Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Melting and Muddy

The snow is melting and the water is running.  The skunks are out doing what skunks do to escape extinction.   We smelled one a couple miles away.  There are none in the culverts because the culverts are running full of water. They will go back to sleep before emerging in spring with babies.  I have taken the peanut butter jar in for now …no sense flirting with danger. ( Have I said I hate skunks?  I do.  I am not sure what purpose they serve other than to be stinky and irritate me.  We don’t have a compost pile that has food scraps in it…only leaves.)

Snow stick Morning of March 7

Three inches of snow at the snowstick in the morning March 7. Photo taken from the inside of the house.

3 and a half inches of water March 7

Later in the day the stick was surrounded by 3 1/2 inches of water. Is it premature to call Sam the winner?  She guessed March 10.

With the exception of one day we are supposed to have highs in the 50’s until mid March.  Unseasonably warm for March.

Sam you are the winner this time!  I have your address.  If it should snow again and get at least three inches at the snow stick I will reopen the contest with the same guesses that can be found here.

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Here is some mud for ya x 12 paws…

Snow with friends

When you get tired of playing ball you eat snow with friends at the snow bar and the snow helps clean your paws.

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21 comments:

Cynthia said...

Oh, dear, that's s lot of muddy paws! Good thing the snow bank is still there to help with that. And hydration! Congrats to Sam on her foresight in snow melt prediction!

Anonymous said...

What a mess when the snow melts! But that should dry up with some clear sunny days.

Shirley H.

linda m said...

At least you finally found a good use for snow - cleaning muddy paws. Congratulations to Sam!!!

lisa said...

Congrats to Sam! Yes, we have just about no snow anywhere, but we are supposed to get rain Thursday and Friday and be in the high 60's! Crazy weather.

Pauline Persing said...

Can't remember. Is this the earliest you have lost snow cover? Our area is expected to have highs in the 60s for the next 7 t0 10 days. Early for us but I remember one year many years ago when most of the wild flowers were blooming in mid-March. I was working part-time at Brukner Nature Center then. Maybe this will be a year like that one.

DJan said...

I didn't realize that dogs really do eat snow. I laughed at the snow bar. :-)

Shirley said...

I do that same thing with my dogs- encourage them to go on the wet grass or clean snow if we have it, to clean their paws before bringing them in.

Tired Teacher said...

You have officially entered the Mud Season!

Congratulations to Sam on winning the snow stick contest.

Red said...

My Mar. 30 guess is embarrassing.

Terry and Linda said...

My heavens that was a FAST melt! BUT YAY! for the melt. I have no use for skunks and coyotes. None!

Linda

Primitive Stars said...

Hi Connie, congrats to Sam, muddy and melting here too.Blessings Francine.

L. D. said...

Dogs can be such copycats. We had to wash up Buttons legs from his adventure in the swamp pond. He was glad to get it all washed off and we sneaked in a little bit of a hair cut in the whole area. Our kitchen floor will be the sign of mud season.

Anonymous said...

A Snow Bar. I think I ran one of those when I was a kid. I ate a lot of snow. I didn't use it to clean my paws, however. Hey, come to my blog and type "Skunk Scarf" in the area on the sidebar where it says Search FprmPle Posts. I made a skunk scarf a long time ago.

Rita said...

I used to have a skunk and he was adorable! He was de-scented and neutered, though--LOL! You didn't want to mess with him while he was eating, though. Very possessive of his food.

Wet snow is good for cleaning off paws...and muddy shoes, too. ;)

Linda Reeder said...

I thought it would be early this year, but my guess of march 4, my daughter's birthday, was a bit premature.
Now is the messy, melting stage. Soon spring will arrive.

Jacqi Stevens said...

It seems premature to call it the last snow of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to re-open the contest ;)

Henny Penny said...

I did not know we had skunks here until a car hit one on the road near our mail box. It was awful! The smell!! I love that last picture of the dogs at the snow bar! Eli got a new ball yesterday.

Linda said...

I hate skunks too...we have a resident female that eats with the cats that we call Fat Freda. We'll see her throughout the summer with a kit but never see the kit after which is a good thing.

Granny Marigold said...

We once lived in a very old house with an earthen cellar in which a skunk got itself trapped in. We couldn't figure out how to get it out so finally DH shot it. The smell was so awful we had to go away for a while!!

Sam I Am...... said...

OMG! It was me...I won, I won, I won!!!! I can't believe it! Wow! I guess it pays to watch the weather channel a lot! LOL! The dogs at the snow bar...too cute! Thank you for the contest!

Far Side of Fifty said...

I mailed the package today March 14 :)