Tuesday, 10:30 am: Rain again. Our outside work has been put into an extended holding pattern. My brain is on hold too. Any vague spark of creativity, if it ever existed, has been temporarily washed away. I am lost in that nether world vacuum again, with rust rapidly forming in all the tiny recesses of my brain. I need some mental WD40.

We’ve got seven or eight gallons of exterior house paint setting in our laundry room just waiting to be applied. Unless paint companies can come up with a solution to wet weather application, their cans of paint will continue to be unused. Fortunately we had the painter first paint the front and sides of our house facing our road, so it appears, at first glance, the house painting is completed. Not really! If we had curbs, it would have curb appeal.

On our agenda for today, we will be going to our town office to take care of registering our cars and the “always popular” property tax. We have to get there before lunch before they knock off for an hour.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 53° (F.)

Barometer: 29.63 & steady

Humidity: 93%

Wind: W at 3 mph

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: 75% overcast:

Precipitation: .12 inch rain

Since midnight:

Low temp: 36.9° (F.) at 2:25 am

High wind: 11 mph at 8:53 am

Sunday: 11:30 am: Today we only had light morning fog, which has almost completely burned off. It appears we’ll have another pleasant sunny day with a few puffy white clouds. I should probably start singing an old Judy Collins song. The temperature is already at 70° Fahrenheit or 21° Celsius. That is almost t-shirt and shorts weather here.

The exterior of our house is being painted as a type. I have to admit once the painter finally showed up; he is a very diligent and hardworking person. He has more energy and drive than I have for this type of work.

I’ve been busy bombarding uninvited flies with aerosol insecticides. I am after all the Aerosol Warrior. “Better living through chemistry”, which I think is attributed to Timothy Leary. Although I think he had something different in mind and not bug killers.

I am dating myself again, Judy Collins, Timothy Leary. More nostalgia? It’s chronic Geezeritis showing it’s gray head again. Hmmm, I wonder where I stashed my Iron Butterfly album: On 33 1/3 rpm vinyl of course; retro-technology at its finest.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station

Temperature: 70° (F.)

Barometer: 29.82 & falling slowly

Humidity: 74%

Wind: NW at 1 mph very light & variable

Visibility: < 3 miles

Skies: Dissipating light fog

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temp: 48.6° (F.) at 2:36 am

High wind: 12 mph at 11:16 am

Saturday, 10:20 am: The National Weather Service said we should have a nice sunny weekend. All things being equal I still prefer sunshine over mind-numbing overcast. But that’s just me. It’s my Arizona gene pool protesting.

Fly season seems to be here too. Those pesky critters are out and in large numbers. Everywhere flies! They seem to like the sunny or warm side of our house; and it’s all we can do to keep them out of our house. But that’s one of the very few draw backs of living in the woods.

Electronic technology still amazes me. I note today’s weather data from my Davis weather station which is connected to my computer via an interface. Then I write my weather blog on my computer. From here I upload my blog to MaineToday.com and in a matter of moments it appears on the weather page. The slowest part of the entire process is my typing, which isn’t exactly dazzling. Technology hasn’t been able to help me with my typing skills. It’s time for espresso and cookies.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 57° (F.)

Barometer: 30.04 & rising slowly

Humidity: 100%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: < .5 mile

Skies: Dissipating ground fog

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temp: 44.5° (F.) at 6:28 am

High wind: 2 mph at 12:15 am

A nearby pond in dense fog

Thursday, 9:00 am: Good morning! Would you be surprised if I wrote that is raining again? It is. Luckily nothing important is on the agenda for today.

This being Thursday, my wife put in her required, early morning, telephone calls to her family in Germany. Essential family gossip was conveyed. Except for everyone in various stages of aging, nothing was new. Plans were discussed about their upcoming visit to the United States. They were a bit disappointed to learn our current weather is about like their weather in Berlin.

On our drive into town yesterday for a veterinarian appointment, we drove out our back road which was engulfed in fog. It was pretty cool. You can see in the accompanying photo of a nearby pond the eerie quality that fog adds to the landscape. For all of my complaining about the weather, it really can surprise us with its beauty. Mother Nature is quite an artist.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 56° (F.)

Barometer: 29.98 & rising slowly

Humidity: 100%

Winds: SE at 3 mph light & variable

Skies: 100% low overcast

Visibility: < 1 mile

Precipitation: .03 in. rain

Since midnight:

Low temp: 45.4° (F.) at midnight

High wind: 5 mph at 7:56 am

Tuesday, 8:30 am: Another cool night. The last two nights the low temperatures have been below freezing. As I write it is only 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning the fog has been light and is burning off slowly. If you look closely at the photograph of our house [below], you will see the frost in the foreground.

