9:45 am, January 31, 2005: Our weather has been so fickle the last week or so. Yesterday we had blowing snow without too much accumulation, and today the skies are crystal clear. It is a touch cool. This morning we woke up to a temperature of zero [0] Fahrenheit, or about -17 Celsius.

Last night with all the ice on the trees and the wind blowing, it sounded like wind chimes in all the trees. It was pretty cool and cold at the same time. This morning the same ice on the trees looked spectacular, when the sun’s rays made it look like all our trees were covered by thousands of glistening diamonds.

Two days earlier we had to cancel our veterinarian appointment due to ice and sleet everywhere. That ice storm left us with about a half inch crust of ice on top of the snow. And yesterday I was up on our roof with the snow scoop shoveling off, what seemed like, tons of snow. It really wasn’t – just lots of work.

For today, if all goes well, we will be driving to Presque Isle [about 48 miles to the south] for some major shopping. Because all of our local travels are so far [an oxymoron] we take audio books on CDs to enjoy enroute.

From our Vantage-Pro weather station at 9:45 am:

Current temperature: 6 degrees (F)

Barometer: 29.95 in. and rising

Humidity: 75%

Winds: 5 mph and variable from the NW

Wind Chill: 4 degree (F) and variable

Low since midnight: -0.20 degrees (F) at 5:52 am

High wind since midnight: 8 mph at 12:20 am

Snow accumulation on 12/30/05: ca. 4.5 in.

Thursday, 9:00 am, December 29, 2005: Anticipating a snow/ice storm this afternoon we’ve brought in firewood for the next two days. Our snowblower is in the shop for some minor repairs. We hope to get it back today, otherwise it is back to the snow shovel and snow scoop.

On the pet front, we are driving our senior border collie, Mitzie, to the veterinarian today for her thyroid function test. She loves to go for a ride in the car. It usually means stopping at the donut place for a snack. Yes, I know we shouldn’t give her people food, but it is so infrequent and it gives her enough pleasure that she forgets about the vet getting a blood sample from her. The ride alone is worth the trip for her.

And we have recovered from our colds. The bug ran its course and we are back to normal with an occasional cough or two. And it is Thursday, so my wife is on the telephone talking to her family in Germany. They think we live on the backside of the moon.

From our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temp at 9:00 am 28 degrees Fahrenheit

Barometer: 29.65 in and falling rapidly

Humidity: 88%

Current wind: calm

Visibility: Overcast and misty -- less than 1 mile

Low temp since midnight: 21.3 F at 12:48 am

High wind since midnight: 2 mph at 2:39 am

Low temp yesterday 12/28/05: -6.1F at 6:30 am

For our current online weather click here.

December 27, 2005 5:35 pm: What a Christmas, and what a day after Christmas – so much snow in so little time. Our total for the storm was about 22 inches I spent about five hours this morning out with our snow blower. St. Francis and Madawaska received about 39 inches. Yes, we did have a “White Christmas.” It was probably not as quaint as Bing Crosby sang about in the song, but it was still very white.

After the snow removal work was done, I discovered our gas can was just about empty. Off we went into Madawaska to top it off and pick up a few supplies for the next snow storm that is supposed to hit us in two days. We can do without many things, but we need gas to clear snow. We try to keep a least a one or two week supply of food on hand during the snow months.

I did manage to catch my wife’s cold and I was in bed most of Christmas and yesterday. Being unwell today slowed my work down considerably. Frequent breaks to warm up and have a cup of tea in our kitchen went a long way to get the work done.

More tidbits in a day or two.

From our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temperature at 5:35 pm: 12 degrees Fahrenheit

Wind chill: 8 degrees F

Barometer: 29.65 in. and rising

Winds: From the north at 5 mph and variable

High wind: 21 mph at 11:31 am

Low temperature since midnight: 11.9 F. at 5:35 pm

For more of our weather click here.

Grand Isle, 2:00 pm: not a bad Christmas Eve. It is 28 degrees outside and is almost short-sleeve weather. Almost! My wife is getting over a cold, but still has to go to work. A Registered Nurse’s work is never done.

We will be having our Christmas dinner tomorrow when she is off of work and has her appetite back. Until then I have had my Christmas cheeseburger. It is not quite the same, but will do until tomorrow.

We have our Christmas decorations up. My favorite is a German Christmas pyramid. It is a wooden device about two feet tall with a vertical axle in it that has propeller blades at the top. At the outside of the base of the pyramid there are six candles. When the candles are burning the rising heat makes the propeller spin which makes the small hand carved Christmas scenes spin around the axle inside the pyramid. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t at all.

. . . until next time.

Our weather values from our Davis Vantage-Pro:

NOTE: Some data was lost due to the signal dropping out throughout the morning.

Current temperature: 28 degrees Fahrenheit

Current barometer: 29.80 in and steady

Current winds: calm

Low since midnight: 19.2 F at 2:25 am

December 23, 11:30 am: It’s been an odd morning. The temperature continues to climb and it is snowing lightly. Our neighbors will be coming over in an hour or so for holiday cake, cookies and coffee. I prefer espresso. Since we moved here in 1998 we have worn out two espresso machines and are on our third machine. Besides a small cozy café in Madawaska, about 13 miles away, our house is the only other place to get a good cup of espresso or cappuccino.

My wife is from Germany and really likes European coffee. Her complaint about American coffee is that it is too weak and you can see through it, much like bath water. According to my brother; my wife makes “Five Alarm” coffee and is not for the faint of heart.

