March 31, 2007: Spring is coming!

Look what's budding at our house! These crocuses (croci?) are on the south side of the house.



Of course, winter is trying its hardest to hang on . . .

. . . that's the snow still piled on the north side of the neighbor's house, and there are still big patches of it in our yard, even on the south side. But it's definitely starting to melt.

Today, when I was walking to school, a big red-breasted robin flew in front of me and I could hear lots of birds singing. They say it can still snow in April, and I'm still wearing my long coat on days when that March wind (now April wind) is a blowin'. It was 24 degrees this morning when I got up. In Texas that would NOT be spring.

April 1, 2007: visitors

Just for fun, here's a listing of some of the recent visitors to this blog from the gvisit.com folks (it's a little different info than what the site meter folks show). I'm pretty sure I don't know some of these people personally . . . at least not yet.
1) March 31, 2007 10:13 pm: Houston, Texas
2) March 30, 2007 6:15 pm: Dallas, Texas
3) March 30, 2007 12:29 pm: Oregon, Ohio
4) March 27, 2007 9:44 pm: Cincinnati, Ohio
5) March 27, 2007 9:17 pm: Houston, Texas
6) March 27, 2007 8:07 pm: Jamestown, New York
7) March 27, 2007 9:52 am: Boston, Massachusetts
8) March 27, 2007 9:42 am: Link�ping, Ostergotland
9) March 27, 2007 9:40 am: Winnipeg, Manitoba
10) March 26, 2007 6:49 pm: Toronto, Ontario
11) March 26, 2007 2:42 pm: Brooklyn, New York
12) March 26, 2007 2:22 pm: Albuquerque, New Mexico
13) March 26, 2007 1:50 pm: Providence, Rhode Island
14) March 26, 2007 11:31 am: Bangor, Maine
15) March 26, 2007 11:24 am: North Kingstown, Rhode Island
16) March 26, 2007 11:10 am: Saco, Maine
17) March 26, 2007 10:28 am: Orono, Maine

Happy April Fool's Day!

This is my 90th posting in my blog! I can't believe I've made that many entries. I can't believe I've been in Farmington for almost 3 full months! The time has really flown by.

MRM sent the blog URL out to a bunch of her friends since she's talked about so much in here, it saves her having to write them all the tales of her new roommate. ;-) I knew she was going to do that, so I quickly added a "counter" and a map that keep track of visitors to this site. I'm being read in many different states between her friends, my friends, my family, Maggy's friends and family, and who knows who else is passing along this simple URL. I knew from my own experience that unless you've read a blog before, it's not intuitive how it works. Whenever I sent the URL to friends, I always included a little explanation of how to start in January, where the archives were, starting at the bottom of a page to go in chronological order, etc. But now that others were reading it that I wasn't telling, I decided to rearrange the page a little by changing the archives to weekly instead of monthly and adding an explanation of how to read the blog.

In several phone calls and emails from friends there are references to things that I know they would only know if they read the blog or talked to someone who did. How flattering! And of course, I've written in here about students that are reading the blog. In Classroom Management we talk about "being human" to your students (admit mistakes, apologize when you make one, share your passions, etc.) and establishing a professional yet friendly teacher-student relationship. I guess it's a good thing I never do anything I wouldn't want my students to know about 'cuz then there's nothing to worry about when I write. ;-)

This all started as an exercise to a) learn more about blogging so I could use it in my class, and b) save time by not having to write a bazillion emails to keep everyone posted, I could just refer them to the blog to find out what's going on. It has turned into an enjoyable journey into the blogosphere that I hope to continue.

And speaking of April Fool's Day . . . when you are going to pull an April Fool's Day joke on someone (of course in my case and Dr. Mari's that doesn't have to only be on April first . . . you should be doing those kinds of fun practical jokes all day, every day), you best not write about it in your blog or the recipient may read it and either find out about it in advance or figure out who pulled off that anonymous fun. So those who know me, know that there are many things I am not writing about because I can't in addition to all the things I'm not writing about because there isn't enough time.

So have some fun and think of me . . . I'd be having fun with you in person if you were here with me and the Mainiacs. ;-)

March 30, 2007: of mice and men is in the papers again

How do they keep finding so much more to follow up on? [ooooh, ending a sentence not with one but TWO prepostitions!]

