February 10, 2021

I've been missing getting thoughts on paper but am hoping to put together a Muschopauge Musing every couple weeks; we'll see.. It's been a while; so here's the summary from early Dec. to early February:

 

With the help and support of numerous people, and especially our neighbors at Jordan Dairy Farm, we were successfully able to convert our annual Live Nativity to a drive-thru event. In spite of rain one evening, we had around 500 cars drive through during the four hours we were open that weekend over the two days. Hopefully, back to the usual performance next year, but we know we could do it this way again if needed.

 

The nativity efforts were were followed by a quiet, cozy, socially distanced Christmas with Liz, Matt, Sam, and Nicole; followed by a stay at an airbnb in Newport, RI for a few days to celebrate Ann's birthday and New Years. Then it was back to Central Massachusetts. Ann and I were out driving by a couple local lakes near Rutland State Park one weekend and were surprised to see people out ice-fishing on the frozen lake. Meanwhile, although it was mid-January, Muschopauge Pond was still open water with no ice cover.  Water, unlike most compounds, gets lighter when it turns from liquid to solid because the molecules spread out; so ice forms at the top of bodies of water rather than the bottom. As water in a lake or pond cools the molecules sink to the bottom and a turnover happens with-in the pond due to the wind, current, and changing temperatures. Nutrients from the sediment at the bottom are brought up to feed and nourish the microscopic algae and other plant life throughout the pond. Additional cold weather continues to cool the water temperature and it'll start to freeze over once all the water in a column, top to bottom, reaches 39.2 F degrees. Then as the surface temperature continues to fall ice clusters form and expand into thicker layers depending on the duration and drop in temperature. Muschopauge, being deep and spring fed, didn't freeze over this winter until late-January when we finally had some real winter weather with some bitter single digit and below zero temperatures.  

 

So January was mostly a month of chores, riding lessons, cutting wood, a few snowstorms, and general farm work. This includes a new project as a neighbor down the road gave us the frame of his 24' x 36' greenhouse. Liz, Matt, Sam and Nicole helped take it down and move it home back when they were home before Christmas and I've since had other volunteers help assemble the aluminum frame back up. I've now done a little more prep work and ordered the plastic roofing and most of the other supplies needed to complete it. I'll turn it into a hoop-house; meaning it'll have a single white plastic cover but won't be heated other than by the sun. It will have manually rolled up sides rather than fans for electric ventilation. I'll use it for storage as well as for extending the growing season with lettuce and other winter greens. Framing in the ends is the next step. Right now, other than some ash lumber I had milled from our logging project last year, it is full of snow.

 

The possum living in the barn was seen on a couple occasions and I finally made the decision to make it disappear permanently as the risk of the microbial EPM neurological disease from possum feces is just too dangerous. Possums, hay, and horses are a bad mix.  I found a nest of 5 chicken eggs in the barn the day after the opossum was taken care of; the first eggs I've found since October, and there have been 4-6 every day since then. 

 

On the family side of things Sam and Nichole announced their engagement recently which we are delighted about. Their wedding will probably happen in the fall of 2022 when he finishes his graduate work. A special event to look forward to.

 

Meanwhile, on the national level, as the vaccine is slowly rolled out, the US Covid-19 virus deaths surpassed 400,000. Ann and I have managed to stay safe although January was a dark month on the national level in those regards. We suddenly knew numerous individuals that tested positive among riding students and their families as well as other acquaintances. We continue to be pretty diligent about mask wearing and minimizing possible exposure.

 

An exclamation point to the dark covid winter was the incomprehensible storming of the US capitol on January 6. Although this isn't a political blog, if you're one of the more than 70 million Americans that voted for Trump perhaps you can find a little solace or hopeful omen in knowing that on the morning of Inauguration Day, January 20, a bald eagle sat for several hours up in the tree beside our garage. Or at least be glad that it wasn't a vulture.