On this second to the last day of March, I'm officially welcoming Spring. Today I opened the hatch. The upstairs east wall of our cabin has a 2 foot by 4 foot hatch built into it, not only as an emergency escape route, but also to move large items into the second story.
The last thing we do at freeze-up is close the hatch. This mean layering canvas, then insulation, and then siding boards to seal it from the winter weather, 8 feet off the ground. And you know that winter is over when you reverse the moves to open it back up again in the springtime. There's no stopping summer now.
I also got the four-wheeler started and dug it out of a solid two foot deep snowpack. I had to gun the throttle to pop it out of it's hole, up onto the turnaround where the ice is hardpacked. Now it's parked over in the woodyard, waiting for the snow to melt.
The other obvious harbingers of warmer weather are the chickens. They are out and about, all over the place, checking everything out. I love seeing them want to be outside and obviously enjoying themselves.
The edges of my garden beds are starting to peek out... it won't be long before the green onions and chives are poking their heads up through the bottom of the rotting snow.
Everything feels alive today!