Mice and man to part company
By AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Friday, March 30, 2007

WATERVILLE -- Bill Exner has decided to give up his pet mice on the advice of wildlife experts who say the rodents could carry deadly diseases and may not legally be kept in captivity.

Exner, 68, trapped the mice over the weekend after they allegedly carted off his lower dentures and hid them in a bedroom wall. He ultimately found the false teeth -- but then decided to buy an aquarium for the mice and keep them as pets.

Exner's battle with the furry filchers of his false teeth became news throughout the country, with a report even appearing on CNN.

But experts say the mice he trapped shouldn't be kept as pets.

"If it's living in a house in Maine -- most of them are deer mice or white-footed mice," said Karen Morris, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. "The little buggers are everywhere."

The mice Exner captured are deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatis), a native species of wildlife known to be the main carrier of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to Jim Nelson, a professor of wildlife studies at Unity College.

Hantavirus is a rare and potentially deadly disease spread by rodents, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Humans can contract the disease when they come into contact with infected rodents or their urine and droppings.

Nelson says that while no known cases of Hantavirus have been detected in Maine, numerous deaths have occurred in other areas of the country.

"The virus is carried in the droppings and urine and dissipates in the air," he said. "Yes, you could get it by breathing the smell of urine and droppings. You can also get it from a bite."

Oakland's animal control officer, Patrick Faucher, a former Waterville animal control officer, plans to release Exner's mice into the wild soon.

"Bill has agreed to release them to me," Faucher said Thursday. "Why take a chance? And he agrees."

Morris says one must be very careful when stirring up areas where mice have been, and where their urine and droppings are.

"It's something you don't want to mess around with," she said. "It's a matter of sanitation. If you do have to clean an area, wet it down and wear gloves and make real certain of sanitation."

Exner says he will miss the mice, as he has become quite attached to them, but he knows releasing them is the right thing to do.

"I got the aquarium. I might just sterilize the aquarium and go get myself some fish and that'll be the end of the story," he said.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

retrieved 3/31/2007 from http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3761864.html

March 29, 2007: How cold is 28 degrees?

Last night (well after sunset) I walked home wearing a pantsuit with tights underneath but no long underwear and my short coat. It was 28 degrees and it was a very pleasant walk. I'll admit my earlobes were a tad cold when I got home, but I didn't notice it while I was walking.

This morning I was wearing pants and a sweater with my long coat . . . my really thick and fuzzy extra-warm long coat. It was 28 degrees and sunshiney and I was so cold on my walk to school. The difference? You already guessed . . . it was that wind chill. Brrrrr, does that make a big difference! I guess the majority of me covered by the coat was warm, but the wind whipped around my head (I had the hood up but the wind still gets in there) and around my ankles and it was cold.

I stopped at the creek which was flowing pretty well yesterday morning from what I could see through the melted patches of snow. But this morning, the flow was pretty slow and a thin layer of ice was on top again. That will melt off today, but it's fun to watch the creek. I don't think, however, that ice is formed any faster with a wind chill than without. I'm guessing it's only people and animals that are affected by wind chill.

I am deeply affected.

March 28, 2007: No way. You're not going to believe this one.

Today's front page (below the fold, but still front page) was so "Maine-like" that MRM brought it up to my room before I even got downstairs this morning. Yep, this is the kind of news you look forward to first thing in the morning so you can start your day off not just with a smile or even a chuckle but a long hard laugh:

Happy ending: From pests to pets
By AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE -- Bill Exner has emerged the winner in the man versus mouse contest.

This weekend, he caught two mice he believes carted off his false teeth to their home behind the wall last week.

"There he is -- that's the culprit," Exner said Monday at his home on Oakland Street. "That's the one who carried off my teeth."

Exner was peering into a glass aquarium he bought at Kmart to house the two rodents he had been trying to trap for several days because they were making scratching noises inside his bedroom wall.

He was pointing to a plump gray and brown field mouse with big ears and a white belly. It jumped to the top of the aquarium and hung upside down from a screen as the smaller one -- also brown and gray -- nibbled on a piece of bread.

Exner, 68, had caught a mouse three times last week and put it in a gallon-sized pickle jar, only to have it escape each time.

One night he went to bed and was too tired to put his lower dentures in the bathroom as he usually does, so he placed them on his nightstand.

The next morning they were gone, and he said he knew right away it was a mouse that took them.

