tamarack

Channel a TS north, just for fun?

I've read that each of their rolls has meat the equivalent of an entire lobster, and w/o non-essentials like mayo and veggies, just some melted butter. Never had one there, however. We get very good ones at Mosher's Seafood in Farmington, 7 miles from the house and no lines. Rte 1 sucks in the summer In the past when I'd drive Rt 27 to Wiscasset in summer, the quickest (but by no means quick) method to make a left turn often was to go right, travel past the end of the eastbound line on Rt 1 - often to Wiscasset Ford 1.5 miles west - and make a U-turn in the parking lot.

I've read something similar about copperheads, that the young ones' venom is more highly toxic than that of adults. However, the old maxim "the dose makes the poison" remains true, and the little ones can deliver much less volume. Edit: I've also never seen a water snake nearly so dark as the one in the pic. The hundreds I saw in NNJ always had the red-brown markings, and ones immediately post-shed were frequently mistaken for copperheads, though the latter's color and head shape are radically different. A website article I checked on water snakes notes they can deliver a painful bite, a fact I learned several times (each bite fully earned) including having a tooth broken off in my thumb.

More tender than the tail, so I save it for last. And though I like hot dogs, I'd consider them pollution to join lobster in the roll.

And the washer - even my brand new wiper blades won't scrape the pollen clean without help. The flowers on white pine are as abundant as in any year I can recall. Barring a disaster (the record thaw of Feb 1981, followed by frigid cold, killed almost all the 1st-year cones in N.Maine) those trees should be loaded by late summer next year.

Or not. 1st reports say the pickup and bikes were driving in opposite directions. People routinely travel 70+ on that road, whether 2, 4 or more wheels.

June is pollen month for white pine, also for red spruce. Everything seems 7-10 days late this cool cloudy season - normally the pollen peak would be before mid-month, but around here the blossoms on WP only appeared while we were in SNJ (6/11-18) and pollen fall will probably last to the 25th or beyond.

Did you go there hunting? Chasing "Esox alligators" (muskies)? Canoeing? I've got loads of memories from the almost 10 years (1976-85) working in that country. Finally saw a bit of sun after 6 yesterday afternoon

Back in the cold 1960s my (future) boss at my 1st forestry job woke up on 6/17/64 to see 3" snow had fallen during the overnight, on the NW Maine border across from St.-Pamphile, PQ. No snow was reported at Clayton Lake, 25 miles to the SE, but they had temps 53/33 with 0.32" precip that day so maybe if the cookee had gone outside at 3 AM he'd have seen some flakes.

Unless my gauge holds a couple post-7 AM droplets. Lots of garden work for tomorrow, and hoping that the wind keeps the skeeters at bay (and that the deerflies haven't appeared in great numbers - would take a Cat 3 to beat them back.)

The "tiger mosquitos", big striped-body ones, on our Topsham lot fronting Merrymeeting Bay could sometimes be confused (the noise, anyway) with the Orions that used to fly out of Brunswick Naval Air Base, 5 miles away. And as much as I hate deerflies, greenheads are worse. Many decades back when my dad would take us fishing on Great Bay, out of Tuckerton, NJ, we'd always seem to be at the fish cleaning benches just when the sea breeze died, allowing those aerial sharks free rein. Slapping at them with hands covered in fish guts was quite entertaining. (Appropriate emoji for greenhead bites)

Seeing this sent me back to my records, and I found that Jan-Feb 2015 wasn't the slam dunk that I thought, though its 33 days is still longest. However, Jan 2-31, 2003 misses by just 3 days. Also, dendrite's post had coldest temps, which I'd mostly ignored (until now): Coldest morning: -36 on Jan 16, 2009 (Have reached the -30s 5x: -30 in Jan 2005, -36/-34 in Jan 2009, -31 in both Jan 2014 and Dec 2017.) Coldest mean: -16 (-1/-31) on Dec 29, 2017 Coldest max: -8 on Jan 15, 2004 (Afternoon of the 14th topped out at -11 but "only" -7 at my obs time the previous evening.)

