Every night on the news there is some story about wild weather, and the millions of people who might be in harm’s way due to tornadoes, wild fires, heavy rains/mud slides, hurricanes and now with winter: snow storms. Admittedly, in that long list, snowstorms usually do not rise to the level of the rest of mother nature’s wrath. Here in Maine we have not had too much snow in the last couple of years. Perhaps in the highest mountains and the “crown of Maine” but mid- Maine and below has been woefully short on snow in both 2020 and 2021. 2022 was also very light in snow- just a single storm not long before Christmas and even that was far lighter than it was predicted. It was not even as cold as it should be, evidenced by the number of people who drove cars, truck, and four wheelers out onto ice only to discover that it was not strong enough to bear the weight. Unfortunately, every year snowmobilers and four wheelers fall through the thin ice, sometimes resulting in the death of the riders.
The end of January of 2023 is determined to make up for the lack of snow this year, single handedly. In one week we had three storms, the first was a bit of a wintry mix, the bane of all real Mainers who detest the combination of rain/sleet and snow. We would prefer to leave that mess to our neighbors considerably south of us- like Pennsylvania. Yesterday was lovely, the weatherman predicted 8-10 inches of the white stuff and amazingly enough we got 14 inches! You could almost hear all the snowmobilers out revving up their machines to take advantage of nature’s bounty.
Dave and I watched our 19-year-old grandson who was bored and antsy all day, wanting to “go somewhere”. My suggestion that he wait till today when the roads were sufficiently, plowed to make travel reasonable , fell on deaf ears. He went out in sneakers and proceeded to try to shovel out one of his two cars, only to discover it was not going to work. Then I remembered being 18 and wanting to be anyplace other than where I was and going off in a snowstorm only to wreck my car (again) on a hidden culvert on the side of the road. I thought I was being safe, turning around to go home and instead, under the snow was a cement culvert barrier which did significant damage to my car. Tonight, we are scheduled to get another storm, and another 8-10 inches, hopefully my grandson will get something he needs for his car, and it will give him something to work on to keep busy during the snow. As winter releases its grasp, Ethan has experienced a couple of fender benders as he learns to drive in Maine after two winters in Arizona. One was his car and it was on ice which is very hard to judge at night, the other was our truck, (I had to remind myself to remember when I was 18), but no one was seriously injured and truck bumpers can be repaired and replaced, beloved grandsons and their friends, cannot.
February brought two other opportunities for snowy weeks with storms coming every other day. None of them were huge despite the predictions, most were less than 8 inches, but they were enough to cause some folks inconvenience and to spur us all to make sure we had enough essentials in our cupboards. Our plow guy, who has not had a lot of work prior to January is now looking forward to spring. This last storm he got his 3/4 ton truck stuck in our driveway and required a come-along attached to the trailer hitch on our truck to get him out of the snowbank. We have an old one-story horse barn that we opened on one side and removed the stall doors to use for our vehicles. It provides coverage on 3 sides which is a big help especially during storms and periods of very cold and windy weather. It has a metal roof on it, and within two days of the storm the accumulated snow on the roof slides off, leaving a pile of snow to either shovel out or drive over. If the storm is 8 inches or less, we are fine, but if it is a foot or two, it means calling the plow guy to come back and clear it away for us.
Meanwhile I keep the bird feeders full and watch the cardinals come in from the neighboring fields to feed. It is amazing how brilliant the cardinals appear on snowy days. One morning I had eight male cardinals either on the feeder or in the forsythia bush! Of course we have a full compliment of chickadees, tufted titmice, woodpeckers, finches, and mourning doves. Every afternoon we have four male turkeys who visit and scratch up the ground underneath the feeders, and one of the turkeys is tall enough to reach one of my open bowls of sunflower seeds if he stretches his neck as far as he can.
I have seen other exotic birds but not at my feeders. An hour away, a Stellers sea eagle has taken up residence for a couple of months for the second year in a row. Given that this eagle is native to coastal northeastern Asia (think Russia), he creates quite a stir in Maine. Of course, with all the bizarre conspiracy theories that abound in this country, I am sure someone thinks he is a spy eagle. He is quite a large eagle and attracts a lot of attention. He usually moves on in March or April, so I am sure he will be off on his adventure soon. It would be interesting to track his flights.
Steller Sea Eagle
As we watch the rest of the country deal with incredible snows in CA and Nevada, and floods and tornados, and ice storms in places where ice storms should not be, I am mindful that we, those of us that live in a very northern place, have not been given anything we can’t handle, nor has it cost lives and left people homeless. As I go out the door, late in the afternoon I can feel the sun’s warmth hitting our granite step and our entry door and know that before long spring will be here. Other signs of spring are everywhere. Yesterday, when the snow melted away from the base of the house, our daffodils and crocus are peaking out of the ground. Each day new life shows itself, even if covered with a thin coat of snow. Every year the Maine wardens warn us birders that we might need to bring in our feeder lest we attract bears – but so far the large black momma bears and their babies are staying in the woods. Porcupines, raccoons and skunks seem to be more visible this time of the year. The foxes and their kits play in the field and new life abounds.
Be well.
weftalone 