He and his future-son-in-law, Eric Holt, sawed through the wall and found the false teeth. Oakland's animal control officer, Patrick Faucher, convinced Exner that it probably took two mice to haul off the teeth, with one pushing and one pulling, as they do in cartoons.

"I named these little guys 'Push' and 'Pull,' " Exner said Monday. "I got that from Pat. He said one would probably push and one would pull."

Exner's original plan was to trap the mice and take them to the country and set them free, but in the short time he has held them prisoner, he has taken a shine to them.

"I'm keeping them," he said. "They're not going anywhere. I'm not going to take them to a field. They're better off in here. They got water and food. We don't have any pets, and they're not any bother."

"After I caught them I started looking at them, you know, and I put my finger in there and Pull let me scratch his head and belly and everything. I started feeding him by hand and he's pretty tame."

Exner and his wife, Shirley, have been bombarded by phone calls since the story of their mouse pursuit appeared Saturday in the Morning Sentinel. Television and radio reporters want to meet them; one woman in Lacrosse, Wisc., wants to adopt the mice, according to Bill Exner.

"She said she lived in an apartment building and she saw the article and everyone was laughing at it," he said.

Exner also is getting some ribbing from his friends at the Waterville Elks Lodge.

"I walked in there and one guy said, 'Here comes Mr. Mouse. Where's the mice? Where's your teeth?' That's what I heard all day. One guy gave me this," Exner said, producing a Mickey Mouse coloring book.

Exner likes to collect things such as model cars, plastic birds that talk and anything having to do with SpongeBob Square-Pants. His house is a museum of sorts.

"I'm a rat-packer," he says with a smile.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the photo that goes with it:

Staff photo by Jim Evans
Bill Exner has captured the mice he believes took his dentures and has decided to keep them as pets.

retrieved 3/27/2007 from: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3752411.html

March 25, 2007: Silent Movie

When Karen and I went to North Dakota, we happened on a "double feature" at the old theater in downtown Fargo. The first half of the evening was a wonderful live stage production that was a re-enactment of a World War II Radio Show with big band music and Abbot & Costello and singers and dancers and soloists. It was so well done. The second half was a silent movie with live musical accompaniment on the original movie theater organ. Wow! What a treat! I'd never seen, or in this case, heard, anything like that before.

Well, UMF had its own version and we went. I received the notice via email sent to all faculty and staff:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday 3/25 7pm Lincoln Auditorium

The Kid Brother (silent with LIVE PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT by DOUG PROTSIK;
Harold Lloyd, 83 minutes). $5 adults; $3 children, UMF students free.


Review by Hal Erickson at
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=97655:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I read the review and the movie sounded like a lot of fun (which it was). But the idea of live piano accompaniment was what really enticed me. I convinced MRM to go and even though we were exhausted from our full afternoon of Maine Maple Syrup Sunday adventures (more about that later), we went.

Doug Protsik is great! He gave background information on the movie itself and the era and the genre. He was quite animated and fun to listen to. Then he explained that when he composed the music to go with the film, he pulled from music from the era, he composed some of his own melodies, and he had a little fun by putting other music in there that if you knew the music and/or the lyrics, you would get the little joke.

I was worried I would fall asleep in a dark theater, but I was literally on the edge of my seat, multi-tasking between watching the movie, listening to the music, thinking about what the lyrics were (if there were any), watching for certain things in the movie that he had told us about, and laughing so hard at the fun and cleverness of the movie.

After the move, Creston stopped by the house and he, MRM, and I debriefed. I definitely won the prize (not that there was a contest) for observing the most things that Doug had told us about up front, but I also noticed (or knew) more of the hidden songs. A lot of them were from Dede's era (my grandmother) and because I learned so much from her, I think I have an older soul than most people my age. Some of the songs included: the theme song from Bonanza (okay, that's not from Dede's era), Pop Goes the Weasel, Late Last Night (When We Were All In Bed), Mary Had a Little Lamb (the others knew that song but didn't hear it in the score), Roll Out the Barrel (Dede and Grandaddy's favorite song to polka), The Old Gray Mare, What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, and the sea shanty, Blow the Man Down.

But just knowing what the songs were is nothing. They were so cleverly intertwined with the other music (which sooo sounded like silent movie music, including "mysterioso") and they really went with that tiny piece of the plot at the time. So sorry. You had to have been there. Next time I get an announcement that Doug Protsik is doing something, I'm going!

