So I dragged out my chair, placed it in the middle of the driveway and plopped my very tired butt (and very achy knee) down in it. Turning to face the mountain, I then proceeded to let my mind wander as I decompressed and allowed the rhythm of nature to slowly engulf my spirit. As my mind wandered, I let my gaze focus on the mountain, and a few minutes later, a shadow fell across my spirit as I got to thinking about the mountain.
In previous years, during the spring and summer, the mountain looked something like this:
However, after the world famous Storm Alfred swept through and did this:
The first thought that crossed my mind was that the mountain looked like a fusillade tore through it. In other words, it looks something like this:
Depressing, isn't it.
Anyways, it got me to thinking about this particular unpleasntry: What if Spring decided to bypass the mountain completely, or at the very least, do a hop skip and jump across the mountain, leaving some areas of the mountain full of natural green, and leaving the others stripped and barren like the picture there?
The picture above really can't do justice to what I'm currently looking at whenever I step outside, but the comparison to a cannon fusillade is spot on. Cedar Mountain currently looks like the end result of encounter between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia, leaving the trees battered, bruised and twisted beyond normal.
It's enough to make a grown man or woman cry. Or at the very least, have his or her day start off with a slight darkening of the clouds.
Yeah, I'm really enjoying Spring in my neighborhood right now.
Not.
We have a fresh dusting of snow on the ground this morning. Spring is holding off as long as possible here.
ReplyDeleteEveryone loves spring but Fall is still my favorite time of the year. Right before it becomes too cold to wear shorts.
ReplyDeleteOuch. I'm sorry to hear that. Our own yard is tremendously green at the moment. So I think we definitely have the better of it. Hopefully your mountain will "spring" back.
ReplyDeleteChris: That kind of sucks. April should not be having snow whatsoever. April should be having warmer weather and Mother Nature waking up from a long winter's sleep.
ReplyDeleteBearman: I like Fall myself and the past few Falls the weather has been pretty good right up to early December.
This past year though, Fall kind of got skippped when that freak snowstorm roared through and plunged about 85% of the state in complete darkness.
The woods here are very toppled n at least half the upper crust there before snapped off. There's a huge pine down blocking the fire access road, n no one has cleared the hunks of oak n maple for the wood-piles at all. I'm afraid to walk under the many now leaning over trees- I know your pain.
ReplyDeleteN like I've mentioned on ESR, I've never had such an easy view of the horizon sunrise before!
Let's just hope the drought doesn't fry it all... n the moths don't eat it! (June ESR 2006)
http://snaggedt.blogspot.com/2006/06/who-ate-green.html
Green will come- it will!
Snaggle: I'm certainly hoping that the green will come to the mountain. It's very depressing to see Spring popping up everywhere ele except on the mountain.
ReplyDeleteThe storm did such a major hatchet job on the mountain that it may take a few years for it get back to what it was in the first half of '11.
Here in Ohio we had the mildest winter in decades. After the last 3 ice-age winters we had, we were about due for a good one. We had a few days in the 70s in February! I detest winter as you know so I needed that.
ReplyDeleteGumby: We pretty much had the same thing here.
ReplyDeleteAbout this time last year, most of the state was just about done digging themselves out of the record 130+ inch snowfall that we got for the '10/'11 winter.
Except for the freakish snowstorm in October, we really didn't get much in the way of snow for this year. Most of the temps were around the mid to hi 40's for the season, with some days creeping up to the the high 50's.
Know the feeling. Trees on my property (that I grew up climbing on) are withering and passing away. A great number more than I'm comfortable seeing die.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it'll leaf up soon. I like your Army reference - a good comparison. :)
ReplyDeleteDavid: You got my complete sympathy on what you're going through on your property. We got the same thing on ours. A lot of the older trees took a major beating in the storm and I don't think that they're gonna look too good come this spring.
ReplyDeleteLynn: I'm hoping so, but at the moment I'm a little pessimistic about it.
Glad you like the army comparison because it really was the first thing that popped into my mind. The Civil War, for all of its mind numbing carnage inficted on people, did its worst with Mother Nature.
Yeah we just had snow here today too. Spring hasn't sprung much. It is interesting how in some places it's green and others still dead, guess it's all the way the wind blows.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't really had spring here either (again) this year. Starts to get really irritating. Went to the beach yesterday because it was a rare 60 and sunny. Which probably won't happen again until August.
ReplyDeletePat: I can definitely relate to that statement. Some of the town is like that as well, with some spots green and other spots barren as the desert.
ReplyDeleteM: I envy you the beach. Perhaps if I was near the shore yesterday, things would've turned out differently.
In any event, Connecticut ain't beach ready until the summer and even then, the highways are stacked and jacked.