It’s March 20th; the first day of spring! I hope the photo below is not too shocking for anyone. The snowman’s remains announced the arrival of spring.
Death of a Snowman
It promises to be a rough spring with flood alerts all over the state. Since we live by the Minnesota river, we are bracing for the worst. We put plugs in our basement drains but I awoke to find water all over the basement floor so I connected the pumps and started the drainage process. The river is barely out of its banks and is not even close to the house, but the water table is so high that it is forcing its way in.
It was a foggy morning making the landscape have an almost surreal appearance.
The ditches are filled with water flowing toward the river.
The horizontal lines on the willows show where the river has reached in recent years.
I walked across our field which will be flooded within a week. The only way for me to get a photo of this tree at that time will be to build a raft.
I’m taking it easy today. Yesterday we filled sandbags and I’m sore. Couldn’t help but notice the beauty of nature even as she challenges us. The last photo is of the misty hills, still snow-covered but melting quickly now, flowing steady toward the river.
Bdale56's Blog 
Thank you for the remainder of the beauty the coming of spring, even as it evaporates the winter it meets in its path. What a beautiful wintery spring :)! Congrats on being FP. K
I’m glad my children weren’t over my shoulder when I opened this page. I would have had to cover their eyes…
😉
Happy spring!
Good riddance, snow man! Glad you’re gone 🙂
Poor Snowman. Well, let’s just wait ’til he comes back and haunt everyone in town!
(just kidding).
You have no idea how much I love that first picture! I sort of want to run around screaming, “Death to all snowmen!!”
We live right next to a river and in the past few days it has risen dramatically. Good luck staying dry! 🙂
Yeaaaaah, Spring! See ya later snow 😉
I had to click on your blog because the images made me think you might be a neighbor here in Vermont! We don’t have the willows but the remains of snowmen are everywhere.
great pictures!!! congrats on being fp’ed
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I feel sorry for the snowman but am thrilled for the coming of spring! Besides, flowers are better than snowmen- at least they don’t leave such shocking remains!
That’s true. Hope the photo was too gruesome for you. Can hardly wait to start planting flowers!
OMG! gorgeous pictures!
Thank you for your compliment!
I’m jealous. Where I live the snowmen are still alive and well. But yesterday one looked a tad bit shorter so there’s hope!
I feel for you! Hopefully you will not have to wait too much longer!
Some really nice photographs there, particularly the willows as I have not seen one like it before.
Thank you. I love the willows. They drink the river’s waters.
finally the snowman is dead. for now. cant wait for the sun and summer.
Yes! May the snowman rest in peace!
As you may know, Brits are not too great at coping with the snow; December 2010 in the UK saw record snow-fall and brought the country to a stand-still.
This may sound bad but the “Death of a Snowman” image would be found hanging on the front door of many homes here in the UK, almost as a “warning to the snow gods”.
That is too funny! Maybe I will try that and see if it works next winter!
Love your title and the photos are oh-so-vernal-equinox! May the snowman rest in peace!
Not in Haiti anymore and totally sad about it,
Kathy
Thank you! By the time summer arrives the snowman will be long forgotten.
I can’t imagine living somewhere where I would have to fill sand bags when the snow melts. I wonder — and I don’t mean this in any kind of negative way, I’m just curious — why haven’t you moved to higher ground?
Crystal
Sandbagging is definitely not fun. We have thought of moving to higher ground but can’t find a suitable place in our price range. Someday the river may force us to move. For now, we’ll stay.
Your pictures are beautiful… especially the first one! Gloomy and almost spooky but I love the colours. I grew up in Scandinavia and know about snow… and lots of it. Spring is always such a joy and relief in a way whehn it arrives, but I hate the transitional period, when you have mud and/or ice covered with melted water on top of it… you just want summer to hurry up and be here already!
Thank you for your compliment! The transitional period is messy! Wishing you warmth!
That willow picture is great!
Thank you! The willows are my friends. They soak up lots of water!
Nice set of photos. As a native of the Midwest I always dread this time of year. I call it mud season. We really don’t have a spring. You did a nice job finding beauty in the bleak landscape of March. Good luck with the flooding!
Thanks for your compliments and thoughts. It will dry out, eventually!
You photo fits right into American Funniest Home Video episode, where they were destroying snowmen in all ways imaginable. Generally, I do not like that show, but the demise of snowmen caused by pretty much everything and anything…was very funny!
Nice photos, glad spring is almost here!
Thanks for your compliment. I never saw that show, but I am pretty sure I would have enjoyed it too!
“The snowman’s remains announced the arrival of spring.” Great writing! And then the sad picture of the remains… a lone carrot amongst trashy items. Haha.
Thanks for your compliment. The remains were so compelling. I remember the snowman’s better days…
Flooded basements are no fun. We don’t get them often, but sometimes the thaw after a winter of heavy snowfall is enough to make it happen. I guess anticipation and preparation are key, like keeping nothing on the floor that can be damaged by water.
Oddly enough, I just posted about my snowman, who, even in spring, is still thriving in thigh-deep snow.
I hope your basement stays dry this year. Sounds like you have a lot of snow to melt. I hope your snowman’s remains don’t end up in your basement!
