Sunday, 9:35 am: It’s still spring, and, not surprisingly, my wife is busy downstairs starting spring-cleaning. I’ve moved out of her way to the safety of my upstairs office. She takes cleaning very serious. One of us has to do it and better her than me, particularly when she’s using pungent spray-on oven cleaner – Phew! Two dogs, two birds and myself are sitting behind closed doors with the window open.

I’ve been writing a weather blog since December, 2005 and I wonder if there are actually professional bloggers, since, by its nature, it is a gratis effort done by amateurs like myself with an opinion and something to say. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with access to a computer and the Internet can write a blog and have it posted somewhere online. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s actually being read, just that it’s out there in cyberspace. Nevertheless, bloggers persevere in our efforts to connect the world. I would like to write controversial social commentary and biting satire, but eventually half my readers would hate it and the other half might like it. It would certainly stir things up being a guerilla-like blogger. What would Erma Bombeck have done?

Having digressed long enough, I need to get back on the trail and into weather again; after all it’s what this is supposed to be about. Dang those social constraints of middle-age. Let’s see now; I didn’t offend anyone, or use profanities, and I’ve used just enough words to form a complete series of unrelated thoughts. So, I think, today’s effort is okay and my stealthy neural synapses are in working order.

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

Temperature: 38.7° [F.]

Barometer: 30.274 & steady

Humidity: 63%

Wind: 3 mph – occasional light breeze

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Scattered high cloudiness

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 25.7° [F.] at 4:04 am

High wind: 5 mph at 8:34 am

Wednesday, 4:15 pm: Better late then never. The day is relatively warm, the snow is still melting, and I am inside pecking away on my computer hoping to find enough consonants, syllables and vowels to write something that is vaguely coherent. Let’s hope my artesian well of gab doesn’t dry up before I finish this effort.

Ruth's first Crocus plant blooming this week

We drove over to Edmundston, New Brunswick today, and to my surprise they have a new Wendy’s restaurant. That saves a trip to Bangor for fast food that I enjoy. Food is after all, just a matter of taste [of course] and my taste is very eclectic. My brother and I can spend ten or twenty minutes on the telephone comparing fried chicken or Mexican food; and the virtues of Maine Mexican food vs. New York Mexican food vs. Arizona Mexican food. The latter usually wins without too much disagreement – sorry New York and Maine.

Looking across the St. John River into Canada

Those naughty coyotes were out last night howling and generally enjoying themselves and annoying our dogs. The dogs wanted, in the worse way, to go out and have a good time too, or chase them away. Eventually the coyotes quieted down and our dogs lost interest. It also helps to distract them with doggie treats. We couldn’t tell where the coyotes were at because the fog was so thick we couldn’t see to the road. This morning a Pileated Woodpecker was outside on a telephone pole by our house. He didn’t stay long enough to get a picture, possibly I was too slow. That can't be, can it?

U.S. Route 1 covered in fog and rain in Grand Isle

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

Temperature: 54.3° [F.]

Barometer: 29.989 & falling slowly

Wind: 3 mph – very light & variable

Humidity: 59%

Visibility: ca. 3 miles

Skies: variable cloudiness – early morning thick fog

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 40.5° [F.] at 5:43 am

High Temperature: 60.8° [F.] at 1:59 pm

High wind: 10 mph at 4:12 pm

One of our trees starting to bud

Sunday: 8:15 am: We are about two-thirds of the way through April and here in Terra Incognita [a.k.a. northern Maine] most of the snow has melted. At our snow stake it is barely covering one inch. Of course the snow banks are still quite high. I had to adjust the gate on our fence because one of our dogs, Sandy, managed to wiggle her way under it and have a great adventure in the woods and come home covered in mud. Then again, I was covered in mud going to get her back home.

This season's first robin by our window

The NWS is still warning about the possibility of flooding along the Aroostook River. Ice-jams are working their way downstream and causing the river to overflow its banks. Closer to home, at the moment, the Saint John River doesn’t seem to have any built-up ice, just chunks of it floating by. But that is here in Grand Isle; maybe further downstream the situation is different and maybe upstream it hasn’t broken loose yet.

It is also warm enough now that we have our windows open throughout the day and I’ve packed away my longjohns. We’ve also exchanged our snow tires for our summer tires. Now that we’ve done this I’m sure we will have a last minute spring snow storm and throw a wrench into the whole mess. Ah, April, April macht was er will! Pardon my French, but it’s German. Now it’s time to put on a CD and rock my world. Ciao.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage Pro:

Temperature: 39° [F.]