A few nights ago while driving on the Trans-Canada near Grand Falls New Brunswick; we saw a spectacular meteor flash through the northern skies. That was great! Thankfully we have had clear skies for the past three or four days. The rain and drizzle have finally stopped.

About 7:15 this morning our dogs alerted us to a four-legged intruder; a moose strolling near our house [see attached photo]. The young moose seemed to be unfazed by all the barking and commotion, and even ignored me when I walked to the edge of our yard for a better view and pictures.

Today our schedule is booked for shopping in town, then in the evening our amateur radio club meeting in Fort Kent. We have a day of driving from one end of northern Aroostook County to the other.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 40° (F.)

Barometer: 30.33 & steady

Humidity: 100%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: ca. 3 miles

Skies: Fog dissipating

Since midnight:

Low temp: 30.4° (F.) at 6:03 am

High wind: 0 -- no measurable

Today's photographs were shot through mist and light fog.

Saturday, 4:30 pm: What a surprise: It is raining again. Luckily for us we completed most of our garden and lawn work yesterday. This year we have a bumper harvest of potatoes, carrots and onions, and we were busy harvesting part of it. There is still a lot to be brought in and cleaned. Sometimes I have doubts about a garden, and the time and effort required to maintain it. It is not all that relaxing for me.

Our new metal garage doors were installed yesterday and on time. Our old wooden doors finally succumbed to the ravages of time and bit the dust. Much to my chagrin we even had remote controls installed. About the house painter I mentioned in a previous blog, he failed to show up or notify us, but that is generally about par for here. My wife would say I am whining. Yeah okay, I am not exactly Ebenezer Scrooge, but I am not the one who didn’t show up or call.

Soon local churches and civic groups will be hosting their annual harvest suppers, and notices will start to appear in the local newspaper. These events are a nice way to rub elbows with people we only see occasionally and get back up to speed on people and events. Although, I rather enjoy being out of the loop. I still haven’t been in an Internet café, and that suits me fine, although I like espresso, hmm how odd. I think I’ve been living in the woods too long!

Back to weather, I think. While driving to Madawaska earlier today it was raining hard enough to put our car’s wipers on high speed, and make a dash for the door when we got to the store and to our friends’ house. Oddly just 13 miles away at our house it was just a light rain which continues as I type.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 53° (F.)

Barometer: 29.91 & steady

Humidity: 100%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: < 3 miles

Skies: 100% overcast

Precipitation: .17 inch rain

Since midnight:

Low temp: 51° (F.) at 2:56 pm

High wind: 10 mph at 9:38 am

Labor Day, 10:00 am: A holiday for the workers of the United States. Marx and Engels would be miffed there are no giant photos of them or even larger red flags fluttering in the breeze. I don’t think we ever had that in America; just picnics, barbeques and beer. Not surprisingly that seems more appropriate, keeping with the more relaxed and open American lifestyle. Karl and Freddie eat your hearts out.

No picnic here today. It has been a constant drizzle since we woke up. Since midnight we have had more than half an inch of rain. The mist is so heavy; I can’t tell if we are in fog or on the threshold of more rain. The view from our window looks like we are in the Alpenwald [Alpine forest] in Bavaria.

More house repairs are on the schedule for this week. Our special-order garage doors arrived in Caribou, and the house painter has put us in his schedule. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly, and everything will actually get completed on time. The house painting is more dependent on the weather of course, but the garage doors can be installed at any time.

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 57° (F.)

Barometer: 29.90 & falling slowly

Humidity: 100%

Visibility: < ½ mile

Skies: 100% overcast heavy mist

Wind: Calm

Precipitation: .53 inch rain

Since midnight:

Low temp: 53.1° (F.) at 2:42 am

High wind: 8 mph at 3:44 am

Saturday, 9:30 am: We’re back. Our little two day R & R adventure to Bangor and Augusta went smoothly. We saw absolutely no wildlife there or back. The weather worked in our favor, and we even managed to get our car washed.

We really have to switch gears when we go from Interstate 95 to US Route One in Houlton. Going from 65 or 70 mph to 55 mph, or less, really takes some mental adjustments.

One of these days I’ll be bright enough to remember to write down all the good ideas I have for my weather blog. Most of the time I forget, and those ideas get sucked into my cranial black hole. Apparently I don’t learn from experience. What you read today is what is left over in my threadbare memory. Fortunately American literature isn’t counting on me.

Today in the Saint John Valley our ground fog is burning off and it seems like it will be a sunny day. Translated it means; work in the garden and other things I prefer to put off. Onto my weather:

Current values from our
Vantage-Pro weather Station:

Temperature: 53° (F.)

Barometer: 30.50 & steady

Humidity: 97%

Visibility: > 3 miles – earlier fog

Skies: clear

Wind: NE at 2 mph

Since midnight:

Low temp: 38.3° (F.) at 5:37 am

High wind: 3 mph at 9:11 am