Did I Say Spring?

Well; it seems like I have been referring to spring for weeks now and according to my calendar it is "officially" but if I look out the window it sure doesn't look like it. We still have a LOT of snow for the end of March and it's snowing again this morning. What a long winter; good thing I'm into dogsledding. I'm sure there are some raging cases of cabin fever around this year. It will be a long time before our flower bed is seeing the sunshine here in Lake Elmore. In the photo below the snow pile on the left is right on top of our spring flower bed. I think it's going to take a while for that one to melt away!

In the mean time as long as the trails are good we continue to run the dogs. It could make for a short off season this year if we run through April. That will leave May, June, July and August before we begin our fall cart training again in September; not bad..

Thoughts of cycling are starting to creep into my mind as we've had a few days with sunshine and temps in the 40s. It's always hard to believe it will be warm enough for riding in shorts at this time of year but it will happen. Last year on this day I went for a road bike ride and it was 50 degrees and sunny. I don't think I'll be getting out on the bike today; in fact I have a dogsled tour this afternoon.

Spring Mushing in Vermont

Ah; the signs of spring in Vermont. Rain one day, snow and five degrees the next, town meeting day, the primaries, and song birds beginning to return.

The weather makes maintaining a dogsledding trail a real challenge. Yesterday morning when I went to set up for tours there was two inches of fresh snow (a good thing) with three inches of wet slush hidden underneath it (not a good thing...). Luckily it was about ten degrees at that point so after a grooming run the slush below began to freeze up making for a very nice mid winter type trail. Sometimes we get lucky and the snow gods help us out.

Last week was Vermont town meeting. I always try to attend our meeting here in Lake Elmore. It's a great way to meet more people from our town as well as a chance to see what is going on in local politics. We didn't have any huge issues on our meeting agenda this year so things moved along pretty quickly. That was followed by a walk across the street to the Town Clerk's office to cast a vote for the Vermont primary. I try to remain optimistic about this whole election process but it becomes harder and harder each time around. Looking back over the past twenty years our prospects for presidential candidates have not been great and I'm not convinced it is looking much better this go round. With corporate America having more say than the population it's hard to see how things can improve. That said; I cast my vote and hope for the best...

Time get moving. Off to feed the peace pups and begin to get ready for a few tours. With a predicted twenty eight degrees and sun today it should be a lovely day to be out on the trail with my furry family! Every day is a blessing at this time of year. You never know which one will be the last. It could be seventy degrees and melting in a week.