Seems as though spring is finally here. What are the signs of spring? Peonies peeking through melting earth. Robins in flocks after worms that come to the warming ground surface. The robins begin their cheeryup-cheerio song even before the sun comes up. For two weeks now I have heard the phoebe trill its name over and over. My trainer’s Mom says once you see and hear the phoebe, sugaring is officially over.

The killdeer are returning to scout out their nesting places. At first I love to hear them flying low with their call.. later in the heat of true summer… I admit, the constant killdeer, killdeer gets annoying !

Rocks and stones that have been busy breeding under a deep layer of snow are exposed. No matter how well you think you’ve picked rock in the pasture.. there are more hatching come spring. Frost and snow are evidently good nutrition for them.

Another sign of spring – sweatshirts left everywhere on the farm. At the beginning of the day, it might be still in the 20’s.. but the sun rises and soon, one sheds layers… a sweatshirt laid down on the nearest big rock, on the back of the tractor, draped on a low branch. If the fickle weather turns cold again, you have to go back to harvest them from their resting places.

Finally all the big snow piles melt alongside the road and everyone gets out and puts up a new mail box.

Springs are running mad and crazy. Brooks are high and the noise of the rushing water is foreign to my ears after the silence of deep snow and a bit unsettling until you get used to it.

The popple trees are covered in their “cotton” – the first “foliage” in the woods. Soon that cotton will release and the air will be full of it.

Last night, the peep frogs were out for the first time this year. Now that it is springtime, I hardly remember winter anymore !! Is there anything I will miss about winter ? Hmmmnn.. let me see—bundling up in too many clothes, shoveling snow, doing the silly dance on ice, warming up bits in order to ride, -- No, I will not miss winter at all at this point.

For the last few days I have been in the woods up on my little “mountain” checking fence and making repairs. Snow still remains in much of the woods. I trudge up the paths with all my tools and saw to take care of downed trees and limbs. There is still plenty of snow here.

I think it’s neat the way the snow melts just around the base of the trees.

When you live and work on a farm for many years, you become familiar with the lay of the land and all the landmarks which almost become part of your "family". This old bicycle has been up in the woods, in the same resting spot, since we moved here 22 years ago. It's a handy reference point ! We all know what we mean if we say-- the spot up by the rusty bike.

Training continues as usual. OYY Ivan has been out on the road under saddle a few times and doing super. Because, along with spring, comes mud season-- the roads are under repair continually.. town trucks bringing in material, graders out every day attempting to make the roads passable. Makes for a great obstacle course ! OYY Elektra has been backed and ridden a few times in the indoor. She's coming along nicely and enjoys her work. At 15.2 hands.. she is a big girl ~ sweet, quiet and willing. Not much fazes her.

Mead's Chocolate Chip is in training now also with another wonderfully successful trainer- Maya Dobush. Our goal with Chip - prepare him for some dressage work and do some shows this summer. He loves his new job. As I watch him with Maya I can see characteristics of all his offspring in him, in his way of moving and holding himself. After a few weeks of work under saddle I should be able to get some good video's. Chip has done nothing but settle mares for the last perhaps 10 years, so he'll slowly gain proper muscling and balance.

Enjoy your day ~

Busy, busy at Top O' The Hill Farm. It's shedding time around the farm.. so lots of grooming being done. Whatever ends up on the ground is perfect building material for bird nests, another standard spring activity.

Thursday, the Third.... I spotted these poking their way up. They have the advantage of lots of sun and also the heat reflected back from the retaining wall of rocks... brave souls emerging to bring joy. Daffodils are such happy flowers !

However, with the fickle "spring" weather... I woke up Friday to find-- snow--- it snowed nearly the entire day.. wet and miserable again. But it afforded me the opportunity to stay inside and do some sorely needed house cleaning. My wonderful dear friend, Susan Lejonhud, was arriving that afternoon with Laurie Lee-- also of Maine and owner of A Kurlee Dream, who I talked about on a blog entry last year- a daughter of Good Golly Miss Molly and Mead's Chocolate Chip.. "Dream" ended up with Laurie in a round about way and has quickly become Laurie's dream horse. We had a super visit. Saturday, Susan, Laurie, my daughter, and I set up our obstacle course to prepare for the April contest of the RAC . We had loads of fun leading some yearlings through the course. I'll post the photo's later this week.

My new pup who I purchased from a woman in Maine hitchhiked a ride with Susan and Laurie. Nicodemus is his name and a handsome sturdy joyful pup he is. He settled into my canine herd quickly and shows promise of becoming a great farm dog already, along with my two poodles and my miniature long haired dachshund -- who is self appointed manager and protector of all, plus being our resident clown.

On Sunday, Laurie and Susan packed up fairly early to head back home, with a detour to visit with Adria at Green Mountain Curlies. My daughter and I had a great ride planned... bridges being our theme for this month. We were headed out to cross the North Springfield Dam bridge. The main part of the bridge is narrow and high, a concrete bridge, wide enough for only one car to pass. The dam was built in 1960 by the US Army Corps of Engineers for $7 million to prevent flooding. There are great trails in the dam area for riding and also the reservoir is a fun place for canoeing or kayaking. You can paddle around all the nooks and crannies of the lake and see Great Blue Herons nesting and I have seen eagles from the canoe a few times.

