The Spring Tease in the Western MD Mountains

The spring tease in the western MD mountains. Those of us who live here know exactly what I mean! The days are getting longer, the sun is shining more, we get some warmer days, we start seeing flowers, then —- it snows again! It does seem different this year though with my retirement and the pandemic, but really life just moves on.

Snow. Most of us are sick of it, the ski resorts in the area are still open. It was 17 degrees when I woke up this morning and still in the lower 20’s at 8:30 AM. The snow around my house has for the most part disappeared – but wait, there is snow in our forecast for Friday! The good thing about this time of year is the sun is much higher in the sky, the days are longer, and these snows don’t last long. BUT – I can remember a 30+ inch snowstorm here several years ago, and having lived through that, you still can’t trust that it won’t happen again. Blame it on climate change, we do everything else! My middle daughter was born on April 28th and we woke up that morning to 6+ inches of snow overnight. Yes, that much is rare for that date but it does and can happen here in these Eastern US mountains!

Retirement and the pandemic has definitely changed how my days go in the Spring Tease time of the year. Of course we just went to Daylight Savings Time this past weekend. Some complain – but I love it. More time in the evenings to work, work out, and play! Last year I would have complained a little because I would once again be driving to work in the dark, but not this year!!! Just read some texts from my girls about how their kids were or were not adjusting to the time change. Oh, the memories of them doing the same thing! Last year after the time change I would have simply changed what clocks need changing (Isn’t it amazing how few that needs done to now with everything tied to our phones) got up and gone to work. Not much change then but more time in the evening if I wasn’t at a ballgame or activity for school. This year – quite a difference to my morning.!

First thing today – get up, do the regular morning routines, and kiss my wife as she heads to work (wow is she looking forward to retirement as well!) Then, my routine really has changed. Go feed and gather eggs in the daylight hours – Woohoo!!! Much more enjoyable and with our pullets just starting to lay, always a surprise or two waiting!

Today instead of dealing with education issues as a principal, I am going to add to our small orchard! Todays fun duties will include planting two concord grape plants and three elderberry plants. My wife and family loves jellies, juices, and jams – so we are adding to the home plot. It is getting harder and harder for us to find grapes for sale at an affordable price while the grape variety we had was extremely susceptible to black rot, and elderberries are just getting harder and harder to find ripe and not eaten in the wild, so we will start our own!

Instead of walking the halls of the school this morning, I am walking the property. The Spring Tease has allowed us to once again hang clothes outside – just my reminder that my wife has given me the orders to bring these in if it rains – oh I do hope I can remember, but better yet let’s hope it remains sunny! I was watching a local farmer plow when these triggered my memory of the order! 🙂

My daughter in South Carolina sent us pictures this weekend of her peach trees blooming. Here in the Western MD Mountains, we see daffodils coming up while many have or already are enjoying these blooming signs of spring! Here we hope they don’t come up too soon and freeze away those blooms, even though we are pretty sure snow will cover them at some time this month!

I get to enjoy this year’s spring tease after 37 years of work in education – and I am taking advantage of it! Maybe a little fishing this afternoon??? Teacher friends who I have text numbers for – I may be rubbing it in soon as promised!!!! While we might have to wait a little longer here in our mountains for spring to fully explode – the cooler air we have in the summer is worth it. Meanwhile I will still go out each evening if it isn’t below freezing and listen for the first frogs! Haven’t heard them yet but there is a promise of some warmer evenings this week before the snow on Friday. Will we hear them this week, or will we just have one of our named snow for the spring – like the Robin Snow, the Easter Snow, the Service Tree Snow ……………………….

Thank you so much for reading and please feel free to comment, follow, or like if so desired. I am doing this as a remembrance for my family in the future and you are a big part of that!! Again thank you for reading!

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