This and That

Carol here ~

Dan got the beach raked up the other day. We have a pretty good sized beach for this time of year.  We'll see what happens when we get the spring rains.

Ugh, Still Cleaning

Carol here ~

I'm still cleaning so no quilts to show this time.  Whose idea was it to spring clean anyway?  It's exhausting.  I've got the bathroom done, the drawers and bottom cupboards in the kitchen done and most of the top cupboards before I ran out of steam yesterday.  Then I had a nap.

Sunday we went to Readfield to The Gallery to check out Kailey's artwork she had displayed there.  She is so talented.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. There were times today it snowed quite hard, real big flakes. We obtained about 5 inches that required relocating. I had to work a little to get the driveway back to the tar, but I made it clear over much of the area by the house. 

 

 I think they are saying another storm the middle of next week, I guess time will tell. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. Well I think winter is here now. I relocated about 5-6”of snow total today. I did it in two phases. I went out mid afternoon and again after supper. Not too bad, nice light snow. I have arrived at another term to use in the relocation process. After driving up the driveway through the woods I think painting the trees might be appropriate as well.

Last night I obtained a nice three second time lapse up the pond from the studio. 

Not so much tonight. The moon is trying to shine, but it is through the clouds.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, the day after Christmas. I hope you all enjoyed the day as you wanted. 

We spent the day here at the house. I finished quilt #36 in the morning and added to the skating area I have cleared on the pond in the afternoon. The ice is so smooth just anywhere I want to shovel. I probably won’t clear any more though as I don’t use it after clearing it off. Maybe someone else will, the path goes over to another house on the pond where they often skate. Time will tell. 

It’s supposed to rain on Sunday and Monday and again later in the week so was probably just an exercise in getting exercise. Being someone who judges his day with what accomplishments I made, for now at least, I can look out the studio window and see what I did on Christmas Day. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Monday evening in the studio. 

After the bloody snowstorm and the wind over the weekend the fireplace is not available to be sat by. 

It had been looking pretty good. As I said last time, I have already burnt a lot of the winter’s supply of branches and twigs. Hopefully, I won’t have too many new ones when the snow melts again. I guess that will bring us Spring 2.0, hopefully we won’t have another summer where we wait four months for it to get here then give up and have Fall.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here on the MLK holiday ~

Today is nice and clear but what a roller coaster the weather has been this year. 

We were lucky not to have received the brunt of the force of Mother Nature during the last two storms. The forecast was for six or more inches of snow before turning to rain during both events. On the first storm we did get about 6” and I went out at 1:00 AM to blow driveway. When I got up later the rain had made a nasty mess. Very heavy snow to clean up. 

On the second we received almost no snow, mostly rain. This was even harder to clean up. That’s ok, everything is froze solid now, well except maybe the pond. I really have no real idea if the pond is frozen or not and have no real desire to find out. The water level is higher now than it has been after ice out the last few years. I guess spring could be interesting here on the pond.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

I’m still around. I survived yesterday's (Sunday) snowstorm, it was a nice gentle light snow. It was the first time clearing the whole driveway all the way up to the mailbox. I estimate the distance to be about 300 yards. Would hate to have to shovel it.

The rest of the tree that fell across the driveway is gone as well as a couple from a neighbor’s place up the road. All have been split and stacked. I finished the square stack that I started when I began cleaning up the storms bounty and obtained a good start on another round stack. I prefer the round stacks, I only stack the outer circle and the inside is just tossed in as tightly as I can without really working at it. I think they look much more dignified.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Hoping we don’t loose power on this Tuesday evening.  It has snowed hard all day.  Until about 5:00 this afternoon, then the blacktop started to go from the black where the snow just melted all day, to deepening layers of white.  To look up the pond reveals pretty much a whiteout.  It is hard to look up the pond though because the wet sticky snow has stuck to all the windows. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Sunday evening from the studio. It would be way too windy for a fire tonight even if it was warmer. That time hopefully will come. Much of this weekend was spent in the relocation of snow. 

We received about a foot of the white winter precipitation. The snowblower worked great. I blew all the way up to the top of the driveway to throw the snow out into the woods. I shudder to think where the plow guy would have put all the snow. I don’t really think that the plow guy will be considered a necessity in another season. I’ll need a sand guy and that’s pretty much it. The snowblower makes a much, much neater driveway than a plowed one does. Luckily the wind did not blow while the snow was light and fluffy. This meant that there wasn’t and will not be much snow blowing around.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Tuesday evening up in the studio. Shades are closed tonight trying to keep more heat inside. It is getting cold out there. 

