Digging Out!

When sitting down to begin this blog, I was deciding on an appropriate title and more than a few came to mind ...

"Three Bull Moose"

"Moving Wood"

"Wood vs. Propane"

"This sucks!"

... as we have had lots of excitement these past few days.

Friday morning started out with a phone call from the UPS computer lady letting me know that I should be expecting a package and would have to sign for it ... delivery would be sometime between 8am and 7 pm. Now who would send me a package at 'The Moose River Store' and expect me to be there to sign for it? So, I called the store and spoke to a very nice lady who said she would be happy to sign for it ... of course I would now have to buy something more than the usual newspaper when I went for the pick up to ensure that future packages would arrive safely. That afternoon, I headed to Greenville, in the opposite direction of The Moose River Store, as I had to send a fax ... luckily we have two places within a sixty mile radius of the house that have a public fax machine. Fax on its way and new ($25) bird feeder in hand, I stopped to pick up Garrick from school, in order to save him a walk home in the frigid temperature, and headed north to collect my parcel. Just as we drove past the entrance to our road, we passed an area of clear cut (recently harvested by the loggers) and glanced over to see three bull moose all grazing in the snow! Obviously, they know hunting season is over. I wanted to stop to take a picture but had nowhere to pull over as the snow plow had mounded all the snow on the shoulder and there was a car approaching quickly on my tail. I promised I would get one on the way back if they were still there. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived in Rockwood to not one package but three. (The other two were sent by someone realizing that I probably wouldn't be at 'The Moose River Store' from 8am to 7 pm every day!) So, after loading the packages into the trunk, I went back in for my obligatory purchase ... two six packs of beer costing me a mere $18.22! Finally on our way home now, we again passed the moose and ... someone was on my tail. So I ended up turning around again and going back a third time for my picture. By this time it had gotten a bit darker and the moose had moved further back toward the woods. As you can see, while I finally did get the picture, it isn't that great.

Though we thought the temperatures on Friday were chilly, Saturday was to be even colder. When I rolled out of bed at 8 am, it was a toasty 24 C below zero (-11 F). We never did see -15 C (5 F) that day. Our timing wasn't good as our wood supply on the deck had just run out and it was time once again to 'move the wood'! Worse yet, the pile that needed to be moved was frozen ... frozen to the tarp, frozen to the other wood, and frozen to the ground. I guess I should have forked over the $15 for a new tarp for that pile ... instead I salvaged a 'gently used' one with a few minor holes, all in the wrong places! Needless to say, it took more than a few hours to move firewood that will provide us with about 12 days of heat. And ... it gets better ... when we brought the wood inside, it needed to be thawed in front of the woodstove before we could actually use it. You can imagine the mess ... puddles of water everywhere soiled with leaves, dirt, and debris. Just a small side note ... Paul and Jack, our-ever-so wise contractor, warned many times against the installation of a woodstove. If I remember correctly, their two biggest concerns were (1) the amount of work associated with cutting, chopping, and moving the wood and, (2) the dirt. They told me that propane was the way to go ... you turn it on with the flip of a switch and no mess. Those warnings went unheeded by me, unfortunately. By Sunday morning, I had come up with Plan B: we would lug the wood into the basement to thaw it out before bringing it upstairs to burn. And I thought I had a mess on Saturday! It is now Monday afternoon; we have a pile of wood in the basement that is spreading water everywhere and has yet to be restacked ... again.

This may be explained, at least partially, by a minor distraction that started yesterday just about the time we had finished getting the last load of wood into the basement ... a Noreaster! Right after lunch, I threw what would be my last load of trash into the truck, and headed for the dump. On my way back, I called Garrick who headed out on the snowmobile; I parked the truck out at the main road and rode in with Garrick ... no more walk ins for me! By the time we headed for bed, there was already ten inches on the ground. Garrick started up the sled at about 9:45 and headed out to pack down the trail. He returned after more than half an hour, having made it only to the Y and back ... a total of about a mile. The snow had kept piling up in front of the machine and blocking the headlight making it impossible to see on a moonless night. And, when he had tried to turn around to come home, he sunk in the snow and almost couldn't get out. Needless to say, he was not eager to go out and pack down the snow again at 1 am so we skipped that run ... a huge mistake come morning.

When I awoke this morning at 6am to the phone ringing with yet another automated message, this one from the principal alerting me to the school closing, I looked out to see about two feet of fresh snow. So the road is officially closed! Garrick's first words when he got up were, "Yes! Powder riding!" So, he was eager to finish breakfast and get out to pack down the trail again. He changed his tune when after an hour, he was still trying to pack down the loop around the house. When I went out to sweep off the decks, I think his exact words were, "Whose dumb idea was it to live up here anyway?" (I remind you that it was his.) By the end of the second hour, he had managed to make it all the way out to the main road and back. (George of course had packed down the trail from the Y to the main road though.) And, upon entering the house, I believe that he summed up all of our feelings quite well when he said, "This sucks!"