The weather at 11:45 am from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temp: 31 degrees Fahrenheit
Barometer: 29.70 in and steady
Winds: Westerly at 3 mph and variable
Precipitation: snowing lightly on and off
Low temp since midnight: 15.2 degrees F. at midnight
High wind: 16 mph at 1:59 am
Low barometer: 29.62 in. at 4:44 am
our online weather

What a great day it was today. Clear skies and not too cold. Luckily for my wife and myself our drive to Presque Isle was easy with no patches of ice or snow.

Driving to "town" to buy groceries and everything else is always an adventure. An hour each way, shopping time and time for lunch at one of the fine local eateries. We try to get back before dark, because moose in the roadways are always a problem, and we do our best to avoid them. They make terrible hood ornaments. They're just too large!

Our woodstove is chugging away, keeping us warm. No problems with heating oil costs at our house.

Our weather values for today are:

High temp. 11.6 degrees F at 12:25 pm
Low temp. -.2 degrees F at 7:48 am
High wind today: 14 mph at 4:30 pm
Current wind: 4 mph and variable from the South
No precipitation
Barometer: 29.85 and falling

That's it for this evening.

Currently at 6:49 am it is -3 degrees Fahrenheit. That is with a minus sign. And just cool enough to throw a few extra logs on the fire. Our dogs don’t like it a bit. They run outside to do whatever they do and quickly run back inside.

There are a few good things to be said about this cold weather: The snow has filled in all the potholes on our road and the freezing weather has kept them frozen. So for the near future our dirt and gravel road is a smooth ride. And we don’t have to worry about our car needing to be realigned too soon. Our studded snow tires keep us on the road and out of the ditch – we hope!

Since the tree plantation diagonally across from our house was harvested last winter, and most of the field is now bare, there is not much to act as a windbreak. Also our frost heaves are starting to magically reappear.

From our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:
The current temperature at 0649 hrs. is -3 degrees Fahrenheit
Humidity 71%
Barometer: 30.03 in. and rising slowly
Winds: Calm
Low temperature since midnight: -3 degrees
Low barometer since midnight: 29.880 in. at 0014 hrs.
High winds: 6 mph at 0144 hrs.

Our online weather.

We are anxiously awaiting the snow that is supposed to hit us this afternoon or evening. Currently, we only have enough snow to only cover the ground in large patches.

This morning we will be taking fresh-baked oatmeal cookies to our neighbors. Normally at this time of year we would, probably, be using our snowshoes to get to their house back in the woods. For my wife and me this is an adventure and a good time, and keeps us fit – more or less.

We moved here from Phoenix Arizona in 1998. We traded big city life for a much more relaxed rural lifestyle. Ten years ago we never dreamed of snowshoeing, let alone snow, except for the occasional trip to the mountains. And cookies, they were something we bought at the local super market.

From our Davis wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:
Our current conditions at 10:10 am in Grand Isle [Lille] are:
Temperature: 14 degrees Fahrenheit
Barometer: 30.04 in. and falling rapidly
Relative Humidity: 77%
Winds: Calm
Skies: Overcast
Low since midnight: 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit at 4:53 am
High wind: 8 mph at 8:28 am

www.terrestrialworld.com/Current_Vantage_Pro.htm

8:10 AM: Here it is December 2nd and it is 42 degrees. My wife and I were in New Brunswick Canada yesterday and the weather was great. Driving home in the evening on the Trans-Canada Highway, the sky was clear and all the stars were out. By the time we went to bed about 10:00 PM it had clouded over and started raining mixed with light snow which eventually stopped and became all rain. Today, it is still raining. As of this writing we have had more than 1.10 inch or rain and it is still coming down. We will have to buy a pair of waders soon.

We live just remote enough that we rely on satellite television which began to pixelate and eventually dropped out due to the heavy rainfall. In addition to our NOAA weather radio and National Public Radio, we also rely on CBC Radio One for weather forecasts.

From our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station our current conditions are:
Temperature: 43 degrees Fahrenheit
Humidity: 100% and raining heavily
Current rain rate: .14 in. per hour
Barometer: 29.14 in. and falling rapidly
Wind: 3 MPH W
Low temperature since midnight: 32.7 degrees Fahrenheit at midnight
High wind since midnight: 12 MPH at 6:26 AM

Welcome to far northern Maine, or Grand Isle, or more specifically what used to be Lille. Bumper stickers up here in the far north proclaim, "Aroostook County – The way life used to be!" We are located about halfway between Madawaska and Van Buren just south of U.S. Route One, at an elevation of about 717 feet depending how fickle my GPS receiver is on any given day.

My wife and I retired here from Phoenix Arizona in May 1998. Our home is a two story log home situated on about 60 acres and located about one mile from the highway and about the same distance from the New Brunswick/Maine international border. From our back window we can look across the St. John River and look into Canada. Oddly, it looks a lot like northern Maine.

The weather here is definitely not the same as in most other parts of Maine farther south. Last week on Thanksgiving Day we had 6 inches of snow accumulate, which for our location is a piece of cake. But none-the-less I was out the next day with our snowblower clearing our driveway and paths for our five dogs.

The weather station in use here is a wireless Davis Vantage-Pro with a rain collector heater to melt snow and convert the melt into inches. This station has been online for about two and a half years. To view my online weather please go to www.terrestrialworld.com/Current_Vantage_Pro.htm

Our low last night was 34.9 degrees at 12:35 AM
Our current conditions at 10:35 AM are:
39 degrees Fahrenheit
Humidity: 100%
Barometer 30.26 inches and steady
Winds: Calm
High wind: 17 mph at 7:32 AM
Visibility: Foggy less than one mile