SPRING Begins

It's the official start of spring today but it seems that spring is still waiting with the ground hog I believe.

But it's been a bit behind for years now.

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.



April showers bring May flowers.

It was 17 degrees this morning. Burrrrrr!

I've been working outside jobs for over 30 years now. You have to plan your work with the seasons. Things are different now. It seems awfully possible that climate change is a real thing.

The seasons here seem to be delayed by about three to four weeks now. It's making for some weird side effects. Winters here in Maine can be pretty cold and snowy. Push the exit of winter back by four weeks ... you're getting into the longer days of sunlight. Average daytime winter temps are in the 30's & 40's. ( They should be in the 20's & 30's )

Anyways ... there's less snow. What there is melts off pretty quick. You might as well forget about ice fishing & ski mobiles in this area. The locals had to travel 200 miles north for their favorite wintertime recreation this year.

Originally Posted by jimicrk

It was 17 degrees this morning. Burrrrrr!

Official Maine Temperature Conversion Chart
60 above	New Yorkers try to turn on the heat. People in Maine plant gardens and go fishing.
50 above	Californians shiver uncontrollably. People in Maine sunbathe while fishing.
40 above	Italian & English cars won't start. People in Maine drive with the windows down on the way to go fishing.
32 above	Distilled water freezes. While out fishing, Mainers notice that the water in Moosehead Lake is getting a little thicker.
20 above	Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves and woolly hats. People in Maine throw on a flannel shirt so they can fish at 3:00 in the morning.
15 above	New York landlords finally turn up the heat. People in Maine have the last cook-out before it gets cold.
0	People in Miami all die from shock. Mainers lick the flagpole to tell which side of the lake the ice is thinnest (so they can go fishing).
20 below	Californians fly to Mexico. People in Maine get out their winter coats, so they can drag their uninsulated ice fishing cabins out on the lake with the tractor.
40 below	Hollywood shatters into a pile of frozen faux jewelry. The Girl Scouts in Maine are selling cookies door to door among the ice fishing communities on the lakes.
60 below	Polar bears begin to evacuate the Arctic. Maine's Boy Scouts postpone "Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold enough. Instead they go fishing with their folks, and work on their bare-handed catches at the ice fishing holes.
80 below	Mount St. Helen's freezes. People in Maine rent some videos to watch during their overnights in their ice fishing cabins.
100 below	Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Mainiacs get frustrated because they can't thaw the keg while fishing.
297 below	Microbial life no longer survives on dairy products. Cows in Maine complain about farmers with cold hands.
460 below	Absolute zero on the Kelvin scale. ALL atomic motion stops. People in Maine start saying "Cold 'nuff for ya?" (answer: "ayuh, 'bout time to hit the lake and catch a couple…")
500 below	Hell freezes over. The New England Patriots win the Super Bowl and the Red Sox win the World Series.

Over night I received about 10 inches of snow. I was outside clearing the snow from around my vehicle for about 3 and a half hours. Was a nice workout as I used a scoop shovel. The weather was nice enough.

The weather has certainly gotten weird and it keeps on getting all the weirder from what was "normal" years ago. That el nino thing a few or so years back changed the weather around my place drastically. I've lived here about 38 years and for the first 25 or so years, not sure how long ago the weather changed here, but before I had most storms and wind coming from the NW. Hardly ever had much for strong winds from the South and East. But after that el nino thing I started having a lot of south winds and a bit more of the NE and East winds.

Stuff that had been leaning up against things and other stuff around the yard for many years was suddenly blown all over the place.

I can watch the weather on my computer so I noticed that most of my weather over the last years swirls as it moves and comes and goes as it moves across the state.

I watched a storm during the summer a few years back just grow out of nowhere in the central west side of Minn. It started small and grew to be of good size.

But anyway, the weather is to a point that the weather predictors haven't much of a clue these daze.

Was outside shoveling snow/slush today. The snow is melting quickly but there is more on the way from the forecast. But that changes a lot the farther out it is. They have a ten day forecast on the weather site I check in on. I have my exact location on the map, but it matters little I have found.

I can get out with my vehicle now if I want to go somewhere.

I forgot that yesterday as I was sitting taking a break from shoveling I saw over 50 robins that were taking a break on the trees near me as they traveled to where ever they were going. A few of them came down by me to check out the clear ground as you could see the grass.

Summer might beat spring in getting here this year.

The world is sure changing. Weird weather and a even weirder world society.

That lion is still a blowing and spitting all over my yard.

rain, snow, sleet, WIND and such.

I did go out and check the mail box and had to nail down a piece of siding tin that was coming loose.

Wouldn't want to have to be out in it today.

But then I have no pressing business to attend to.

Just taking it easy and doing a little of this and that inside.

Today was mostly a nap day as I did enough yesterday inside where it's warm. I have some of my hobby things that I've been going through and moving around to other spots getting things a bit more organized.

I'm always amazed at what I have as I haven't a clue to what all I have as I pile it up. I figure that if you want to be surrounded with stuff just as well be interesting and cool stuff. I do enjoy my collecting in my older years. So much variety to choose from.

The weather today was nasty again. It will end one of these days. The weather forecast shows warmer days next week. But what will the wind be doing as a sunny warm windy day is not the best as you have to wrestle with the wind. A nice breeze is fine though.

I figure I can always find interesting play/work inside. Plenty of small things to sort and organize. Many thousands of coins I can sort on and organize. I always enjoy that when I have the proper room to set a bunch out. I have coins from all over the world. I don't mess with the bank notes much as they don't interest me much. For notes I have a few interesting U.S. notes and a few foreign notes I ended up with over the years.

