It'sLike Deja Vu All Over Again

Last week Wednesday we got pounded with about 11" of snow. It also became much colder and has stayed that way for most of this week. Yesterday and today we did eventually get above freezing and things are getting soggy and sloppy. I did get Jen's car off blocks today in the warmth. The battery decided that it was time to die and the tires were a little low, but other than that it seems that everything is in order.

We even got it down the still melting driveway. It's a fun car, quick but feels like riding on a rail in the corners. Both the truck and the car have 5 speed transmissions. It cracks me up to drive them back-to-back. The truck barely makes 60 in fifth gear. I got in the car today and drove pretty conservatively for the first 20 minutes (and until I got the tires above 14 psi). After taking off from the gas station, I headed north on 42. A few miles later I down shifted and cornered hard onto Cty A. It's a fun corner from that direction as it cuts to the right something beyond 90 degrees.

The car bit in and sling-shotted through the turn. I punched the gas and, with that classic Benz feel, the back end set it's haunches and powered through 2nd gear and I slipped into 3rd and dropped the gas to the floor again. I only had it down for a second or two when I remembered that the speed limits changed rapidly in that section of road and cops frequently waited over the top of the hill. I eased off but I wasn't all that worried as I was only in 3rd. I glanced at the speedometer and just started laughing. I was going about 62 mph. I was definitely not in the truck.

There was no cop and I just glided the last few miles home. I don't even think I bothered shifting into 5th. It just wasn't worth it.

But there were two things that were worth something. The sandhill cranes have been around for a couple of weeks in singles or pairs. Today I saw an actual flock of about 8. A little further down the road I saw an even more significant harbinger of spring. Door County is home to one of the densest tart cherry crops in the United States. The industry consumes unbelievable acreage, equipment, labor, costs, and water. At one level, though, it all starts with this; a single truck was parked at the edge of a cherry orchard and, while I never did find the man doing the work, a zig-zag trail of prunings showed both path and purpose, running back and forth across the width of the orchard, dead cuttings between the tree rows, marking dark against the remaining snow.