Springtime

2011-04-28 17:05:02.000 – Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer

Spring Fog

Back on the summit here it starting to feel quite a bit like spring as Becca mentioned in yesterday’s comment. Walking outside for observations today, the fog is wet and thick, something that is not so common during the winter months. It is almost thick enough for a good game of ‘dense fog chicken’, where two people run at each other in the dark, foggy weather and see who moves first! The mention of thunderstorms is also becoming more prevalent in our 36-hour outlooks, something more often seen in the warmer weather. Walking around the woods this past Tuesday I noticed the buds are getting much bigger and I am starting to wonder just when they will leaf out. Spring is something I have not seen fully for several years now, and I do miss it a bit. A lot of different things happen in a short period of time and trees go from being a mass of sticks, to buds beginning to swell, to budding and leafing out all in a few short weeks. Working a week on, week off schedule, I have been unable to witness this whole process firsthand. I get to see bits and pieces of it up close and the other parts, when not in the thick fog like today, from atop the highest mountain around. Still, it is only a general greening from up here, not being immersed right in it. I do wonder if come Wednesday I will head down into a forest of vibrant green that was a dull brownish grey. With some luck, maybe I will time it such that I can see the rapid greening of the valley as it occurs. Although going from one extreme to the other is interesting, there is something special about seeing it occur. It’s like the difference between seeing a newborn animal and actually seeing the animal being born. There’s just no substitute for seeing something all the way through, especially life.

Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer