wokeupthisam

I had 3 on my coveralls, 2 on my shirt, and one between my sock and work boot from 2 hrs of tree field work Tuesday. Granted I'm sometimes laying on my side to base prune or saw stumps even with the ground, so I expect lots of hitchhikers when I'm out there. I prep with tucked clothes and then change out in the garage when done where I can check clothes inside and out and do a quick body check so I don't bring any with me inside the house. Permethrin sprayed on the outside of the workboots, socks, and field clothes then allowed to dry before using, has a dramatic effect. I hadn't sprayed the work clothes yet this year after washing them and storing them at the start of last winter, hence all the ticks Tuesday. Once I treat em I can usually crawl around the fields and woods and only see an occasional rider when I'm through for the day. Caveat is to let the spray completely dry, and keep my field work clothes out of the house away from pets, re-spray after 3 or 4 washings. PITA but better than plucking embedded vampires every day of the warmer months.

That squirrel's a flashing neon sign for hawks! I need to research the two mulberry trees better. I think one's a red and not sure about the other - the one is dark purple to black the other starts paler but gets darker as it ripens. They're very old, I was told they're pre-1900. Our Forester took DBH and crown measurements a couple years ago to check against state records but I don't recall him mentioning what varieties he thought they were. The one I suspect is a red mulberry is 90" circumference, the other is 125" - definitely old and pretty big. The UNH 'big trees' site shows two bigger by 20" circumference, not a lot ...

Lone turkeys are tempting for foxes but still a tough catch. A couple weeks ago we watched a flock of 7 turkeys chase a fox for 200+ yards. He turned and charged them once but they didn't even flinch and went after him even more. Then there was this hilarity in 2023 under one of the mulberry trees - there were mulberries covering the ground and starting to ferment, none of these turkeys or the fox could walk straight let alone chase each other so they just shared the space eating those berries

Oh man that's a close call when cubs are around. Dangerous - cool but dangerous.

Wow that was taken just after 9pm... not even late. They sure tear things up easily when they want to, I keep my head on a swivel in the tree fields but especially this time of year

*Almost* perfect for working outside, today

100%. I have a '93 Craftsman that's still going strong. Just oil, batteries and one fix to the steering coupler.

39.0 light fog NE @ 7mph G 13mph Typical April weather a day early

More reliable than the buds swelling on the maples

It's gone from the open fields here but still dense in the woods, I thought the 55° dews and steady wind last night would take more, guess the temp crashing fast after 1am kept it intact

Lol haven't heard that one in a while

...and a pic

Had a cool visitor today, a "Leucistic" red-tail hawk. When I first saw it at a distance, I thought it was a snowy owl, but then he perched right behind the sugarhouse and saw it was a raptor. Supposedly they're pretty rare. short vid here:

2.5" and wishcasting for sun and quick warm-up to melt it off the driveway... Instead, snow showers and gray cold skies ftl

6" new, 18" OTG. Sun and mild air, beautiful day

100° at any time of the year is NBD in far south Texas. Don't ask me how I know, I'm suppressing those bad memories...

ugh that would be no bueno for maple producers, glad it's op runs 10+ days away but not glad it's showing that.

Well, yeah... that was pretty damn anomalous. But, I'm always thinking there's that potential lurking out there, the 1-in-1000 year storm... esp in this water vapor saturated global climate system...

I hear ya. You recognized it earlier than most. The GFS ticking east after being so steady, started the red flag waving. Just wasn't 'that storm'. 'That much' in this case, was a mere 75 miles open ocean...

19° and "windy" with a few inches and this is the light stuff, impressive storm reach

Doesn't look like the center moved much in that interval either

Yeah it has but no good runs yet, that'll change fast by this time next week I think. I've got about 75 trees to tap and it's all buckets, so won't take me long to get 'em in when it looks like they're ready to run good...

Squeeky wheel gets the grease! Soak it in and enjoy!

It's been deep winter here for 3 months. Great snowpack, lots of nights near zero and days not getting out of the teens even with bluebird skies. Snow has stayed fresh and light due to the frequent small refreshers. No rainstorms. Big snowbanks everywhere. Snowmobile trails open throughout the area. Thick ice on every pond and lake. No misery here, it's been a winter of yore. Hell even my snowbanks have snowbanks, every cleanup I spend half again as much time pushing the banks back for more room as I do plowing the new stuff. No blockbuster storms though that SWFE was tasty - tracked for days, and fcst totals creeping up as it got closer and it didn't disappoint. Ready for maple sugar season and a typical March sea-saw between wintah and spring.

It's been deep winter up here for 3 months. So if we miss on more snow the next two weeks I'm good. Ready to track thru the pack in the woods, tap the maples and get going on spring.