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!