Thursday, 9:05 am: The last day of the month, my last blog of the month. That sounds ominous. And it must be Thursday which is; "talk to the family back in Deutschland day". All is well in downtown Europe. As for here, breakfast is finished and I am just waiting for the dew on the ground to evaporate so I can get outside and clear more brush and weeds. I don't mind getting dirty, but I really don't like to get wet and dirty. I'll leave that to people who enjoy a fine layer of mud and sweat.

Our dogs: Bobbi, Sandy, Kato and Cosmo

This year, July, has been unusually wet. Even yesterday when mowing the lawn, I had go leave parts uncut due to the ground being saturated. It's great for the garden: Ruth's vegetables are growing so quickly that weeds are having a difficult time getting started this year. Little no see 'um bugs are everywhere and enjoy a quick bite of lunch [us], buffet style, when we are busy working outdoors.

For Stephan: This is our mower in a posed action shot

Yesterday we had Michigan hotdogs for dinner, which I first had in Plattsburgh in upstate New York. They probably don't even have, or eat them in Michigan. It's your basic hotdog on a bun but with a Sloppy Joe type of concoction spread over the top of the hotdog. It's genuinely messy to eat, but really good with diced onions buried in the sauce. Some opinions vary about the sauce on the top, but it's close enough for me, because I can make it from a packaged mix or out of a can and a pound of browned and drained ground beef. My brother and sister-in-law first introduced them to me and the rest is fast-food gourmet history. I was hooked. My taste buds have been blemished - again.

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

Temperature: 66.8° [F.]

Barometer: 29.706 & steady

Humidity: 100%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Scattered cloudiness

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Temperature: 59.3° [F.] at 12:54 am

High wind: 2 mph at 8:47 am

Saturday, 10:15 am: There are a few free minutes to write a blog for today. Shortly it is off to the garden and cut the lawn and an assortment of other green-thumb chores. No wind, no rain and no excuses for today. At least that's what I tell myself to stay motivated.

Can you believe, Mick Jagger, or should I say, "Sir" Mick turned 65. He's a senior citizen! If he were American he could sign-up for Medicare. Possibly his upcoming concerts will be heavily laced with the next generation of drugs; aspirin and Advil. I don't think he's eyeing, at least anytime soon, the newest assortment of walkers and canes. It's difficult to strut across a stage holding a microphone and guiding a walker. Maybe he should call the Scooter Store and rock on at two mph. My discalimer; I'm sure they go faster than that.

The front lawn

Meanwhile back at the ol' homestead; all is well. Household chores continue unabated. The garden is flourishing. Ruth is doing a few Sudoku puzzles before she heads outside. I can never figure those out. That's it for today's tasty blend of mental ruminations. Here's some weather, after all that's what this is supposed to be about:

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

Temperature: 75° [F.]

Barometer: 29.923 & falling slowly

Humidity: 72%

Wind: SSW at 2 mph # light and variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Generally clear with light haze

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 61.9° [F.] at 5:01 am

High wind: 12 mph at 2:36 am

Tuesday, 10:30 am: Yesterday - what a day! It rained 1.89 inches. Oddly, though, throughout the day it was dry and reasonably pleasant, and we were able to drive into Madawaska to buy a few provisions and barbecue on our charcoal grill. All of the rain fell during the early morning hours before sunrise and again in the evening. With so much rain our ground [and lawn] is saturated and squishy when we walk on it. Other towns in our area had similar amounts with minor flooding reported in Keegan which is part of Van Buren.

The following is from the NWS in Caribou:

Keegan 3.10" 814 am 7/22 public
Van Buren 2.86" 817 am 7/22 coop
Van Buren 2.45" 543 am 7/22 spotter
Caribou WFO 2.03" 838 am 7/22 NWS office
Lille 1.89" 818 am 7/22 24 hour total spotter [this location]
Limestone 1.72" 749 am 7/22 automated station
Lille 1.65" 734 am 7/22 spotter
Washburn 1.23" 817 am 7/22 NWS employee
Portage 1.22" 748 am 7/22 spotter
Fort Kent 0.40" 543 am 7/22 coop

If you think that is information over-kill, the reader should click here if they want to view more weather information [than they care to know about] from the writer's location. I am not certain why the NWS in Missoula Montana collects data from private weather stations in rural Maine and compiles the data in Montana. I think some meteorologist there has a pet research project, or too much free time - a bit of both is suspected. Evidently I have too much free time.

The vegetable garden is coming along fine. A few of the smallest plants were washed away yesterday. Luckily they were only a very small percent of the total; the others are thriving. Unless I guess wrong; we will be eating lots of tomatoes, potatoes beans, peas and squash in the fall. Some of the tomatoes will be turned into salsa. Ruth is gardening organic again this year, which translates into more work for her. I leave that endeavor to her. My motto, like some big corporation is, Better living through chemistry. I am not glowing in the dark yet and I haven't sprouted additional appendages, and when I'm planted in the ground I'll decompose slower. Ah additives, my shelf-life is extended!

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

Temperature: 68.5° [F.]

Barometer: 30.013 and steady

Humidity: 96%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: 100% low overcast

Precipitation: .17 inch - rain total since yesterday 2.05 inches

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 64° [F] at 12:23 am

High wind: 7 mph at 12:01 am

Saturday, 9:10 am: A nice foggy Saturday morning. Earlier the visibility was just a few hundred feet. Not being too inclined to work in the mist I opted, without much coaxing, to stay indoors and type today's blog. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and listened to CBC Radio One and their Mystery Vocalist Contest. Today's contest was mystery cowbells in songs. Even if I knew any of the answers I couldn't call in, because their 800 number doesn't doesn't apply to this side of the border. NAFTA doesn't work with toll-free telephone numbers, only trade issues.
 
