Weather Report

Last week was on the windy side here at Darwin’s View, with 35 mph winds buffeting the house on a fairly consistent basis. Our large garbage can kept flinging itself out from its position against the tool shed. Having broken free, it would skid down the driveway as if it were late for an appointment. The chickens, intelligent creatures that they are, remained in the coop, keeping company with the swallows who would fly in through the chicken solar door and tweet and twitter, guffawing at the wind which, yet, beckoned to them to come out and play. Which they did do, their fierce little wings beating against the wind. On occasion, the hens would step out, staggering a bit when the wind hit them.

Yesterday, the wind calmed, allowing us, too, to step outside without the threat of being blown over. Just like the chickens when they flap and fly out of the run in preparation for their morning stroll through the gardens, we breathed in a cold spring day, noted the brilliant blue skies and the daffodils plumping themselves up out of the ground.

Today, we are back to winter. Snow turning to sleet and rain. And I wonder what will happen to the buds that have been reddening on the trees in the woods and orchard.

This entire “winter” season has tossed weather at us, more rain than snow. Rain because it’s been unseasonably warm. I don’t think we even got a deep freeze and we have wondered if it got cold enough here for the apple trees to set fruit; they need between 500-1000 chill hours.

Carl remembers feet of snow falling in his youth.

The weather is one of those things that can uplift and bring joy or leave one wilted, prostrate. A week like this one and on a day like today, the weather causes me to feel sad, powerless and utterly daunted. Because, however much humans talk about seeding clouds and moving mountains and rivers, we don’t really know what will result and so we are left, as we are now, watching, wondering, anticipating the consequences of our actions.