repeats of the depressing calving season last year.

Everything that could go wrong, did.

Crocus make an honest attempt of coming up in March, and many did last week before a 9 inch snowstorm buried them. I know I wil see them again in a few more days.

I saw a red wing black bird last week. And that flock of 100 robins & cedar wax wings that have been here since January 11th have moved up the road. Birds return in March.

The seeds I ordered usually come in March.

There is so much hope in March.

And winter is now 9 months away.