SNOW DAY # 4

We got a whopping 0.75" of snow topped with a bit of sleet. More freezing rain to come making for icy roads and walkways. So, school is closed. I, for one, do not mind going to school into July if we have to. Better to be safe in wintertime.

Weekly Weather

Warm, cold, warm...but mostly average.

Pat Lammers' books

I seem to surround myself with friends who are authors! My sorta-neighbor and friend, Pat Lammers, has just self-published her second children's book, Parrot of the Sea, A Puffin. It has some poetry rhyming in it, and fabulous graphics by Ben Bishop (a graphic novel artist in Portland,) who also did the illustrations for her first book. It details the life of a puffin (and has a bit of info. about the devastation of the puffin population on Eastern Egg Rock, and Project Puffin, the attempt to bring the puffin population back to Eastern Egg Rock.)

The "Praying" Mantis, A Misnomer was Pat's first book. It details the life cycle of the praying mantis. It shows that the insect world is a violent predator-prey type of place...eat or be eaten! Fun book and fabulous art work!

You can purchase the books directly from Pat through her website.

Afternoon trek on Caesar Pond

Today, we went on a short sunset trek on Caesar Pond. The outdoor temp. was around 40F and the air was calm. The first thing I did was to tromp out a heart in the snow. It's tradition! What do you expect after 27 years of marriage;-)

I came across some animal prints down the trail to the pond and along the pond's edge. It looks like a came of cat and mouse!

There were a few inches of snow covering the ice, which made walking tolerable without too much slippage. I sported my YakTrax Diamond Grips on my boots to grip the ice. And, I had my bright orange Celsius Ice Escape Life Preserver with Steel Spikes. Probably overkill, but since I've got them I might as well go prepared as too many people have died on lakes this winter. The spikes are at the tips of the orange handles. If I fall through the ice, I can pull the handles apart and stab the spikes into the ice as I haul myself out. Easier said than done, I imagine. We have lots of springs on the pond, and the ice is thinner around them. I do tend to wander near the springs all season long in search of animal tracks and slide marks, so it can get a bit dicey at time.

The beaver lodge is active, and I am pleased to see that there are no traps around it this year, which of course is always subject to change.

I love the sky colors at sunset, especially when there are a few clouds present. 

The thin crescent moon will set a few hours after the sun.

Earthquake mag 2.6 at 6:46 pm

We experienced a 2.6 magnitude earthquake at 6:46 pm. At first we thought that a tree may have fallen. The sound was also similar to a large amount of snow cascading off a roof. The house shook and then it was over, very quick and minimal. 

Back in Oct. 16, 2012, we felt a much bigger quake at a magnitude 4.7, that sounded like a freight train rumbling down the road. That one caused our house to shake, fixtures to sway, and was extremely scary. It was located in southern Maine , 6km WSW of Hollis Center, inland from West Scarborough, and was felt along a fault line much farther north.

Here is information about earthquakes from the Maine USGS website:

Earthquakes in New England

People in New England, and in its geological extension southward through Long Island, have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones since colonial times. Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the region every few decades, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly twice a year. The Boston area was damaged three times within 28 years in the middle 1700's, and New York City was damaged in 1737 and 1884. The largest known New England earthquakes occurred in 1638 (magnitude 6.5) in Vermont or New Hampshire, and in 1755 (magnitude 5.8) offshore from Cape Ann northeast of Boston. The Cape Ann earthquake caused severe damage to the Boston waterfront. The most recent New England earthquake to cause moderate damage occurred in 1940 (magnitude 5.6) in central New Hampshire.
Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

Faults

Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep, although some New England earthquakes occur at shallower depths. Most of New England's and Long Island's bedrock was assembled as continents collided to form a supercontinent 500-300 million years ago, raising the northern Appalachian Mountains. The rest of the bedrock formed when the supercontinent rifted apart 200 million years ago to form what are now the northeastern U.S., the Atlantic Ocean, and Europe.

At well-studied plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault system in California, often scientists can determine the name of the specific fault that is responsible for an earthquake. In contrast, east of the Rocky Mountains this is rarely the case. New England and Long Island are far from the nearest plate boundaries, which are in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. New England is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected. Even the known faults are poorly located at the depths of most earthquakes. Accordingly, few, if any, earthquakes in New England can be linked to named faults. It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. As in most other areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards in New England and Long Island is the earthquakes themselves.

