With the light snow cover this year, there is very little standing water...I am hoping this bodes well for a relatively light year for mosquitoes. Behind our property stands a marsh...this time last year the water at our fenceline was nearly to the top of my trusty gumboots...this year there just soft wet ground. There are other areas where we have temporary ponds in the spring; this year one is completely dry, the second is just mud, and the third has about four inches of water instead of its usual two feet. I hope the summer is not too dry...we don't need another year of forest fires in the area.
The ice is off the local lakes already. Mike and I drove past Horse Lake as we went into 100 Mile House on Good Friday...the lake was ice covered with a small accumulation of snow. When we returned about an hour later, the lake was bare with white caps from a howling wind.
The ice came off our most local lake, Irish Lake, on the weekend. This is about three weeks earlier than usual, and a full six weeks earlier than 2009...for some reason, we keep track of things like this.
In other news...we plan to build our house this year and are awaiting bids from local contractors. Mike spent a few days plowing and removing rocks from an area of the pasture we are improving...we seeded it on Sunday, and put an electric fence around it to keep Buck and Rupert out. It's not quite warm enough to germinate yet. I'm hoping for some rain, but may have to water to get things going.
All the critters are well, as are Mike and I. Mike and Cody are off to Virginia and Maryland after 10 days at home. Things are quiet here without them.