March 24, 2007: Saturday Adventure at Renys

Here's the "March Mudness Sale" I was telling you about. ;-)


I was going to scan the flyer myself but I found it online at their website:
http://www.renys.com

The plastic bags they put your stuff in at checkout say, "Renys -- Your Maine Department Store" which is a pretty clever slogan. But this ad says, "Renys -- A Maine Adventure" and I think that describes it well.

I strolled through Renys when I came to visit in December and knew that it was a rare treasure but I only got to spend about half an hour in it. I do remember being impressed that the Christmas ornaments were hanging right next to the Coleman lantern mantles and other lantern replacement parts. Saturday, I spent an hour and a half in Renys. I wasn't rushed as I was in December and I did have a little a list of items I wanted and I was just going to see if they had them. Oh, my. They have everything. Check out the ad. Where else can you get canned red salmon, Comet liquid cleanser, a sleeping bag for $15, a hay rack liner (whatever that is), polo shirts, and moose salt and pepper shakers?? Here's what I bought on Saturday:

• 4 CD's at $2.99 each: Benny Goodman, Etta James, Peggy Lee, and The Platters


• a ball of cotton twine for $0.69


• an 80-piece picture hanging assortment (picture hangers, nails, saw-tooth hangers, wire, etc.) in an 8-compartment plastic box for $0.99


• a hammer to hang those picture-hanging goodies on the wall--I wasn't going to get one 'cuz I knew I could borrow one from several people in the building, but for $0.99, I decided I wanted my very own


• a long-sleeved, periwinkle blue, 100% cotton crew-neck collared shirt for $12.99 (that wasn't the sale price, that was their regular price on it, though there was a black line drawn through the name on the label [not hotwater river but a similar name of a very high-quality brand])


• a surprise for Dr. Mari that I can't tell you about until she gets in the mail and figures out what it is, but it defies all categories


• 2 magnetic 3.5" x 5" picture frames (well, picture sleeves) for $0.99 each [they're hard to find anymore in that size, but Mother needed some for her refrigerator for some older photos from before her switch to 4" x 6"]


• a big basket to sit on the floor of my office and hold bottles of water for $12.99 (I didn't like the look of the case of bottled water sitting there . . . to me it was the first thing you saw when you walked in the office)


• a pair of scissors for $0.99


• an ice cube try for $0.99 (to store earrings in my dresser drawer)

There are 3 floors and the basement has a 6 foot ceiling in some places. There's something fun at every turn. Some of the things I looked at but did not get included imitation Wellington boots for mud season, a desk lamp (not that they didn't have a giant selection from cheap and tacky to unusual to really nice), picture frames, Renys brand jelly (they even have jalapeno pepper jelly which I was wanting for the Texas Independence Day party), cast iron skillets and Dutch ovens, phone accessories, iPod accessories, stationery, margarita glasses, Easter decoration and candy, rugs, jewelry, and a whole floor of clothing.

It is definitely an adventure!

March 24, 2007: Bigger news than the donkey?

Check out the lead story in Saturday's paper:
Man vs. Mouse
By AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Saturday, March 24, 2007

WATERVILLE -- Bill Exner is determined to catch the mouse he claims stole his lower dentures and hid them inside a wall.

Exner, 68, of Oakland Street, said he doesn't want to kill the mouse; he just wants to take him for a ride to the country.

Exner went to bed Tuesday night and instead of putting his lower dentures in the bathroom as he usually does, he was so tired he took them out and laid them on his nightstand, he said.

The next morning, the false teeth were gone.

Exner said he knew exactly who had taken them: a mouse he had trapped and placed in a gallon-sized pickle jar, three times -- but each time, the mouse escaped.

"The first time, I left the top off the pickle jar -- I figured there's no way this guy can get out," Exner said Thursday. "But he escaped, so the next time I caught him, I put the cover on loosely so he could breathe, and he got out again."

Exner got a trap in the first place because the mouse was making scratching noises in the walls. It's a trap that doesn't harm the mouse. All Exner has to do is put peanut butter inside it to attract the rodent. He said he planned to trap the mouse and drive it somewhere else.

"He likes peanut butter," Exner's wife, Shirley, said Thursday in the couple's bedroom, where the alleged heist occurred.

After the dentures disappeared, the Exners said they scoured the bedroom looking for them.

"We moved the bed, moved the dressers and the nightstand and tore the closet apart," Exner said. "I said, 'I knew that little stinker stole my teeth' -- I just knew it."

