Living in Place, News

Snow-Gauge Clif: March 8, 2021

55 Comments

From last week to this week, the snow has barely melted. It is, after all, early March in Maine, which is much like February—still in winter’s grip with the possibility of one or two major snowstorms. The temps go well below freezing at night, and when we get up in the morning, the house is a tad below 60°. A little brisk, as we Mainers might say.

Here is Snow-Gauge Clif in the front yard.

And here he is in the backyard.

Outside our living room window, icicles hang from our shrubs.

But as we make our slow way through March, I can feel a softening. For one thing, the days are longer. It is light well before 7:00 a.m., and it doesn’t get dark until 6:00 p.m. Sheer bliss from the days of December, when the dark closed in at 4:00 p.m.

Also, perhaps most cheering of all, the birds have begun their spring songs—chickadees, tufted titmice, cardinals. How I love to hear them. The bird feeders need to be refilled frequently as the birds are coming more often than they did during the winter. Perhaps they are fortifying themselves for the hard work of starting and raising a family.

This week, the forecast is for temperatures to be in the 40s and even the 50s. A regular heatwave after the cold of February.

Am I ready? You bet I am.

As soon as the patio has a clear spot for the chairs, and the weather is consistently mild—above 40—we’ll begin having socially distanced visits again.

55 thoughts on “Snow-Gauge Clif: March 8, 2021”

  1. Hi, Laurie – Even though we haven’t had any snow here for a while (knock on wood), I join you in cheering on Spring. Bring. It. On!
    Please save me a socially distanced seat on your patio (at least virtually)!

  9. The increase in light helps. The sun is feeling stronger these days, too. At the equinoxes, our house happens to be situated so that sun shines directly in the east window at sunrise. Just 2 more weeks to go! 🙂

  11. Oh, Laurie – the birds! Nothing feels like spring to me like the new sounds of the birds. The titmice and the cardinals singing their spring songs – and all the others that I know but can’t identify. That’s what I’m hearing too. Spring is on the way!

  12. This week’s warm spell will surely reduce that snow load. They are predicting 65 degrees here on Wed. Do I dare to believe?? I’m getting out my lawn chair!

  13. As you delight in your lengthening days, so are we beginning to mourn the shortening of ours! The icicles on your shrubs are an amazing sight for me to see.

  14. Wow those icicles are impressive, and it must be interesting to watch them slowly disappear. I guess you will be seeing the tips of bulbs soon, or does that happen in April? Anyway, as Judy said, Snow-Gauge Clif will soon be out of a job!

    1. Water from the melting snow drips on the hedges. Then it freezes into icicles. But soon they will be gone. However, it won’t be until April that we see anything green or growing.

  15. The longer days are great aren’t they? We had quite a hard frost this morning which saw of some of the daffs but the sun is out now and it’s lovely. Wind and rain forecast for the next few days though ☹

    1. So good to have more light. Rain is forecast for Maine, which should melt some of that snow. It will be interesting to see what next week brings for Snow-Gauge Clif.

  17. Those icicles are amazing! I hope it warms up soon for you. I ate lunch outside for the first time yesterday and it felt wonderful! Today is colder and grey but Spring is coming!

  18. I just realized I’ve not yet complimented Clif on his jacket. That looks so ‘New England’ to me — he’s as handsome in it as the departing snow is beautiful!

  21. I am hoping that by now some of that snow will have disappeared. I am catching up with my WP blog reading (still a week behind!) and wish to thank you for the card which arrived a couple of days ago. Beautiful photo!

  22. I couldn’t comment on the previous post, about the year anniversary of lockdown and so on, or maybe I just couldn’t find the right spot. Anyway, excellent post. March 17 2020 is the last time we were in a grocery store. We had stocked up two weeks before because, being an expert catastrophizer, I saw it coming in February so we had plenty of toilet paper and canned goods but there were things we forgot, like flour and sugar. The shelves in our supermarket were almost bare when we shopped on March 17th. No bread, or rather, only a couple of loaves of very dark rye! We had a neighbor who visits her summer home now and then and brought us supplies. And who knew how much food one can mail order! Our grocery expenses came out almost the same as the previous year, despite mail ordering. (I grew cooking greens and salads.). It is going to feel weird to set foot in a store again.

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