Since this morning, however, the sun has come out. Everything is covered with fresh snow. Our world is a beautiful, pristine white. There are no tire tracks, no sand-covered roads, no noisy snowplows driving by. It will truly be a White Christmas this year.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas to you -
Karyn

P.S. The wire did not deter the squirrel but I have resorted to providing him with his own tray of food which I refill at his beck and call. Tomorrow, I will hang the new bird feeder with the special anti-squirrel trap door ... we'll see how it goes!

Walk in #2

Okay before we get to the second walk in, let's just clear up some things on my friend the squirrel! So, he gave me the sad eyes and disappeared for the rest of the day. BUT, he returned the following day AND brought along two of his friends! Of course I had gone out and purchased a special squirrel feeder by now so I knew he would be delighted ... or not! Not only did he figure out a way to get onto the woodpecker bar, he continued on to the suet feeder and then found a way to get down onto the bird feeder! Then, he chewed the strap off of the bird feeder so that it fell to the ground and he gorged himself on all the food! I, being the Lehigh Engineer, patched the feeder back together again not by using my favorite material, cardboard, but by attaching a rope strap to hold the feeder up on the clothesline. He continued, then, to get back on the bird feeder to eat, in spite of the snowballs being chucked at him by Garrick (and to be honest ... me). It's not that I don't want to provide all the animals with food for the winter, but when the squirrel (and his friends) monopolize the food supply, the poor birds can't eat. Well, this set him off. He became so angry, that he then tried to find a way to get into the house! He was climbing on the screens of the porch and looking for crevasses near the doors. He probably figured that I must be keeping some food in the house (little did he know about my 'store' in the basement)! Well when he realized that 'the house that Jack built' was as tight as tight can be, he went back to the bird feeder for Round 12(?). Apparently, he didn't attend a very progressive nursery school when he was young as he just doesn't know how to share. He decided that the best way to ensure that the bird feeder would be his and only his was to chew off the perches that the birds sit on while they eat. AND, once this was accomplished he chewed a big hole in the thing so that the next day when I went out to restock the feeder, imagine my surprise on finding the food I poured into the feeder, ending up immediately on the ground!!! Today I'm off to purchase yet another feeder and this time, I will hang it on a wire strung between the two trees instead of the clothesline. Wish me luck!

So, in the midst of all this squirrel business, we had yet another bout of freezing rain. This time, I decided to be tough ... like George and Anne, his wife. Tuesday morning, we left for the school bus ... a little later than we should have, given the weather of the previous night ... ash can in hand. Well, it was treacherous. I don't think I hit ten miles per hour during the whole mile and a half. And, even at five miles per hour, I was sliding all over the place. I thought for sure Garrick would miss the bus but I was in no hurry to go off the side of the very narrow road, or should I say path, into the ditch where my truck might end up for the entire winter. Skip was late too so Garrick made the bus.

As we were driving out to the bus, I was trying to decide whether or not I could get the truck back in to the house again. But when Garrick told me to leave the truck at the parking lot, I knew I wasn't the only one scared by my driving! Fortunately, I had brought a coat, gloves, albeit thin ones, and boots. But, I didn't have the cell phone. So, I dumped the ashes out of the ash can, and went on my way ... back to the house. When I slipped on the ice and fell about one third of the way in, I really had my doubts about staying here for the whole winter. I can't tell you how badly my knee hurt. As I was laying on the ground, wondering what to do, I realized I had two choices; I could get up and walk as best I could with my sore knee, or I could stay and freeze to death. Obviously, I made it back and the rest of the walk gave me some time to reflect. Since then, I remember to bring my cell phone and wear proper clothing whenever I go out, and I've packed an emergency kit for the car and the snowmobile. As soon as I returned to the house, I took ibuprofen and continued to take it for the next 24 hours, and I iced my knee, with a bag of frozen broccoli, for the rest of the morning. While I won't be playing dodge ball with the kids at Open Gym today, I am getting around just fine now.

So, we have been using the snowmobile for the past two days to get in and out of here. Garrick thinks it is the best adventure of his life; I, on the other hand, do not enjoy spending half the morning trying to thaw out after a ride back and forth to the bus stop! Tomorrow's high is supposed to be about -13 C (9 F) ... before windchill. With this in mind and since we received about six inches of snow yesterday, I am ready to try to bring the truck back in again. Anne told me at the bus stop this morning that the road was fine, but that was right before she got stuck trying to get out of the parking lot!

Garrick had a little sliding incident of his own yesterday. While waiting for the bus (I was long gone ... headed back to the fire on my snowmobile), he decided to clean the snow off of the truck. There was ice under the snow and he slipped on the ice and slid all the way underneath the truck. The only reason he didn't come out the other side was that there was a patch of grass under the truck that slowed him down! He said that he had to pull himself back out. Good thing the kids on the bus didn't see ... emmmmbarrassing! Guess he won't be wearing his Hawk sneakers to school anymore ... time to put on those not-so-cool snow boots for the winter.

