February 23, 2007 – Day 1 “Storm of the Century” (so far)

Today was Day 1 of the Storm of the Century (hey, when you’re only into a century 7 years, these things happen much more often). We had periodic sleet/hail/ice pellets, complete with thunder and lightning at about 33 degrees.


Here’s some of the mixture of the combinations of precipitation. It was a strange night, with a sense of foreboding as we were forecast for a significant ice storm, followed by up to a foot of snow.


The wind was strong too, as the ice adhering to the trees fractured in fairly regular patterns as the limbs bent in the strong east wind.

one year ago…

February 21, 2007 – Last Snowbanks?

Today was the first day over 50 degrees for a long time. Most of the snow, except the drifts and along the roads, is melted. This bank will take a bit longer to melt.

All the chickens came out of the coop for the first time in 2007 as there was snow-free ground. The goats loafed outside as well. I thought about pruning the raspberries, but worked in the attic instead since it hasn’t been warm enough for a long time.


one year ago…

February 20, 2007 – A Dark Side of Rural America

Sunday morning a house less than a mile from us was intentionally set on fire.  It points to one of the problems I see with absentee ownership.  Someone now from Connecticut owns this property (proudly displaying the “Century Farm” signs that indicates 100 year ownership of the farm by the same family).  The house had been rented for at least the last 10 years and nothing had been done to it.  As windows broke, they were replaced with plywood, the porch roof was collapsing – all while the owners were collecting rent and when the renters finally stopped paying, they were kicked out and the house had reached the point of no return, so the owner simply had the house burned.  A sad story all around.


one year ago…