The Thaw

Its finally here! After 8 weeks of snow, icicles from the gutter to the ground, 10 foot tall snow piles from the plow and needing to wear 15 layers to stay warm, The Thaw is finally here.

One the one hand, I'm ecstatic. The snow is melting just enough to make snowmen and snowforts again. The frozen lumps of ice the plow never gets are gone from the driveway. Its warm enough to follow the deer tracks, bird watch and even stargaze and watch for shooting stars without risking frostbite.

But on the other hand, I hate The Thaw. I've just gotten used to the cold. I automatically put on my long johns in the morning and then my boots. The paths are finally tromped perfectly and solid for walking. The sledding hill is fast and banked perfectly. With The Thaw, the sleds stick, the paths collapse and I'm too hot in my jacket in the balmy 34 degrees F. The crust is weak, so that dogs and humans now sink up to their knees in the wet snow. And now, we have a flood watch for the next 3 days, because the melting snow has no place to go. The rivers are iced over, the ground is frozen, the melting, running water melts more snow and becomes a raging river and will find someplace downhill to go, which is usually a few basements, the floodplains by the rivers, and a few roads.

Yet the worst part of The Thaw is yet to come. February. Eventually January will be over and the Vermont Mid-Winter-Summer will be done. Those hardy folks who have been skiing in shorts and t-shirts will once again bundle up 15 layers deep. We'll huddle under blankets, throw another log on the fire, and count the days until March and Sugaring Season. We'll watch the woods for those tell-tale signs of spring - the colored tubing for the sugar lines that "sprout" in late February. And, if we are lucky, February will bring enough snow to refresh the paths, refreeze the lake and give us a beautiful Spring Ski Season.

But for now, I'll enjoy the tropical heat wave and start planning the garden, because sometime, somewhere, someday, it will be Spring in Vermont, someplace.