Karyn

Lehigh Engineer vs. Squirrel

So ... who do you think won???

As you know we woods folk are quite busy people ... chopping our own wood, making our own bread, heating our bath water on the wood stove, crafting our own Christmas presents. So you might not think we have time for enjoying the wildlife right outside our door. But sometimes we just have to make the time and today was the day for me.

When I was washing the dishes this morning and I casually looked outside to check on the sparrows and my favorite plump woodpecker, imagine my surprise when finding a squirrel feasting on the newest addition to my clothesline bird cafe, the 'woodpecker bar'. I immediately ran out and scared him away. Round 1 - Lehigh Engineer?

Happily back at the sink, I looked up again and there he was. Round 1 - Squirrel.

So, Caroline suggested that I attach the woodpecker bar to a longer rope so that Mr. Squirrel could not reach the food. I trekked down to the basement, retrieved the rope from the camping box ... which houses everything you might ever need if camping and then some, huffed up the stairs, grabbed the scissors, and headed outside. When I got to the clothesline and attempted to cut the original loop of rope, I discovered that it was hard ... because it was frozen. This explained how the squirrel got out to the bird feeder in the first place: the rain and subsequent freezing temperature, made the line stiff so that he could now navigate the rope Paul and Garrick had strung between the two trees in order for me to hang the bird feeders. I tied the woodpecker bar to a longer loop of rope, grabbed my supplies and returned to the house. Not sure if I had quite outsmarted the squirrel, I placed my supplies on the kitchen counter just in case I might need them once more. Round 2 - Lehigh Engineer?

After a minute or two had passed, I once again peered out of the window ... to find my friend back on the woodpecker bar once again. Round 2 - Squirrel.

Totally miffed, I swiped my goods off of the counter and headed out again. Mind you that each time I went out, the squirrel let me get closer and closer before he darted off. And, when he did, he sat in a tree over my head and chattered at me angrily. So, this time I used an even longer loop of rope to attach the woodpecker bar to the clothesline; this one had to be over a foot long. Round 3 - Lehigh Engineer?

It didn't take him very long to climb down from his perch, climb up the next tree, gingerly scurry across one clothesline, hop across to the other and perch himself right back on that woodpecker bar! Round 3 - Squirrel.

This time I ran upstairs to get ... the blow dryer, thinking I could heat up the clothesline, get rid of the ice, and make the clothesline floppy again so that he couldn't get from the tree to the food. But the cord on the blow dryer was not long enough so now I had to go back down to the basement to get the extension cord. Luckily on the way I had a brainstorm, being a Lehigh Engineer; I would get paper towel tubes and put them on the clothesline so that my little pet couldn't walk all the way to the food. Well when I got to the recycling bin, I found only one paper towel tube but also found two toilet paper tubes. I quickly ran upstairs, again grabbed the scissors and hurried outside, back to the feeding area. I cut the tubes lengthwise and put one on the clothesline on either side of the woodpecker bar and then put the long tube over the loop holding the bar itself. Round 4 - Lehigh Engineer? Nope!

So I went back to the basement and snatched a small soda bottle from the returnables bin and a paper plate from ... the camping box. I cut the bottom off of the soda bottle and put a hole in the middle of the plate and went back outside once again. By this time the tubes were laying uselessly on the ground, thanks to Mr. Squirrel. I put the upside down soda bottle over the loop and then added the paper plate on top. Round 5 - Lehigh Engineer? I wish!

It did take my little friend a while to figure this one out but to my dismay when I looked out the window about 30 minutes later, he was gorging himself on sunflower seeds once again. Since I had not seen him land on the food bar, I had no idea how he had masterminded this. So, I went out and scared him off the bar once more, then returned to the house to watch. He scurried across the clothesline, and headed down the loop. He then cautiously would hit the paper plate but not head down. When he hit the plate just right, he slid down it and onto the food bar. I was amazed but not beaten!

I dug through the kitchen garbage can and pulled out the plastic top of the oatmeal container, rinsed it off, put a hole in the center, and took off once more. As I was removing the paper plate and replacing it with the top to the oatmeal container, the squirrel sat on a branch not three feet from me. He did not say a word; he did not make a single sound; he just looked at me with these sad, sad eyes that went right through me. I don't know if he finally gave up or if my final solution really did work, but he didn't come back for the rest of the day. So, not only will I have those sad, sad eyes looking at me for days to come, but now I will have to head down to Greenville so that I can get him his own special feeder ... just for him. I guess the saying 'winning isn't everything' rang true for me today.

Karyn

Walk In #1

Sorry ... no visuals this time ...

The weather has been a bit crazy here for the past few days. Up until Tuesday it had been fairly chilly but yesterday it warmed up so much so that I think we had a 40 F swing in temperature in less than twenty four hours. Unfortunately it rained and the rain turned the little snow we had to slush which then turned to ice last night when the temperature dropped again. This of course left the road in great condition ... if you like ice skating. So, fearful that I would not be able to get in and out on the ice, I took the truck out yesterday afternoon and did my first walk in as I definitely could not use the snowmobile yet.

