Let there be light!
The spring forward to Daylight Savings Time on March 8th came to the rescue of sun-deprived winter warriors and provided a welcome relief to those looking for a reason, any reason at all, to think that winter will actually come to end. We were already noting the increase in light at the end of day, but an extra hour all at once is something to get excited about.
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| And, that's why they call them Snow Drops. |
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Here's another sure sign of Spring!
With the Sox clinching that last place spot last year, there's nowhere to go, but UP! Accordingly, there are lots of new faces hard at work in Spring Training in Florida, looking to clinch their spot on the team. We even have our first Cuban player. Hopefully, Fenway will have melted by opening day.
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| Play ball! |
Long before the first hopeful day of March, there is a sub-group of zombie-like people, stuffed into their winter gear, dreaming of warm sun and ice-free beaches [with the exception of their Duncan Donut frozen frappucino]. Advertisers know this and Agway, my favorite garden store, offered this email message of hope:
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| Note the tiny disclaimer on item #4. |
Here's something else that just popped up. If you were a reader last year, you might remember that Ron participated in the Provincetown 24-hour Play event, which later led to the play being filmed. The writer's goal was to enter it in various film festivals. The preview last winter in Provincetown was premature, but with the completion of the editing, it appears to be on its way, including Ron's infamous sprint down snowy Commercial Street in boxers and cowboy boots. Not many lines, but great ACTING! And, please note the credit for the photograph.
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| A pair of European Starlings |
Last month, I mentioned a few reasons why I enjoy the winter so much. I neglected to speak about the wildlife we get to enjoy that we wouldn't see otherwise. The first time I ever saw a European Starling was on a trip to Copenhagen a few years ago, and I was fascinated with the unusual markings. I took a picture to identify the breed when I got home since it wasn't a bird I'd seen here before. This month, I learned from our Orleans bird expert, Mike O'Connor, that the Cape has many of these birds, but the reason we'd never seen them before is that they prefer feeding on "buggy and wormy things" in the salt marshes. When the marshes are frozen, as they have been most of this winter, they seek dinner elsewhere, and suet is their second favorite entree. I'm glad to say that word has spread about the fine dining options here and they've been constant visitors all winter. Another benefit to a snowy landscape, at least for us, is that the deer sightings are more plentiful, simply because they show up better against the snow. Not to mention, if you ever wonder who parties in your yard nocturnally, the fox, raccoon, deer, skunk, coyote, squirrel and bird prints are all there in the morning.
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| Hi, Neighbor! |
The town of Wellfleet, just north of us, made the national news this month when ice floes began making what looked like icebergs on the beach. I don't know if any of them would have sunk a ship, but they made for an unusual landscape. About a week later, on my way back from Provincetown, I stopped to see what might be left after our big melt began, and I wasn't disappointed.
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| Wellfleet Harbor - crunchy style |
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| BOSTON, STILL STRONG! |
As of 7 p.m. on March 15th, The National Weather Service in Boston announced that Boston Logan Airport had officially received a record breaking amount of snow for the 2015 season. For perspective, the average seasonal snowfall at the airport is 43.5 inches. I've been unable to locate our total snowfall for this winter here in Eastham, but we don't really need the numbers. Codders will be using the winter of 2015 as a comparison for years to come, as the one that didn't get a chance to melt before the next, and the next, and the next. In fact, we had another 2" on our first day of Spring. To give another perspective of what that has looked like, Arnold's restaurant summer devotees may recognize this ice cream sign in the parking lot.
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| Where do you think all that ice cream comes from? Just kidding, of course. |
The March blog wouldn't be complete without a wildlife report. Just because we're still huddled in front of the fireplace doesn't mean Spring's not here. So, if you've had Robins all winter, how can you really tell? The Ocearch Shark Tracker, for one, is showing Katherine, one of our frequent Great White visitors, moving up the Atlantic coast. The first Ospreys have been officially sited in the towns of Orleans and Eastham. We heard the squawk of the first Red Wing Blackbirds a couple of days before we spotted the first one on our feeders on the first day of Spring. And the grackles, also known as "suet-piggies", with their gorgeous, iridescent blue heads, have also returned. With the grass once again peeping out, I have much less tolerance for watching the squirrels draining our bird feeders. With three feet of snow on the ground, I could afford to be generous, but it was time for those pesky Reds to move on, learn how to feed themselves and start their family elsewhere. It took a couple of weeks to entice them, but patience was rewarded with two at once.
This month's B&B visitors from Medford, MA, wisely brought their snowshoes with them and trekked Fort Hill without benefit of the usual neat pathways. I could still see their tracks when I went for a walk a few days later.
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| We know where you've been! |
We also hosted people from Springfield, MA, who braved the weather. They had been to the Cape before, but never this far down, and were elated to discover the distinctive beauty of the Outer Cape and Fort Hill. It really is a different world north of the rotary. We were also happy to get a last minute booking from last year's winter guests, who decided to leave Boston for an evening in the Cottage. Being good Wisconsin-Cheeseheads, they agree with us that winter is the best time on the Cape. Following them were a couple coming to supervise the placement of their new house, which will transition them from summer residents to year-rounders. Finally, a couple from Germany braved the rains (but, at least not snow!) to get away for a couple of days. This winter's snow brought a blissful rest from the attention to detail necessary to tending to guests, but it's back to work now, with its own rewards.
And now, it really is time to give John Deere, Jr. some much deserved R&R. The plow will soon be disconnected and he'll be returned to the lighter duty of mowing. What a trooper he's been!
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| March decorations were courtesy of Thor |
With Spring having sprung, I was thinking about all the projects I was going to get done over the winter. and I commented, "Once again, winter has just flown by!" Ron gave me his "you're crazy, but you're mine" look and replied, "You know you're the only one on this planet who has uttered those words." So, for all of the rest of you,
Happy Spring, and let the daffodils bloom!
