Monday, February 14, 2011

Digging out

On Sunday, a thaw began to take hold on the mountain, the first since sometime back in December. In a few places, such as the south-facing stony road cut of the lane up to my cabin, I can see a patch or two of bare ground.

Elsewhere, snow still covers the forest. I checked its depth yesterday and found that instead of being just shy of knee-deep, where it lay for weeks, it is now just above my ankle-high boots. There is still quite a ways to go for it to disappear, but there’s been quite a bit of progress, too.


…Except perhaps in my icy driveway. In fact, to me it appears as though the ice has disappeared everywhere but my driveway. Even there progress was made, though not as much as I expected, given the mid-40 degree temperature and the incredible amount of ice melt and grit I’ve thrown into it.

I am even starting to be able to identify a few of the snow-covered bumps around my property—here a boulder, there a ceramic pot that I didn’t get inside before the snow fell. And like those slowly appearing mystery objects, I feel as though I am just beginning to dig my own way out of the icy depths of work—both at home and at the office—that has kept me buried since about December, as well.

Like the mystery objects around the cabin, I am not “there” yet, but I am starting to feel there’s an end to it now, a time when I will see my way clear to the blue sky above and feel the warm sun on my face.

5 comments:

Grizz………… said...

Cloudy here today, and not as warm as yesterday—though still above freezing. I am starting to see bare patches, but looking across the river at the island woods, the ground is still mostly white.

My driveway, like yours, seems to be holding tough, in spite of the salt and stuff I've poured on. I expect it will be the last to thaw.

Love the header pix, BTW.

Carolyn H said...

Grizz: Today the wind is the story here--brutal and fiece, making the above freezing temperature feel much colder than the thermometer would indicate.

Maybe my icy driveway would melt faster if I hadn't thrown all that stuff onto it...The other driveways are melted. It's only mine. Weird (and discouraging).

Cicero Sings said...

We actually have a bit of a thaw going on ourselves. Unfortunately, my yard lies in the shade and is the last to clear out ... and that will probably be a while in the happening yet. Snow is still pretty deep.

cathy said...

Carol - you know once all the snow is gone, we'll get another foot to deal with. LOL!

Carolyn H said...

Cicero: I know my cabin is in the shade! The ice is gone everywhere but my driveway! The ice is lessening even there, though, so that is something.

Cathy: Oh, I'm sure there's more snow left in this winter. I'm viewing this warm-up simply as a much-needed respite. I'm already having vision of a cold April.