We had a different post all written.  A nice, spring-y post. One about warm weather, impending goat kids, and poultry resuming their laying.  Then of course, ‘something’ happened.

That ‘something’ was a snowstorm. One of the biggest of the year, following on the heels of the beautiful balmy weather I’d written about.  If I’m honest, we had been hoping for some snow around here. Steve and the boys wanted to go out skiing again (the 50 degree weather from last week made ski conditions ‘mashed potato-like’) and we were looking for what Pa Ingalls called Sugar Snow – a cold spell that brings on another sap run. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!

Friday’s storm was heavy, but not horribly bad by Syracuse standards. Most people hunkered down for a day then shoveled themselves out, removing some tree branches that had fallen in the heavy snow and somewhat gusty winds. We hunkered down for a day and then cursed ourselves for not removing all the dead trees and branches we’d noticed over the summer and put off taking down until the spring.  Two trees were down completely, plus a variety of dead branches and the vines that had climbed up them.

One limb managed to take out one side of the fence, while another one barely avoided destroying the henhouse. Because they fell on top of one another (and most of them had large amounts of poison ivy vines trailing off them as well) it took Steve and I the better part of the day to get things cut up, untangled, and cleared away. There are still some larger logs and stray sticks behind, but since the poultry are enjoying eating the moss off the fallen wood there’s no rush to move it.

On the plus side, the trees are running again, probably induced by the ‘Sugar Snow.’ Additionally, the ducks ARE laying eggs again – and they’re not eating them! And Pepper looks decidedly pregnant – it’s become obvious these last 2 weeks that she’s not just carrying winter weight. So things are looking up in those regards!

That said, to heck with Hygge. I’m ready for Spring.