tamarack

Chain of Ponds is a lovely drive but not one for gazing away from the road for long - lots of curves, lots of trucks. Great campground, too, though it's not open yet. IMO, best view of the Bigelow Range is up the Eustis Ridge Road, which leaves Rt 27 near the north edge of old growth red pine (Cathedral Pines, some of which may have been saplings when Benedict Arnold's army passed by on the way to Quebec in 1775.) There's a scenic overlook at ~1.7 miles that used to have picnic tables - was deep in snow last time I went by, but I've heard there's even a better view ~3/4 mile further.

Forecast highs Tues-Thurs for Gloucester County (~20 miles south of PHI) are 74/75/79, then back to 60s. And "joisey" is for the NYC-metro part of the state - SNJ folks snicker at that accent.

First peepers heard last night at the nearby winterberry swamp. Wood frogs had started there a few days earlier. Bright sun and low 50s atm, 22 of the last 27 days have been AN and only 2 of the BN days were more than 1° below the average.

What is surprising about pack that winter is that Aroostook, with significantly more snowfall and colder temps, never reached the 48" I had on 3/1. Van Buren reached 47" and Fort Kent 46" but CAR, with their record 197.8" never had more than 36". (CAR reached 62" in 1977 and hit the low 50s in 3 other years. As recently as 2019 they reached 45".) All 3 topped out on 3/21 in the 3-day blizzard. My pack lasted thru 4/20 while the 3 sites above had 1" or more thru 21st, 22nd and 19th, respectively. The much more exposed and west-facing Farmington co-op reached 42" on 3/1 and still had 6" on 4/16 but reaching 70° on the 17th took it all except traces.

Beat me in both Decembers but not the Nov-Jan totals. Had 15.9" here in 12/19 and only 9.3" in 12/20, thanks to getting a 1.9" fringe from the 17th death band. Totals for those 5 months give you 4.2" more than here. Not quite according to climo . . .

Still had 27" at the stake here on 4/9/08. The winter of SWFE swarms.

Both December and March haven't been pulling their weight over the past 3-4 winters here. We've had 3 straight BN snow totals, and Jan-Feb have been 95% of average but Dec-Mar only 60%. Including 18-19, my most recent AN winter, the 4 Jan-Febs had 105% snow while Dec-Mar had that same 60%. Perhaps making up for 16-17 and 17-18, when both December and March had 2-year totals near 170% of average?

Not many in 95-96 except maybe for a day, as the January downpours blew away what was looking to be a real pack. Only time in 130 winters that Farmington lost 32" of depth in January, and probably no other January is close. (Depth records only began in 1941 but I'm confident of the above comment.)

I've read laments about the Boxer, mainly due to noise. Since getting our 1st Subaru in 1991 - the old Loyale though back then it was just "Subaru" - we're on #6, all purchased used, and have had almost no issues with the engine itself in 550k miles. #4, a 1999 Outback, blew a head gasket but it was also our only near-lemon, had several other major repairs plus being a bullseye for other vehicles and deer. Last 2 were Foresters and we've not put much money beyond ordinary maintenance. (Except for a November collision but that wasn't the vehicle's fault.)

Mothers' Day?

I've had little experience with the RAV 4 but enough to think our Forester is much the better - a bit more clearance, more internal room, better visibility, similar mileage (to the gas RAV). Just IMO. The vehicles seen in our area are quite heavy to Subarus, but pickups are more common. As for mud roads, proper drainage plus 8-12" of good gravel is the remedy, though even that won't stand up to loaded log trucks and the like, hence the posters. The town's road manager and crew have been fighting with a mud disaster road 3 miles NE of my place, while the 2,000' of gravel between our place (at the end of maintained road) and pavement merely gets briefly slimy with the first real late winter warmth. It has good material and once the top few inches are thawed, light traffic is easily supported. I wish no pavement here, as several culverts move up and/or down during winter and spring and the tar would quickly become a mess.

