Finally, we are enjoying some seasonably warm days and mild nights and the impact of the warmer weather last week was immediate. Water, cracks and dark patches appeared on frozen Lac des Roches over night. The softening and melting snow will limit the recreational activity on the lake, but it is about time the ice was starting to go for the year! Many neighbours have shared their stories of minor damage caused by the melting and shifting snow and ice on roofs. The unusual ice buildup from earlier this winter has most of the ice sliding off roofs in large sheets and damage occurring to roofs and the structures below. Several metal roofs and eavestroughs are buckling, deck railings have been damaged and one storage shed is leaning due to the weight of the snow. Luckily, all the damage appears to be relatively minor and certainly repairable. It will be such a relief when the last of the stubborn snow and ice slides off the north-facing roof at our house, more for the safety of our pets than to protect our property.
Swan songs
Phone lines were busy the morning of March 30, when neighbours alerted neighbours of our first group of trumpeter swans at Lac des Roches this year. Wendy Marshall reported that not only did the 17 swans fly right next to her house, but all the other song birds feeding in her yard seemed to sing out in a welcoming chorus as the swans tooted and soared overhead. Wendy was convinced their clatter was a celebration of the beginning of spring. I happened to notice the same flock circle and set down on the ice for a well-deserved rest, below our yard. I must add that later that day, I was travelling through Chilliwack, and passed a boggy farmer’s field where more than 100 swans were resting and feeding, but the sight and sound of the year’s first little flock of swans approaching our ice-covered lake was much more thrilling for me!
Nifty nests
Last week’s warm weather has attracted many of our nesting birds back from their summer migration grounds. This winter, at the suggestion of a neighbour, I saved all the yarn clippings from my many crochet projects and, as I walk our dog this spring, I am placing these short bright coloured pieces of yarn along our rail fence. My hope is that the nesting birds will find these scraps and weave them into their nests. It will be delightful to find my yarn scraps interwoven in the many nests that reveal themselves in the fall, once the leaves are off the trees and it will be a new item that I can add to our Thanksgiving scavenger hunt!
Good sledding
Fresh snow, up to 10 inches deep, was a pleasant surprise on a snowmobiling ride in the hills north of the lake on April 5. The deep snow, thick lake ice and sturdy ice bridges over most of the creeks will likely entice plenty of sledders out on the trails probably for a few more weeks. Some of the lower trails, especially those with southern exposure, will suffer with some bare spots, but most of the trails seem quite passable. Early settling and melting occurs in the tree wells and marsh creeks so sledders need to be extra cautious when encountering these areas of deep “holes” that will swallow up a sled with ease. In the warmer spring weather, digging a sled and rider out of deep holes is very hot work.