Suddenly it has gotten very warm. We hit 60F both of the last two days. The paths, the driveway and the road are turning to mud. The front lawn is now snow-free. The orchards are still covered with snow, but the fields up the road are bare. The world is changing fast.

On Sunday the 8th our A-team assembled for our on-going building project. We’re shingling a new cabin we’ve been working on since last summer. There were no cold hands. Jackets were tossed aside for the first time in months. Not only that, we got a lot done.

On the 9th Cammy and I pruned much of the day. She in the BRC orchard and me with the (ugh) chainsaw in the old Orchard. I don’t use the chainsaw much on the fruit trees, but it is useful to go over some of the older trees each year and cut out a large limb here and there. I’m a proponent of the “lite-touch.” After all the apple trees did fine without us for 3 or 4 million years with no pruning at all other than that provided by hungry bears, persistent porcupines, and the occasional windy day. We’ll be seriously into pruning most of the rest of the month. Whoopee!