Four mornings this week I woke up with thoughts of spring and instead had snow. There are all sorts of phrases that Vermonters use (in the interest of full disclosure, I am sure that other places use these phrases, too) – things such as “if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes”, and “you can’t get there from here”. Yesterday the weather cooperated with the first of those phrases. Multiple inches of the soggy sloppy snow of spring covered Vermont yesterday. Some places, like in South Burlington where the Sterling Office is, saw that snow come and by lunch the field was bare again. There are a few geese that have taken up residency in this field and they seemed far more content with the snow gone.
To put it mildly – I’m with the geese. For all of you winter weather enthusiasts, do not get me wrong; I enjoy winter. In true Vermont fashion I knew how to ski pretty much before I could walk and I know that when it gets cold you can always just add more layers. I get all that, but I am ready for this winter to be over. (Right after I go skiing one last time tomorrow.)
Now, my desire for winter to be over is for a few reasons. Among those is getting my snow tires off of my car and not having my furnace kick on anymore! Other reasons have a bit more to do with work. Digging is a bit easier without 5′ of frost in the ground, and framing goes quicker when you don’t have to shovel snow every day.
That other phrase that we tend to use the “you can’t get there from here” phrase held a lot of truth to me growing up. I’m originally from Peacham which is a beautiful small town over in the Northeast Kingdom. Peacham is a place where that phrase is true in almost every situation, and in fact, a lot of Vermont is still that way. As the crow flies it might only be 5 miles, but you have to drive up the hill and around the bend to get there and it will wind up taking you 20 minutes.
There are exceptions to that though – and that is what I have realized in Chittenden County. The grocery store does not have to be 10 or 15 minutes away. The convenience store when you need to fill up on gas or grab a gallon of milk can be close enough to actually be “convenient”, and you don’t have to drive a half hour every time you need to go to the doctors. And, almost most importantly, you can still do this and have open space to spend time in.
The weather is changing, and we are ready to get going on your house, and guess what – you CAN get there from here!
Enjoy the weekend!
Iris