Snow and Redpolls

Sooner or later, you learn some things do not improve with time. And living just in the moment doesn't always work. Snow is a great instructor in these things.

45 inches of snow in the month of December 2007 has been a really good instructor. Last year, when we had heavy snow in April followed by pouring rain and plunging temperatures within few hours, I learned it's a good idea to shovel the snow while it's still snow. And when we had two major snowstorms in rapid succession, I learned that shovelling snow in Maine isn't about this snowfall, it's about the next one -- as in, where are you going to put it next time? After 8 snowstorms in December, am I ever glad I learned those lessons last year!

I'm sure there's something profound in these lessons for the New Year, but right now I'm just taking away from them that starting to actually keep a blog on New Year's Day isn't going to happen if I don't start it now, and this one doesn't have to be really profound, because keeping a blog, in many ways, is all about the next entry. I have no idea where this is going or what my theme is, but I suspect it will have something to do with learning things, and the other great teacher of the moment is Diamond our dog (hereafter DD, to differentiate from D, the other half of "our"), so she may appear here soon.

Meanwhile it is snowing again, and the snow we have shovelled off the deck is now starting to peep up over the edge of the deck -- and I'm trying to think creatively about where we go with it next. And winter is only 11 days old.

And the common redpolls we saw for the first time yesterday are reinforcing the lesson about not procrastinating.....