tamarack

Hard to get the right scale, but it might be large enough (significantly bigger than hornets/yellowjackets) to be a wood wasp. They're solitary and non-stinging.

Not as good in Maine but still decent. Not interested in solar, would need to cut loads of trees and make frequent roof trips to clear off the snow. We're exploring the heat pump option, more for AC than for heat, in part because the only place for installation (without removing windows, cabinets or both) is 10-12' from the woodstove.

Had a dust devil that summer of 1966 where I worked. It was a hot and dry day with little wind before a strong north wind arrived mid afternoon. The spin-up started at the south end of the lodge - we heard some things crashing - then moved north behind the lodge before cutting west across the beach to the lake. On its way it tossed thick chaise lounge cushions into treetops and flipped over one of the heavy wooden lounges several times and turned the 14' aluminum boat upside down. It picked up one of those thigh-high ashtrays, lifted it 40-50' and carried it across the lake (only about 1,000') before dissipating in the woods on the far side. Watching that black ashtray going round and round amid a sand cloud was amazing.

Really? 1965 set records for lowest precip year in all 3 SNE states, also DE, NJ, PA. And it wasn't just 1965. Using NYC as proxy, because of their 151-year POR: 1960s average: 43.20" 1962: 37.20" 20th lowest 1963: 34.28" 5th lowest, saved from setting new #1 by a 4" RA Nov. 7-8 1964: 33.00" New record (lasted one year) 1965: 26.09" 'nuf said '65 Jan-Aug: 19.06" '66 Jan-Aug: 19.80" (And met summer was 4.8° warmer than '65.) Then Sept. 1966 brought 8.7" and things moved back to normal.

9/65 worse for New England, slightly less bad in the MA as the dry wx hung on a bit longer there. And if a long-term drought can be said to end on one day, NYC's 5.54" on 9/21/66 was that day, though no one knew it at the time. But from there on out, precip was more normal, with some significantly AN years coming soon.

Is that map available for, say, Sept. 15, 1966?

Northern Maine got fringed by 1978, about 2". And while they did okay with the "Mayor Lindsey" storm in early Feb 1969, the big dog in late month was mainly a whiff. VT had huge variation that month, BTV getting 17" and St. Johnsbury 60, BTV 6" from the late month dump vs. 35" for St.J. The March 2011 storm dumped 19" at Eustis while 40 miles SSE we had a lot of RA followed by 2" IP then enough ZR to take out power. Bad memories - my spinal stenosis symptoms (I had no idea yet on what was going on) were getting worse. Had a day-long forestry conference in Orono and my wife was house sitting near BGR. Got home at 8, all was dark and the house about 45 inside with teens outside. Usually I'm quite cold-tolerant but that night I just couldn't get warm, even under a pile of blankets and the woodstove going full blast.

And ENE got squat. We were forecast for advisory level snow but by the time the cold air arrived the precip was about done - just a few flakes here. Fitting end to a crummy snow season.

With the July 4th weekend crowds, surprised there was any uncovered sand above the high tide line.

Hoped to find records back thru 1965. If they're available, I could not find them. Quabbin probably hit their lowest in August 1966.

2005-06 definitely, my 2nd lowest snowfall of 22 winters here and less than 8" after Jan 31. 83-84 and 85-86 were mostly meh where I am now, though 83-84 had a cold March with a 23" snowstorm and that winter we lived in northern Maine and the March storm dumped 26.5", biggest snowfall I've experienced and brought the pack to 65", also tops. The other 9 averaged 104" compared to the nearby co-op's 90" average. Weak ENSO in either direction averages AN for snow here though La Nada is about average.

Thanks for the full context; I was writing from memory. My semi-quotes came from the KJV. Both are reliable versions.

As a grandfather, I still look back to 1966 when I lived in NNJ. That met summer held NYC's heat and drought records for 44 years until 2010 came in a fraction warmer. Still holds the drought record, also tied with 1953 for most 100+ (4) though the earlier year's 4th triple came in met fall. Since I spent that summer working between counter and grill at Curtis-Wright's summer resort, that additional heat just accentuated the extremes that season. On Sunday, July 3 NYC was 103 and LGA 107 and we had the biggest crowd through the gate of any day in my 2 summers there. The coil thermometer at the end of the counter was well beyond 120, the highest number on its face, and I worked a lot closer to grill and fryers than was that instrument. It was so far beyond anything in my NNE experience that the memory is emblazoned on my brain.

Today's mid-60s dews take it out of CoC for me, but it's looking like things dry out during the day tomorrow.

