Saturday, 4:00 pm: It’s dry, a light breeze, and there is lots of work. We’ve been busy since we got up this morning. Luckily today’s chores are done and it’s time for some weather blogging, which may, or may not, contain elements of weather. But never mind. I’ll sort out what to write.

In the accompanying photos you’ll see two snakes [there are several more not pictured]. Since we have no cats, they are, by default, our mousers for this summer. They have taken up residence in our garage again, and generally ignore us when we come and go. They are more focused on rodents.

This weekend our neighbors across the Saint John River are celebrating Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day. Happy Canada Day tomorrow! And in Madawaska they have their annual Acadian Festival: So both sides of the border area are a beehive of activities this weekend.

If any of my regular readers who received multiple email notices last week that a new weather blog has been posted, I apologize. It should have been only one email. I am just now getting around trying to figure out how to send the notices. I think I have it correct now. So if you get just one today, I did something right, somewhere, in this virtual world I send it to. I like gadgets and technology, but sometimes they baffle me.

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

Temperature: 56.8° [F.]

Barometer: 29.720 & steady

Humidity: 64%

Wind: NW at 3 mph – light & variable

Visibility: < 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: 100% overcast – partially cloudy earlier

Precipitation: .01 inch – rain

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 49.8° [F.] at midnight

High wind: 21 mph at 12:45 pm

Thursday, 11:05 am: Another misty and humid morning here in the Saint John Valley. We were hit hard with rain last night after we went to bed. We received .62 inch of rain along with thunder and lightning. It was noisy enough that our sleep was interrupted, so we just watched it pour from behind the safety of our bedroom window. Thor was rattling his chains upstairs; he also put on a pretty cool light show. There’s no need to water our garden today.

My wife [Ruth] put in her calls to Germany today. Thursday is “telephone the family day” each week. They share stories and update one another with family and local news. She enjoys the stories of long-deceased relatives. My long-deceased relatives are, well, umm, long-deceased. Need I say more?

Yesterday we had two robins fighting over a worm they found in our yard. It was like watching a cartoon; each one pulling on an end of this worm, soon to be lunch. Nature can be entertaining, unfortunately not for the worm. And today our barn swallows, who took up their annual residence in our birdhouse, are almost ready to depart. Their young are fully-fledged and we expect them to fly away at any time, perhaps even today. The mother sits on top of the birdhouse while the young make very brief excursions outside. We can’t tell if it’s one or two young birds inside the birdhouse. Luckily they know for sure.

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

Temperature: 62.6° [F.]

Barometer: 29.660 & steady

Humidity: 88%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: ca. 3 miles under low cloud base

Skies: 100% low overcast

Precipitation: None

Precipitation yesterday .62 inch rain

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 54.5° [F.] at 12:01 am

High wind: 17 mph at 1:45 am

Sunday, 10:15 am: We have drizzle and it feels cool, although it’s only 56° [F.]. Perhaps I should put on long pants? I’ve managed to put off cutting our lawn the last few days due to the wet grass. Today looks like it’s no exception. Yesterday I was out working in our backyard and I had to wear my rubberized shoes; it was just too damp.

My wife is on her treadmill on our porch. She stays fit, but it looks really monotonous. Our porch is screened, so she’s out of the bomb-sights of flying insects. She is more robust and dedicated than I am. I take the path of least resistance, which, for me, means it’s probably all downhill. I’m sure she will out-live me. After all, there is only so much energy to go around [not quantum physics]. I think I’ve used most of mine up; at least in the things I’m not interested in pursuing, which as I get older seem to exponentially increase.

Back to my weather, after all this is a weather blog, at least in theory anyway. My Davis weather console took a dive [I knocked it off] onto the floor yesterday when I was trying to track down a source of RF interference getting into my ham radio. Eventually I found the source and eliminated it by filtering a power cord to my other computer. Luckily my console was intact and undamaged. Phew! I would very be unhappy if I had to buy a new one.

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

Temperature: 56.2° [F.]

Barometer: 29.746 & rising slowly

Humidity: 80%

Wind: N at 6 mph light & variable

Visibility: ca. 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: 100% low overcast

Precipitation: .01 inch rain [drizzle]

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 52.8° [F.} at 4:26 am

High wind: 16 mph at 10:00 am

Thursday, 9:45 am: It started raining yesterday and has continued on and off through today. Due to my lack of dedication [and rain] my outside work has been postponed until the next dry day. It’s a day to crack open my CDs and DVDs and relax. I’ve already turned on my ham radio HF transceiver and I am listening while I type. I am expecting a new part for my antenna to arrive today via UPS. Nothing is broken; the part will just give me an additional amateur radio band to operate on.

Our dogs are also taking a day off. Actually every day, is a day off for them, except today they prefer to be inside dozing on any available soft horizontal space. I kind of like that idea myself. Nothing too complicated.

My wife is sorting out our leftover European currencies, mainly Euros and a few Swiss Francs. Euros don’t do us much good in northern Maine, so they just collect dust in our desk. She wants to take them to the bank and exchange them for US funds. After the bank takes out for their commission [locally called the discount rate] we actually lose a bit in the transaction. It’s not exactly high finance, so the loss is grudgingly bearable.

Obviously this has nothing much to do with weather. In the event I completely get off track, I better get refocused on to today’s weather:

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

Temperature: 56.8° [F.]

Barometer: 29.630 & steady

Humidity: 100%

Wind: N at 2 mph very light & variable

Visibility: < 2 miles below cloud base

Skies: 100% low overcast [intermittent rain]

Precipitation: .04 in. [rain]

Precipitation yesterday: .31 in. [rain]

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 56.7° [F.] at 9:26 am

High wind: 12 mph at 8:47 am

Wednesday, 8:30 am: Here it is mid-week and it looks like it might rain. If I am really ambitious I would turn on our NOAA weather radio and find out for sure. But I like surprises and [besides] it helps keep my brain cells chugging along, although in no particular direction.

