Another "Warm" Month

It's the end of January and, like December, it's been historically warm. We've had a few snowstorms, none more than a few inches. The total this season has probably been somewhere in the 12" to 16" range with the storms far enough apart that the accumulation has been minimal.

It was 50° today and the next couple of days are supposed to be warmer and rainy. Today pretty much took care of the little bit of snow that was remaining. I'm sure that we'll regret complaining (and our neighbors would think that we're crazy) but we were really hoping to experience a New England winter.

Using the blower is easier than shoveling but the value of doing either is debatable. A side note: We attended the meeting about making our area a National Historic District and that cottage across the street, 'Rose Cottage" will be the oldest structure in the district - 1797.

Maya (not in picture) decided that she wanted to skate one afternoon. Briar put on her skates and Gus' skates fit me. Thought I was going to die. I skated once, in 1969, and thought that it would be like riding a bike. Nope! I didn't dare move my feet. I flapped my wings until I completed a large circle and returned to the side. Never again.

Briar did a little better.

And Maya started cautiously and got better and better.

We had a bit more snow that night and, the next day, went sledding at Briar and Gus' house.

Niko wanted to skate that afternoon. That's our house in the background to the right of all of the white houses.

All of the ponds in the area have frozen over and ice fishing season is in full swing on many. Yesterday, we wen for a walk on Long Pond (that's where I went fishing from Gus' canoe in the summertime).

-JC-

Beautiful (and Unexpected) Snow

We've had some cold days lately (as you can see from the first picture), but no measurable snow. The forecast for this morning was for "freezing" drizzle". It only got down to 32 degrees but we woke up to a couple of inches of snow.

-JC-

Progress on the Town Ice Rink

I mentioned in my 12/19 post that it looked like the town had added an ice rink while we were in California. It's been unusually warm so they haven't gotten around to adding water. The next couple of days are expected to have highs in the teens and lows near zero so, today was the day. Here are some pictures of the fill-up operation.

This was the first tanker truck. They were expecting 3.

An additional picture from the next morning. The rink has a thin layer of ice. That's Kristen in the blue jacket at the far end of the rink.

Obviously, more pictures will follow as the water freezes and the skaters go into action (maybe Niko and Maya will want to come up).

The following pictures are from the other day after the snow plow finally made it's first pass (at about 1pm - They came back and finished the job at about 5:30pm).

Looking down Coldbrook (away from Oakham Town Center).

Looking up Coldbrook (toward Oakham Town Center)

We haven't had any more measurable snow but did have a "snow squall" last night that lasted about 15 minutes. I waved my hand across the sensor of the wildlife camera to take the following short video.

In other news: We received a letter the other day to let us know that our house will be in the new Oakham Village National Historic District. We'll be attending a meeting later in the month to learn more about it.

Also, when we were up at the ice rink, we happened to look over the back edge of the property and got our first look at the pond that the old timers used for swimming and skating many years ago. When I take one, I'll add a photo to the end of this post.

Here's the promised picture. There's an old farm road just up the street that probably goes back there. It was overgrown with poison ivy in the summertime but might be passable now. Might be worth a try sometime.

-JC-