The forecast for Sunday had been sun-- but it was overcast, dreary and nippy with threats of rain or sleet. But... ride we must !! We started out the usual way, heading out the hole in the wall and down to the Spoonerville Four Corners, turning right down Spoonerville Road with sap buckets still hanging from the trees along the way. At the end of the road, there is a big brick house, where we can turn left if we are on a short ride to complete the 6 mile loop. The owners of this house used to have Llamas. The first time the horses sensed them there.. they were apprehensive and snorting.. Llamas can create quite an obstacle. We head straight, toward North Springfield.

Along the way, we pass the big transformer.. some horses do not like this as it makes a very loud HUM noise. Our horses were as excited as we were knowing we were headed for another fun destination.. so they trotted by without a glance.

Down into North Springfield. We could have crossed this bridge along the way.. but it's gone now--




My horse Keri loves to trot down sidewalks after her first experience in the Stone Village in Chester. Teasel prefers to stay on the roadside. Quick stop for a phone call ! Actually Zoe is calling her older brother to meet us on the bridge for a group photo. He has not e-mailed me the photo's yet-- so I will have to post those on another blog entry.






The Mobil station on the corner where we cross Route 10 onto the dam road. Across, is our local tack shop.







We are close now... Here are some views from the approach.

Here we are on the narrow part of the bridge- it's quite high and concrete so made a echoing of hoofbeats as we crossed.






Here's a view of one of the access roads down below. From those, we can get on trails and do some nice river crossings.. but not today-- too much water and I bet it's cold from the snow melt.






After we completed our goal of the bridge crossing, we decide to head down the snowmobile trail to the airport landing strip. Maybe we'll get lucky and will be able to catch an airplane landing right near us ! This has happened with us many times during some summer rides we have taken in the past. We ride along the fence for awhile... no planes in sight.. but wait !! Not an airplane-- but the governor's helicopter along with a smaller helicopter which travels along with the bigger one hovers overhead and lands. Above is the smaller one which lands first.

This is the large one... coming in for its landing.

Here on the snowmobile trail we find we have a choice of routes and fuel, food, phone ??

Time to head home... we take a different route so we aren't backtracking... down a muddy French Meadow Road and we pass some silly ducks who have arrived to find spring is not quite here yet...

A great Sunday ride ...

Enjoy your day ~

The morning sky on Monday, last day of March. The sun rises and begins to light up the western mountain trees.. I was encouraged at the start of the day. However, it quickly darkened, the wind picked up and brought with it, hail and snow the remainder of the day.

Sunday, the 30th, was a beautifully sunny day-- cold but a strong sun with not a cloud in the sky. Perfect for our now traditional Sunday trek. We saddled up and headed out, well layered from toe to head.. Today we traveled through 3 towns- Springfield, Chester and Lower Bartonsville (part of the township of Rockingham). Across the snowmobile bridge again. Then up an icy Stellafane Road, over Breezy Hill Road and down Pleasant Valley Road to our destination.

Rushing brooks on either side of us, very pretty. You can see the roads are ice every where. Not much trotting until we get into Bartonsville.. where the road turns to tar and the sun is very warm. Almost to the bridge-- our goal for the day.

Here's the Bartonsville covered bridge, built in 1870. It is what is called a town lattice covered bridge and 159 feet long spanning the Williams River. It is one of the longest in Vermont. The longest is south of here- 277 feet. The Windsor covered bridge is the longest covered bridge still standing in the US-- but technically it belongs to New Hampshire. It spans the Connecticut River between Windsor, VT and Cornish, NH. I think there is a law that you must dismount and walk your horses across the bridge.. an old law-- but we opt to stay in the saddle and take our chances on being ticketed and fined :)

Here you can see why it is called a lattice construction.

As we exited the bridge on the other side, there were some professional photographers who had traveled to Vermont to snap some sights-- they were so excited to have the photo opportunity of having horses crossing the bridge for their photographs ! They were intrigued also by the "fuzzy" horses.. which they had never seen nor heard of. We exchanged e-mail addresses and hopefully they will send the photo's they took of us !

Train tracks on the other side of the bridge, running along the Williams River.

Having accomplished our "bridge crossing" -- we head back onto the other end of Green Mountain Turnpike, which in colonial times was the main road from Boston to Montreal. Along the road are many old large homes that once were stagecoach stops. This road is a nice ride on horseback, a muddy bumpy ride by car. Traveling by stagecoach on a long trip would tire me out. The town of Chester is on the right, town of Rockingham on the left.

Again -- we missed the train by minutes... it passes us on its way.

Along the Green Mountain Turnpike is one of my favorite barns. I am always hoping someone will at least put a new roof on it to preserve it.

On the way home, we find fat pussy willows on a tall pussy willow tree... I am not sure you can see them in the sun--- there is a sign that spring is nearing. I also spotted a phoebe during the ride. First one of the season.. another sign of spring. Now Mother Nature needs to get the drift that it is, indeed, time for spring. Is She mad or just plain confused ?

Enjoy your day ~