Garrick was thrilled to be able to walk to the bus stop this morning ... or maybe not. He had to leave the house at 6:40 am, in the dark, in order to catch the bus at 7:15. (Sunrise was at 7:03 today.) I was considering going with him but the fire was down and really needed to be stoked so I had to pass on the opportunity. But, Caroline and I did walk out this afternoon to go to Open Gym. We packed flashlights as we anticipated that we would be walking back in in the dark tonight but fortunately, George came to the rescue. As you know, he is not a wimp like I am and he again was wondering what exactly I was doing living up in the woods. He had no problem driving his truck over the ice and even proved to me that he could do it without using his four wheel drive.

Tonight 'they' are predicting about 8 inches of snow which is not enough to close the road. So if 'they' are right, I may have to head out again to get the truck and bring it back in; hopefully I will be able to use the snowmobile this time though. If 'they' are wrong and we get more than a foot, poor George will be taking his truck out and walking back in sometime after midnight. And either way, Garrick is hoping for a snow day.

Karyn

It's a Red Bag Day!

Woke this morning to -20 (think Anders Celsius) ... and that was before windchill ... and the wind was whipping. The house was 14 C and that was only because the furnace had kicked on during the night. Thank goodness Jack had the insight to install those heater fans in the bathrooms for us when he built the house ... I'd never get Garrick into the shower before school otherwise as it usually takes four or five hours to get the temperature inside back up to 20 C when it is this cold outside.

So, today is what we have coined in the Ellwood house as 'a red bag day'. In other words, it is so cold that I will spend most of the day in my one piece, red fleece 'bag' (with a hole for each foot). Because it would be hard to imagine the beauty of this bag simply from my description, I have included an oh so flattering picture of me modeling it for you! Good thing I won't have any unexpected visitors ... although the Jehovah's witnesses did manage to find me about a month ago.

You know it is cold when ... the olive oil in the basement 'store' has started to congeal ... the lake, which has a layer of ice in some areas, is generating steam because the water, which is definitely below 32 F, is so much warmer than the air ... your fingers begin to get numb when you wash your hands and the hot water still hasn't reached the kitchen faucet even after you've soaped and rinsed and sang three rounds of Row, Row, Row your Boat ... your nose hairs freeze in less than a minute when outside!

I went out this morning to warm up the truck ... and put the ash can in the back. While I didn't actually expect that I would need it this morning, it has become a kind of morning ritual for me (and an insurance policy). Then, I brought a few pieces of wood up onto the deck for later. By the time I returned to the kitchen, I was beginning to lose some of the feeling in my fingers. As we left for the bus stop, Garrick said as he walked out the door, "It's not too bad out here." He then threw his backpack into the truck, grabbed the ice scrapper, spent 20 seconds scraping a small area on the front windshield, just enough so I could see, threw the ice scrapper in the back and said as he jumped into the truck, "I think my nose hairs are frozen."

We arrived at the bus stop. Just as the top of the bus appeared over the hill, the neighbors turned up. George got out of his truck to retrieve the newspaper ... he was wearing his mukluks (snow boots); a flannel shirt, which was unbuttoned; and no gloves. Guess I have some toughening up to do ... wimp that I am!

Karyn

P.S. We never even hit -15 C today (that's 4 F)!

Slippin' & Slidin'

When we arrived back in the woods on Sunday night, the road was still covered in only dirt. By Monday morning, it was a different story though. While it had only snowed about three inches that night, the blanket of white snow transformed the landscape beautifully. Garrick headed out to start the truck and clean off the windshield with our newly purchased ice scraper. Before leaving for the bus stop, I grabbed the ash can from the fireplace in case I would need a little more traction to get up and down those hills. As I was running a little late, I went barreling out the door and down the ice-covered porch steps before landing very ungracefully on my ass. Happily, the lid on the ash can stayed put. Other than that, the ride out to the main road was uneventful and I didn't need any additional traction.

Later that morning I ventured out for a walk in the snow. The sun was shining and the snow was pristine, only marred here and there with various animal prints: deer, moose, grouse, and squirrel perhaps. On my way home, I passed a small pine stand and was startled by a noise that at first sounded like rather large bird wings but in hindsight, after seeing moose prints nearby, I thought that instead it might have been a moose snorting at me. I left the area rather hurriedly and went home to immediately search on the internet for moose sounds, being that I had never heard a moose before. Nothing sounded similar to what I found but I can assure you that I will be walking with my bear bell in the future.

