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A healthy complement of Ring-necked Ducks — maybe fifteen or twenty — has arrived on our pond, sharing space with the pioneer Canada Geese of last weekend. These ducks say it’s almost spring the same way the Salt Point Stewart’s says you’re almost in Rhinebeck.

Last weekend we had first-of-the-season Redwing Blackbirds, and today we had a pair of Canada Geese on the pond. Sadly for the geese, the pond retains its protective ice covering. They made a racket but they didn’t stay long. Similarly uninterested in a human encounter was this deer we spied while looking for owls.

Jen, braving frigid conditions, introduced some phragmites to the scythe.

Frigid weather without much snow creates the rare conditions necessary for skating on the pond. As you can, the rarity of these conditions leaves me without much practice.

The Ring-necked Ducks remain on the pond as we make the long transition into spring. There is still a bit of snow on the ground from last week’s squall, making it feel as if we have a long way to go. Other weekend events included an earthquake Friday and Daisy’s eleventh birthday Saturday.

Here are our steadfast avian harbingers the Ring-necked Ducks, on the pond at the start of March to signify the coming spring. They are camera-shy, and I scared them off, but they are back again this morning.

Daisy enjoyed what has become an unusual event: a foot of snow. She remains pretty energetic at ten years old.

Skies are blue and the grass is high – it must be summertime. Jen inspected our nano-orchard, which appears poised to produce as many as four apples this season. Rather than rely on our domestic fruit production, she set out to pick wild black raspberries. The brambles provided, ensuring we will have jam this summer.

Sarah’s horse for the summer, Sully (formally known as Lanchello), a Dutch gelding, arrived at Southlands Friday morning after an overnight drive from Georgia. By Saturday, Sully had acclimated enough to be ridden. He seems like a fine fellow. In unrelated news, Jen’s secret garden has awakened for spring, with blooms including this fancy Blue […]

Not every husband would have the thoughtfulness, foresight, and — let’s face it — courage to get his wife a scythe for Christmas. Jen, lucky, tried out her scythe this afternoon. After watching a few instructional videos on YouTube, she cleared phragmites from our volunteer willow next to the pond. Daisy looked on in amazement.