Last night, we got about two inches of new snow here on Beaver Island. It has covered the landscape – and my car – in a blanket of white. Snow is still falling, in big fluffy flakes wafting gently to the ground.
Yesterday after work, I went out in the yard with my camera.
I took pictures of the area where the big Scotch Pine tree has branches growing right around the wires where electrical service comes into my house. Last week, on a particularly windy day, my electricity went out and back on four times in a half hour. That reminded me to call the electric company, to remind them that I had called to request that the pine tree be trimmed or removed. I have tried, in other years, to hire the job out, but can’t get someone to risk electrocution for the amount I will pay to have the tree cut down. I had to go through the electric company. Their records indicate that the job was already done. I assured them, it was not. I took photos, just in case the subject comes up again.
I took photos of the condition of my roof, and the many shingles that blew off in that last wind storm. It’s a fairly new roof. It doesn’t show any wear at all, but there are whole rows and patches where the old shingles are visible, for loss of the new ones. I don’t know why the shingles are falling off. I have twice hired someone to climb up there to repair the roof. Once again, with winter’s end, there is more to do.
I wandered the yard, then, and took photos of early signs of spring. There were areas where the snow had melted to reveal some remainders of last year’s growth or even – now and then – a bit of green. All of that is, of course, hidden today under two inches of new snow.
Still, I know spring is on the way.
Allergies are one sign. My little dog has been going crazy with her ears itching. Every day I have to torture here with the ear drops; her allergy medicine offers only slight relief in the springtime. My allergies are making me miserable, too: I have fits of sneezing; my eyes have been itching and watering; my throat is scratchy. What is waking up out there, under all the ice and snow, that is causing allergic symptoms?
Longer days tell me the seasons are changing. The fact that I could go out after work to take pictures, and that I was not walking around in the dark, is a welcome sign of spring. For much of the year, including most of the winter months, I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. As the seasons change, daylight brightens my mornings and my evenings.
Spring fever seems to have arrived, at my house, well ahead of the weather. I seem tired all the time. I have to force myself to get to the simplest of tasks. I feel like I could sleep all the time.
Though the white landscape might suggest otherwise, I know spring is coming!
cindyricksgers 