We have found the best animal watching, however, can be done from the kitchen window, making dish washing the new favorite chore in our house (before dark anyway). Paul and Garrick hung both a bird feeder and a suet cage last week and when we arrived back from the long weekend, our newest neighbors had arrived. We have been enjoying the antics of about half a dozen sparrows and a pileated woodpecker ever since. The woodpecker loves the suet and hangs every which way, including upside down, in order to satiate his never ending appetite. We're wondering if one of these afternoons he'll no longer be able to lift the weight of his belly with his wings. We also saw a grouse yesterday, scavenging around under the eaves of the house where there was no snow. And in the afternoon, on my way to meet Caroline on her way home from open gym, I thought I saw something that looked as if it were a fox hurrying into the woods.

Since our first trip out on Monday morning, the road has become quite icy, in some cases requiring both four-wheel drive and second gear, though neither helped Peter on Wednesday evening when he almost jackknifed off the road while trailering in our 'new' snowmobile. So I continue to carry my ash can with me wherever I go, each time gingerly descending the porch steps so as not to do any more unplanned ice skating. We have been faithfully listening to the weather broadcasting from green-VILLE, Maine (as the computer lady says). At this point, I think we are all hoping for that snow storm that will close the road once and for all as it seems to be better than slip-slidin' away. I'm not sure if we'll feel the same way in February after two months of sub-zero snowmobiling to just run out for milk.

Karyn

Anders Celsius

When I rolled out of bed this morning at 4:45 am in order to feed the fire, a 20 minute process by the time you empty the ashes and get the fire re-started, it was a balmy 5.9 F! Unfortunately, I had been lax in restocking the firewood bin last night so I had to actually go out in that temperature, in my pj's, to get some wood off the porch. It made the 56 F temperature in the house seem almost tropical when I came back in. We've been having a bit of a cold spell here the last seven days and until today the thermometer couldn't get past the 25 F mark. And, if there is such a thing as liquid ice, it has been flowing from my kitchen faucet for a week now. Thus, I have been enlightened and realize that Anders Celsius had it right when he devised the temperature scale he did as it much more accurately describes cold than Daniel Fahrenheit ever did. In other words, being outside in my pj's this morning when it was -14.5 C means that it was COLD! Fortunately, the wind wasn't blowing for once.

The wind was howling yesterday, however, when the boys were sawing and chopping all the trees that have fallen down recently. While Paul did most of the sawing and chopping and Garrick did most of the transporting, Garrick dressed the part of the Northwood's lumberjack. I'm not sure if he'll be able to work the chainsaw when the trees come down again, but as you can see from the picture, he'll have one heck of a Halloween costume for next year. Luckily, I took on the job of fire tender for the day. It is pretty tough work but somebody has to do it!

Actually, it is not a bad job to have if the weather is a bit mild. The tough part comes with the colder temperatures when the stove just can't keep up and you have to get up twice during the night to feed the thing in order to keep the temperature in the house above the hypothermia level. No need to set the alarm either ... when you wake up because the tip of your nose is starting to get numb, you know it is time to feed the fire again. Hoping it is warm enough now that I get to sleep through the night for the first time in a week. Also hoping that the warmer weather doesn't bring that snow storm they are predicting ... we have yet to purchase that snowmobile and I can't imagine the four of us trying to get out of here on Garrick's bike for the Thanksgiving Weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving -
Karyn

Rub a Dub Dub

Woke up this morning at 5:15 am to the beep of the carbon monoxide detector ... not because I was in danger of being asphyxiated but rather because the power had gone off! Luckily this time I had a flashlight in my nightstand. After setting the travel alarm clock for 6:30am, I headed downstairs to call the power company and throw another log on the fire. Garrick got up when he heard me so I suggested that he head down to the lake to get some water for his morning 'shower'. I figured this way we could at least heat it up on the wood stove for an hour or so before he would have to use it. He didn't think going out in 28 F with the wind still blowing sounded like fun so he crawled back into that cozy bed of his, not realizing that a 33 F lake water 'shower' would really not be fun! Fortunately, I had filled the kettle on the wood stove before retiring to bed last night so using that with the little bit of water I managed to get out of the faucet (as I wasn't going down to the lake to get him his water), he was able to bathe AND wash his hair before heading off to school. It is amazing that someone who normally needs 15 minutes of steaming hot water to get the dirt off, can really get by with only about a half gallon ... hmmm ... maybe I need to work on that?

In an effort to conserve energy ... mine of course ... we didn't dare open the refrigerator for breakfast as it might mean moving all the food to the porch if the power were out for too long. So I retrieved a box of soy milk and a jug of grapefruit juice from the 'storeroom' in the basement and we had cereal with a side of canned grapefruit slices. I then put the grapefruit juice and leftover soy milk on the porch which require much less effort than moving everything in the refrigerator outside. We then scooted out the door, a bit earlier than usual, putting the bike in the trunk of the truck. Not sure what we would encounter in the way of road barriers, I figured I would drive as far as I could and then send Garrick off on the bike to the bus stop if the road became impassible. It is much easier to lift a bike over a fallen tree than move a truck that way! Luck was on our side ... we made it all the way to the bus stop without having to use the bike.