SNOW DAY # 3

Snow Total thus far this winter: 43.5"
Yahoo! I could always use a snow day.  We got 4.5 " from this storm!

Weekly Weather

Cold, warm, cold, warm...UGH...We need cold and snow to stay for at least 8 more weeks!

This next week of strange weather

We cannot catch a break. It has either been blizzarding outside or so extremely cold that we haven't been able to get out onto the pond to play. Now, check out this new week's weather with super warm temps and rain! BIZARRE! We might just have to move further north to enjoy more seasonal winter weather;-) It looks like Monday will be our only day to play and still have nice fluffy snow, before the surface melts and gets icy. Winters in Maine are not what they used to be, even in the last 17 years!

Mt. Washington Weather

Mt. Washington weather is way too harsh for the likes of me;-)

Geesh! We think we have it cold with our puny -24F windchill!

Final update on winter storm Grayson

Anemic stream of snow from snow thrower due to the incredible density of the snow.

We ended up getting around 9 inches of snow from this storm. The snow was difficult to measure due to the high winds.

Winter Storm Grayson - Blizzard Conditions + SNOW DAY # 2

Well, the blizzard is upon us. I like zooming out to see a bit of the circular motion to the storm as it picks up "fuel" from the ocean.

At 2:30 pm, we have 6.25 inches of snow. I cleared the snow table off and will measure the snow again at 9pm, or whenever the snow stops. We are now in a 12-18" range for snow, although we really don't seem to be accumulating much snow on an hour by hour basis, so I don't think we'll get near the 12 inch minimum we have sorta been promised. 

But, the snowflakes are ganging up on us, nonetheless. And, they sting like crazy as they slam into our exposed skin!

A Maine Poem (author unknown)

This poem sums up winter thus far. I wish I knew who the author was!

Tiny Bubbles and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! I decided to celebrate the beginning of 2018 with the creation of frozen soap bubbles! Soap bubbles freeze at -11F.  Here is a link to the video I took in 2014 on the old Maine Nature Diary on Tumblr.

I went outside at 7am when the temp. was in the vicinity of -11F (our outdoor thermometer does not read properly and said it was -9.3F, but Drew figured that it was colder than that as Weather.com said it was -16F)

A few of the bubbles landed on the railing and froze in place there!

Here you see a freshly blown soap bubble starting to crystallize.

I waited for about an hour before going outdoors to continue the photography. I wanted the early morning sunlight to be shining on the bubbles, and I needed them to begin their deconstruction. It was about -5F when I started the second photo session.

Here is an amazing crystal goblet!

This crystal bowl is more ornate than the finest blown glass! Note:This was the triple bubble you saw in photo # 1. 
P.S. The next time I think I'll try to take video of the bubbles deconstructing over several hours' time.

New Year Resolutions and Adventures

I'm not too good with resolutions, but I do want to be more adventurous in my life. Besides losing 16 pounds by next Dec. 30th, here is my list for 2018 (it is the same as it was for 2017 as I never did anything on the list except for # 9.)

New Year Resolutions and Adventures

1. Sequin Island with Ethan DeBery. Gulls nest on the island and young gulls can be seen in nests in early to mid July.
2. River Run Tours - Around Bath, Arrowsic, Georgetown (through July 28th)
3. Machias Seal Island - Book island reservation and Bold Coast Charter reservation in February (go in late July/early August when seas are “calmer.”)
4. Maine Maritime Museum Lighthouse and Nature Cruises (go through October 29th)
5. Cap’n Fish’s Puffin/Whale Combo Cruise to Eastern Egg Rock - from Boothbay Harbor Pier 1. Check out Audubon Project Puffin.  (Through October 19th)
6. Whale Watching - Odyssey Whale Watching Tour (Portland.)
7. Monhegan Island - Monhegan Boat Line out of Port Clyde / Hardy Boat Cruises out of New Harbor
8. Casco Bay Lines - Cruises and Tours
9. Maine Mineral and Gem Museum - Bethel CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE IN MARCH FOR THE OPENING OF THE NEW MUSEUM!!!
10. Corey Walker’s boat - The Sea Walker - Freeport Harbor - Harbor Seals at low tide.
11. Oh yeah...Shannon says "Go To The Beach!"... Um...that might not happen until the next solstice when the weather is cooler;-)
12. Use the underwater Apeman camera at the beach.
13. Start writing poetry again.
14. More family time outdoors.