Reminds me of a parable in Luke's Gospel. Paraphrasing it very loosely, a man has crop yields too great to fit in his barns, so he decides to tear them down and build bigger. He thinks that then he'll be all set for years and years. But God says, "Thou fool!" and says the man's life ends that very night, "and whose will be your goods now?"

More likely the owners didn't want to be associated with the poor folks who can only afford $5 million mansions.

The Coplin address piqued my curiosity but when I read about Beaver Mountain Lake I knew they had the wrong township - Coplin is next to Stratton and north from Sugarloaf. To see that lake from there would require X-ray vision to penetrate Crocker and Redington Mountains. It's Sandy River Plt, as your earlier post noted. Looks like a nice spot though the driveway seems steep. (And both Coplin and Sandy River share the 04970 ZIP with Rangeley.)

"Safe" in this context is relative. The science says that wearing masks greatly reduces the chances of getting COVID-19 but I've not heard any science that says it totally eliminates the chances. Sitting in a poorly ventilated room (typical of many small-town voting places) for 8 hours while hundreds of people file by multiplies the "greatly reduce[d]" chances. Volunteers in our town are generally dedicated and will be there, but reducing the number of folks parading past the registry table can only help. Edit: 'Berg nicely describes the "lock the gate behind me" syndrome.

Depends on how one does it. When "phase 2" arrived in June, meetings of up to 50 people were okayed, with masks and/or distancing. Our pews are tape-blocked such that differing family groups sit 6+ feet apart and families with younger kids view the service remotely from a downstairs room to ensure <50. We do sing hymns, but those with louder voices (like me) mask up to sing. Choir has not yet resumed - we had hoped to present our Easter program for the church's 40th anniversary in June - no go - so now were looking at December and doing it as the Christmas program as the material works for either holiday. I'm not real confident it will go completely, maybe just the spoken parts w/o the choir. Just common sense.

With the new town hall just beginning to be built and no sizable place in town to vote, a social-distanced queue of more than 10 people will have most standing outside. November can be messy, even during the 1st week. Because of that and our ages, my wife and I will vote absentee but hand-deliver our ballots before the crowds arrive on election day. Killington folks gone wild And it may be just beginning. Less than 30 of the 65 guests at the infamous Millinocket wedding early last month got the virus, but with secondary/tertiary infections the total related positives is probably approaching 140, with 66 in the York County jail alone. When it was 54 the cases included 19 staff and 35 prisoners. Yikes!

The arborist bill might be more than what it cost (in 2020 $$) to build the pool.

Despite the SNE damage from Isaias, it was still a Cat 1, so the season to date might be called "Laura and the dozen dwarves."

Dec 1992 was just wind at my (then) home in Gardiner, nary a flake. PWM had 2" so I doubt IZG got much. Feb 1978 dumped 22" at the Farmington co-op, only 2" where I lived in Ft. Kent. We were marking timber near the south shore of Eagle Lake about 15 miles south of FK and had S- on an eerily steady north wind about 25 mph. I can't remember another significant wind that had so few gusts. In my 10 years in northern Maine we had only one decent snowfall that also tagged both CHI and NYC, the April 1982 blizz. Anything else that got both sites at 40-41N invariably kept heading east.

August numbers: Avg. max: 74.61 0.30 BN. Warmest was 86 on the 11th, coolest 55 on the 29th - tied with 8/29/09 for month's coolest max. Avg. min: 53.52 0.81 AN. Coolest was 38 on the 28th, mildest 66 on the 12th. Avg. mean: 64.06 0.25 AN. Was running +3 thru the 1st 2 weeks. Warmest mean was 74 on the 12th, coolest 52 on the 29th. Precip: 1.79" 2.18" BN. Greatest one-day: 0.90" on the 29th. Had 0.71" from Isaias on the 4th-5th, thus 0.18" for the other 28 days. 1 TS, tied for lowest Met summer: Avg. temp: 64.45 1.26 AN. 4th warmest of 23. Warmest: 65.78 in 1999; coolest 61.24 in 2009. Hottest day: 90 on 6/20; coolest: 27 on 6/1. Precip: 11.82" 1.37" BN. 8.33" (70%) fell June 28-July 14. Wettest was 23.82" in 2009 (of course), driest was 7.24" in 2002. Greatest one-day: 1.98" on 6/30

4th warmest of 23 here, about 1.5 degrees behind 1999 and slightly less warm than 2001 and 2005. The last 6 days of August averaged 64/45 and kept this summer out of the #2 slot.