Sunday, 9:30 am: This has not been an average week. The Saint John River flooded and left us generally isolated for a day and a half. Fortunately we had no damage: Our house is part way up a hill and about one mile from the river. Route One was flooded and limited travel to Madawaska and Frenchville. Driving toward Van Buren the road was closed in Keegan. The NWS has been predicating flooding for the past several weeks due to the rapidly melting high snowpack which was aggravated by recent heavy rains. We even made the news on CNN and The Weather Channel. Check this out on You Tube.

Keegan [Van Buren] Maine

Also over the past few days many helicopters and airplanes have been flying overhead; in a normal week we would lucky to see one or two aircraft and an occasional Border Patrol helicopter. Assorted politicians were up here for photo ops with their sleeves rolled-up. They reminded me of lawn jockeys [can I say that?] with their hands out-stretched. But they are the ones who sign the checks to get the aid, for those that need it. Use it wisely and make the American taxpayer proud.

Van Buren Maine

Notwithstanding all of the recent events, life goes on in our house. It was a few good days of watching new movies my brother and sister-in-law sent me for my birthday. Good movies are like the condiments of life, they make things better. Lucky for us our electricity was not interrupted, otherwise my well-seasoned grasp of life, which is heavily influenced by the cinema, would be sadly lacking -- more than it normally is.

Current Values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 45.6° [F.]

Barometer: 30.071 & steady

Humidity: 71%

Wind: SSE at 10 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: 100% overcast

Precipitation: None measurable – light sprinkles earlier

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 36.9° [F.] at 2:44 am

High wind: 12 mph at 8:12 am

Sunday, 9:35 am: It’s still spring, and, not surprisingly, my wife is busy downstairs starting spring-cleaning. I’ve moved out of her way to the safety of my upstairs office. She takes cleaning very serious. One of us has to do it and better her than me, particularly when she’s using pungent spray-on oven cleaner – Phew! Two dogs, two birds and myself are sitting behind closed doors with the window open.

I’ve been writing a weather blog since December, 2005 and I wonder if there are actually professional bloggers, since, by its nature, it is a gratis effort done by amateurs like myself with an opinion and something to say. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with access to a computer and the Internet can write a blog and have it posted somewhere online. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s actually being read, just that it’s out there in cyberspace. Nevertheless, bloggers persevere in our efforts to connect the world. I would like to write controversial social commentary and biting satire, but eventually half my readers would hate it and the other half might like it. It would certainly stir things up being a guerilla-like blogger. What would Erma Bombeck have done?

Having digressed long enough, I need to get back on the trail and into weather again; after all it’s what this is supposed to be about. Dang those social constraints of middle-age. Let’s see now; I didn’t offend anyone, or use profanities, and I’ve used just enough words to form a complete series of unrelated thoughts. So, I think, today’s effort is okay and my stealthy neural synapses are in working order.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 38.7° [F.]

Barometer: 30.274 & steady

Humidity: 63%

Wind: 3 mph – occasional light breeze

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Scattered high cloudiness

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 25.7° [F.] at 4:04 am

High wind: 5 mph at 8:34 am

Wednesday, 4:15 pm: Better late then never. The day is relatively warm, the snow is still melting, and I am inside pecking away on my computer hoping to find enough consonants, syllables and vowels to write something that is vaguely coherent. Let’s hope my artesian well of gab doesn’t dry up before I finish this effort.

Ruth's first Crocus plant blooming this week

We drove over to Edmundston, New Brunswick today, and to my surprise they have a new Wendy’s restaurant. That saves a trip to Bangor for fast food that I enjoy. Food is after all, just a matter of taste [of course] and my taste is very eclectic. My brother and I can spend ten or twenty minutes on the telephone comparing fried chicken or Mexican food; and the virtues of Maine Mexican food vs. New York Mexican food vs. Arizona Mexican food. The latter usually wins without too much disagreement – sorry New York and Maine.

Looking across the St. John River into Canada

Those naughty coyotes were out last night howling and generally enjoying themselves and annoying our dogs. The dogs wanted, in the worse way, to go out and have a good time too, or chase them away. Eventually the coyotes quieted down and our dogs lost interest. It also helps to distract them with doggie treats. We couldn’t tell where the coyotes were at because the fog was so thick we couldn’t see to the road. This morning a Pileated Woodpecker was outside on a telephone pole by our house. He didn’t stay long enough to get a picture, possibly I was too slow. That can't be, can it?

U.S. Route 1 covered in fog and rain in Grand Isle

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 54.3° [F.]

Barometer: 29.989 & falling slowly

Wind: 3 mph – very light & variable

Humidity: 59%

Visibility: ca. 3 miles

Skies: variable cloudiness – early morning thick fog

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 40.5° [F.] at 5:43 am

High Temperature: 60.8° [F.] at 1:59 pm

High wind: 10 mph at 4:12 pm

One of our trees starting to bud