Depending on where exactly you live at Lac des Roches, your senses are being bombarded with the many signs of spring. Close to Highway 24, we see the returning motor homes from the southern states and hear the many motorcycles offering their rider’s their first trips of the season. Along the south-facing slopes, the gophers have just appeared and the eagles and hawks are eagerly searching for the many burrowing rodents that have lost the snow as their safety protection. Near the seasonal creeks, the very rare sound of melt water is bubbling over the rocks and down little falls, making its way to the lake. The faint smell of wood heater smoke is supplemented with backyard burning of mostly tree limbs, brought down by the heavy ice and winter winds. Everyone can enjoy the thousands of geese, swans and cranes that are letting their presence be known as they fly and squawk overhead. In our house, we are anxious to complete the lingering winter projects so that we can move our efforts to the outdoors and enjoy the returning warmer weather and sunshine. With all this spring activity, it almost seems a shame that, despite spring just barely upon us, several neighbours are already thinking about fall and winter. They are taking advantage of the spring conditions to gather firewood for next year’s heating season as the warm and breezy days of spring and summer are just the right amount of time to season the beetle-killed pine for the coming winter, and, there are relatively no bothersome flies in the forest, yet!
Really quiet
Reporting in the April 1 column about the quiet spring break due to lack of visitors this year, one neighbour has responded with an observation of how quiet the lake itself has been this winter. She is quite correct; unlike previous winters, this year the lake was almost silent. Usually the cracking and shifting ice on the lake, especially when the temperatures drop so fast in the winter evenings, growls and warbles with eerie sounds. The snow and ice that collected on the lake ice may have prevented much of the cracking and served as a sound buffer for the noise we usually hear throughout the cold winter. This is probably another indicator of how long the ice will actually last this year.
Cleanup delayed
Lingering snow will delay the roadside cleanup. The designated week of April 20-26 was a little too early this year as eerie snow hoodoos (the formations of snow sculptures among the melting snow banks) still cover many of the ditches. Organized clean up will be scheduled sometime in early June.