Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 9:55 am: It seems to be snowing lightly with the sun trying to occasionally peek through the clouds. We are expecting more snowfall by this evening, perhaps one to two inches of accumulation according to the NWS in Caribou. The visibility is about 1½ miles so I can just barely see into New Brunswick today.

Railroad tracks cross U.S. Route One in two places near our home, and the railroad has been busy clearing ice at these crossing points. I don’t envy their hearty maintenance workers; they are out working in such frigid conditions that they must wear insulated coveralls. They are so covered, insulated and protected against the elements they look like they are at Little America in Antarctica. Just across the border, the Canadian railroad parallels the U.S. tracks and they do similar work. Once in awhile, usually at night, we hear the train engineer blast his horn. We always imagine there is a moose or deer on the track and eventually it will lumber out of the way.

For today, at our house, it’s chores as usual, including; bringing in firewood, feeding the wild birds, and shoveling snow off the steps. There is not enough snow to fire up our snowblower. As for yesterday’s “Grand Cleaning” spearheaded by my wife, she outvoted me – but I nevertheless survived the event.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 26 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 29.63 and steady

Humidity: 76%

Wind: E. at 3 mph and variable

Visibility: 1½ miles and variable

Precipitation: Snowing lightly

Low temp. since midnight: 17.5 at midnight

High wind since midnight: 3 mph at 9:52 am