Wednesday, 9:00 am: It’s chilly outside, our woodstove is pumping out heat, coffee is percolating and I am about ready to go outside and bring in more firewood. Life can’t be simpler than that. Well it could be, but it would be uncomfortable. I’m not ready to be a hermit.

I finally installed a wireless router for our two computers. The actual installation was simple, but the software configuration took longer than expected and two telephone calls to tech support people in India. They have, what seems, an infinite amount of patience when helping customers setup their equipment. As a consumer I am very grateful for their help and expertise. Globalization worked for me.

Cosmo and Sandy playing this morning

The chimney repair person is scheduled to come [again] tomorrow from Fort Kent and repair our metal chimney. I have to remove all the fire and coals from the stove so it is cold when he gets here. I’m sure it will be a big mess as pipe sections are removed, inspected and, if needed, repaired. Luckily we have a backup propane heater to keep the chill out of our home while our primary heat source is down for repairs.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage Pro weather station:

Temperature: 11.1° [F.]

Barometer: 30.249 & rising rapidly

Humidity: 70%

Wind: NW at 5 mph – very light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: 80-90% overcast

Precipitation: None

Precipitation yesterday: ca. 5 inches snow

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 10° [F.] at 7:00 am

High wind: 24 mph at 3: 16 am

Sunday, 9:40 am: It is overcast and not snowing, but it is cold enough that it’s a possibility. What, snow in northern Maine that cannot be, or can it? Well mincing words and fracturing English grammar aside; it’s gray out there.

Our new HughesNet satellite Internet service is fast, except during rain or snow fade. We finally gave up on any locally operated DSL or Broadband ISPs. Hughes, wherever they are located, now has our business. And the installer even showed up on time, and during a heavy rain installed the dish and mount, although not where we wanted it located. The weather did not deter him, and he did get very wet. So any blog you now read from this writer have been zapped into a stationary Earth orbit communications satellite and back; A cyberspace blog astronaut of sorts. If you use your imagination it might be, otherwise it’s just an assortment of vowels, consonants, punctuation, verbs and sentences, etc. rolling of my keyboard and into your monitor, much like my brain after way too much caffeine.

Smokie - my worst critic

We made it safely to the veterinarian’s office yesterday. We only took two of our dogs in our car, which was a handful once we go into the office. They don’t want to be there and head straight for the door at any opportunity. If it doesn’t involve sleeping, eating or playing they are not interested and preferably at home.

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

Temperature: 25.7° [F.]

Barometer: 30.289 & rising rapidly

Humidity: 57%

Wind: E at 2 mph

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: 80-90% overcast

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 25° [F.] at 8:06 am

High wind: 14 mph at 5:39 am

Friday, 9:45 am: We’ve had a lot of rain since yesterday; so far 1.30 inches, and it continues to rain. Depending on how you look at it; it’s not quite enough to swim in, and more than enough to be uncomfortable when we’re outside. Staying inside and baking cookies seems like a good option today.

While my wife is downstairs baking in the kitchen, I am sorting out our new satellite Internet setup. It’s been raining so hard that the signal drops out from “rain fade”. I hope doesn’t happen too often, and which means today’s blog sits in my computer waiting to be uploaded into cyberspace. We’ve been busy emailing friends and family our new email address, and resetting different permissions on our computers and security software. Technology, the Trojan Horse of the 21st Century; at least I hope not.

The NWS says all this rain should be turning into snow this evening with a possibility of several inches of accumulation here in the far north. Naturally we have a veterinarian appointment tomorrow morning, which, in my jaded view of life, means it will probably snow a lot, and continue to snow well into tomorrow. The dogs love it, but driving might be precarious. We let their office know we might have to cancel at the last moment. More confusion, more rain and maybe more snow.

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

Temperature: 40.2° [F.]

Barometer: 20.057 & falling rapidly

Humidity: 100%

Wind: NNE at 2 mph very light & variable

Visibility: < 1 mile

Skies: 100% overcast

Precipitation: .50 [½] inch – rain

Storm total since yesterday 1.30 inch – rain

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 39.1° [F.] at 3:39 am

High wind: 11 mph at 9:12 am

Tuesday, 12:30 pm: Another snowy day in mid-November. We met our neighbor riding his bicycle into town. One thing led to another; we gave him a lift and we ended up having tea and biscuits at our house. He is, after all, from the UK. He’s part of the small international contingent in the Saint John Valley, which is a bit disconcerting for a few local people who have never left this area.

I must digress before I get my fingers slapped for being too cheeky. I’ve been working on my weather station. The data is fine; it’s my webhost who changed the remote settings so I cannot update my online weather via my station’s software. What a headache! Eventually it will be sorted out. Luckily, data is still available via the Weather Underground and various APRS weather sites on the Internet.