The first thing I did upon returning to the camp was call the power company to find out the status of the work order I had called in at 5:21 am. I figured there would be no need to do anything if the power would be back on within an hour or so (in an effort to conserve energy, once again). But when Mark told me that they had not yet located the source of the outage, I determined it would be best to get some water. I headed to the lake with my bucket and lobster pot and after three trips had enough water to restock the kettle (Caroline and I needed 'showers' too.), fill-up the toilets, and rinse the dishes. Just as I put down the bucket containing the spare water ... you guessed it ... the power turned on. So, no sponge bath for me today. I am sure that will be a story for the future!

Karyn

Happy Hours

Woke up this morning to rain and a temperature of about 54 F. By this afternoon, the cold front the weather forecasters had been promising, finally moved in and the temperature dropped 17 degrees (in less than two hours). We're now just above freezing and the rain has turned to an ice/snow mixture. It's not enough to start worrying about having to take the truck out to the main road yet but enough to make me listen to the weather radio a bit more diligently. We had to let the wood stove shutdown Saturday morning as it was too hot in the house ... Garrick walking around in his shorts with no shirt on was a pretty good clue that we didn't need to add any more wood to the fire. But, we've got it fired back up again now and it is about 71 F ... downstairs. I think it was the smell of the smoke that attracted our latest visitors. Caroline screamed when she walked down the stairs and saw three dogs pawing at the front door. Apparently, they ran away from our neighbors' camp (that's Maine-speak for house in the woods). These neighbors only live about a quarter of a mile away (as the crow flies) but they are just visiting for the weekend. Garrick returned the dogs safely but it was me that got the invitation for happy hour!

This will make two happy hours within a week of each other. Last weekend, because Cord/Cori/Dia (that's all one person with many names not because she is schizophrenic but because that way she can juggle the men in her life more cunningly) was in town and it was raining, we went to the redneck bar in Greenville Junction to shoot some pool. Talk about some guys who crawled out of a cave ... many looked as if they could have doubled for Grizzly Adams. Needless to say Cori, as she was going by that night, managed to meet a cute guy from New Hampshire, before the kids managed to even get the quarters into the pool table. Didn't turn out to be much of a pool game as none of us are real sharks, at pool anyway. When Caroline got bored, she managed to find a video game with a shotgun and pumped $10 worth of quarters into it so that she could kill a few deer before the night was out. The scary thing is that she was pretty good at it ... now she wants to take a hunting class next fall and kill real deer. Maybe it was those Shirley Temples she was drinking - which, by the way, the bartender had never heard of. Her exact words to Caroline were "What the hell's a Shirley Temple?"

While Garrick wasn't drinking Shirely Temples, he did stick to Coke as he was our designated driver for the night. Cori gave him a driving lesson, his first, on the way to the bar. He backed out of the driveway (which has a curve which frightens even a few seasoned drivers) and headed down the road like he had been driving for years. We were amazed, although not enough so to actually let him drive us the 18 miles home from the bar.

That outing was probably the highlight of the weekend as there isn't much to do up here when it rains. We don't have a movie theater or a bowling alley or even a McDonalds with a play place. They tried to open one of those a few years ago but had to close it when all the locals boycotted it. So, we spent the weekend shopping at the local trading post (Maine-speak for five and dime), talking to 'rough-around-the-edges' men about purchasing a snowmobile, playing games, and eating. I definitely understand how easy it is to put on that extra insulation up here ... with the weather the way it is for eight months out of the year, it is extremely easy to stay inside by the fire and graze and graze and graze. So, I won't be posting any pictures of myself anytime soon.

Since the sun set a mere six hours and 6 minutes ago (and it feels as if it should already be midnight), I am headed off to bed. I'll throw a few more logs onto the fire before I go and take one last look out the window to check the weather.

Karyn

Neighborly Advice

Well yesterday was garbage day. So, unlike you suburbanites who simply have to roll your garbage can out to the curb, I actually have to lug it from the basement, where I hide it from the bears, out to the truck and drive it five miles up the road to 'the dump'. When that was done, I headed up to UPS (also known as the gas station 'mart') in Rockwood to see if my package that I ordered ten days ago had been delivered. No such luck ... guess I'll have to wait another week and try again.

Then Caroline and I headed down to Greenville with the neighbors to attend the end of season soccer banquet, where one would think, given that the banquet was held at 6pm and given the name of the event ... banquet ... that we might actually get dinner. No such luck ...

But the real revelation came to me on the ride home thanks to my ever-so-helpful neighbor George ...

Apparently I have misunderstood the process of the winter road closing and it is a bit more complicated than I had anticipated. The key to surviving the winter here is getting the truck out before you no longer can; it really has nothing to do with anyone actually locking the gate and closing the road. So, the process as I now understand it is that you first listen to the weather station to decide if there is a storm predicted. If bad weather is forecasted, you must then watch for the snow (sometimes through the night) and if it looks like there will be a foot of snow or more, you drive out to the parking lot, park the truck and walk back in ... a mile and a half..

