Pi Day

3/14....just another day, right? Not according to the math geeks. It seems that, because people who enjoy playing with numbers needed a reason to party, and 3/14 is the calendar representation of the first three digits of Pi, today is an unofficial holiday. Pi Day.

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Now, NorthernDaddy is not a 'math person'. Words are comforting friends, numbers are adversaries with which to do battle. In spite of this, when Pi Day came around, and the radio guy said that the day is celebrated by eating pie, a seed was planted in NorthernDaddy's mind..."Must have pie.."

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Yucky, store-bought pie. Not worth celebrating.

LittleNortherner did not know about Pi Day. Don't try to explain Pi to him. He doesn't even know what fractions or the decimal system are. He knows pie, though, and he's into pie!

 



NorthernMommy knew about Pi Day, but she's on a stretch of avoiding sweets and desserts, so she had to settle for fresh strawberries and flowers. 

Maybe next Pi Day will have to be celebrated with a home-made pie. Or a pizza pie.

 



Signs of Spring?

 

Remember a few posts back, when the Northerns were feeling optimistic about the rapid approach of Spring? Posted roads, end of the hockey season, birds singing....

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Then, Mother Nature. A snowstorm on Wednesday dropped eighteen inches of Winter cheer on the Northerns' little northern town. (#*!%@!#)

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After a winter like this one, the last thing anyone wants is to be slogging through two feet of snow in the pitch black to do morning chores.

 

 

 

 

Skating the Lake

Lake Morey Skating Trail

 

Basically: the lake freezes, people skate.

 

NorthernMommy scooped Daddy on this blog subject....kind of. See, her blog post hasn't published yet - it's set to go live on March 11 at 12:45pm. So, maybe she hasn't gotten the scoop?

 

Her post will be here: http://haphazardlysustainable.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

NorthernMommy did a pretty good write up. Just missed a few things... the trail is maintained by the grounds keepers from the resort's golf course. They stop mowing in the Fall and start plowing when the ice forms. The ice is like a backyard rink - bumpy as heck in spots, and pretty smooth in others (of course, when NorthernDaddy does a backyard rink, it's not bumpy. He's a little nuts about chasing the perfect smooth ice.) Big plus: access to the trail is free.

 

 

 

Another Sign of Spring

A recurring theme in the Northern household recently has been everyone's fervent desire for Winter to be over. It has been a long, brutal season of cold this year. There have been temperatures dropping far below the annual averages and staying there for weeks at a time. Snow? Not enough to really go out and have fun in - not that anyone wants to play in the snow when it's five degrees below zero and the wind is whipping across the land. The Northerns have a measured and distinct need for sunlight - both to raise their levels of vitamin D, and to remove the ghostly pallor from their skin (yes, Vermonters are usually pale, but this winter, the Northerns are even more pasty white than normal).

 

So, how do they know that Spring is just around the corner?

 

Hockey season is over. Yesterday was the last day of hockey for this go-around.

 

No more wrestling smelly hockey skates onto stinky little feet while gagging at the locker room smells of ripe body odor and McDonald's-fueled gut bombs. No more sitting on the frozen sheet of plywood that serves as a bench two feet away from a large sheet of ice which is kept in a big room where the temperature is maintained at twenty degrees. No more trying to cajole a bull-headed little hockey star back onto his feet after the coaches tag him out (yet again) in freeze tag. (Side note: who is the smart ass that decided playing "freeze tag" at an ice rink was a good idea?) No more standing up at the end of practice and realizing that your toes are frozen. No more trying to take a step and realizing that it's not just your toes, it's also your legs that are so cold that you can't move in a normal manner. No more limping out of the rink into the morning air to come to the realization that the deep-freeze of the rink that you just endured for an hour was thirty degrees warmer than the outside air.

The end of Hockey Season also means not seeing your hero skater get out on the ice every week and flat-out zooming around the rink. It means not spending an hour every week being amazed at how much better he skates now than he did last year - how much better he skates this week than he did just last week. It means not having that sudden surge of pride as your hero skater shows a level of perception that is so far above the rest of his group that he looks like a pro as he anticipates a play and beats the group to the puck. (Then, minutes later, realizing that - even though your hero can read a play - he's not so much more gifted on the ice than any of the other kids. Evidence?: his favorite method of stopping on skates is crashing into the boards....)

 

 

A good hockey season comes to a close, and the Northerns are ready. Ready for Spring...

 

 

 

 



Sure Sign of Spring

At the end of a long week that's been filled with hard work and cold days, there is excitement in the Northern household.

 

The town posted the roads!

 

 

 

It's hard to see the sign (the orange-framed one tucked behind the tree), but it went up on Friday!

 

For those readers that don't know - or have forgotten - what "posting the roads" means, it's when signs get put up on the dirt roads, telling drivers that there are temporary weight restrictions on those roads. It's purpose is to prevent heavy trucks from travelling on dirt roads and causing damage during Mud Season. (If you don't know what Mud Season is, you really need to move north and get a clue! Or, you could visit the Northerns in late March or early April, and they'll help you and your rental car get really well acquainted with Mud Season!)

 

Anyway, the excitement is due to the fact that Spring follows close behind the annual posting of the roads. The Northerns are really, really ready for Spring!