tamarack

Looks like the wolf spiders we see around our place. We have no problems with them unless they're working near the hummingbird feeders (which were taken down for the season today).

Not until Wednesday here, and GYX' 7-day forecast has AN by then, but a +5 mean isn't a real torch.

Finally had a look at the east half of our woodlot - had to await some knee therapy first - to see how that portion had fared in the winds of Dec 18. Saw very little damage and what had tipped was in places we had not entered during the 2013 timber harvest. That operation produced 50 cords of hardwood pulp/firewood and 160 cords of fir (plus 3 spruce trees) and 90% of that fir was cut on the east half - made a difference. Most of the trees lost in the west half were beyond where I had painted trees, as the fir was big but too sparse (3-5 cords/acre) to ask the chopper to extend another thousand feet farther from the log yard. Saw considerable deer sign but neither scrapes or rubs; the latter should be appearing now as it's time to shed velvet.

Closer to 75/60 than 85/70 for Sept 5. (According to the CLIMOD site for Chatham)

When we lived in Gardiner, we occasionally saw a "honeydipper" truck with the logo, "We're #1 in the #2 Business". 9 AM and it's still cloudy, an anomaly for the month so far. Jupiter (I think) appeared extra large and extra yellow on the eastern horizon as I walked the dog after Chiefs-Ravens.

Years ago, I helped a friend get that kind of relief, using a piece of steel wire, burning thru by repeated heating (with matches) and twisting. For my 2 hammer-blow nail-smashes, middle finger and later the thumb, I was too wimpy to try such things and lived with the pain.

Nice places to toss the football with your kids. However, one could do that on our "lawn", which is only ~50% turfgrass but green and level. We've lost about 20% of our 1/10-acre lawn, as it's mostly shaded out beneath the 3 apple trees and the 2-foot-tall fir I transplanted 26 years ago is now 40 feet tall with a 20-foot branch spread near the base.

While I worked up north, a young lady from St. Francis was widowed twice by woods accidents. First fellow had worked with me on boundary maintenance my first winter there (1976) then decided that driving a skidder was better than scaling logs for Seven Islands. His low-slung Timberjack got stuck on a big log, and as he tried to wiggle it off it rolled, and he was caught half in/half out when the machine tipped over. A couple years later the chopper who had bought my old Nova for woods commuting had lodged a big cedar in another tree. Rather than using the skidder, he tried cutting the tree that had caught the cedar. Never work under a lodged tree! Today makes 4 sunny days this month, and the one PC day (9/2) had more sun than cloud. 3rd straight morning in the 40s, though more like 48 than the 41/43 on Tues/Wed. The warm forecast for 8-14 looks impressive, but by then our average temp has dropped 9-10 degrees from peak summer.

There used to be a monthly Northern Forest Forum meeting in PQI, attended mostly by foresters and loggers from Maine and NB, occasionally from Quebec. A presentation by one Quebecois showed 'befores' and 'afters' from some grotesque chainsaw injuries. (Fortunately, the 'afters' were repairs rather than burials.) The worst was when a chopper fell onto a large, pointed stump-pull, the wood driving into him under the chin and coming out one cheek. His chum sawed off the spike, which was still in place when the poor fellow got to the hospital. The 'after' was remarkable, with only some discolor on that cheek, and the other dozen or so less spectacular (but awful) wounds, were also healed well. So far, I've never been cut by a running saw, but I've nicked myself when filing a few times since buying a (used) saw in 1977. A chopper from Allagash had an active hawk nest near his wood pile, and as he was climbing onto the pile to merchandise before starting his saw, one of the hawks stooped on him, causing him to drop the saw then fall on it for 17 stitches.

Rat traps, baited with PB. When I worked up north, an old house next to our office trailer was demolished and its rats infested both the trailer and the detached garage, entering the latter by chewing a hole thru the rubber gasket. First trap out there caught 2 at once and we nailed a few more before a short-tailed weasel (in full ermine coat - it was February) took up housekeeping. I brought in all the traps and the 4-footed "trap" ensured that we never saw another rat.

Yesterday's 64/41 was 8° BN, the largest negative departure since April. So far this year, we've had only 2 double-digit negative days, 10° BN on 3/23 in the 22" dump and 11° BN on 1/19 when we hit -12, winter's very modest coldest morning. We've had 36 days of 10+ AN, including 13 of 15+ and a +21 in Feb. Not many daily warmth records (except for minima) but unrelenting lack of cold.

Can be nasty in the shoulder seasons when frozen is not in play, but it's probably given me more snow here than I've lost due to downsloping, and it's great for pack retention.

When I've had rib injuries (limited to torn cartilage, I think - never went to the Dr.), I knew that every breath would hurt for 4-6 weeks, though the first 2 were the worst. Eight years ago I slipped while dragging my ice fishing stuff (and a nice bass) and landed ribs first on the empty bait bucket, which fared much better than I did - I then weighed 40+ pounds more than at present. Four days later I day-tripped to Sturbridge to make a forestry presentation to the New England SAF chapter, about 450 miles round trip, in a cramped low-slung Ford Fusion - at least the presentation was fun. Five days later we began our Japan trip by flying to HI where my BIL and family live, 13 hours in economy, 10 of it from CHI to Oahu. (Our first Trip of a Lifetime. 2nd was Norway the following year, without rib pain.) Today was almost totally cloudless. September is our sunniest month, currently (thru 2023) with 52.5% of the potential sunshine. August is next at 49.6", July 3rd at 48.0%. December is lowest, at 39.0%.

Plus it's sited at the hilltop AP. It's almost always the mildest in the region on clear calm mornings. Sad to miss out on a bluebird day, but it's no fun trying to fish when waves are tossing the boat and maybe splashing over the sides. Your watercraft is a lot bigger than my 11-ft one-person canoe, but even 20-mph gusts over a long fetch can make things unpleasant. Even 15, if from a southerly direction, will keep me off North Pond's 3-mile fetch, as the wave tops would be spaced longer than my cockleshell.

Thought I'd crack the 30s, too, but bottomed out at 41. When I'm only 0.5° cooler than Jeff, I know that radiating was much better in south LEW than at my frost pocket. Surprisingly, it's breezier today than yesterday.