When is enough enough?

What fun this winter has been - and we aren't done yet.    Tonight the forecast is for another storm Saturday night into Sunday.   The slight break in the weather has given the ground cover time to shrink and in some places disappear completely.   The turkeys can walk on top of what's left because there is a hard crust.   Even the resident coyote can make his rounds without sinking in.   His coat is beautiful and his eyes are bright.   But the turkey flock is still at 21 so he's not eating at their table.

the deer herd seems to have picked up a coup;le of strays, and the buck is now watching over five does.    Recently they were at the entrance sign eating the shrubbery poking up through the snow.  Some of our residents are not going to be happy about that, but if my memory is correct, they needed to be trimmed anyway.   

Today was nearly 40 degrees in Portland.  I went to Kettle Cove, an ocean side park, with a meatball sandwich and a bottle of ice tea.   Nick and I shared our lunch and then we took a walk on the beach.    The tide was at dead low, and may be a neap tide as it was rally low.   There is a lot of seaweed on the beach,  winter cold and the fact that it's dead has turned it black and crisp.   There were several families of school age kids - winter vacation in most Maine schools.   Two boys with long staffs were practicing some martial arts moves, and doing a lot of tumbling and leaping about, brandishing their weapons.   When they were performing on the rocks I was a bit envious.  There was a time in my memory when I leaped around on the seaside rocks, never thinking of taking a fall, or making a misstep and ending up in the water.   Seeing them today made me think of how my Mom must have felt watching me.   They weren't my kids, but their fearlessness gave me shivers.

Last summer my nephew and his four year old son were visiting.   The youngster wanted to go on the rocks, so his dad went with him.   I saw him crouch and heard him say "You see those black rocks they are the slippery ones.   Stay on the gray ones that are dry so you won't  fall."   Of course, eventually the little one got onto wet rocks, and sure enough, he took a fall.  I heard his father say unsympathetically , "Well, I told you the black ones are slippery, didn't I?"  With a tremling lip the little one nodded.  Good lesson I guess as long as there weren't any serious consequences.  

I heard someone on the radio today comment that the weather forecast used to be a three minute comment at the end of the news   Now it's "BREAKING NEWS" and FIRST ALERT WEATHER WARNING" for a Maine snowstorm.   Spring is not far away and meanwhile the ponds are frozen (but not the big lakes)  and the hills have plenty of good powder, packed or otherwise, for the skiers and boarders.   

jmajor