Brewster Meadows

WOW! WEATHER!
This afternoon we had a little bit of weather. In fact, after being without power for about 30 minutes, and thunder and lightening, I thought the show was over, but boy was I wrong. We got 1 1/2 inches of rain in this dump and I thought the rain was a little loud until I realized that it was hail, not just rain. I went out to take some pictures in my bare feet, My goodness, that grass was cold.

Surviving the Hail

Winter Squash

Zucchini on Ice

Down Spout Ice Machine

No Comment!

It’s been a while since last writing about the goings on up here at Brewster Mountains.
Last Snow on the MountainWinter didn’t seem to want to leave, and we kept getting these dustings of snow. It certainly made Mt. Mansfield gorgeous. This was about the final snow dusting of the season. The resort had a great year with lots of skiing.

A sure sign of spring is the return of the songbirds. This one called us to the side door and it took a while to find it. I suspect that we really need a better telephoto lens, but you get the idea. At night you can hear the tree frogs and the lightening bugs and fireflies are starting to sparkle in the night.

One day in April, in the midst of a downpour, we decided that we should put the blue birdhouse to attract some residents. We followed all the suggestions that came with the box to lure in a little blue bird. Unfortunately, the tree swallows beat them to it. The tree swallow is blue so we decided that was OK. Every thing is fine until either Blizzard or Andrew decide to investigate. It’s easy to see when the cats are near the birdhouse, because they swoop down and “buzz” the cats. It’s pretty spectacular and easy to know what’s going on.

One of the reasons for not writing or doing much was my surgery. My new shoulder is doing quite well. In fact, we were able to finally get the garden in. I worked on the squares and then Deborah was able to help with the weeding of the paths and the planting of the rows. We have Roma and Regular Tomatoes. Cucumber, Carrots, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Peppers, Yellow Beans, Green Beans, Hubbard, Acorn and Butternut Squash, Yellow and Green zucchini, Yellow Squash, Eggplant, Lettuce, Lettuce and Lettuce, Pumpkin and Corn. Did we miss anything?

We are trying a new approach to raccoon deterrent in the corn. We planted the pumpkin to grow among the corn. Rumor has it that the raccoons don’t like to go through the thick growth of pumpkin leaves and then stick their little heads up to get the corn. We shall see.

The strawberries and rhubarb are coming in like crazy. We have “Deer Deterrent Sprinklers” and hope not to share the berries with our wildlife friends.

We put in fruit trees that were “bare root” last summer. Many of them were able to "winter over" but we lost some of them o, so we got larger trees to replace the ones we lost. We added/replaced two apples and a peach. Hope springs eternal here in the meadow.

We got rid of the large corner sectional upstairs! Deborah is in the process of turning the upstairs into a really comfortable office. New Sofa, new bookshelves, new chair and larger monitor for her desk!
Just about Purrrrrfect!!!!The office is really looking great, although she has to do some negotiations for some of the shelf space.

We are looking forward to guests for the summer and fall. It’s beautiful in all the seasons up here!

Back to the woods...
Just passing throughWe looked out this afternoon after Deborah finished building our Cold Frames to start Vegetables and low and behold look who wandered into the Meadow!!! Just a little early. Don't tell me that they are dumb!

Safe to show our heads...

On the Edge of the Meadow
Clinging to the trees March is here and this Saturday we change our clocks. I think winter may be over here, but it was wonderful while it lasted! We've enjoyed skiing, snowshoeing and sledding and just appreciating the beauty of winter. There is a storm predicted for this weekend, but I suspect it will melt rather quickly leaving us with the beginning of "stick season". The last storm was a bit of a disappointment, predicted for 15" but only 8". Oh well... It did give both of us a chance to use the Kubota.
Up the drive
And back down the drive We did have one last snowfall and we took full advantage of it. The sun was out, so I went for a snow shoe around the meadows and along the trail. Everywhere I looked was a "picture" so I took a few - out in the meadow, in the woods and along the stream we call the Brewster River.

House Shadow
Brewster in Spring
Snow Pillows
Snow Shoeing Across the Bridge
The hot tub has been wonderful this entire season. It may have a little snow on it, but it doesn't take long to clear the lid and hop in. There have been some absolutely spectacular nights with no cloud and no moon. The stars are overwhelming, the tub hot and the air cold. What a wonderful evening!!!

Destination - Downhill Skiing Deborah kept looking at Smuggs while X-country skiing here in the Meadows. Finally, with a little encouragement, she signed up for a refresher downhill lesson and was off to the slopes. If you look closely, you may see her on one of the runs. She's the one with the big big smile!! Seriously, she has wanted to downhill for a long time. She has had two good days of skiing, then the rains came, and a lot of the snow has melted. However, there is always that forecast for the week-end. Yesterday was not a pretty day, until just before sundown, that is. The sun set below all the clouds and lit up the tops of the trees. Every where you look - a wonderful sight.

Wow, has time flown by. Never mind that we did have a wonderful week in Rome over New Years. Time just seems to slip by. We had some lousy weather that was warm and melted a great deal of the snow. Not great for a ski resort area, but we are back on track.
From the window nook
Living in a Winter Wonderland
Bottom of the driveWe had a system come through and dump about a foot of snow over a 24 hour period. Absolutely fantastic!. We were forced to take a break from work bench building and the computer to ski, snow shoe and go sledding. I bought new runners for the sled and we were anxious to try them out. Sledding is good exercise! The better the ride, the further you have to walk. What the use of having our drive if we can't go enjoy it once in a while.
Deborah heading up for her ride!
YAHOOO!!!
Yipee! Make that turn!!! We took turns and shared both the camera and the sled. This was the best sledding ever. It might have to do that there was a layer of ice under the 4 - 5 inches of snow so we weren't scraping gravel. That and the new runners seem to do the trick! Great exercise and great fun!!
What a run!!!
YAHOO!!!All good things must come to an end. After our sledding adventures I decided that I probably should plow the drive. It was a little trickier than usual. That layer of ice was a bit of a challenge. I ended up leaving about an inch of snow rather than create an ice rink. There is also snow shoeing around the meadows and some x-country skiing if we are so inclined. One of these days, I'll get back into the wood shop and show you the router table that I'm working on. Both of us are enjoying our winter wonderland. One of these days we will open a seed catalog, but not just yet!Of course what winter day would be complete with out a soak in the hot tub! We just had to dig it out. IT WAS WELL WORTH IT!!
Go Kabota Go!
To the Hot Tub!
Priority #1