tamarack

Got me! The horizontal lower branches faked me out.

Odd. Pin oaks usually have the best red of any of the oak group native to or planted in Maine.

Kind of OT: I had no idea there were sequels to Witches of Karres (which I've read and re-read) and would be interested in authors/titles. James Schmidt apparently didn't write much - in all my sci-fi, much of which hasn't traveled with our moves, I've seen only 4 of his works. The other 3 include one novel, Demon Breed (set on a water world) and two short stories (Balanced Ecology, Grandpa), and all 3 include plausible and interlocking ecosystems.

Given my lesser November snow, 2.1" is significant. Out of 128 Novembers at the co-op, there's both Nov. temps and Nov. snow in 124, and the AN/BN split is right down the middle. (It's a bit surprising that they're equal, given the sample size.) So if AN Novembers run 4.7" and the total average is 6.8", the BN Novembers must average 8.9", nearly twice the ANs.

Another fine day, though with more clouds than the previous 2. Not much wind but near constant leaf drop - probably 70% gone and counting. Color was a bit late but defoliation is about on schedule.

Good points all (including those which I deleted) but I think the windfarm disappeared because Gene's pic was taken at lower elevation. Though it's hazy, the mountain behind the windfarm shows up in both pics but less of it in the bottom one.

Went back to the data and saw that AN Novembers averaged 4.7" snowfall while all Novembers ran 6.8". That adjustment raises AN-Novie winters from 93% of average to 95%. Those AN November years had October snow averaging 0.8", compared to all-October's 0.7", which would put Dec-May snowfall at 77.9" for AN-November years and 82.2" for all years.

Back to the numbers I go (tomorrow). November snow at Farmington is 5-6% of the total, so the self-fulfilling potential might be less, but I'll check.

Farther north, Farmington's earliest sub-80 record is on 10/15 and for sub-75 it's the 31st.

Low of 37 last Wednesday and my cukes were fried. Had 34 on 9/29 and nothing was harmed. Clear and cold both mornings. Wx can be weird. And I record length of growing seasons as the days between last 32/lower and first 32/lower - mister obvious. The plants may reacted differently - thermometer 31 with a breeze may not do harm because the garden is 33-34, and instrument 33-35 in still/clear may be 30 at cuke level.

At the Farmington co-op, 62 AN Octobers have been followed by an average of 101% normal snowfall. For the 62 AN Novembers, it's 93%. Given the sample size, I'd guess the November discrepancy is likely significant.

Guess you hit Mt. Vernon at the right time. About 50% leaf drop here. Maples 50% ash 95%, basswood 40%, oak/beech/popple 10%. First 3 on the list are 90% of the hardwood component in the hood.

November cold is strongly predictive of good snowfall here - AN Novies like last year's are followed by BN/ratters more often than not. October temps are just the opposite though the correlation is much weaker.

Retention on the Downeast coast is generally terrible (2014-15 excepted - Machias reached 74" that Feb.) so you can probably drive in and out with a 4WD SUV. And pine wood is soft, easily cut with a chainsaw. I don't think the board has ever had posts from Washington County. Cool Spruce () was closest at Ellsworth.

Or Siri Island, an Iranian oil-terminal spot. I've seen it with 98/90, winds 25, condition "sand". Just lovely - blowing sand sticking to one's sweat.

It's past my previous delay of 1st frost - Oct. 6, 2011 - and I'm guessing at a week from today as a possible date, and could be later. Farmington co-op's latest for 1st frost was Oct. 17, 1990 and that year's Sept. had 3 mornings at 33. For certain my spot would've frosted on those days. Last month's low here was 34 and the co-op 35. Good chance this will be the co-op's latest 1st frost since they began records in 1893.

OT, but any way to seal off all but a ground-floor section that you would be using? Save on heating and perhaps be less depressing than having all that open space around. (I suspect you've already considered that strategy.)

Having seen vets buzzing beaks of parrots to avoid overgrowth, I'd guess affirmatively though I've no idea how long it would take.

Leaves over snow make for unstable footing. I found that out when remeasuring a pine plantation (established 1984) north of Flagstaff Lake in 2000. Long Falls Dam had recorded 10" on Oct. 10-11 and I was there a week later, with the popple (aspen) leaves having fallen in between. Wet leaves atop wet snow makes for a skid special, and wet clothes after numerable landings. (LFD had a 14" dump end of the month and some other bits for 25" total, not bad for October.)

The maintenance folks outside my former office use leaf blowers, and they're noisier when heard thru closed windows than my 8-horse Craftsman snow blower when I'm at the handles. (And I run it full throttle.) Motors may produce similar decibels but that fan is orders of magnitude louder than the business end of the snow blower.

The oddest thing I found with helicopters is how they react to turbulence. Much less up and down or bumpiness, but more tail-wagging. I've hit my head on the ceiling of a light airplane in turbulence (yes I was tightly belted in) and have been on the edge of nausea, but not even close to that in rotorcraft.

We had one from a red oak (the big acorns) smack the windshield as we drove by at 45 mph - no damage but quite startling.

Maine locations are essentially climo. I'd be surprised if the entire state landed that close to their 30-year norms.

With all the elevation available, you get to see an extended peak as the change moves downhill. Colors here are about average, meaning beautiful, and though the trees around the house are typically short on reds there's a better than usual amount of those hues this year. The sequence I hope never to repeat came in my first year on the forum, 2005. That year the leaves were about half changed going into the holiday weekend, which was 2 days earlier than this year's. On Oct 7-9 we had nearly 6" RA with gales, stripping half the leaves off the big (still mostly green) oak and essentially everything else. The year without a peak.

Very true, though after about 2 hours in a 'copter my brain get overload from all the visual info. My wife and then 3-year-old son flew before I did, on a NJ trip while we lived in BGR, though my catch-up flight was more fun. On Jan 13, 1976, my 7th day on my first forester job, I accompanied 2 other Seven Islands Land Company foresters (and the pilot!) on a Bell Jet Ranger flight to examine some deeryards from above. It was -37 that day and the ship, which had been kept warm while sleeping at its home base in Greenville, had to stay running as we refueled. That day I learned 2 things beyond seeing the woods we managed in such a wonderful way. First, rotor wash is some cold when it's in the -30s. Second, the outside temp popped up 15+ degrees within 10 seconds of lift-off, in the first 500 feet of climb. Later I would see that inversion clearly when commuting from our back settlement home to the office, about 450' lower elevation. If the smoke from the cedar mill cone burner across the river in New Brunswick included a distinct layer about 100 yards or so above ground, the temp at the office would be 10-15° colder than at home. And the Jet Ranger was great but my one flight on the little Bell X-47, also about deeryards, was even better. Watching the forest zoom by between my feet was a memorable experience.