This year we are going to
forfeit spring here in the western mountains of Maine
The problem with this winter
is the snow cover combined with the low temperatures. Somewhere between now and June the temps are
going to take a seasonable jump and when they do our snow melt is going to
cause flooding and an enhanced mud season.
Mud season here in Maine
A neighbor of mine puts one
of those big whip antennas on his Honda, even though he doesn’t own a CB. He figures that if he loses the car in a mud
hole he will know where to have his kids dig when the ground firms up. We all carry extra supplies (just in case)
including one of those avalanche beacons.
Some people strap those beacons to the back
of their children’s back-packs before they send then out to catch the school
bus. I have seen others men strap empty
fifty-gallon oil drums to each side of their cars – I understand that this also
allows you to safely continue ice fishing late into the spring.
We up here in north western Maine
Speaking of bear shit; did
you know that during berry season bear shit is rainbow colored. It gets these pretty shades
of purple, lavender, pink and blue. I
swear that someone could paint with it onto canvasses and sell them through
L.L. Beans. (I am full of ideas: after all I invented the moose turd earrings and
worry beads, and a couple of years later found the same thing for sell at Beans.)
But I digress: with the winter we have had (and are having)
I won’t be able to dance necked in the back yard around a bonfire on
the first day of Spring. Maybe my wife will let me dance
around a candle on the living room floor - as long as I don’t get in front of
the TV.
Where ever you are; have a
happy Spring – and dance necked around a bonfire if you get a chance.
the Ol’Buzzard
We are deep into pothole season with entire roads almost wiped out by them. My tires don't approve and neither does my wallet since suddenly tires are not on sale anywhere. I had to find an alternate route to drive into the city on since the pothole in the middle of the road I normally drive on is getting deeper.
ReplyDeleteThe county put a sign up that says "Rough Road, Speed limit 35 mph" They haven't tried filling them with anything though. I suppose with all the snow, it won't help much.
Aaand maple syrup is gonna cost this year. It's not warm enough for the sap to be running yet. Last quart I bought was $20. I'm not planning on buying any for quite awhile. It's gonna be back to the artificial flavored pancake syrup for the duration.
I sympathized even while laughing.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! You all should try out for the "Survival" show. Drums on the cars and beacons on the kids! Not the place for a whiner.
ReplyDeleteWest is in central Texas,some of the older streets(lie Davis street going behind where Rest Haven used to be flooded every time it rains..and once it rained so bad I had rain right up to the porch. but where West is, we really don't have serious weather.we'd freak out if we did.
ReplyDeleteAnd I bitched about having to clean the windshield yesterday from a icy dusting of sleet and snow - 59 degrees today and 70 by Friday...
ReplyDeleteIndiana for you.
Ron
Sounds much like my former life in rural PA -- without teh bear and moose poop, though.
ReplyDeleteWe're having the same problems. When the weather finally warms up the mud season will be spectacular as the frost went really deep this winter. A lot of places had problems with water lines freezing and told people to let the water run to prevent the pipes from freezing.
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping the weather will warm up as I have a number of projects I'd like to do but it is too cold to work bare handed.
I knew a guy once who had a scat collection. He'd bring it to Scout meetings, 4-H meetings, and to school classrooms to show kids which critters left what type of crap in the woods. It was interesting. The kids loved it; their parents were usually grossed out.
ReplyDeleteSeeing bear sign around doesn't bother me much, but the fresh pile of wolf droppings and wolf tracks in the driveway earlier this winter did have me hoping I never saw either again -- at least not that close to the house.
As for winter, I was thinking it was lasting forever. Then I remembered the storm we had in late March in 1996. Think it hit on about the 24th. We were snowed in for 3 days; the county had to bring in a front end loader to open the back roads because the grader couldn't push enough snow out of its way to keep moving. The Mud Season is going to be horrible, here, too. All the roads are so frost-heaved that it's obvious that once things start to melt, things are going to get nasty. I'm giving serious thought to parking my Focus at my cousin's for the duration of break-up; I don't want to resort to the 55-gallon drums solution.
Maine is such a gorgeous place. Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteHappy Equinox!I've had a very unusual pre spring experience here....today might go up to 75 degrees...but then the fickle finger of fate is pointing at us and by the end of the day a major change is predicted...a week of normal Dordogne weather....cool, foggy rainy....as long as it doesn't freeze. At this point in time it would be a catastrophe.
ReplyDeleteBTW, winter was mud season here. I have to get a few tons of stones for the drive because the stones I had down for years all sank into the bottomless red mud...
ReplyDelete