1.87" as of 7 this morning, nearly all coming 1-8 PM yesterday - largest precip event since the 2.17" Grinch deluge last Dec. 21-22. June went from half average to 0.2" AN for the date. Have not seen a flash of lightning at home, or more than a few distant rumbles there, since last August.

High dews (65-70) over much of Vermont plus SW New Hampshire, but Maine south of MLT is 55-60 and has actually retreated 1-3° since 8 this morning. Light-mod RA in Augusta since about 1, perhaps 4-5 tenths so far with some nice echoes upstream.

Likewise about the stakes, though most of the plants remain too short to really need the support. Two weeks away from the garden so lots of work needed there.

When will my place have its first day averaging >65? Can we finish June with zero CDDs for the season to date? Lowest by 6/30 so far is 7, in the endless rains of 2009. That year had only 26 CDDs thru 7/31 before August came in AN and added 72 more.

Hit the fog wall immediately as I began to go down the SE side of Mile Hill this morning - there was none at home though hilltops were a bit obscured, none while climbing Mile Hill or on its little plateau, and by the time I'd reached Belgrade Village there was very little. It was just that one foggy mile or so. Looks like i may need to get into the garden and tie off some plants after this rain................ Would not mind about an inch, as I'm 1.5" BN for the month to date, and it's been dry since last Thursday. 2" - no thanks. (And we got out of SNJ just in time - serious flooding there from overnight downpours, including part of our usual I-295 route.)

Excellent non-action! Wardens and wildlife rehab folks get loads of new-born "faux-orphan" fawns this time of year from people who are unaware of deer behavior. Mama deer makes the near-scentless little critter(s) lie still while she's our refueling. Staying clear and checking later is exactly right.

Hope that's real and not another mirage. With the right management, snowmaking and customer base, that area's elevation and NW aspect could enable it to challenge K-Mart for longest season.

Some of that data is in my sig. I'll add that my least snowy 12-month period was Feb. 2006 thru Jan 2007 when just 26.9" fell. Ironically, the max 12-months began in March 2007 - from then thru Feb 2008 I measured 178.0". I also haven't tracked Holiday snows, though I'm confident I've never seen accumulating snow on all 3 in the same season. Biggest T-Day snowfall is probably the 3.7" in 2005, also noteworthy for the 2 cold-air tornados, EF-1 and EF-0 in Maine's midcoast during the storm. (I had had no idea such things were even possible.) Biggest for 12/25 was the 8.0" in 2017, also 8.0" in Fort Kent (storm of 25-27 totaled 16.5") though we had about 15" (plus first thundersnow of my experience) on 12/24/66 in NNJ with the finishing flakes after midnight - does that count? Biggest Easter snow was 3/29/70, another NNJ event, when we had 11" of mid-20s pow thru the middle of the day. This past winter's 162 consecutive days with 1"+ is 1st place by 20 days. Also had 1 day in Oct for 163 total, tops by 13. Without parsing 21 years' data, I know that the 33 consecutive sub-freezing days Jan 20-Feb 21, 2015 take the prize. The temp popped up to 35 on 2/22, probably above 32 for no more than a couple hours, and was followed by 9 more sub-freezing highs thru March 3. Except for 2/22, the highest temp 1/20 thru 3/3 was 29. For those 43 days (includes 2/22), average high was 19.3, low -7.0, avg 6.1, 10.5° BN. 29 of the 43 had subzero minima and another 5 hit zero or +1. Biggest snowfall by month: Also, in italics, biggest at Gardiner(G, 85-86 thru 97-98) and Ft. Kent(FK, 1/1/76 thru 84-85) OCT: 6.3", 29-30/2000 (29th max was 31, only sub-freezing in OCT) G: 1.8", 1988; FK: 4.0", 1981 NOV: 26-27, 2014 G: 8.5", 1989 (thunderblizzard); FK: 8.0", 1983 DEC: 24.0" 6-7/2003 G: 17.5", 1995; FK: 16.5", 1978 (8.0" on 25th) JAN: 20.0" 27-28/2015 G: 16.0", 1987 FK: 13.0", 1977 and 1978 FEB: 24.5" 22-23/2009 (max depth 49") G: 15.0", 1995; FK: 18.5", 1984 MAR: 19.9" 7-9, 2017 (Hon men: 19.0" 30-31/2001) G: 10.7", 1993 (the superstorm, 6:1 rimefest); FK: 26.5", 1984 (65" pack, about 16" SWE) APR: 18.5", 4-5/2007 G: 11.0", 1996 FK: 17.0", 1982 (With winds gusting 50+. CAR recorded 26.3") MAY: 0.3", 12-13/2002 (3.0" Farmington, latest 1"+ on record) G: Can't recall any. FK: 2.2", 1984 (Also 1.5" in 45 minutes on 5/7/76 as I tilled the garden) Fort Kent also had traces in June 1980, August 1983, and September 1977. The June/Sept events brought 1-2" above 1000' elev.) My average winter at Fort Kent had 134.3"; in Gardiner 79.2". Both numbers were significantly higher than those town's co-ops, which did one-a-day obs. FK obs are particularly ludicrous, with winter's average more than 20" less than at CAR despite a FK/CAR eyeball test indicates the opposite.