Barometer: 30.310 & rising slowly

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Scattered high cloudiness

Precipitation: None

Since midnight

Low temperature: 30.8° [F.] at 5:54 am

High wind: 10 mph at 8:30 am

Sunday, noon: We arrived safely home yesterday afternoon. It was almost short-sleeve weather in Bangor and Augusta. I momentarily forgot I have short-sleeve shirts. And I forgot what automobile traffic was all about. We survived, minus a few dollars in our wallets and credit cards. I scooped up some DVDs that were on sale at Border’s Books.

On I-95, southbound, just north of Medway - photo by Ruth

Deer warning signs were up in large numbers on Interstate 95 between Houlton and Bangor. We lost count trying to keep up with all the deer that were browsing along side the road. Two bounded out in front of our car and into the heavily wooded median. Almost all were young deer recently kicked out by their mothers. Except for dodging wildlife on the highway the drive down and back went without any hitches.

Penobscot River from I-95, northbound - photo by Ruth

I recently read an astronomy-related blog “Our Ultimate Demise” from a good friend and fellow traveler and amateur astronomer. In previous years we shared many Hardy Boy-like adventures. Astronomy and cosmology were always good topics for discussion. Stephan has kept the faith and has taken the longer view and a closer look at the universe. Only two billions years left. That’s a lot of annual subscriptions to Astronomy magazine. I’m still trying to think through dark matter and event horizons.

Yesterday, Sandy howling with local coyotes

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

Temperature: 33.7° [F.] *

Barometer: 29.480 & steady

Humidity: 84%

Wind: NNW at 1 mph – light & variable

Visibility: < 3 miles

Skies: Overcast

Precipitation: ca. 2 inches – snow

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 31.4° [F.]* at 8:07 am

High wind: 8 mph at 11:45 am

* Temperature sensor is being recalibrated; actual temperature might be off +/- 3 degrees [F.] until recalibration is complete.

Thursday, 9:40 am: A subdued fanfare please – mud season is here, yet we still have about 20 inches of snow which is rapidly melting. Mud and snow sounds like an out-of-print gloomy Russian novel, but it’s the Saint John Valley.

On Route 1 north of Caribou

Tomorrow we load up the car and drive to Bangor and Augusta for two days of R and R. We will probably look like a pair of hayseeds with dried mud on our pants, and with frequent stops to gawk at “big city” attractions. Well it’s big compared to here. I’ll try not to act like the perennial butt of amazement, Gomer Pyle; probably more like Barney Fife.

I’ll turn 58 at the end this month. I think I am too old to look for new role models, and quite possibly I am supposed to be a role model. Let’s hope not for their sake. My diet is going well, I’ve lost 17 pounds. The diet food I eat makes me want to gag after awhile, but I persevere. The picture on the boxes of food look great, but what looks good isn’t necessarily intertwined with tasting good. I am back to my weight when I was 20 years old, before I got malaria in Vietnam.

One of my dedicated readers, Janos, in New Zealand has gone online with a new weather station. You can view his data on Weather Underground. They are in autumn now.

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

Temperature: 43.6° [F.]

Barometer: 29.78 & falling slowly

Humidity: 60%

Wind: SSW at 3 mph – light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Overcast

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 34.7° [F.] at 5:10 am

High wind: 17 mph at 9:37 am

Saturday 10:45 am: Here we are about a week, or so, into spring and it’s snowing, or is it raining; we’ve got a bit of both. Sometimes it’s too confusing. The NWS in Caribou called this morning to update my information with them. The weather worker on the other end said it was raining there. At the moment the Saint John River isn’t flooding.

Myself and Sandy, our escape artist, bringing in firewood - she supervised

This morning was the first time in months that we saw our first Red-winged Blackbirds at our feeder. Weather sometimes changes rapidly up here, or it changes so slowly that it is undetectable. Two of our dogs finally realized they could walk over our fence and into the woods. So yesterday Ruth and I were busily shoveling snow away from our fence to keep our dogs inside our yard. A few times I broke through the snow and ice up to my waist. It’s only taken them all winter and into spring to solve that problem. We thought they would have figured it out months ago. Our other two dogs have no sense of daring and are quite happy to sit back and let the others take the risk. For today, all is secure.

Although it is snowing [and raining], and we have plenty of snow on the ground, it is quickly turning to slush. The weather forecast from yesterday stated to expect “Slush to four inches of snow.” I like snow and cold and usually we have lots of it, but whatever we have today, it is messy. Mud season is just around the corner.

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

Temperature: 38° [F.]

Barometer: 29.928 & rising slowly

Humidity: 86%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: < ½ mile

Skies: low overcast – snowing & raining

Precipitation: ca. 1 inch snow – currently rain and snow mixed

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 34° [F.] at 4:01 am

High wind: 7 mph at 10:33 am