tamarack

Lone Star tick - makes red meats produce the sickening, not sure about poultry/seafood. I don't know if all LS tick bites cause the change or, like deer ticks, only a (probably large) fraction carry the causal organism.

In April as bare spots began to appear, some folks in the St. John Valley would snowblow the plow piles onto the paved road so it would be gone soonest. Drivers there learned to be cautious.

Deer tick nymphs can be the size of a poppy seed. Picked a much bigger one from my ear this morning - either the biggest deer tick I've seen or the first dog tick I've ID'ed here in 10+ years. (But small for the latter species.) Last night's moon was on the orange side of yellow - odd, but kinda pretty. Thanks, Canada.

Only 0.24" as the best area remained south and the northerly one was losing its punch by the time it reached our longitude. With last evening, however, almost an inch - decent.

Hordes of mosquitos here, but one of the lightest black fly seasons we've had. (At least here. Makes me wonder if it was another 1996. On Friday June 7 I spent 5 hours at Oquossuc (Rangeley) Bald Mountain helping scope out a new snowsled trail and saw maybe 10 black flies. The next Monday our men's wilderness retreat reached Portage Lake about noon, and it seemed there were 10 of them per cubic inch. At Deboullie (25 miles SW from Fort Kent) where we camped, Ben's 100 lasted barely an hour. I'd never seen flies so thick before, and haven't since. Tuesday it was 91 at Fort Kent and blazing; black flies usually retreat to the cool woods when it's much over 80, but not that year. Even on Deboullie Pond a hundred yards from shore, they were thick. Maybe insufficient airspace over the land? Only place to hide (other than a steam bath inside a tent) was NW from the pond in hollows amid the spruce forest/boulder garden which still held ice and snow.)

Light RA just arrived to start Act 2, though the bright echoes are back at the NH/ME boundary. Had 0.71" between 6 and 10:30 last night, perfect garden watering.

Might be able to see the base of the mountains, with tops in the clouds. Hope the wx at PEI is better.

If you're traveling on US RT 2, you'll get within a mile of my place, though it's 2 miles by road - from the blinker in New Sharon by Sandy River Farm Supply (one of the cheaper gas places in the area - $2.929 last I looked). Should be a nice ride up I-95, somewhat slower HUL to PQI. The pullout north from Medway has a great view of Katahdin, possibly compromised by smoke. (Maybe you've already been through there before and I'm not offering real news. )

Humidity has arrived. Last 3 days were 73/35, 78/44, 86/49 but today's low is about 60 and high maybe 75. Started planting last Monday and it turned dry, as usual. Had 2 TS do a 7-10 around me about 6 PM yesterday and today's southern Maine RA refuses to cross Rt 2. Forecast says we get the garden watered tomorrow.

Lilacs at peak here, though the amount of blooms is lower than usual.

Haven't checked the max-min, probably reached 86-87. Here in the woods, 85 is our heat wave threshold. Fortunately, I got the rest of the sled-trail firewood into the yard by 9:15 AM when it was still under 70.

Especially if one chooses to go back and forth. My father-in-law and I went up Hunt in August 1973. As he'd hiked his scout troop all over the AT in NNJ/SNY, the trail's northernmost 5 miles was the obvious route. He was willing to wait at the summit while I went to Pamola and back, 2.2 miles in 1:50. Next summer a co-worker and I climbed the Abol trail, shortest (and hottest!) way to the top. The lower half of the open slide section was moved into the woods some years back, but in 1974 we baked in the steep south aspect all the way. In October 1972 we visited Baxter and while my wife and 4-month-old son waited and enjoyed the scenery, I climbed about halfway up Helon Taylor, which runs from Roaring Brook to Pamola.

Where would that be, Gander NFLD? CAR's coolest July maximum is 54 on 7/1/88.

