Seasonal changes

I really never thought the Vermont winter would end, but it seems we have reached the long-awaited break in temperature! I got a sunburn just going outside due to my definite vitamin D deficiency. With warmer temperatures, there are signs of life coming back to Vermont! In my recent visit to my phenology site in Cenntenial woods, there are soft green buds and mosses bringing color back, as well as lots of water flowing through the area. There are many paths that look beaten down by the water flowing over it when there were heavy rains and snowmelt. I was hoping to see some spring flowers poking through the pine layer but I actually did not see any due to the heavy pine needle cover. I saw lots of moss in the areas of water flow, which would be due to the amount of moisture and warmer temperatures (aka anything above freezing). The most noticeable change in the trees that I noticed was that there were so many that had fallen over! I counted well over ten trees that I guess had fallen in the recent storms, as well as a few that looked to be chopped over by humans and intentionally burned, which was interesting to me. There was also human traces left behind the large overturned roots, it looked like someone had been using them as a shelter and left many articles of trash when they moved on.