What Winter?

Am I the only person in this neck of the woods that thinks we got the shaft on winter this year? I remember it being really cold for a few weeks around the holidays, and I can count the number of snowstorms we had on one hand. Since mid- January it's felt like spring was just around the corner, and now we're heading into March and it feels like April. I'm sure a lot of people will want to punch me in the face for saying this (all those people who I've heard say they are ready for winter to end) but can we just have one month of regular winter here? I'm not ready for spring on the first of March.

Although I really would like some more time for winter sports (Emerson had her first ski trip two weeks ago, which went well - being slammed in the face with a moving j-bar aside) I also have an ulterior motive for wanting winter to hang on a little bit longer. After six months of waiting and planning - conversations and meetings with the Department of Conservation, hoping a logger would take our job, finding a logger that could move our wood, getting cutting plans approved by the state and the conservation committee, running it past all the neighbors, finding out our property boundaries, blah - we FINALLY have a logger coming over to thin out the trees on our property and let in some sunshine! But the ground has to be frozen for him to start and finish. It will be a race, even if we do get another cold snap. I know I can deal with one more summer in a leaf cave with a moss yard and a moss roof, but I would really prefer it if I didn't have too.

So bye-bye trees. You are lovely, but there are just too many of you. Hopefully the logger doesn't take you all. (Or take all the nice hardwood and leave us with a bunch of dark pines...)

And Emerson would like to try out her brand new size 12 ice skates too. (I've been cramming her toes into her old ones all season). Here are some photos from skiing.

As usual, I have to give a huge shout out to my dad, who pulled Emerson up the hill about a hundred times after her j-bar fiasco. "This is how real Vermonters learn anyway. Who needs a fucking j-bar?" Emerson is still telling people she used the "Poppy j-bar".Weeeeeee....

Although I don't want winter to end just yet, there has been spring and summer talk around our house as of late. (Which is what March should be - April is the "doing" month, March is still the planning stage) We're starting to lay out what our outdoor projects are going to be this year, and although both of us would love to do a lot of planting, I think that's going to have to wait at least until next year. We have to wait and see if the logger can finish the job this year, and then we'll have A LOT of clean up to take care of, and a lot of watching the sun and the land to see where the most viable place to plant will be. In the meantime, we'll be building a french drain along the front side of our house to keep the water out of the basement, and building a play-scape for the girls. So this year it will be a few herbs and tomatoes and lots of farm share for us!

We're also starting to think about where we want to go on vacation this year. We had such a great time last year, that it will be hard to recreate, but we're going to try! We'll definitely be camping for two weeks again, it's just a matter of where, and of balancing out a place that offers something for the adults and the kids. We were thinking of going to Canada again - northern Quebec this time - or down to Tennessee/North Carolina way. But that all could change...

There is so much more to say, but I'm going to uphold some more of my un-resolutions: spending very little time on the computer - which really contradicts my "blog every week" un-resolution doesn't it? - and go to bed before I fall down from exhaustion. There's more to life...

I do have to say that we are once again upping the ante on home improvements. I walked into our house after being in Vermont for the week and it was NOT great to be home. I already have Matty following through on his kitchen cabinet plan. (And to his credit, he did finish painting our bedroom and our bedroom closet while I was gone)

Sleeping downstairs has made some room for unpacking a little bit more. Emerson's room has transformed to a guest room/office. Progress is slow.
But it is progress.