In a corner behind the nightstand, the couple found an opening in the wall between a baseboard heater and a structure that covers water pipes. Exner called his daughter's fiancŽ, Eric Holt, to help, convinced the mouse had spirited the dentures into the opening.

"He brought a crowbar and hammer and he sawed off a section of wood and pulled up the molding and everything," Exner said. "It was quite a job. We pull it out and he looks down and he goes, 'I don't believe it -- there they are!'

"The dentures were inside the wall, lying right there. They were not damaged. The mouse didn't bite them or anything. It's like he was saying 'I'm going to get even with you for putting me in that jar.' "

Holt said Thursday that he did not question Exner's assertion that the mouse took the dentures because when he (Holt) was a boy growing up on a farm, his father's dentures disappeared one day and they all assumed a rat took them because there were a lot of rats on the farm. Friends used to joke that there was a rat running around the farm with a pretty smile.

"The odds of getting Bill's teeth back were pretty slim," Holt said. "It was like hitting the lottery when we found them."

Sometimes, the mouse appears out of nowhere and just sits and looks at Exner, according to his wife.

"He's taunting him -- I swear he's taunting him," she said. "He's adopted us; we haven't adopted him."

Exner says he doesn't plan to put his dentures anywhere at night until he catches the mouse, which has a gray head with some brown, and a white belly.

"I got 'em right in my mouth and that's where they're staying," he said.

Meanwhile, people who deal with mice say it's entirely possible the mouse snatched the dentures.

Lori Perkins, a cashier at Petco in Augusta, said she has owned animals all her life -- including mice -- and Exner's mouse was likely interested in the food particles on the dentures and took them to where his house is -- inside the wall.

"If it has to do with food, mice will do just about anything," Perkins said. "They will eat through boxes; they'll try to eat through plastic."

After learning about Exner's mouse incident from the Morning Sentinel, Patrick Faucher, animal control officer for the town of Oakland, who is the former animal officer for Waterville, paid the Exners a visit.

Faucher said afterward that the droppings in the pickle jar and near the wall are definitely from a field mouse. Field mice are like packrats and will spirit away seeds and other food, he said.

He said there is more than one mouse in the house and that two may have actually hauled the dentures inside the wall.

"It's like in the cartoons -- one pushes, one pulls -- type of thing," Faucher said. "They're pretty ingenious in what they do and I'm sure the smell of food on the dentures had something to do with it."

Meanwhile, Holt said he told Exner to make sure he cleaned the dentures really well before putting them back in his mouth.

"I suggested he boil and soak them in peroxide and anything else he could get," Holt said.

Faucher said he asked Exner to call him when he captures the mouse and he will help him relocate the rodent.

"I want to see it," he said. "This is really quite unique, I'll tell you."

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

retrieved 3/25/2007 from http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3742169.html

March Madness

Forget the NCAA in basketball, Maine celebrates its own brand of March Madness. The University of Maine's hockey team made it to the final four of NCAA hockey called "The Frozen Four".

Renys, a.k.a. "Your Maine Department Store" is celebrating the beginning of mud season by having March Mudness Sales. (More about mud season in a future posting.)

Gotta love it.

Here's the scoop on the hockey (from the University's sports' website http://goblackbears.cstv.com/):

3/24/2007 - M. Ice Hockey
Maine Advances To NCAA Frozen Four
The University of Maine men's ice hockey team defeated Massachusetts 3-1 in the finals of the NCAA East Regional on Saturday at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y. Maine had a goal by Bret Tyler and power play goals by Mike Hamilton and Matt Duffy in the win, while Ben Bishop had 35 saves. The Black Bears are now 23-14-2 overall while Massachusetts is 21-13-5 overall. Maine advances to the NCAA Frozen Four for the fourth time in the last six years.

March 23, 2007: Playing Hookey

Friday afternoon during class my phone rang. It was MRM. I had to silence it but couldn't wait 'til class was over to hear her message. I was hoping she had some fun plans for Friday night. I was thinking I would go to Faculty Seminar because it was going to be at The Homestead which is a great little restaurant.

SIDEBAR: The usual seminar leader sent an email that since only 4 people attended last week's seminar, there wouldn't be one this week. Well, she must've left early because when I got there there were 4 people there and then 4 or 5 more came throughout the evening. I thought it was quite enjoyable. Well, anyway, only a few minutes after that email came through, another one showed up that said "Faculty Un-Seminar will be at The Homestead at 4:30." I thought it would be fun to see who showed up for that.