The MNAP guidebook control methods for common buckthorn are almost the same - only difference is that Garlon is not mentioned for foliar application, though it's there for cut-stump.

Looks like glossy buckthorn - its equally invasive exotic cousin has 4-petal flowers and yours has 5. Repeated pre-seed cutting can work, if you get it all and do it for at least 3 years. (Guidebook from Maine Natural Areas Program: "...diligence is required.") If herbicides are an option, either glyphosate (Roundup - I use its off-patent knockoff "Eliminator", which I've bought at Wal-Mart) or Triclopyr (Garlon.) Foliar application of either works well, as does cut-stump application except in spring when sap is moving upward. The ester formulation of Garlon, in bark oil, can also be applied to the base of the bark in any season. (Source: Same MNAP guidebook)

I've managed to kill the usually tough lupines in 2 places, my current locale and at our 1st house in Fort Kent. IIRC, the culprit here was plow-scalping (by the town) of the late-Feb slopfest in 2010, one more reason to hate that "winter." In Fort Kent, we planted lupines in the side yard shortly after moving in during May 1977 and got nice blossoms 3 years, just a few in 78 but lots the next 2. Then came Feb 1981, in which CAR tied its high temp for the month twice and exceeded it 7 times. The lupines failed to make an appearance that spring, so I guess the thaw went deep enough so that the subsequent sub-zero mornings on bare ground did them in. Edit: Spent the last week with family in SNJ - EF-0 just 8 miles to our NNW (Mullica Hill), closest I've been to a confirmed tor. We had little wind and not even a rumble. Looked for EAB and Gypsy moth evidence on the drive down (too much RA to see much on yesterday's return trip.) Patches of dead ash all thru CT/NY/NNJ. Also dead/sick oak, mostly S.MA and N.CT, but zero sign of current Gypsy moth feeding and even with this year's somewhat delayed phenology the defoliation should've been visible if significant. (Route thru MA/CT was 495/290/Pike/84. Nothing on I-684 nor Saw Mill River Pkwy in NY nor any of the NJ highways we traveled. either.)

Had a regular toad-strangler in Mahwah/Suffern (NNJ/SNY) around 11 AM yesterday while looking for Good Sam hospital in the latter town. High gear wipers couldn't compete, visibility 100 yards at times.

Wow - short but intense. Wife and I were watching 6 of our 7 grandkids about 8 miles SSE from there while dad/mom were on an anniversary date (with the still-nursing 7th.) Tor-warn came over cell phones and we pondered a to-cellar move while I went out for a look (3x.) Little rain, no wind, no thunder, so we stayed put.