NOR'EASTER or SOUTH'WESTER

Normally this time of year in western Maine we deal with nor’easters (storms coming in from the north east and dumping loads of snow.)

  

This past weekend we were hit with a storm coming in from the south west.  It dropped about a foot of snow overnight Saturday into Sunday and then, because of warm southern air at altitude, turned into sleet continuing until about midnight.

 

Fortunately, I attacked the snow with my new snow blower just before the transition.

Today’s high temperature was two degrees and at present it is two below. 

 

It is another beautiful day in the western mountains of Maine.

 the Ol'Buzzard

WIND

I am obsessed with the wind

Of all natures children

Of all natures gods

It is the wind that awes me most

I can view the sunrise and sunset

And feel the sun's warmth on my skin,

I can appreciate the eerie light of a full moon

reflected by a snowbound world,

I can see and hear the tumbling water of a stream

And experience the pleasant serenity of a lake.

But it is the wind

I can welcome the soft touch of a snowflake

as it kisses my face,

And shiver as the rain soaks my clothes

and chills my frame,

I can hear thunder 

and startle at the streak of lightning ripping the sky.

But it is the wind that speaks to me.

I have bask at the fire that brings contentment

and warmth to my home.

And choked as my lungs fill with smoke 

as the forest burned away.

I have driven on the ice

on the Kuskokwim River,

But it is the wind

I have seen the northern light

blaze in the twenty-four hour night,

I have felt the penetrating chill

of the cold at fifty below,

But it is the wind

the wind I remember most

Huddled in my bed in a tiny log cabin

In the darkness of the never ending Arctic night

While the wind outside, unrelenting, warned me

‘You do not belong here.  This is my world.  I rule here.  Hear me and quake.”

It is the wind

The relentless wind that keeps me awake tonight