Hope you can keep the flood waters from flooding too much. Sounds like you have the same problem every year. Good Luck!
Thanks for your thoughts! We do have the same problem, though not every year.
I’m so happy spring is here good bye snow man!!!!
Yes, goodbye snowman! Winter will be back soon enough, but for now we finally have spring!
This has been a long cold winter, so happy to see spring.
We have waited an extra long time for this spring. Enjoy!
Poor poor Mr Snowman… 😥 On the bright side your pictures are just beautiful. 🙂
Thanks for your compliment. May the snowman rest in peace!
Snowmen would be much cuter if they could stick around for spring… I am not a winter fan whatsoever 😦 So long snow and stay away humidity!!!
I’m not a big fan of winter either! It lasts way too long!
Very beautifuls pics from the nature 😉
Thanks for your compliment!
Nice intro picture. Good job. Thank God for Spring. I was so tired of that nasty cold weather and of changing my socks.
Good riddance, snowman! Hello Spring! Goodbye boots and socks! Hello sandals!
…that first picture is classic. Definitely FP worthy.
Congrats,
John
Thank you! I was surprised to be Freshly Pressed. I’ve had so many nice comments! I hope to get time to wander around on everyone’s sites.
I live in Norway and we had our first day of spring here as well today! I just love to see snowmen melt away, and I am so tired of snow and ice, and I can’t wait to see some green grass and flowers 🙂 Happy Spring!
Happy Spring to you to! I’d like to visit Norway someday. What a beautiful country!
Wow, Great pictures. I’m intrigued on how high the river will get in your area, you wouldn’t happen to have before/after pictures of the water level? You mentioned that it would take a raft to come back to certain areas. I understand if that’s too much work. 🙂 Just curious.
Thanks for your compliments. This weekend I will try to get some photos of the river as long as I am not sandbagging. Current forecasts say that sandbagging probably won’t be needed.
The picture of the road is just so unexpectedly beautiful to me… 🙂
Thank you. I love this road! I am lucky to live here, despite the floods.
I really loved the first two photographs. They are much better than the others. You should do something with them. Maybe submit the first to an art gallery or competition.
Ben
http://www.benevansphotography.com
Nice pics. Congrats on being FP!
Thank you. I was totally surprised and a little overwhelmed to be Freshly Pressed. Wishing you warmth!
Farewell Snowman!! Welcome Spring!!! Beautiful pictures.
Nice poem you wrote as an ode to Spring! I bet Montana’s springtimes are breathtaking! Thanks for your compliments.
Nice photos. Fascinating to see just how different spring is in my own town!
Thank you! I liked your blossum photos. Can hardly wait til I am seeing similar sights here!
Our snowman died too. My kids and I did a happy dance in the grass. Then today “Spring” came and along with it 4 to 6 inches of more snow. Tomorrow morning the snowman will live another day. Sigh.
Ahhh! I feel your pain! Hopefully you and your children will have another happy dance soon!
Ahhh, I remember times like that when I lived near the coast in Oregon. It was a lot of fun, watching the river rise. Cows and sheep floating by were amusing too. They were dead of course, got caught up by the floods, or maybe were already dead, lying in a field that the river washed through. Un-moored boats, trees and more trees, kids toys, patio furniture. We saw it all from our kitchen window. And in the spring, the garden was a new mess of weeds we’d never seen before. I miss it, sort of.
Brrrrrrrrr… that “Spring” looks mighty chilly.
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Just great images. Really like the first one. That’s some road!
Lovely pictures. Poor snowman, though! I can’t wait for spring.
your pictures are great.
The first picture was somewhat of a shock. The snowman will rise from the ashes next year 🙂
Loved your photos and don’t feel so bad about our continued winter rains here in Northern California even though it’s not winter anymore.
Congratulations on being Fresh Pressed.
This is a beautiful post! I am so glad I stumbled on it. I am hopeful for spring… we have had a crazy amount of snow this year and I am excited to see a runoff the likes of my youth. Flooding not so good. It sounds like it is normal for your neck of the woods. Wishing you a lovely spring!
Amazing piece of photography…
There’s something in your second picture that makes me at peace.
Great photos, hoping i can live there
Bye bye snowman and welcome Spring :-))
Beautiful! I’ll bet that you are looking forward to the milder weather of Spring. Though, the flood warnings will be of great concern. The first picture is tragic, a poignant reminder that things don’t last for ever :P.
have good days in spring
Death of a snowman – I love it. No wonder you were FP’d. Congrats.
Wow, that’s beautiful! I come from a tropical country… we don’t get the four seasons here… Just the warm and then the rainy seasons. 😉 Nice photos and I love the way you captured the beginning of spring! 🙂
wew,,beautiful scenery,,,
does not exist in my country…
http://sobiecorner.blogspot.com
Looks the end of winter is nigh and spring is coming soon.
Why would you post such a grisly and graphic photo of that snowman?? Hahaha. Wonderful pictures! I was in MN last year around this time and it was just stunning, really as serene and beautiful as you’ve shown.
Thank you. Come back to MN anytime! Summers are best, but they only last a week or so! Just kidding…
Wow, beautiful pictures on your blog.
Wow! It is beautiful so much, I like…