Sunday, 9:30 am: Here it is, Maine Maple Sunday. Most maple houses and sugar camps are opened to the public to sample their wares. Up here, on both sides of the border, sugar camps also put on a nice breakfast feed. Keeping with this local tradition, at our house we had pancakes with “real” maple syrup.

The weather is still overcast and above freezing, but not balmy or pleasant. I am still waiting for the whimsical days of spring. I know it’s out there, but not just yet. And it’s just cool enough, that I have to keep my fragile tomato seedlings inside near the kitchen window. In about six or seven weeks we will move most of our houseplants out to our porch, and we’ll start getting our garden ready for planting. Until then, our garden is covered in ice and snow. After it melts we still have to wait another few weeks until the soil has had a chance to drain and dry out enough so we can start working the soil.

At our birdfeeder this morning we had several Common Redpolls (Carduelis flammea) having a leisurely breakfast. I haven’t seen this many Redpolls, at one time, in several months. That’s it from the Saint John Valley, more benign observations next time.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station

Temperature: 41 (F.)

Barometer: 29.84 & falling slowly

Humidity: 43%

Wind: NNW at 8 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: 100% overcast

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temp: 32.8 (F.) 5:22 am

High wind: 12 mph at 10:22 am

One of our regular visitors.