Winter is Here

May not be the Dec 21 but winter has arrived for sure . We just had 16 inches of snow and lost power for 16 hrs. also . The 110 was down for 24 hrs. was back up and running this morning . I had to light the wood stove for a bit last night . I just might get an old hand fed to use during these outages . I took a picture from our kitchen window if I can figure out how to get it uploaded .

ahhh, Maine, thanks Hcarlow. I needed to see what it looks like. Thats all I needed, to see it!

Kevin

Are we experiencing another non-winter?

How fast things change...

Things do change in a hurry for sure . I have about 500 ft. of driveway so it took some time to clean it all up.

We got just a tad amount here.

Rain, then snow, rain, then snow, rain, then snow...kind of a weird storm for us, but I liked it. I have some wood to cut and my little tractor does not do so well in deep snow. Right now I would just prefer the ground froze. Out in the woods it is nothing but a quagmire and a lot of places I can't get to.

Real nice hcarlo, last night we had a couple inches on the ground & I was a happy camper lookin fwd to this AM--welll, it changed to torrential rain at some point. What I can see of the lower pasture is a swimmimg pool & I can hear the creek roaring--accuweather is still saying snow, snow,snow--NS, nobodies been in the woods for a week here AND, the old Hitzer just keeps purring along.

No snow here, but we are supposed to get blasted with wind today and be down to almost zero by Xmas Eve.

freetown fred wrote:NS, nobodies been in the woods for a week here AND, the old Hitzer just keeps purring along.

I have a neighbor who is clear cutting his wood lot and we went an marked our property lines where he is cutting and had a talk with him. He is a good guy and we have nothing to worry about, but he has to cross a swamp to get to his wood yard and man is it ever muddy.

Yesterday I cut a few spruce logs for my house...just putting up some beams after I remove a few walls, and lost the whole front end of my tractor in a hole that resembled quick-sand. I did not use the term "quagmire" in my first reply loosely. It took rolling myself out of the hole with my bucket to get out of there and I had chains on and four wheel drive!

In order for my bills to be paid, I must cut 1 load of wood per month and it is getting close to the end of the month and with Holidays arriving, and the delay of getting the check from the paper mill to my hands; I have to get in the woods soon.

BTW: A few years ago we planned on bulldozing a road all around our property lines to delineate what was ours, and what was other landowners, but now that everyone of our neighbors has clear cut their property, we don't have to. Our little island of wood is pretty obvious!

That's a shame to see all that clear cutting compared to a nice alpha cut.

We are getting some freezing rain now , can't take very much as the trees keep falling on the power lines and taking out the power all over this area . Just went down and got some more diesel fuel for the tractor and gas for the generator just in case . Rob and Fred , the cold weather you will be getting is heading our way also . Oh well the people who snow mobile and ski will love it , I used too . The weather pattern here in Maine has really changed over the years, as a kid I can remember always being able to ice skate on the streams at Thanksgiving and they still aren't safe yet . That's ok with me , I'll take the shorter winters .

I got 14 inches of snow from the past storm and supposed to get a mixed bag tonite with snow and freezing rain. Should be good enough by Sunday to go out with my boys and snowmobile on the farm! They've been "chomping" at the bit to go!

The last time I went snowmobiling in the County I was arrested by the Border Patrol; that sucked!

This was a few years ago, but you had got 40 inches of snow up there, then the rain came and washed most of it out, then there was a freeze up and that was when I went. With all that rain, the water pooled at the low points in the trail and all was fine until I came down from Van Buren towards Fort Fairfield. I should have known that nothing good would come of that because for my family it seems very bad things happen in that town; the twins broke through the ice at 5 years old and drowned, there was a murder-suicide in the family, and I pretty near got a free prostate exam by the Border Patrol in accordance to their duties, but I am getting ahead of myself...

Anyway as I was coming down the Border Trail where literally the left side of the trail is in Canada, and the right side is in the United States I came down this hill to face an incredible pond of water at the bottom. Having a new sled (Yamaha Vector) I was not about to let a little aqua stop me, so I figured if I went to the left side and skimmed the open water I would be fine. I was doing pretty good until I hit a submerged log, left off the throttle and sunk.