Woke up this morning to a surprise, between 3 and 4 inches of snow fell overnight. It was a nice fluffy snow, not like the last storm that went splat when I shoveled it. This time the snow made very little sound at all. I cleaned it all up, even where I had failed to last time. This was beside the house and the neighbors fence. I was too tired last time to shovel it out after raking the roof and having all the snow land there. There is only about 6 feet between the house and the fence. Whatever I had pulled off the roof landed in the area. Well it got cold after that. This means that the snow that is there is frozen. Which means that it needed to be grub hoed loose before it could be shoveled out and put into the wheelbarrow and then hauled off. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

What a pain in the butt snow storm. Was forecast to get 6”- 12” of snow followed by a thin coating of rain. Not really what I saw. By the time I went outside Thursday morning, there was about 5” of snow but the bottom 1” was slush. Heavy slush. As I shoveled the shovel contents would splat upon impact with the ground. I did manage to get the snow/slush off most of the blacktop. I think I can safely say winter has arrived in Maine.

I finished the quilt top currently known as #6 for 2023. If you remember the last time I rambled at you it was on the floor in the studio. For the main block I again used four 5” 

4-Patch blocks to create a 10” finished block. For the sashing strip, turned to my Corner Pop II. I wanted the stars to pop out a little more.  I like the way it turned out.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Sunday evening, the day after the storm. We have been without power and running on backup generator for a day and a half now. It is nice to continue along with life with full use of everything but the noise is monotonous. I can’t wait for it to be back to power provided by the power company. Not power by propane.

There are a lot of trees and large branches down everywhere. Had a close call for the shelter logic hoop house, 

The Weekend

Carol here ~

Our neighbors up the pond got a bit of ice skating in on Friday. It was fun watching them. Looked like they were having a great time.

Mt Bumpy

Dan here Sunday evening. Stormy day today, supposed to get real cold tomorrow and the next few days. Oh well it is winter, whatever.

When I was a youngster ~it was long before video games and the like ~ summer and winter us kids were encouraged to spend our time outside and come in for meals. In the winter a snow drift would develop behind the barn. Some years it would get 6-8 feet tall and would be 25’ or more long. I used to like to tunnel in it. Digging into it then branching out both ways to hollow out the snow drift. I would play in it by the hours. Fast forward many, many years and I was again allowed to play in a wind driven snow pile. Only in my later years I got to create the snow drift with my tractor and snowblower.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, Sunday evening. I awoke this morning to 5” or so of light fluffy snow. The plow guy came before I was fully functioning so the rest of the snow removal was all done by the shovel full and then carried to where it could either stay or be moved again the next time the plow truck is here. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, Thursday evening. We got our first real snowstorm yesterday. 4-5 inches of fluffy snow. Plow guy came this morning and then I cleaned up what they left. I have an idea that it is going to be a long winter. Kinda wish I could be a bear and hibernate, or at least hide inside where it is warmer. The last couple days walking has been cold. My body is not used to the cold yet, it’s getting there, but not there yet. I can manage to sit inside the house and be cold. Like I said, it’s going to be a long winter. Already walking with grippers on my walking shoes, almost fell a couple times yesterday, so grippers it is. Did I say it’s going to be a long winter.

I have spent the last few days cleaning my way through that bin of fabric I’ve shown you before. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

How do Wednesday, I know that because yesterday was Tuesday and all is well.

We had a 4-5 inch snow storm Monday during the day and into the evening. It had been plowed when I got out of bed yesterday morning. The people who plow the driveway often do so between 1:00 and 3:00 in the AM. That’s in the morning. I am not awake nor does them performing their duties wake me. I often have just gone to bed. I sew at night. I do not get up early.

Carol saw a beautiful sunrise on Tuesday morning. I do not see many sunrises, it looked real pretty in the pictures. Real life was probably much nicer but I will live with the pictures.

Snow Day

 Carol here ~

Yesterday was definitely a snow day. We had snow and sleet most of the day. I saw Dick, our neighbor up the pond, out trying to keep his ice skating area clear of snow. He was out there a couple of times, will probably be back out this morning.

Our plow guy came first thing yesterday morning for his first pass through. Dan cleared snow off the porch roof then got the snow blower out to clean it up. 

The Water Pipe

Dan here ~

I’m sure some of you have seen pictures of the pipe going out into the pond and wonder what it’s for. 

No it is not our waste pipe dumping into the pond! We pull our water out of the pond year round and yes the pond is currently frozen.