February 26,2012

Only in the winter of 2012 would people be excited about a minor snowfall of five or six inches.  But considering it's perhaps the most snow we've had since November, it was a big deal.  If nothing else, it made it feel like winter again. 

All the warm weather of the preceding two weeks has taken their toll on the ice as well as the snow.  South facing shores of Lake Wicwas have large stretches of open water.

The impact of longer days and more intense solar radiation is particularly evident where the water is shallow and well exposed.  This looks more like mid to late March than February.  Anyone for swim?

The otters are!  They are taking advantage of the many openings and warm weather to travel on dry land.  This is an "otter roll" and a slide (hard to make out) going back into the lake.

Last week we were following along one of the many stone walls around the lake, and found some old barbed-wire that was strung along the wall.  I was amazed to see where the wire passed completely through a tree, almost straight through the center. 

There were several trees like this, so I'm guessing that the wire was attached to the tree when is was quite small - otherwise it wouldn't pass through the middle of it.  The tree is 18 inches in diameter.  I'll guess that it's maybe 70 to 90 years old, which dates the placement of the wire around 1930.  This is well past the peak of the sheep craze, so perhaps sheep farming continued longer around Meredith Center.