So when class was over, I listened to messages as I was walking across campus. There it was: "Hi Roomie. Do you want to play hookey? RBF, Benny, and I are out walking and were thinking about going to Gifford's. We wanted to see if you wanted to go with us. I immediately called back to say, "YES!" but the call went to voice mail after several rings. I left a message then called the house but no one was there either.

About that time, my phone rang and I assumed it was going to be MRM but caller ID told me that it was Hank! Whooop! I took that call. I had been heading up to my office and had gotten as far as the front doors of the Educatioin Center but when I knew it was Hank, I sat down in the lounge in the front foyer of the building because I didn't dare want to lose the signal and I did want to sit in those comfy chairs and enjoy the phone call. We had a great conversation, well, it was mostly me telling him how much I was enjoying Maine, so I guess it was a little one-sided conversation.

Then my phone started making noises and I looked and it was MRM calling. By the time I figured out what it was and how to answer it, the call had gone to voice mail. So Hank I kept talking. I had been telling him how much fun it was to have a great roommate and that I felt certain that was a big part of why I felt so comfortable already in my new town, when the phone rang again. This time I told him who it was and knew how to answer it. Shwew! I caught her. She and RBF were 5-10 minutes away and would pick me up at the front doors of the Education Center.

I "swapped" back to Hank (that's the word that shows up on my telephone display to go back to the other call) and continued the conversation while walking up to my office to get ready to play hookey (are you supposed to plan ahead when you play hookey?). Unfortunately, I did lose the signal when I got to the stairwell. I tried calling him back but to no avail . . . I kept getting his voice mail. I went ahead and packed up my stuff and put on my coat and headed back to the front of the Education Center. Then I got the signal that there was a message and sure enough it was Hank saying how fun it had been to catch up and he would call again. I called him back and got voice mail and so I left a similar message. Next call I need to let it be one-sided on his side 'cuz I'm dying to hear all about seminary and to find out when his ordination will be so I can be there.

And then I waited for MRM and RBF and Benny. As I stood there, I saw one of my students that had NOT been in class just an hour earlier. He crossed the street and I was wondering if he had seen me and was avoiding me. Then a young man crossed in front of me and started looking around and then called out in the general direction of that young man and called out his name. Now he had to look in my direction, though he only looked at the friend calling his name. They both walked towards the corner but then had to cross back in front of me. I said hello and called him by name as he walked by. He just smiled and said hello back. Neither of us said anything about his missing class.

About that time, I heard my name being called! I looked behind me and there was the gang. The four of us walked to Giffords. I ordered a cup of the featured new flavor, Maine birch bark. It was vanilla ice cream with white chocolate chips, chocolate covered cashews, and caramel swirl. It not only sounded delicious but I could see how they named it birch since birch trees are mostly white with some black (the chocolate covered cashews) and lots of bumps in the bark (the white chocolate chips). It really has more of a black swirl going through it, not a caramel colored one, but then I prefer caramel to chocolate, so I was thrilled with their choice. And indeed, it was quite delicious.

MRM ordered a double cone with one scoop of the Maine birch bark flavor and one scoop of Grape Nuts. She liked the birch bark but thought it was too sweet. Then she let me try her Grape Nuts. She said people in Maine really like Grape Nuts. I wondered if this was like people in Utah and their lime jello. I tried the Grape Nuts but it tasted more like vanilla ice cream with Grape Nuts in it. Wait, that's what it was. I don't really care for Grape Nuts, so even though the vanilla ice cream was good, the overall flavor was not so hot.

MRM also ordered "a dogbone sundae" which is a cup with one scoop of plain vanilla and a dogbone shaped dog biscuit on top. That was for Benny! I knew this was a great place if they had a treat for doggies.

I saw one of my students in line after us. That's still fun for me to run into my students in different places. I think some professors don't like it or think of it as an invasion of privacy or something, but I think it's fun.

We sat on the benches for a while to eat our ice cream, then decided to eat while walking on the way home. The sun was setting and it was getting chilly. We had a delightful walk home and I was very glad I had agreed to play hookey.

