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The Ring-necked Ducks are on the pond, signaling that our seemingly endless winter is in fact behind us — although there remains a bit of snow on the ground next to the barn.  Other reliable signs of the coming season include the Spring Peepers in the swamp, the Herons in their nests, and the Daisy in her pond.  All is right in the world.

Daisy, fresh from her victory Saturday evening over a cheese plate, took on a stinkbug today in a fireside bout.  The bug, just above Daisy’s right paw, battled to a draw.

Because the Northeast is now more or less inhabitable during winter, we mostly stayed indoors this weekend.  Jen worked on a puzzle, while Sarah rehearsed for the tryouts tomorrow for the school play: Willie Wonka.   She is hoping to be Veruca Salt.

While packing the car, I spotted this Pileated Woodpecker.  Actually, I heard him before I saw him.  He sounded like a door knocker.

Presidents’ Day weekend was frightfully chilly.  Even Daisy thought it was cold.  We stayed indoors and made soup, baked, and watched movies: The Pink Panther, funny, but perhaps not as good as some of its sequels; the completely delightful Sabrina; the still hilarious eighties time capsule Ghostbusters; and the much creepier than I remembered Escape to Witch Mountain.

Sarah and her friend Michaela braved the low-twenties temperature to go sledding on our hill.

Daisy waited patiently for them to return.

With apologies to my tiny public, here’s all I could get from the PondCam.  We’re in New York, getting ready for a blizzard for Sarah’s 11th birthday.

The sun finally peeked out this afternoon at the end of a sleety MLK weekend.

We made lots of soup: White Bean on Saturday and French Onion today.  Daisy was the happy beneficiary of two bones.

We had a very merry Christmas at the farm, with a visit from all of the Burleighs (and one or two Burleigh affiliates) and plenty of surprises under the tree.  Even Daisy got several presents, including this star, rated 9/10 on the dog toy toughness scale.  She has since demolished it.

The next day, Jen tried out her mid-1950s Toastmaster dual commercial waffle baker.  We ate a lot of waffles.

We worked off some of them by climbing Burger Hill.  Sarah and her dog rested at the top.

We climbed down as the sun set.

On New Years Eve, we could see the fireworks over Burger Hill.  Happy New Year to all!

Sarah carried a carousel horse in the Sinterklaas parade on Saturday evening.  It was about 37 degrees and raining, but Sarah smiled throughout.  We watched most of the parade from our friend Guy’s office above Periwinkle’s on East Market Street, coming down to see our girls march by.  Sinterklaas, for the uninitiated, is the foremost holiday of the Sturch of Rhinebeck.

We sprinted up to the farm Tuesday night to beat a snow storm.  The lights flickered, but we did not lose power — although we did suffer a hellacious Wednesday without Wifi.

We got six or eight inches — just enough for a family snowshoe outing.

Daisy loves the snow.

Jen made a lovely apple pie for Thanksgiving.

Sarah contributed yams (topped with marshmallows).

Sarah patiently explained many board games, including Takenoko.

The snow is a pain, but it’s awfully pretty!