tamarack

I was fortunately having way too much fun to think about retiring that early. It's in the works now, however, for December if Maine PERS can get to my benefits options in time - they have a lot of folks in the queue. Might look into a private contract to assist with next year's full recertification audit.

I can't fault you for disagreeing. BOX depth reached 31" in Jan 1996 while 150 miles north we never got past 28, as the big KU was a fringe job there. That was somewhat AN for max depth in Gardiner but peanuts compared to BOX's anomaly. My "affection" for deep pack was born in my Fort Kent years. The monster pack in 1961 in NNJ is a strong memory, but that winter was almost the only incidence of significant pow-pow. Usually the snows fell on bare ground there, or on a bit of whitish crust. In the years once I became interested in snow records (began about 1956) until moving to BGR in 1973, my area in NNJ averaged 50-55", which is about 15" above the long-term average, and the Feb 1961 storm is the only one that brought a 10"+ storm atop a 10"+ pack. Even the snowier locations in NW Jersey at 1000+ elevation did that only the one time. Where I live now it occurs in more than half our snow seasons, even this past BN one though barely - the 10.3" on 3/23-24 fell atop a 10" pack.

First fire in the stove this season (except for burning some non-recyclable papers) as the past 2 days' means of 52 and 54 had cooled the house to 63-64. (Thermostat set near 60 so no oil used.)

Not quite as stark here. We've had 11.82" May 17 thru today (average for the period is 15.17", so not terrible) but the 17 days June 28-July 14 had 8.33" and the rest 3.49" - 2.59" over the remaining 88 days w/o Saturday's 0.90. Another CoC day, low 40s this AM to upper 60s this afternoon - w/o yesterday's wind, clouds and 60° max. Last 5 days' highs: 64, 65, 72 (low of 38), 55, 60. Middle day's high only 1° BN but the other 4 averaged -12.

Probably about the same here, after being +3 a couple weeks into the month. Yesterday's 55/49 took a bite out of the AN. That max ties for the coolest I've had in August here. Exactly 11 years ago we had the same 55/49, but only 0.62" compared to yesterday's 0.90.

The classic big snow/no retention was 1995-96. At Gardiner the snow got to 28" deep 2nd week of January then 3 torch deluges cut it back to 5". In Farmington, 40" went down to 8" - takes some incredible thaws to drop the foothills pack by 32" in January. Feb saw the Gardiner pack go up to 12" then squash back to just 2. 16" in early March again lifted the depth to 20" and 17 days later it was all gone. 23" in one April week produced only 21 SDDs. For my 13 winters in Gardiner that winter is 30" snowier than any other but only 5th in SDDs, way behind 86-87, 89-90 and 93-94. Fun watching the stuff fall, not fun slogging thru the slush a few days later.

Most of which are probably true. That Cutler trip in 1991 was interesting in many ways. It was before any of the trail work had begun and going thru the spruce behind the seaside cliffs was like fighting one's way thru tall krummholz. Torn uniforms, scratches galore, and we were all swacked out at the end of the bushwhack. That evening we got the news we had feared, that the political impasse at the State House had caused a shutdown and we were to drive straight back to Augusta the next day, which would spoil our plans to explore with Maine Coast Heritage Trust the 10,000 acres inland from the highway that they had recently acquired (and would later gift to the state.) Ten minutes after getting the news we called back and asked if we used the state vehicles only to drive back to Augusta, did it matter when we got there? The Parks and Lands Director knew exactly what we were asking and said, "I guess not." Next morning we all packed into the MCHT vehicles and did the planned explore, carefully as we weren't then covered by workers comp, and figuratively thumbing our nose all day at the political mess back home.

My Knife Edge round trip in 1973 tops my list of memorable mountain experiences. However, the scariest was much smaller scale, at a pocket beach surrounded on 3 sides by 100' cliffs on the state's "Bold Coast" Cutler tract. We entered down a 45° (thus 100%) scree slope about 100' long after another 150' of letting ourselves down by hanging on to the occasional bush. When one would hit the "beach", scrambling another 30-40' was recommended to avoid being hit from behind by the rocks one had loosened. The footing wasn't very good once one was down as the Cutler "sand" is of a size suitable for paperweights. With 7 of us looking to get back up, I had the "smart" idea of free-climbing the cliff where it was only about 75' to the trees. The first 30' were easy but when I got to the real steep I found that the rock was so crumbly that it was worthless as a hand-grab. For the next 15 minutes I edged upward (down would mean a 30' fall) by using the dying grass for support - weak but better than the rocky mess. By the time I reached the tree line my legs and arms were toast, having been at constant full tension for that 1/4 hr. A minute after rejoining the group I got stung by a yellowjacket but had far more adrenaline in my system than an epi-pen would provide (and I've never shown the allergy.) Still had another 4-5 miles that day and I was slogging as much as walking. The beach was, to me, the most spectacular spot on that spectacular property, but our trail layout avoided its proximity as we couldn't figure a safe way for significant hiker traffic to enter and exit. (Short of a hideously expensive structure that might withstand the storms)

Had 0.89" with dz about 20 minutes ago. Lot of svr watch in VT, but GYX thinks the cold-damming here (still mid 50s) will damp the convection down mostly to quiet showers. Next week's warmup forecast has modified from mid-upper 80s seen 2-3 days ago to near 80 on Thurs-Fri. Might be dewy, though.