No rush as haste makes waste and measure twice and cut once.

Spring is getting closer it seems as I was outside yesterday and today in a T-shirt.

The snow melted A LOT since yesterday.

Rain is supposed to be coming in a couple of days, that will take care of most of the snow and ice that's left.

Waiting for it to warm up enough so I can get some comet fish and put them in the pond. The water went down as the fall season was coming and the racoons would find the pockets of water and catch and eat the fish. The comets sure did grow over the summer. I might catch a few when the water goes down if it does. Was a dry summer and the water dried up. It's the water table here. Where my garden is I dug a small pond that is a great supply for the garden. Might try a tiny bit of gardening this year as I haven't done any the last couple of years. I have a nice fenced in area for the garden and raised beds.

That's the weather update and sundries for now.

It seems that better days are coming. Sunny and in the low 60's today. Perfect working outdoors weather. Heard the peep frogs for the first time on the way home from work this afternoon. It's almost time for blackfly & tourist season to arrive now.

The running joke here is that you can slap the blackflies but you can't slap the tourists. That kind of thing is bad for business.

No frogs yet, but the water in the big pond is warming up. I could see the ice under the water today and by later in the day it was mostly gone. I might pick up fish tomorrow and keep them in a tote of water until it warms up enough as I'm going into town tomorrow and the fish are on sale it seems if you buy 10 or 15 depending on the size. Last year they only had one size. Funny thing is the sale price is what they cost last year. Things are getting spendy as the daze pa$$.

I had those blackflies years ago one summer. There is a small stream not far from my yard. They liked chasing me around in the part of the woods near the direction of the stream. I remember those critters as they would be a cloud of them and they did like biting. Just had them the one year that I noticed. The creek is small and could be dried up part of the time.

You probably won't have too much longer to wait CD. It's good that you don't have a lot of blackflies where you are. They can be a real hassle when you are working outside. I generally have to light up a cigar and keep a good smudge going throughout the day to keep em' at bay. That seems to work with the tourists too !

Jeez ... it was an awfully nice day yesterday. Sunny,dry, and in the 60's with a light breeze. Went into work for half a day and then spent the afternoon on a metals fabrication project that's been on the docket for awhile. Everything went incredibly well. Haven't done any AC arc stick welding for years but it went off without a hitch.

It's funny ... some days the welder throws a really nice bead and other days i can barely strike a spark. Don't think it's the machine. Seems more likely the guy running the machine doesn't know what he's doing.

Maybe i'll just blame it in the weather instead ...................

Originally Posted by hills

You probably won't have too much longer to wait CD. It's good that you don't have a lot of blackflies where you are. They can be a real hassle when you are working outside. I generally have to light up a cigar and keep a good smudge going throughout the day to keep em' at bay. That seems to work with the tourists too !

Jeez ... it was an awfully nice day yesterday. Sunny,dry, and in the 60's with a light breeze. Went into work for half a day and then spent the afternoon on a metals fabrication project that's been on the docket for awhile. Everything went incredibly well. Haven't done any AC arc stick welding for years but it went off without a hitch.

It's funny ... some days the welder throws a really nice bead and other days i can barely strike a spark. Don't think it's the machine. Seems more likely the guy running the machine doesn't know what he's doing.

Maybe i'll just blame it in the weather instead ...................

Next time burn a couple of rods on a piece of scrap metal this will warm up the transformer coils inside the welder and drive off any moisture. If your using the welder daily this won't be necessary.

The frogs were barking last night. Doesn't take them long to wake up from the winter weather.

I had a fun trip into town yesterday. Hadn't been in to the bigger town in awhile because of the weather. I figured that I would wait until the weather was more agreeable.

Picked up some nice stereo equipment at a nice price. I have a nice selection of vintage electronics that I have collected up over the years.

Had my place for about 38 years now. The time seems to pass all the quicker as the years go by. Don't matter to me much as that's the way it works. I'm ready to become worm food when that time comes, as once again that's the way it works.

I had a load of stuff from town. My vehicle was sitting low in the back, so I took it easy on the way home and had a party with my invisible friends.

I noticed that people are getting all the more programed. But then that's the way it is and has always been.

If you can figure out a way to make a magic wand then you can solve all your problems.

I figured out years ago that there are no such things as magic wands unless you are a good boy or girl and get them from the real santa claus for x-mas.

HO HO HO and pass the ammunition.

Originally Posted by alloy2

Next time burn a couple of rods on a piece of scrap metal this will warm up the transformer coils inside the welder and drive off any moisture. If your using the welder daily this won't be necessary.

Thanks .... i'll give it a try. That would explain why the welder seems to work best on those bright (dry) sunny days. It sits for long periods of time out in an unheated shop. A bit of accumulated moisture certainly seems within the realm of reason.

Originally Posted by ChildhoodDream

If you can figure out a way to make a magic wand then you can solve all your problems.

Where's the fun in a magic wand ? Challenging problems to to sort out are the spice of life. Overcoming them fosters new learning & personal growth.

Originally Posted by ChildhoodDream

Had my place for about 38 years now. The time seems to pass all the quicker as the years go by. Don't matter to me much as that's the way it works. I'm ready to become worm food when that time comes, as once again that's the way it works.

Whew ... thank gawd. Can you imagine how tedious it would be to live forever. It's the end that gives life meaning.