Recapping the important part of the converation ...

"So George you do that during the day right?"

"Well, not always. I have had to walk in a couple of times in the middle of the night."

"By yourself? In the middle of the night?"

"Well yeah."

Thank goodness it was dark so that he couldn't see the look on my face although I am sure he could tell by the tone of my voice that I really didn't know what I was doing here. And, it gets better ...

If I guessed wrong on the snow, then I have to walk back out ... a mile and a half ... and retrieve the truck until the next storm is predicted. Looks like I will be getting a bit of exercise eventhough I am no longer hiking up and down Mevedgrad with my coffee clotch.

Better yet, if the snow arrives late in the year, not only do I trek in and out after my truck several times, I also have the pleasure of dealing with the ice that forms on the narrow, hilly, dirt road. George, after he was done discussing his strategy for timing his exit just right, went on to elaborate on his adventures sliding up and down the hills on the ever-present ice. Perhaps I will have to 'spring' for those studded snow tires after all when I head out of the woods on Saturday to the bustling metropolis of Bangor. And, on Sunday I am contemplating giving Garrick his first driving lesson, after all he doesn't seem to be afraid of the dark!

The Little Things We Take for Granted

Yes we're still here ... I apologize for not posting anything last week. We had a few small set-backs but are recovering. First we lost power last Sunday morning. It was only for a few hours and Central Maine Power was very quick to respond. There was a tree on the line about a half mile from the house so we were the only ones affected but they came within hours giving me hope for future outages. While they did a great job getting us our power back, they didn't feel it necessary to actually clear the tree out of the roadway after they got it off the power line. We were able to get around it but we are now in the market for a chain saw.

Then on Tuesday, the nice satellite installer drove an hour and a half in order to help me with my computer problems. He determined that the issue was not his equipment but the viruses contracted from some 'graphic' websites. So, I got socked with the service call but even worse was finding out how I could fix the problem ... re-format the hard drive (loosing eight years of precious Quicken data which brought tears to my eyes) or buy a new computer. Against his advice, I attempted to purchase virus software (better late than never???) and it crashed the computer. Of course it took me until three in the morning to do all this as I was forbidden from using the satellite dish and had to download the software using dial-up. Eventually I was able to recover it but I was back where I started ... with less sleep.

Plan B ... drive to Bangor and get a new computer. I got up 3 hours later to get the kids to school early for Math Team practice (which starts at 7:10 am ... 18.5 miles away) and planned then to go on to Bangor. That was until I went to start the truck and ... it was dead. Garrick rode his bike to the bus stop ... there would be no Math Team practice for us ... and I called AAA. Believe it or not, they actually do tow trucks from remote dirt roads in the Northwoods ... it took four and a half hours by the time they came and then got it to the station but they did show up. That was Wednesday, 7am. I got my truck back Friday, 10 pm. Three days in the woods with no way out AND no computer!!! The closest store, if you'd call it that ... it is really just a gas station 'mart', is almost 8 miles up the road. I wasn't even going to attempt to ride Garrick's bike that far. Luckily, we had started stocking up for the winter so we had plenty to eat. Talk about stir crazy though ... it could be a very long winter!!!

So, now we are back in civilization again ... we have transportation, electricity (more importantly a well pump that works) and a computer that connects us to the world. Can't imagine having been a Native American Indian living up here a few hundred years ago ... I know I, for one, would not have survived!

Flurries!

When we woke up this morning the thermometer registered 34 F (1 C). While this isn't the coldest we've had yet (28 F/-2C last week), we had our first snow flurries on the way to the bus stop this morning. Thank goodness nothing is sticking since we have yet to purchase a snow shovel or ice scraper! Being that we are slowly becoming rednecks, I figure we can always use that cardboard we have piled in the basement to build some makeshift tools if need be. It has come in handy already for wedging the back door shut so that we don't get any more drafts. That's a Lehigh Engineer for you!

The lake is extremely rough; the waves are almost big enough to surf on. With the wind blowing out of the Northeast, there is plenty of open water for the waves to pick up wind before crashing on the west side of the lake. Not sure I'd want to be out there kayaking right now! It is quite a change from Monday morning when I saw a loon swim by. You wouldn't catch me sticking even a big toe in that water right now. That said, the neighbors supposedly went swimming just about ten days ago, sans wet suits. Crazy people!

Not much wildlife to report on. The only moose we've seen lately are the dead ones being towed on snowmobile trailers as moose hunting season started a little over a week ago. We did see a wolf this weekend, in my friend's backyard outside of Boston. It seemed to be stalking the neighbors' goats. Great to be back in civilization for the weekend ... just had to drive five hours to get there. Coming back Sunday night at around 10, I drove a stretch of road for 40 miles and saw only one other car. Desolate!