March 24, 2007: Ginger Ale

I went to "Soup for You" for lunch today. It's a cute little soup/sandwich shop that's closes at 4pm each day, so I've never made it there before. It's been highly recommended by UMF folks as well as MRM and RBF. There was a long line when I got there. At one point in line you are standing next to a refrigerator case with drinks. I was so excited because they had ginger ale in there. It was a 20 oz. bottle and it was in there with Coke and Diet Coke and other soft drinks (sodas? pops? . . . ), including diet ginger ale. People in New England can't believe that we don't have ginger ale readily available (in vending machines, at restaurants, etc.) in Texas. For many years when I was young, you could only find it with the mixers (club soda, tonic, etc.). Later it made it to the soft drink aisle (or the coke aisle as we would call it in Texas because "coke" is the generic term for all soft drinks--"Would you like a coke?" "Why yes, thank you, I would." "What kind would you like?" "Dr. Pepper, please."). In the coke aisle, you'll only see it in cans and 2 liter bottles. In the mixers section, you'll see it in 1-liter bottles. And you would never see it in a vending machine, a convenience store, or a restaurant. In fact, a lot of bars don't carry it. But here in New England, it's as common as 7up.

I remember my first trip to Boston back in 1978, that was something that struck me even then. I was at The Coop (the bookstore cooperative) and they had ginger ale for sale in the snack bar there and I was a) in shock and b) elated.

March 21, 2007: Freezing Rain Warning

This is winter is not fun anymore. I love the days with cold and sunshine and snow but no wind or ice. And we've had bucketloads of that. :-) But wind chill is real and when that wind blows and the humidity is high, it can get really cold. The trick with weather right now is, the sun shines, the temperatures warm during the day, so the snow starts to melt. Then, before all the melted snow can evaporate, the sun sets and the temperatures drop below freezing and then you have ice. So the walk home can get treacherous. In Dallas, we have black ice on the roads, but here they get black ice on the sidewalks. The sidewalks are made of asphalt and it really is black ice.

Monday night the conditions were right (and I don't know what the exact combination was) and now all the snow banks glisten. It looks like cupcake icing is spread over the top. It's actually a thin layer of ice, so it's a little dangerous, but it's kinda cool-looking. When you crunch through the top layer, it's regular snow underneath. MRM says you can walk on it and she loves to play on top of it when it's like that. I haven't been home before sunset all week, so I haven't had a chance to do that, but I'm looking forward to that. She likes to lie down on it and slide around. Sounds fun!

Speaking of ice, there's a freezing rain warning for tonight. (You wondered when I was going to get around to addressing the title of this posting, didn't you?) Yuck. That's what winters are like in Dallas. I'm not looking forward to this or the walk to school tomorrow when the sidewalks are covered in more ice. But at least the walk is very short and even when it's bitter cold, it's not miserable because it's over before I know it.

Check out the official notice of the warning:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
342 PM EDT WED MAR 21 2007
...LIGHT FREEZING RAIN TO FALL ACROSS MUCH OF MAINE AND NEW
HAMPSHIRE LATE TONIGHT...
.A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT ACROSS THE REGION TONIGHT. WHILE ONLY
LIGHT PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED...MUCH OF THIS WILL FALL AS
FREEZING RAIN...RESULTING IN SLIPPERY ROADWAYS.
PRECIPITATION MAY BEGIN AS A SNOW OR SLEET...BUT WILL QUICKLY
CHANGE OVER TO FREEZING RAIN. THE FREEZING RAIN WILL CONTINUE
UNTIL EARLY THURSDAY MORNING...WHEN TEMPERATURES GRADUALLY RISE
ABOVE FREEZING...BRINGING AN END TO THE HAZARD. HOWEVER...FREEZING
RAIN WILL LINGER IN SHELTERED MOUNTAIN VALLEYS INTO THURSDAY
MORNING.

March 20, 2007: Vernal Equinox

So today, right about now, is supposed to be the beginning of spring. Well, it's 9:36pm here in Farmington, it's 18 degrees outside, and the wind is blowing something fierce. (March definitely came in like a lion, but I'm waiting for that lamb as we near the "going out" part of the month.) It sure doesn't feel very spring-like.

There was another "snow dusting" last night. I got home at 10:15pm and it hadn't snowed yet, but when I got up this morning, everything was dusted. It looked like powdered sugar had been sprinkled on the cars.

But I did notice that the sunset felt a lot later than it has before. It was setting at 4:30 when I first arrived and now it seems like it's still light at 7pm. At least the Vernal Equinox isn't effected by global warming.

February Temperature Comparison (sorry to be so late)