Tonight is our monthly drive to Fort Kent for our radio club meeting. We’re, once again, hoping the streets will be clear and not covered in frozen slush. This is when we really depend on studded snow tires to do their job. I don’t really want to be found in the spring, thawing out in some roadside snow bank with a frozen Snicker’s bar in my pocket.

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

Temperature: 37.3° [F.]

Barometer: 29.672 & falling slowly

Humidity: 86%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: < 3 miles

Skies: 100% overcast

Precipitation: 1 inch snow

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 23.8° [F.] at midnight

High wind: 6 mph at 6:35 am

Sunday, 8:00 am: Brrr! It dropped into the high teens briefly this morning. In another month or two, the high teens will look like short-sleeve weather, but not just yet. For me, it is just cold. It’s time, once again, to unpack my long johns and other cold-weather clothing.

Extra points if you can guess what television sitcom this coffee shop exterior was used in - Photo contrbuted by Frank Ames

I was talking with my brother, Frank, on his cell phone Friday night. He was on a car ferry in the middle of Lake Champlain on his way home from work. Even the middle of a large lake in upstate New York has cell phone coverage, and is connected to the rest of the world. I imagine the bottom of the Grand Canyon now has cell coverage. I think wilderness is much less wild than what it was even a decade ago. No more signaling with mirrors and hoping for the best. We’re all tied to the same umbilical cord of technology.

Veterans Day already; some of my old Army buddies from Vietnam give me a call, or I call them. We’re all older, and a few have died since last year. In my mind’s eye I still see many of them as they looked when they were 19 or 20 years old. Unfortunately some never made it past 19 or 20. Hand Salute!

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

Temperature: 20.4° [F.]

Barometer: 30.132 & rising slowly

Humidity: 66%

Wind: WNW at 7 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Scattered cloudiness

Precipitation: Occasional light snow flurries – none measurable

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 19.9° [F.] at 6:57 am

High wind: 19 mph at 2:01 am

Thursday, 9:05 am: It’s overcast and cool and it seems very typical for November in northern Maine. Our drive to Bangor was delayed until yesterday, due to a scheduling glitch with our pet-sitter. It’s a four hour drive down, four hours amusing ourselves while our car is serviced, and a four hour drive back home. We did eat in a restaurant and do a little shopping for things that are unavailable up here. The last ca. 90 miles we drove in the dark, which is always a challenge looking out for moose and other things that go bump in the dark.

Monday's snow

I’ve installed additional memory for my computer. Now with two GB of RAM, computer multi-tasking seems more effortless. I have to admit, it was never a problem before, but my computer was never pushed to the limits of its capacity. Now it’s like a computer on vitamins, unlike its operator who is drinks Pepsi for his morning pick-me-up. Sugar and caffeine, ahh! Speaking of a pick-me-up, it probably time to bring in a few loads of firewood. It doesn’t look like it will warm up any time soon. We need to keep the chill outside and creature comforts inside.

Our wild birds have returned to our feeder, and the chill doesn’t deter their squabbling over who eats first and who’s higher up the well-established feathered pecking order. Except for the squirrels, it seems to be a pretty straightforward arrangement they have among themselves.

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

Temperature: 35.3° [F.]

Barometer: 30.100 & rising slowly

Humidity: 70%

Wind: WNW at 2 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: ca. 90% overcast

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 32.9° [F.] at 4:52 am

High wind: 10 mph at 9:02 am

Sunday, 8:45 am: It appears “Post-tropical Storm Noel” has brushed by us, last night and this morning, and deposited some post-tropical snow [see accompanying photos]. When we woke up this morning the wind was blowing and the outside looked like a blizzard. Yet, now as I write, the snow is melting. CBC Radio 1 has been keeping us informed about local conditions. After all, where we live is usually closer to most places in New Brunswick than locations farther south in Maine. So New Brunswick weather is our weather, except in my mind I have to convert from their metric measurements to something I can visualize in my mind. I’ve been getting better at mental conversion over the years. Normally I just cheat and use my pocket calculator.

Tomorrow is our long anticipated trip to Bangor for the day. We’re hoping the weather and roads will improve by tomorrow. Currently our road is covered in slush and snow and is rapidly turning into mud. Usually U.S. Highway One [Route 1] is clear, but driving out to the highway on a day like today can be problematic, not to mention messy.

Even our trusty dogs who normally relish any chance to romp around in our garden and get into mischief just want to snooze, and try and pilfer some cookies that might be left within their reach. Counter-surfing for snacks are their watch words.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 39.6° [F.]

Barometer: 29.329 & rising rapidly

Humidity: 100%

Wind: NW at 11 mph and variable

Visibility: ca. 1 mile

Skies: Generally overcast with occasional patches of blue

Precipitation: .75 [¾] inch snow

Precipitation yesterday: .68 inch rain

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 38.6° [F.] at 3:39 am

High wind: 24 mph at 6:34 am