Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, a nice cloudy calm day. Not too cold, not too hot. I used up the last of the gravel that had been delivered for me to use as I rebuild the driveway. That makes 20 yards I have spread so far. I have 12 more on order that hopefully arrives before too long. Hopefully that will be enough. Time will tell if it causes the water to do what I intended. 

I have enlarged ditches and created new ones as I strive to get the water to not run down the road. Sitting under the heating pad currently. It is supposed to rain tonight and maybe tomorrow so I might get to see what happens before I spread more gravel.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Nice day today as long as you are heavy enough not to get blown away. Very windy, I had to turn all my planters sideways along the wall to keep them from blowing over. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening up in the studio. Tonight’s too is it’s too chilly and damp so no fire. It seems that it is always the calmest on those nights. It is just as well, as I have not rebuilt much of the woodpile yet. I have been working on the driveway as energy allows the last few days. I redid some of the ditches and cleaned out the sediment that has washed in. I was awful glad I had not put stone in last time, as it would have been a pain to clean out now. Twelve yards of crushed gravel has arrived and I have started building the driveway up to get it to slope over to the ditch again and not run down the road as much. We’ll see how this goes. It worked well last time and with a larger budget last time I honestly don’t think I would be redoing it now. Hopefully this is the last major attack I will ever need to make doing it.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening after a not too hot, windy day, now with the sound of thunder off in the distance. We are not supposed to get any of it. I see from the weather that it is a substantial weather cell moving through. Can live without heavy winds and driving rain and hail.

Not too much going on around here for excitement. OK by me. I did sell all my wood and deliver it next door to the glamping area. Now I will need to scrounge some more. More for me and for them for next year. Gives me something to do and removes some of the fire hazard lying around. I haven’t had a lot of fires this season. It is usually determined that it is too something. Too windy, too hot, too cold, you get the idea. I’m just as content to go up into the studio and putter there.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday again. The summer is rapidly leaving us. I have absolutely no idea where the year is going. It seems like it is in a hell of a hurry to get over with and move on to next year. Maybe next year will make more sense.

The planters are dwindling down and are about ready to be cut down and made ready for something for fall. Fall, that is a crazy thought. It seems like I just took off the blower from last winter. The seasons do their own thing without our input. That may change before too much longer, hopefully I’ll be gone before that can happen, although our time change ritual may change soon. I don’t know how I will like that either. I guess we can always find something to complain about.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday once again. The weather roller coaster ride still continues. Today was not undoable, not terribly hot and not too windy. There was the fact that it poured in sheets a few times, but hey, it’s Maine, if you don’t like the weather wait a few minutes.

The flowers are beginning to look the worse for wear. They have not been impressed with the weather roller coaster. We noticed sun burning of the blossoms and I have had to dead the Sun-Patiens that we use along the front of the house. I seldom need to do that. I think it has been too hot. Some of them are also getting very leggy and hang way out over the edge of the planters. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, it is a chilly and windy evening. Needless to say, I am in the studio. Actually sitting here attempting to think of something to ramble about. I suppose if I think too long it defeats the idea of rambling. I have found though, that if too little thought is applied, it is unknown which station the train of thought might choose to stop at and discharge a few tidbits of knowledge. If I were to be totally honest though, much of what I pass along is not very valuable knowledge.

No real sunset tonight because of all the clouds. Here is the photo I took when I went to check. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. I was out by the fire but came in to write this. We continue to ride on the roller coaster of the weather. Today it never got above the mid 70’s and it was windy most of the day as well. Carol and I went to the ‘Falls and picked blueberries this morning. The picking was great and we both hated to quit. Had a fruit cobbler of sorts for dessert tonight. Dessert is a seldom thing in this house and it was quite tasty.

My Lillies have begun their annual display of sights and smells. The sights I can share, the smells you are out of luck. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, it has been way too windy for a fire. Way too windy for a skinny old man out there. There was a stretch today when I was turning my flowers sideways to the wind so they wouldn’t blow over that I had to bend over double to keep from blowing over myself. I’ll wait until tomorrow to rotate them back to where they belong. Here is my view of them for tonight.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

You guessed it, it’s Thursday.  I hope you are all surviving the heat, cause damn it’s been hot. I do not like the heat. If I have something that needs to get done, I’ll do it, but I’ll not like it and these days I notice I crash hard when the project is complete. Never used to be like that. There must be less oxygen in the air today than there used to be or something.

I did manage to see this as I was moving wood with my eyes open. My phone called it Prince’s pine. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, I’m still not sure how it gets here so fast every week. There is only one word needed for the weather, HOT. That about sums it up. I’m not a real lover of the heat. That said I spent yesterday morning moving about a cord of wood from my yard and stacking it in the neighbors woodshed. I’m going to need some more as he has purchased most of what I had stacked up on the hill. I’m sure I can find some more to make a new pile but probably not until it cools off a little bit. This stretch can’t last too long. I could not even imagine why anyone would live where it was this warm all the time. Another reason why you can keep Florida. I couldn’t imagine shoveling snow in the weather.

