Winter Begins on Mount Desert Island

Welcome to our Blog which will keep you posted on the progress of our life during the winter of 2007-2008 on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

First, Here's a catchup to set the stage for our Winter Adventures.

Autumn was spectacular as it almost always is in Coastal Maine, with warm days, cool crisp nights and lots of sun. December, however took a decidedly different tack. We left for Waverly on Dec 6 on a very nice day. We returned on Dec 11 in a major snowstorm. The road was plowed, but our drive wasn't, so we used the car as a snowplow and blasted through the wall at the end of the drive and made it into the garage. Praises to electric garage door openers. The next morning we dug out of about 8 inches of snow.

We were at home for a week or so before leaving to visit Seattle and then on to Portland, OR to see Jen. We walked all over Seattle in the rain, ate too much and had a great time in the Space Needle. The food was very good, superb service and the view !!!! A full 360 degree panorama every 47 minutes. We loved it, just have to forget about the $$$$.

Of course, no visit to Seattle is complete without shopping and dinner at the Pike Place Market just above Elliot Bay. This is the place to go for Dungeness Crab. It is the sweetest, most tender crab I have ever tasted. We were unsuccessful in eating at every restaurant there, but we gave it a good try, including the most scrumptious coconut creme pie at a little bistro recommended by a tour guide.

We visited the fish market and observed the "flying fish". At this market, when one buys a fish (whole, only, of,course) They throw it to the guys packing it for wrapping and delivery to the customer. It's quite a wild scene.

We took the train to Portland and spent a week and a half with Jen. They rented a house in Astoria, the far north west point in Oregon for a weekend and we saw the Columbia dump into the Pacific in the midst of a terrific storm.

It was a coastal storm of the type we get in Maine with high wind, rain and an amazing, crashing surf. Rain jackets and rain pants were the attire of the weekend, except for Kay, who misplaced her rainpants back at the house. She didn't get too wet but we were glad to find them later that day, anyhow.

On the way back to Portland, Jen wanted to show us the largest living thing in the US, a Sitka Spruce which was 17 feet in diameter at the base. Unfortunately, the Super Storm which came through the Coast of Oregon a week before with 125 mph winds had done extensive damage all along the coast. Highway 26 to the giant tree was like driving through a war zone, reminiscent of the North East's ice storm of 1998. Huge trees were snapped off like toothpicks and, unfortunately, the wonderful old tree had suffered the same fate. The picture below shows Jen in total disbelief, approaching the once magnificent specimen. It was broken off about 50 feet up and the top was in a pile of splinters laying at the base. Such a sad sight.

We just stood there in the rain staring at what was left.

We returned to Portland and spent the rest of our vacation with Jen and her friends, getting to know Portland, Salem and Corvallis. Jen has now finished her M.S. at OSU, moved out of her office and began her worklife with the Oregon Water Resources Department. We helped with whatever we could before catching Jet Blue back to Maine.

We had left Maine the day after a snow/rain/ice storm on Dec 15/16 and returned the day before another, even larger storm which came on New Years. It gave us about 6-8 inches of snow, we cleaned up and then on Jan 3/4 we got another 10-12 inches of snow.

This storm was a combination of rain, snow and sleet which stuck to the trees, pulled down powerlines, trees, a few roofs, but left the look and feel of a winter wonderland as the morning after dawned with a blue sky and bright sun. Temperatures were in the 20's which made for a perfect snowshoeing day.

Living on MDI, it isn't often we get snow so deep and powdery we can ski and snowshoe in our own driveway.

The woodpile and Kay's garden shed somehow look compatible in the snow.

After we dug the truck out and got most of the drive clear, we headed down to Wonderland for a snowshoe tour. We were the first ones in there, so it was an amazing day.

Cadillac Mountain looked even more beautiful than usual in the late afternoon sun light across the bay.

The next morning dawned brutally cold, about 3-5 below zero, so we decided not to go skiing, but I decided to do a little more cleanup in the driveway. However, because it was so cold, the diesel fuel in the tractor gelled and it would not run. I actually got it started, and after idling a while started down the driveway when it died and would not restart. Neighbor, Jim, came by and told me all I could do would to be to wait for spring to get the fuel to liquify again. He hooked his snow plow blade to my bucket and pushed me back near the garage so I could get the truck out. I went to NAPA and got something called Diesel 9-1-1. Miraculously, overnight it reliquified the fuel and the Deere runs like a Deere again.

Well that day was a loss, so we tried again the next day, which was warmer and we went to Eagle Lake to cross country ski. To our surprise, the trail in the park had been groomed and track set as well as a skate skiing path had been prepared.

It was a wonderful day, the temp was about 20 degrees F and the sun was warm. We wandered about the trails for a few hours before retiring to Geddy's Pub in Bar Harbor for Burgers and Beer.



I sure slept well that night, but was very stiff and sore for a couple of days afterward.