Actually quite a lot has changed since "Paper Plantation" though perhaps the legislative clout less than most things. Back then most of the large landowners also had mills; Seven Islands and Prentiss & Carlisle were the major exceptions. The "earthquake" began when Great Northern sold its 2 mills and 2.2 million acres (about twice the next largest landholding) to Georgia Pacific in 1992. Over the next 15+ years the land/mill vertical structure essentially disappeared, with the land ownership going to Timber Investment Management Organizations (first was John Hancock, deciding that their funds would earn more that way than in the stock market) and Real Estate Investment Trusts. Whatever one thought of how IP, Scott, GNP managed the forest, those companies' biggest investments were the mills so they managed the woodlands for the long term. The newer entities generally looked at a 10-year horizon (plus/minus) and would often cash out at the end of that period, with establishment of desirable forest regeneration beyond their investment time and thus not on their radar. The land still grows trees but a short financial horizon is unlikely to produce a diverse forest.

What I'd like (as would anyone here) would be another Feb 1969,when Farmington got 43" over 3 days that built the pack to 84" - was the state's tallest pack on record until 2017 when 94" was measured at Chimney Pond. Pales next to Pinkham Notch's 164" after that same '69 event., undoubtedly the most east of the Rockies. Mansfield is 2nd, 149" that same winter.

Been there only once, on our honeymoon in June 1971. I recall it as being a bit spooky, in a good way - deep shade and big roadside boulders.

6.7% gradient vs. 11.5% at MWN. I suspect I-70 doesn't get above 5%.

Ever hear the Rudy Vallee version? Light rain now, looks like about 0.8" in the gauge. Decent, and the biggest RA event in 6 weeks.

Moderate RA the past hour, probably 1/2-3/4" in the Stratus to boost August's 0.89" before today. Mid 50s, very October-ish.

Rain arrived here a few minutes ago - took a while to saturate the lower levels. Got down to 38 yesterday, making it 12 of 23 Augusts having sub-40 minima.

Those plus red and sugar complete the eastern natives (and some taxonomists break the latter into sugar and black maples.) Whether any of the exotics look like that I don't know - the dendrology class didn't get into those.

In the early 1970s, Ralph Nader's group published a book called "The Paper Plantation" which portrayed Maine's mill owners as acting like antebellum slave-holding plantations in the south. ironically, the stumpage contract the authors chose as one evidence of logger "bondage" was one from Seven Islands, which then had no mills - Maine Hardwoods in Portage was 30 years in the future. Pretty standard contract stating the responsibilities of landowner and logger, including that the landowner had full right to determine which trees would be cut. Not sure why that would be objectionable.

Their form is like those of the maples but smaller, and no doubles - often there are a few twins that make it to the ground attached. The asymmetrical shape is like seeds that once were part of a pair, however. Single samaras like ash have the seed in the middle. Boxelder? One of the understory maples, striped/mountain? What's growing near where you find them? Those types of seeds usually wind up within 100' or less of the parent unless there are strong winds. The Dec 1992 monster was just wind in Gardiner, where we lived at the time, and the abundant white ash seeds were everywhere.

Right. The fall is fun, landings not so much. 50 years ago while building houses I'd walk on 2nd story upper plates - 2x4 framing in those days - where a fall one way meant 8' onto a plywood deck littered with chunks of wood, and the other way 20'+ onto the rocks near the foundation. Especially dicey before the wall was braced - the plate would wobble back and forth a few inches. Probably most of us have survived dumb acts.

Maybe Nov-Dec 2018? The cold began to take over 2 weeks into October and storminess for the last week or so. Nov brought storms of 4", 6" and 7.1" - we've had only 7 snows of 4"+ in 22 Novies and 2018 is alone in having more than one - then Dec laid a rotten egg. Farther south, NYC had its earliest 6"+ snowfall, more than a week earlier than the next one, then had "T" for Dec and 3.7" total for Jan-Feb before bagging 10" in early March..

GYX talking about 1" in their morning AFD. 64/52 and 65/46 last 2 days, low this morning approached 40.

Given the 4x4x2 dimensions, he's charging the equivalent of $640/cord. Probably hopes unknowing flatlanders (meaning, anyone not from where he's from) won't know anything about firewood prices.

I don't think the wind ever quit. Coldest I saw in Maine was 41 at IZG; the north was mid 40s and I had uppers. HIE at 36 seems the coldest outside of MWN.

Afternoon high was a whopping 9F that day, with winds gusting well into the 30s. Tied with the 29th in 1978 for Farmington co-op's coldest November max. It's the only day I can recall when cold wx made me decide to leave the deer rifle alone. Of course, had I been 30-40 years younger I'd have gone out anyway. And for combo winters, I'll take March 2007-Feb 2008.