The flowers etc. are trying to stay ahead of the hot weather and the wind and are doing ok. I see no new flowers on this tomato but if these ever ripen there will be a couple salad’s worth here.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday has arrived. We had company today, Vanessa and her kids came for a visit. The kids went for rides in the old kayaks, I’m pretty sure that neither one fell in. After a nice chance to sit and enjoy the beautiful day we were glad to be under the awning as the sky opened up and it poured. It rained for quite a while. Then it cleared off and was lovely again. I think tomorrow is supposed to rain. I will probably go to Portland to pick up my new glasses. I am in hopes they will make a big difference. I have never thought my current pair fit and therefore can never seem to see what I want to. Time will tell.

My planters are doing as well as can be expected. It has been hard to tell what needs to get a drink what with all the rain. Almost all my planters have to deal with the wind that is usually blowing down one pond or the other as well. Here’s a couple photos of their progress.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. It has been a cold, wet, rainy day. However, right now it is beautiful out and I am waiting to see what (if anything) we get for color in tonight’s sunset. The last two nights have been phenomenal. Time will tell. Here is two nights ago  

6/16

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, finally the last couple of days I have been able to complain about the heat. The weather changes very fast from one extreme to another. I’m in the studio as it is too hot outside. Nothing I really have to do outside, I still have a couple 4-packs of wave petunias to plant up, but that is about it. I may get a few more short flowers to fill in some holes. Who knows, time will tell.

I told you last time about working on the neighbor’s woodpile. When I picked up a piece of wood I saw what looked to be a twig sticking out the end. Closer observation showed it to be a stick worm, I thought it was rather cool and was glad I had my eyes open. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday again. There have been a couple calm days but most days have been spent trying not to blow away. I feel sorry for the plants I transplanted, they hopefully do not get the life blown out of them. 

I’m having a hard time getting interested this year with the planter beds. I found another of my large metal containers being filled up with roots from the shrubs growing on the other side of the fence. I will need to remove all the soil and lay down filter fabric on the bottom and then fill it back it in again. The fun part of the project will be where to store the soil as the process happens. Then there is always the question,”do I really need the planter?” Much like when I drop something, I usually think about it for a bit to decide whether I really need the item bad enough and does it warrant bending over to pick it up. I’ll probably try to rehab and keep the planter, time will tell.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday. Weather today was a lot cooler than yesterday that was for sure. Yesterday I moved about a cord of firewood from my yard to the neighbors woodshed. It was wicked hot. Today I took about a cord of wood out of his wood shed and split it finer and started re-stacking it back into his wood shed. I’ll finish up tomorrow. Carol was happy, that meant that much time was not spent sewing.

As we move around the area spring is showing its bounty. The Canada Mayflower is starting to open. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

You guessed it, Thursday. The sun shines, it is windy and somewhat chilly. I’m ready for repeated days of spring weather, staying well above freezing EVERY night. Hopefully soon.

Not too much happening here on the pond. It’s been too windy to kayak. I did push the float out into the pond. The water is still pretty cold, I have no problem when I cool off my hardboiled eggs in the morning. The water out of the tap is plenty cold. That’s the thing about drawing your water out of the pond, you notice the change in the water temperature. Before too long we will begin to use less hot water in the shower as the pond warms up. I may even have to add ice cubes to help cool my eggs. Who ever imagined that such simple things become so noticeable as we age. Much like getting down on the floor to do something and then deciding there is a need to get back up again. Who would have thought that was one of those things I would now notice. I’m banking on the water staying cold enough for my eggs for a while. The need for ice cubes requires the need to get the ice machine out and make ice more often. I will say, my day to day difficulties and duties have changed a little over the last 40 years. Perhaps a good thing, perhaps not.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. If anything happened over the last week I guessed I erred by not writing it down. The weather was cold, wet, windy, sunny and warm. Normal spring weather.

It must be getting warmer, at least a little. The beard went the other day along with getting a spring haircut before the black flies get here. I always hate getting a haircut when my neck is covered with bug bites. I also hate hairs blowing around so you think something, or someone, is in your hair.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Been told it’s Thursday again so here goes. I am still waiting for the weather to feel half as nice outside as it looks. So far, not so much. Today was sunny a good part of the time but the wind howled 100% of the time. This naturally made it feel much colder than the thermometer reading. I think the long range forecast says warming by the end of May. Time will tell.

I haven’t bothered with too much clean up around the yard and the driveway yet, blaming it on the weather. If I still lived in Rangeley I would have no issues with still putting the long johns on to go outside, where I live now I feel I should be past that. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday again. Nice day today, nice in so far that the wind wasn’t howling and it wasn’t pouring. No sun but it was warm, low 50s, I’ll take it. Still, even though the branches I picked up today were wet, it is very dry in the woods. 

There is usually an intermittent stream that runs between Mud Pond and Green Pond. Not this year. Dry as a bone, it makes it very quiet. Normally as soon as the ice is out and it warms a little you hear the wood frogs quacking like they do and shortly thereafter the peepers join in. So far this year I have heard nothing. I guess time will tell if they will just be a little later.

I saw this guy under the feeder the other night munching out on the seed on the ground.

 I haven’t seen the opossum again since the one time this spring. I have no real issue with either one. Checking the beach in the mornings to see if there are snapping turtle tracks from their movement into Green pond. I saw two last year.