Last Saturday we made a trip to our local UFA store so I could buy a good pair of rubber boots. I bought a pair of Ladies Bogs with an adjustable strap in the calf area. You don’t know how hard it is to find comfortable rubber boots when you have large calves! The boots I bought weren’t cheap but well worth the cost. No hot insulated insert but lined with neoprene. They are supposed to be good to -40° but I don’t think I will chance wearing them into winter. The last thing I want to mention is how they don’t get clogged with mud on the bottom but still have good grip. With last pair of rubber boots, I would bring in half the driveway caked onto my boots.
The purchase of new boots couldn’t have come at a better time. The next day, last Sunday, the snow melt gave way and the creek area next to our pond began to flow and rise.
By end of day, all three culverts had cleared of ice and the water level started to go down.
This was the view of our yard from the road near the culverts.
Every day this week we would walk in the water tempting fate to see if we could go any farther in our boots. I only filled my boot once. I thought I might try these hip waders I picked up at the shelve n share but they didn’t have great grip on the bottom and there were patches of ice under the murky water.
I even tried to float some scrap wood pieces down the creek to see how far they would get. Mostly, they go caught up in some stray willows.
Here we are one week later after +10 temperatures most of the days. Most of the snow is gone and the water has gone down quite a bit.
One thing I noticed almost right after the water started to move, was that the bees and butterflies emerged from their winter homes. The Mallard Ducks began landing in our creek and today I scared one swimming in our pond. In the next week, I expect that the Robins will arrive and the Ruffed Grouse will start its drumming.
Soon we will be prepping more garden beds and moving the wood chips we got in the fall. Our week of fun wading in the water is over. Time to get to work.
Speaking of robins, I seen several forging for food on the few bare spots there were mid week. Now most of our yard is clear of snow ans Spring outdoor work begins.