I agree with Dendrite about waiting until transplant shock has ended. Tree spikes worked quite well for our apple trees, but I don't know if there are varieties for plants more adapted to acidic sites. The regular ones should work okay, however. I've read that tree fertilization (of any kind) should stop at least 3 months before first frost, to limit the chances of an early frost nipping still-active shoots.

Nice mild-up, but IMO "torch" in April means 10°+ AN and only D7 gets there. Better than 40s mank of course.

Cloud-free upper 50s here with little wind, even better than yesterday's cloud-free 54 with a moderate breeze. Two straight full sun days in April - NNJ wx. (But payback comes on next 4 days.)

This winter's D+ was the 4th D in 24 years here. A: 2 (00-01, 07-08) B: 9 (02-03, 04-05, 06-07, 08-09, 13-14, 14-15, 16-17, 17-18, 18-19) C: 5 (98-99, 03-04, 10-11, 12-13, 19-20) D: 4 (99-00, 01-02, 11-12, 21-22) F: 4 (05-06, 09-10, 15-16, 20-21)

Going from my experience, that spruce probably won't get much bigger in its first year there, as up to 90% of its roots stay behind when it's lifted for transplant. That makes keeping the soil moist (not soggy) extra important, though you probably know that already. The tree should do much better in years 2+.

Would be fitting after Mehrch 2022.

Jan 21 thru Feb 6 earned an A, with record low temps plus storms of 12.4" and 9.5". Unfortunately, the rest of the cold season gets an F.

As noted on the loop, we were right on the rain/snow line and stayed there thru most of the storm - 1.11" LE, 1.4" SN. Blecch. (But likely more snow than we see this April.) Down to scattered patches, and here the wood frog "quacks" are heard a week or 2 before peepers. A couple upper 50s days and the frogs may sound off.

Unless there's some slush later this week, this might be my first flake-free April here, given the warm-up progged for mid-month. 4/99, 4/09 and 4/12 had only traces.

Looking for another 1976 or 2002? In Maine, "furnace" and "April" don't work together unless there would be a 1982-like cold snap to make the machine run like it's January. There's been a handful of ~90 one-day spikes but nothing like the heat waves of those Aprils noted in the query. BDL topped out at 96 in 4/1976 and 95 in 4/2002.

The way I weight the different months, by proportional average snowfall, that wouldn't be possible. Currently we average 49.5% of total snowfall by the end of January, and if I had B+ thru then (didn't get close despite a good Jan) and then had F's from then on, lowest I could get would be C-, unless I had something like last March snowfall, where 0.1" (and that was generously measured) was so ridiculous that I scored it -1 on my 4 (A) to zero (F) scale. +/- grades score X X plus .33 and X minus .33, respectively. Months establishing new records for cold and/or snow at the Farmington co-op (129 yr POR) get a 5. Subjective? Of course. Currently at D+ and given April/May's weak weight (6%), neither F's nor A's would be likely to change it. That would rank this winter 19th out of 24, bottom quartile. This winter and last are easily the worst consecutive pair since moving here in May 1998, and adding 19-20 makes for the worst trio.

Titanium plate and 4 screws in my neck since fusion surgery at C-4 in April 2011, no adverse reaction and they don't trigger the TSA scanners. My wife's 2 artificial knees mean a full examining every time.

No scoffing intended, and I agree that purchasing power was greater in the 60s to 90s than now. One issue I see is the "mandate" that one must go to college. There are probably lots of debt-burdened college grads who would've been happier and more prosperous if they had learned a trade. There's an old joke about a doctor having some plumbing work done. When he sees the bill, he exclaims, "You charge higher than I do!" "I know. I used to be a doctor."

My son, born 1972, sent me a book called "The Age of Entitlement" which laid that title on boomers. I'm in that age group but have had a quite different experience than the "entitled" folks addressed in the book, so no offense here.