Speaking of nothing ... that is what we are getting from our satellite dish right now. No, I didn't actually break down and get a dish for the television but I did have one installed for the computer so we wouldn't have to use dial-up all winter. The first week it worked wonderfully, of course. Since the clouds moved in on Monday, it has been running at about the same speed as the dial-up. But, this morning when we started getting snow, the service went dead. Luckily, we have a 30 day trial period. Unfortunately, in order to cancel it, we have to dismantle the equipment ourselves and return it, somewhere down in civilization. And, you guessed it ... we don't have an extension ladder to get up on the roof. Cardboard???

Bijela Kava Withdrawal

While I very much enjoyed my time in Croatia, I didn't think that once I'd left I miss too many things. Well on Monday afternoon, I had a hankering for coffee. Not only did I have coffee in the cabinet but also a machine to brew it in! It smelled so good ... until I took a sip. Nothing will ever be the same as those bijela kavas (literally, white coffee) from Torte i To or Lagvic. Of course it wasn't Illy coffee but I haven't located that yet on the shelves at the Indian Hill Trading Post. They do have cilantro though!

It's been kind of a quiet week ... haven't seen much in the way of wildlife. I saw some moose tracks and bear skat on the road right near our house. So, I know our bear friend is still lurking nearby. I try to stay in the house during prime feeding hours (dawn and dusk) but did manage to finish stacking that fourth cord of wood yesterday, while keeping a watchful eye out for unwanted visitors.

Garrick doesn't seemed to think the dawn and dusk rule applies to him though ... he has made friends with the neighbors and rode his bike home the other night 45 minutes after sunset. It's only a mile and a half from their house to ours, down a narrow, overgrown dirt road. I guess when you're thirteen, you are invincible, especially when the neighbor is an eighth-grade girl with a friend visiting from Germany.

Maybe he needs to spend some more time splitting wood???

We took a trip out of the woods on Sunday. I didn't know it was possible to spend over three hours in a Walmart! We bought so much 'stuff' we had to go through the checkout line twice ... the first time with two cart loads' full and the second time with three carts. The sad part is that it seems as if we've hardly made a dent. Six months' worth of dry goods is a lot of stuff! Luckily we have another month to stockpile before the road gets bad and they close it until May.

Off to Boston for the weekend to watch a little college football (could you actually call a Lehigh-Harvard game college football?) and catch up with some friends.

Karyn

First Week in the Woods

It is only 9 pm and already its been dark for three hours ... it's only October 7th. Doing some quick estimating, I figure we ought to be in the dark by about 4pm come December 21st! So, if we are unfortunate enough to lose power, which according to a former neighbor occurs on a somewhat regular basis - sometimes for upwards of a week, we will need to stock much more than the 9 candles that I currently have on hand! And, if we don't get a generator installed soon, once the lake freezes we will also have to start storing extra water in the basement because no electricity = no well pump = awfully smelly bathrooms after a day or two ... unless of course we borrow the Rosenblatts' back house. So, I started the shopping list yesterday (imagine that) and already it is two pages long. I am hoping to leave the woods this weekend to find a real store (Walmart) to start my stockpile. Fortunately gas prices have dropped a bit so the 200 mile round trip to civilization won't cost me an arm and a leg.

Of course the kids and I will have to finish stacking the wood ... 4 cords of it (that's 8' x 4' x 4' times 4) before we go. We've managed to get half of it piled up so far ... sans wheelbarrow. Paul was here this past weekend, all the way from Croatia, to make sure we didn't set the house on fire starting up the new woodstove. This kept him quite busy as he seemed to have no time for actually stacking wood. We managed to get the temperature in the house up to a sweltering 73 F (that's about 21 C for those of you on the other side of the ocean). Not bad since it was only in the mid 40's F (7 C) outside ... that was the high for the day, not the low.

Not too cold for the wildlife to be out and about though. We have two deer who have been feasting on our lawn (actually it's clover ... that way I don't have to mow it) two mornings this past week. This morning when I left to drive Garrick to the bus stop ... yes Gina, I have been driving him ... I walked outside to get into the truck and they just looked at me and barely moved. On the way to Caroline's soccer practice we saw a proud partridge with his tail feathers fanned out and his crown fluffed up showing off for the ladies. And, we saw our second bull moose. He wasn't quite as big as the one we saw yesterday ... complete with a four foot long dewlap (beard) that dangled as he ran next to the truck. But the crown jewel was this afternoon at 5:15pm ... as I was talking to Paul (now back in Croatia) I looked out the window and saw a black head. It was attached to a very big bear; he too was enjoying the clover in the yard. He was literally 10 feet off our front porch stuffing his face. He stayed for about 15 minutes during which time we shot several photos. When he departed, he walked right past the front porch steps, past one of those oh so lovely woodpiles, and meandered through the woods to another neighbor's lawn. I suspect that when he finds that they don't have clover in their lawn, he will be back for another visit. I only hope that we will be lucky enough to again be inside!


Karyn