As The Saying Goes...

This is our second winter in Central New York, as you know if you've been following my posts. It is.....quite different, in many ways, than our "home base" in south-eastern Pennsylvania.  One day last April, I was driving to our local farm store for animal-care supplies.  This trip is about 30 minutes, more or less.  Within that brief time the weather morphed from 50 degrees, cloudy and rainy...to snow....I watched my vehicle's digital thermometer, in awe, as it dropped from 50 to 47....to 44.....and finally 42 degrees in about 20 minutes!  I wondered if, maybe, it was broken - until I stuck my arm out the window while sitting at a red light.  Then, much to my delight, as I pulled into the parking lot, the sun beamed brightly, as the clouds disappeared almost completely!

How odd!  I mentioned this to the older cashier as I swiped my debit card, and I'll never forget his response:  "In Central New York, if you don't like the weather.... just wait 5 minutes!"  He quipped, with a sarcastic, "been livin' here my whole life"-smile on his face.




We have found this quip to be true on many occasions.  We've also discovered that if you pull out of our driveway and travel just 10 miles in either direction, the weather could be drastically different, too. 

So, this evening I want to share with you the stark contrast of yesterday and today - what has happened in less than 24 hours at the Westbrook farm:



Yesterday:  Sunshine, 48 degrees

There was a very gentle breeze.  As you can see from the photos, the snow had melted significantly, the chickens were contently foraging, and the trees were clearly soaking in the cool, fresh water and pushing up plenty of sap. Glory day!!





We spent much of the day outside, as I'm sure MANY folks did, soaking up the warmth, wearing lighter clothing, not minding that our feet were getting muddy and wet.  If you know dogs, you understand that ours were reveling in it!

 It's been awhile since we've seen our logging roads in the woods........

I took the above photos around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. 

The pictures that follow were taken at 1:30 this afternoon.....Be prepared, as this is not for the faint of heart....especially, you "beach bums" out there...........

At the time these were taken, it was still kind of warm for us.....33 degrees....making this snow wet and heavy.  I'm sure I was quite a sight trying to stomp through it to take some pictures!

The snow is expected to continue through the evening and tomorrow's high is just 18 degrees!




As you can see, our paths are, once again, hidden beneath the pure, fresh snow......


.....it will be a good foot deep by tomorrow.






The sap has stopped flowing for now, but.....as the saying goes....




We'll just wait 5 minutes!






Until then, we're finishing off this small batch of syrup in our kitchen, so it feels like a tropical rain forest in here!!!