Many years ago (early 1950s?) Isaac Asimov wrote a SF short story about a future time when everyone had powerful pocket calculators, and no one knew how to do basic arithmetic. Then this mousy little man came to the "genius" leaders to show how to multiply and divide. The leaders were flabbergasted by this wonderful "invention" but soon worked to find ways to use it to enhance weaponry. The "inventor", totally disheartened, then committed suicide. Approaching 80 here under hazy sun, still reasonable dews. Probably will want to use the AC setting on the heat pump tomorrow. (That's the only reason we bought the thing.)

73/35 yesterday under blue skies. Moon had a yellowish tone last evening as the smoke arrived.

Clouds from yesterday's little band of showers stopped yesterday morning's coolness at 41. Cloud free so far today, skeeters, one horsefly-sized critter and ticks where I was picking up the fallen red maple that had blocked (then was cut from) the club trail thru our woodlot. The wood was about 100 feet, nearly half wet/mushy and the rest a rock garden, from the unmaintained but drivable road. A challenge for the aching knees - left one gets fixed (replacement) on 6/23.

HIE reported 32 this morning so you're not alone. IZG had 36 and we were about the same. Last 30s until September?

May 2025 Avg Max: 62.4 -2.3 Warmest: 81, 28th High on May 23 was 44, which is 23° BN Avg min: 43.3 +3.3 Coolest: 27, 1st Mean: 52.8 +0.5 The avg diurnal range of 19.1 is 5.6 BN and 2nd lowest behind May 2011 Precip: 6.44" +2.48" Greatest day: 0.96" 18th Jan-May precip is 101% of the avg. No traces of snow were seen.

Maybe you've already done this . . . I wiggle the inner tube until it's right at 1.00" then dump it. Next is placing the funnel onto the inner tube and pour some of the outer tube contents - if there's more than 1" one must remember (or record) partial fills of the inner (I try to stop the pour in the 0.8-0.9" range) remember/record/dump then repeat until the outer tube is empty. Can be 'interesting' if there's several inches in the 4" tube and it's still pouring. In that case I take out a small pail, dump both tubes into it and head inside with the inner tube to measure in peace.

Had some characteristics of one. How often do we see 28.99 (PSM at 5) this late in the season. Strong backside winds, too. Up to 0.66" without any hvy RA, perfect for the carrot seeds that went into the ground yesterday.

Many thanks. The problem is that I don't remember to whom I've told which story - 2,3,4 times.

Early 1980s when we lived in Fort Kent, there was an outbreak of forest tent caterpillars, aka army worms. They fully defoliated all trees of the Populus genus - aspens, balsam poplar - and moved onto other hardwoods. Their squashed bodies stalled a train north of HUL, and a neighbor in FK had so many piled against his Bilco door (worms couldn't pass the metal flange atop the foundation) that he used a snow shovel to transport them by the thousands to his burn barrel. People would open their door and see hundreds heading over the threshold, sometimes resulting in those folks temporarily moving elsewhere. Only 4/10" by 9:30 and not much since, with the last decent band now overhead. Maybe reaches 2/3", probably less, but even dz at mid 50s is nasty.

That's surprising, as glyphosate translocates through the whole plant, including the roots. Maybe there's a huge seed bank of the nasty weed in the soil?

If you find that the natural methods and then choose chemical herbicide, I recommend a glyphosate product, preferably one with no other active ingredient. The SNJ home of our 7 grandkids had beaucoup poison ivy when they moved there in 2015. That summer I attacked the stuff with "Eliminator", the Wal-Mart version of Round-Up. (Recently, and unfortunately, they've added a bit of Diquat, far more toxic, to get quick brown-up.) Had to deal with inch-thick vines with side branches hovering, scads of ground P.I, nasty crud all around. Added a quick follow-up 2-3 years later, now only re-invasion plants - quite few - are found. At the border of the lot, the kids' side is Virginia creeper but right next to it is dominated by the bad stuff. Keeping active kids from playing in the bushes is just about impossible, and I thought that careful application was the safer choice for them.

81/40 here, first venture into the 80s this season. Sun was hot but dews remained modest.