Thursday, 6:20 pm: Hello from Germany. Seemingly we survived our trans-Atlantic flight in good working order. After arriving in Zürich, on time, and picking up our rental car we blasted northward into Germany on the Swiss and German autobahns. We stayed three days with friends in a small town near Augsburg. We used to live in Augsburg in the mid-1980s.

Because of the very warm spring, spargel (asparagus) season came several weeks early. So we dined out in many family owned small restaurants featuring white spargel on the menu. And of course many liters of fine Bavarian beer accompanied what we ate.

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Berlin. The autobahn is great! I thought I was driving fast at 140 km/h (about 84 mph) but Mercedes, BMWs and Audis few past us in dazzling blurs leaving us in their dust – if the autobahns had dust.

We are staying in Berlin-Marzahn a suburb in the former East Berlin of the German Democratic Republic. Of course it is all unified now and Berlin is Berlin and Schnapps ist Schnapps. Really it goes; Dienst ist Dienst und Schnapps ist Schnapps. Another old time saying I’ve learned in the past few days.

Onto Berlin weather: Since I have no weather station at hand, I’ll just describe it as very warm and sunny. More later from the old country.

Thursday, 12:35 pm: If we’re supposed to get a “Nor’ easter” later today, the temperature probably should drop quite a bit. Right now it’s 44° (F.) and generally clear. That’s not to say it can’t snow this evening, but at the moment I’m very skeptical. I’ve been known to eat my words on more than one occasion, and I am not a meteorologist.

I just got off the telephone with an old Army buddy. I manage our infantry company’s web site, so I get many phone calls during the week. We’re getting up in years now, and are in various stages of disrepair. All of us who were in Vietnam together are now older than are parents were at the time. Some are already collecting Social Security benefits, and some are unrecognizable from their photos from 37+ years ago. But we’re alive. "So it goes."

And life goes on. My wife and I are getting ready for our upcoming trip to Europe. Three weeks of blasting through part of Switzerland and most of Germany in a subcompact car. Berlin should be interesting; my wife has many family members there. As I mentioned before, most of her family in Berlin are former communists, now enthusiastic capitalists. It reminds me of a scene out of some old Film Noir picture. Luckily they have side-stepped polyester and disco and fell head first into the 21st Century.

“So it goes,” is my tribute to Kurt Vonnegut who originally used the phrase in Slaughterhouse Five. He died yesterday. I’ll see if I can work out the logistics of writing a blog from Germany.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 44.6° (F.)

Barometer: 29.932 & falling rapidly

Humidity: 22%

Wind: ENE at 2 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Partially cloudy

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 11.9° (F.) at 6:49 am

High wind: 11 mph at 1:27 pm

Tuesday, 10:20 am: It’s difficult to believe it is spring. Including the last storm, our snow stake measures about 30 inches of snow. If spring has sprung in Maine it hasn’t arrived in this part of the state. Not yet, anyway. When it does come, we will be up to our eyeballs in mud.

Originally from Arizona, and unlikely as it may seem, I like the cold weather with lots of snow. I think it is akin to people from here retiring to Florida and relishing the sun and heat. I think in the end it balances out. It is like the yin and yang of weather extremes.

Somewhere in the middle is Connecticut. I’m not exactly sure where that fits in, but locals seem to gravitate to there for employment. I think every native Mainer we know here has at least one or more close relative working in Connecticut. I’m curious, why not Massachusetts? I’ll leave that to the labor historians to sort out.

We’ll be in Fort Kent this evening for a few hours. It’s our monthly amateur radio club meeting at UMFK. For a tiny and obscure club we have a good turnout for our meetings. It’s pizza night which is always a good inducement to attend. Tonight’s presentation is on personal weather stations. We may be remote, but we still have modern technology, although a bit spotty in some areas.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 30.7° (F.)

Barometer: 29.726 & steady

Humidity: 45%

Wind: W at 5 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Clear

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 14.5° (F.) at 6:27 am

High wind: 20 mph at 10:07 am

Our house during the current snowstorm

Thursday, 4:45 pm: Weather update; it’s snowing a lot. I hope that’s not too vague. I had to be out driving in this mess for a few hours today for a doctor’s appointment. Even with studded snow tires and all-wheel drive I could feel our car frequently slipping over the pavement. My top speed was about 35 mph, mostly much less.

Our unplowed road during the same storm

Today’s snow is a little slushy with a temperature of 34° (F.). By the time the sun drops below the horizon this evening, and the temperature falls, we will have some very slick roads to contend with. I am not looking forward to driving into Madawaska at 7:00 pm to pick up my wife. Although I don’t have blue hair, own a golf cart or white shoes, my days of reckless adventure are behind me. Driving in bad weather generally falls into this category.

This is the condensed version of my weather blog this afternoon. There are just too many things to do.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 33.8° (F.)

Barometer: 29.403 & falling rapidly

Humidity: 90%

Visibility: < 1 mile

Skies: 100% low overcast -- snowing heavily

Precipitation: ca. 9 inches wet snow

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 27.5° (F.) at 7:40 am

High wind: 11 mph at 12:26 am

Sunday, 12:45 pm: What a windy week we just had. On Friday it gusted to 35 mph. The days previous to that were almost as windy, with the wind blowing well into the high 20s. Lucky us, we had no place to drive to on those days. The hardest part was carrying in firewood and trying not to end up on my keester.

Today is remarkably different. It’s sunny, calm and a few degrees above freezing. It’s also April Fool Day. I can’t think of anything clever enough to confuse, bewilder or otherwise mislead my readers. Try reading news releases from the federal government; they’re good at that – at least to me.

It’s Sunday and it is, as per usual, a laid-back day for me. Leisure suits me just fine. I finished watching the classic Sunset Boulevard with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. There is something to the stark quality of black and white films. Since this is a weather blog I should be watching Key Largo with Humphrey Bogart. You know, the hurricane and all. In 1970 I was in a typhoon is Southeast Asia [Vietnam]. Now that was spectacular! Onto less formidable weather:

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 35.8° (F.)

Barometer: 30.170 & falling slowly

Humidity: 40%

Wind: NW at 5 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 8.9° (F.) at 7:18 am

High wind: 14 mph at 12:02 pm