So there I was, waist deep in water, riding alone, in the middle of the week in the pouring rain. I waited an hour underneath a fir tree but figuring I was the only one dumb enough to ride in such weather, I started hiking south.

I was soaked to the bone, completely exhausted and pretty upset when I finally saw the flag flying in the distance: it was the Border Patrol Station at Fort Fairfield. Thinking quick, I pushed the door open and said, "Man am I having a bad F-ing day."

Well apparently they had not anticipated anyone kicking their door open completely dressed in a soaked snowmobile suit and they were rather shocked, so they grabbed me, threw me in a detention area and questioned me pretty hard what I was doing and where I was coming from. It took awhile, but they finally let me call up my friend who is the Secretary in Caribou at the school there and she came over and picked me up. She took me back to her house and later on that night, her husband and I rode out and got my sled unstuck. It was actually dangerous riding home as the ice was breaking up and in numerous places we had to jump out sleds over open water to get home.

That was just in time to find out my Pregnant wife at the time nearly lost the baby and had to be on bed-rest for the next 5 months, but the rain-turned-ice-storm kept me from going home (4 hours away). It was actually years before I had the courage to go up there again even though I have a pile of family up there. I did take my new wife up to Caribou this past spring and it went well, so maybe it is time to return with the sleds? On second thought...maybe not!

NoSmoke wrote:The last time I went snowmobiling in the County I was arrested by the Border Patrol; that sucked!

This was a few years ago, but you had got 40 inches of snow up there, then the rain came and washed most of it out, then there was a freeze up and that was when I went. With all that rain, the water pooled at the low points in the trail and all was fine until I came down from Van Buren towards Fort Fairfield. I should have known that nothing good would come of that because for my family it seems very bad things happen in that town; the twins broke through the ice at 5 years old and drowned, there was a murder-suicide in the family, and I pretty near got a free prostate exam by the Border Patrol in accordance to their duties, but I am getting ahead of myself...

Anyway as I was coming down the Border Trail where literally the left side of the trail is in Canada, and the right side is in the United States I came down this hill to face an incredible pond of water at the bottom. Having a new sled (Yamaha Vector) I was not about to let a little aqua stop me, so I figured if I went to the left side and skimmed the open water I would be fine. I was doing pretty good until I hit a submerged log, left off the throttle and sunk.

So there I was, waist deep in water, riding alone, in the middle of the week in the pouring rain. I waited an hour underneath a fir tree but figuring I was the only one dumb enough to ride in such weather, I started hiking south.

I was soaked to the bone, completely exhausted and pretty upset when I finally saw the flag flying in the distance: it was the Border Patrol Station at Fort Fairfield. Thinking quick, I pushed the door open and said, "Man am I having a bad F-ing day."

Well apparently they had not anticipated anyone kicking their door open completely dressed in a soaked snowmobile suit and they were rather shocked, so they grabbed me, threw me in a detention area and questioned me pretty hard what I was doing and where I was coming from. It took awhile, but they finally let me call up my friend who is the Secretary in Caribou at the school there and she came over and picked me up. She took me back to her house and later on that night, her husband and I rode out and got my sled unstuck. It was actually dangerous riding home as the ice was breaking up and in numerous places we had to jump out sleds over open water to get home.

That was just in time to find out my Pregnant wife at the time nearly lost the baby and had to be on bed-rest for the next 5 months, but the rain-turned-ice-storm kept me from going home (4 hours away). It was actually years before I had the courage to go up there again even though I have a pile of family up there. I did take my new wife up to Caribou this past spring and it went well, so maybe it is time to return with the sleds? On second thought...maybe not!

PLEASE RETURN...don't let B.P. deter you...they've settled down a bit since they have gotten to know the area! If you up this way...let me know!

My wife and I like to go into old buildings and check them out. I know technically it is "trespassing" but we have one rule: leave only footprints and take only photographs. I don't drink, smoke, and have never tried drugs, so if this is the only vice we have, I guess it is not a "bad" one.

While we were up there last Spring we looked at the Old Birdseye Factory in Caribou and we could not help ourselves, we had to go in. They were in the process of demolishing it, but we spent a few hours there checking that place out. That was pretty neat and we took a lot of photos while we were there.