Garden work is progressing normally with my wife and I both slathered in insect repellent. Garter snakes have returned to our garage. I’ve set out a board leaned against the garage’s outside wall and the snakes call it home until autumn. Generally they ignore me, even when I come close with our lawnmower. Also a few frogs are hopping around our yard. For them, I have to stop the mower, catch them and move them to a safer place away from our lawn. There is nothing funnier than watching a 57 year old man chasing frogs! Those guys always come back. And wild rabbits are usually in our front yard, normally in the early morning. They eventually bounce away after having their fill of our grass. The rabbits tend to annoy our one dog, Bobbi, who barks nonstop until they leave. They are unconcerned with her and continue munching away.

Time to go; I am listening to Maine Public Radio. I am trying to sort out who’s doing what to whom, and in what part of the world. At least in our corner of the world life is uncomplicated. And besides I need a cup of cappuccino or espresso to get my brain out of neutral: Currently I am coasting. Maybe idling is more accurate.

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

Temperature: 60.9° [F.]

Barometer: 29.700 & steady

Humidity: 63%

Wind: 3 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3miles under cloud base

Skies: 100% overcast

Precipitation: None

High temperature yesterday: 78.9° [F.]

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 54.4° [F.] at 5:23 am

High wind: 11 mph at 1:08 am

Saturday, 11:30 am: Help, flying insects are everywhere. Fortunately we are up and about early, and the pesky bugs like to sleep-in until it warms up. So when we knock off [usually early] they become active and they can bite or sting someone else. I am a bit of a party-pooper for them.

A wildlife visitor to Van Buren, Maine

Yesterday was a stellar day for wildlife viewing. We saw a fisher, a few loons, one with its chick [is that what you call a baby loon?] and assorted moose at various locations. I came prepared and actually took a few photos. These moose seemed more than willing to pose for pictures, although on their terms. The loons were at maximum range for my camera and too much cropping degraded the photos, although our binoculars worked fine for viewing them. Visitors “From Away” would be envious for a day like yesterday.

Pirie Lake, New Brunswick

Also yesterday, we visited our friends Karl and Theresa near Grand Falls, New Brunswick. They own and operate a German restaurant and lodge. They’re from the Baden, so their cuisine is traditional for the south of Germany near Lake Constance. But in New Brunswick it’s all German to them, except the beer, that’s Canadian. German food and Canadian beer – oh well, I’ll leave it to the culinary historians to sort out. On to my local weather:

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

Temperature: 79° [F.]

Barometer: 29.821 & steady

Humidity: 42%

Wind: S at 5 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Generally clear, ca. 10-15% scattered cloud cover

Precipitation: None

High temperature yesterday: 84.3° [F.]

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 47.2° [F.] at 4:36 am

High wind: 10 mph at 11:01 am

Monday, 4:40 pm: Phew! It’s a warm day. My office is upstairs in our house, and with no air-conditioning, it’s a bit toasty. We fired up our charcoal grill outside to cook dinner, but that rascally sun finds ways to heat up our house anyway.

Our resident Downy Woodpecker

Wildlife seems to abound the last few days. Yesterday morning a Downy Woodpecker [Picoides pubescens] flew into our kitchen window. Lucky for him [or her] it was only stunned for several minutes. I picked him up with my gloved hands. He seemed a little confused and he sat on my hands and shoulders for awhile. Eventually I took him over to our birdfeeder and sat him on the perch and I walked away. Oddly he flew back over to me and landed on my shoulder. I think I have a new feathered friend! After several more minutes the bird eventually flew into the woods next to our house. I suspect he’s probably telling his friends.

Trying to be returned to the wild

On our drive to Presque Isle today, we saw our first black bear this season. He was a bit too quick for me, and all I captured with my camera were trees, bushes and our right side-mirror on our car. I thought bears were supposed to lumber along. Hmm, he ran and I lumbered. And on the return drive home we saw young bull moose leisurely eating muck in a pond on US Route 1 in Connor Township. He was unfazed with my camera clicking away, and seemed to enjoy drooling some unpleasant looking “stuff”. Obviously he enjoyed it. There’s no accounting for taste.

Gourmet dining -- for moose

Meanwhile back at the old homestead our weather follows:

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

Temperature: 83.7° [F.]

Barometer: 29.909 & falling slowly

Humidity: 28%

Wind: E at 2 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Variable cloudiness ca. 20-30% cover

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 48.9° at 4:51 am

High wind: 14 mph at 1:07 pm

High temperature: 84.3° [F.] at 3:28 pm

Saturday, 11:55 am: Work around our house and property has begun in earnest. A good part of the past week has been spent on hands and knees clearing brush. Most of it now has been incinerated and is a large heap of ash. My wife has been busy in the garden planting an assortment vegetable seeds. As for today, I’ve already knocked off and will resume brush clearing tomorrow. It’s time for a good shower, some serious loafing and espresso.

The mosquitoes are out in force. I have many insect bits from ants, spiders and an assortment of other creepy-crawly things to last me for several weeks. It must be my O negative blood that attracts them, or maybe not. Maybe I’m just convenient.

Our hummingbirds are all around. Their days are spent guarding our [their] feeders. Usually in the morning they engage in aerial combat with interlopers. It’s quite a sight to see, especially if I stand still out in the middle of the action. They’re fearless and very feisty little critters.

More later, my wife is cooking up some home-style German food.

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

Temperature: 64.4° [F.]

Barometer: 29.881 & steady

Humidity: 53%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: 100% high overcast

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 47.9° [F.] at 4:27 am

High wind: 10 mph at 9:00 am