January 21st BLUE SPRUCE
The warm days and cold nights have turned whatever snow we have left (and it's quite a lot, actually) into a solid crusty mass. This crust is fun to walk on. Much like wearing snowshoes I would guess, without the cumbersome trappings, and with the added adventure of occasionally breaking through the crust up to your knees.

After traipsing around a bit I settled down to sketch the blue spruce (Picea pungens) which we had planted several years ago. Blue spruce is not native to the Adirondacks, but it is a popular ornamental conifer, and seems to be comfortable enough here to reproduce. Like all spruces, it has short thick needles that are square in cross-section. The needles of this species are a distinctive blue-green color, giving the tree an overall bluish cast, from which it gets its name.

The specimen we have here was given to us as a seedling. It was back when we first moved here and we were at the local hardware/garden supply/ feed store getting some garden supplies. It was Arbor Day and the cashier was handing out these little seedlings to all the customers. I've noticed several other blue spruces in front of houses along the road into town that appear to be about the same age as our tree, and I like to imagine that they went to the same store on Arbor Day too.

January 24th ICE JAM
The past three days have continued unseasonably warm with rain on and off. Last night the rain came down heavy. The creek has been getting gradually louder. About noon today I noticed a distinct rise in the volume of the already rather loud roar, and so we went down to take a look. Sure enough, the anchor ice was beginning to break free. Once the anchor ice begins to give way the rather slow process of a complete ice break up is irreversible.

This is, for us, one of the most exciting events of the year. Forgetting everything else, we stayed there to watch as the large plates or chunks of ice broke free and headed downstream. These inevitably got caught up or “jammed” further on down. Meanwhile, slabs of ice the size of ping-pong tables which had broken free further upstream were now coming down to knock into the ice blocks here and jam up. For hours we remained glued to the spot as the creek bucked and roared, picking up momentum and rising steadily before our eyes. A pick-up truck stopped on the street and the driver yelled to us, “watch out, she's broke up there!” nodding in the direction upstream from where he had come. No sooner said than done, we heard a near-deafening roar and heading downstream from around the bend was a three foot high, forty foot wide wall of water, all mixed up with chunks of ice, branches and other debris. We were safely up on the bank about twenty feet above the creek. (Actually I was half way down the steps trying to get a better view, but climbed quickly up the bank when I heard it coming.) There were not only branches, but whole trees afloat. And a bowling ball! I'm not making this up, Pete saw it too, as did the fellow in the pick-up. After about fifteen minutes or so the onslaught slowed and the water started to recede, leaving chunks of ice the size of small cars stranded along the far bank. So much for the skating rink.

January 26th HAIR
The level of the creek continues to go down some, and the weather continues to be warm. Today is sunny and 40 degrees so we dug the crusty, melting snow and ice out of the backyard fire ring, started a fire and put a big pot of water on to boil. It was time to wash my hair which, being fairly long, I keep in braids for the winter months. People often ask me, “but how do you wash your hair in the winter?” And so I'll tell you.

Basically it's the same process as in the summertime, but you need to be a little more selective about which day you choose to do it. A mild sunny day is best. Once the water is boiled, I fill a deep wash basin which I set on a stump or on a snowbank sculpted for that very purpose. I hang the towel on a nearby branch, and with my shampoo in hand, a cup for pouring, and a jug for rinsing, I wash it much the same as you would in a sink or at the beauty parlor. After it's rinsed and towel dried, I usually go back indoors and start another fire in the woodstove. In the summer, we can wash and rinse our hair at the pump, and then of course stay outside to dry it in the sun. Usually, though, I prefer hot water in summer as well as in winter. Pete always washes his under the cold pump water right up until the middle or end of October when we have to dismantle it before the hard freeze. He'll be out there in April too, as soon as the ground thaws. But for now he uses hot water also.

January 29th WINTER RESUMES
A few days ago the weather turned sharply colder, signalling the end of the thaw. The creek has slowly begun to freeze up all over again. Yesterday it snowed on and off all day long, light and fluffy with real snowflakes. By this morning it measured a little over four inches and was a pleasure to shovel. Round two of winter has begun.