An assortment of rabbits were in our backyard this morning nibbling on our lawn. They view our lawn as their buffet, which is okay with us; we just have to keep our dogs inside until they finish eating and squeeze their way back outside the gate. Rabbits and dogs don't mix well and one usually ends up losing. Although, I admit, our dogs might get chased by the rabbits.
 

The cartoon version of this blogger - enjoying life

The "on again-off again" cell phone tower in Grand Isle is now "off again". For better or worse; sometime in the 21st Century we'll catch up to 20th Century technology; which I am not certain is actually catching up. Eventually the Digital Age will make more inroads up here, but will we all live to benefit from it? The status quo is apparently important.
 
Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:
 
Temperature: 65.5° [F.]
 
Barometer: 29.859 & steady
 
Humidity: 100%
 
Wind: Calm
 
Visibility: ca. 1 mile
 
Skies: Dissipating ground fog
 
Precipitation: None
 
Since midnight:
 
Low temp: 59.5° [F.] at 12:44 am
 
High wind: 2 mph at 8:14 am

Saturday, 8:30 am: As always, we are busy these days. Ruth has been harvesting our strawberries and turning them into tasty desserts [see photo below]. Admittedly I steal several when she isn't looking. Although stained red fingers give me away.

mmmmm!

When we were in Bangor I bought a CD of the rock opera Tommy by The Who. Not to make me feel older then I am; the clerk proudly said her father likes them too. Soon, I suspect, it will be their grandfathers' musical choice. My Grecian Formula must not be working as planned. So natural, only my hair dresser [if I had one] knows for sure.

The lawn is cut and all is in order, so I hope it can be a day of loafing about. These days with gas prices high we try and stay close to home. For the first time, in my memory, we filled up with gas in Augusta, on Wednesday, and it cost just over $50.00. Ouch! I'll try and not reminisce about the good old days when it cost much, much less to fill up; and that wasn't too many years ago.

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

Temperature: 61.8 [F.]

Barometer: 30.133 & steady

Humidity: 89%

Wind: NNW at 1 mph # very light and variable

Visibility: Unlimited

Precipitation: None

Skies: Clear

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 46.6 [F.]

High wind: 2 mph at 8:23 am

Tuesday, 7:30 am: July is here and the wood is stacked, so life must be good. The lawn is growing so quickly that I am on a three to four day cutting cycle. Most of the brush clearing is done for this summer; although a few places need to be tidied up. I have a set of really funky old work clothes set aside, that reek of insect repellent, for this work. The bugs stay away, more or less. I have to take them off in the mud room before I can come inside the house, but they are great for dirty work.

Ruth is downstairs taking care of our correspondence. She is a whiz with the calculator, sorting out bills and balancing our check book. Someone has got to do it, and her skills far out pace my mathematical skills, not to mention my usual lack of interest in such things. She needs to be awarded the Super Wife Medal with "V" device for valor.

Tomorrow we drive down to Bangor and Augusta for an overnight stay. There are no appointments or time constraints on this trip, so we can sleep late and stop and do some sightseeing along the way. I have to get used to driving in traffic again. Even driving on I-95, the traffic never really picks up until just north of Bangor. It is, after all, the Other Maine, or are we in the Other Maine? I can't remember.

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

Temperature: 64.4 [F.]

Barometer: 29.875 & steady

Humidity: 95%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: ca. 3 miles

Skies: Haze

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 58.1 [F.] at 3:30 am

High wind: 2 mph at 7:32 am

Wednesday, 8:00 am*: Another remarkable week, with lots of rain. Any outdoor activity ground to a halt. The last four days of June we had more than two inches of rain: For the entire month we had 4.72 inches. Fortunately, the past three days we were drying out and seemingly we are now back to normal -- whatever that's supposed to be. Rainy days are good days to be lazy.

Our garden mouser

My brother an I have been telephoning each other with television trivia questions. We try and outdo each other with obscure questions from sitcoms that we like. Generally we are both pretty good at it and can stump each other almost daily. I prefer the stereotypical ne'er-do-well, American family, the Bundy's in Married With Children, and the equally misunderstood and possibly great anti-hero, Al Bundy. I hope life in Chicago isn't really like that. However, my philosophical alter-ego is Wile E. Coyote, who, with dogged determination, pursues the Roadrunner. I try not to run over cliffs, or into cleverly disguised boulders painted to resemble tunnels. At the end of the day Wile, who, stoically, takes it all in stride, picks up his lunch pail, punches out and goes home.

And our swallow

A belated* "Happy Canada Day" to our Canadian friends across the Saint John River. Being an aging weather blogger I almost forgot about it. It's time to run and wash off insect repellent before my skin emulsifies and turns to goo. What all of this has to do with weather is beyond me.

*Note: I wrote this on July 1, but I couldn't upload this to the MaineToday.com server until July 3. The weather values are correct for July 2, 2008.

Wednesday's values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 59.9 [F.]

Barometer: 29.941 and steady

Humidity: 87%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Partial overcast

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 45.6 [F.] at 4:42 am

High wind: 2 mph at 7:37 am