April 8, 2007: Whoopie Pie

What's a Whoopie Pie? Well, according to whatscookingamerica.net, "Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. They're one of Maine's best known and most loved comfort foods. Mainers will even claim that they were weaned on whoopie pies. In Maine, these treats are more like a cake than a pie or a cookie, as they are very generously sized (about hamburger size). they're so hug that you'll want to share one with a friend. A big glass of milk is almost mandatory when eating a whoopie pie.

"A whoopie pie is like a sandwich, but made with two soft cookies with a fluffy white filling. Traditional whoopies pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter. The original and most commonly made whoopie pie is chocolate. These cake-like whoopie pies were considered a special treat because they were originally made from leftover batter. According to Amish legend, when children would find these treats in their lunch bags, they would shout 'Whoopie!'"

Though they're not much alike in flavor or texture, I think one could say that Whoopie Pies are the Moon Pie of the north.

Whatever you call it, I ate one. And I ate the whole thing! It was good. ;-)

April 8, 2007: Happy Easter

Grace and I went to St. Maxmillian Kolbe parish for Easter mass this morning. They had ~40 voices in the choir but they all wore robes and the pianist/organist was also the director and also sang one of the cantor parts.

After mass we were starting our tour of the Eastern shore when Grace noticed that Nestled Ducks, a local tourtist/souvenier shop was open. Fortunately, she didn't mind pulling over. I had a field day. No, I can't write about what I found 'cuz maybe it's for you. ;-)

Then we drove everywhere and took a bazillion photos. We got into Old Orchard Beach (the honkey tonk part of town) and the "Pier French Fries" stand was open. Oh my. Yum city!! I put vinegar on mine. Who ever heard of that?! Fortunately, Grace let me try hers first to see if I liked it before I put it on mine. Oh, I liked it very much and immediately put vinegar on mine.

We drove to (not in a logical or sequential order . . . sorry) Kennebunc and Kennebuncport, Hill Beach, Fortune's Rocks, Biddeford, Saco, Camp Ellis, Cape Porpoise, and many others I've already forgotten but enjoyed immensely. Yes, I saw Dad Bush's "compound".

We then made it to Grace's brother's house for Easter dinner with her mom and dad. Her brother, Mike, and his wife, Helen, cooked a delicious meal: leg of lamb, squash, mashed potatoes, peas, asparagus, gravy, and delicious Swedish lingonberry jelly. It's better than mint jelly with your lamb. Dessert was Greek pastry made by a friend of Grace's mother, a vanilla cake with vanilla pudding in the middle, and apple pie. Oh, and a bowl of chocolate Easter eggs and other chocolates.

After dinner, we helped Mike and Helen download pictures from their digital cameras (some from last December) and make a CD backup of the files. And we watched the final round of the Master's Golf Tournament. I was sad Tiger's winning streak ended, but I was excited for the kid who beat him.

Then we came back to the house and worked on our proposal EVEN MORE! Neither of us were hungry for dinner but around 7, I ate my Whoopie Pie. More details on that in the next blog entry.

April 7, 2007: Lobster Dinner

YUMMM!!! My first lobster since August 2004! Grace (my colleague with whom I team teach) and I had a big proposal to write so I came with her for Easter weekend to Old Orchard Beach. We worked from 8am to 4pm on Saturday then went to Bayley's Lobster House to pick up fresh lobster for dinner. She called in our order and when we arrived, our steamed lobsters were waiting for us. We also picked out haddock chowder, potato salad, cole slaw, Maine shrimp (a darker pink than Texas Gulf shrimp), lemons, and tamale (NO relationship to Mexican food tamales that are meat placed inside a layer of cornmeal dough (masa), that is then wrapped in corn husks and either baked or steamed). What a feast!

We took it all back to the condo and spent the next hour enjoying our leisurely and delicious meal. It really hasn't been lobster season until now, so even though I've been in Maine for 3 months, this was really my first chance to have lobster due to availability. But we are at the source here in Old Orchard.

After dinner we took a walk on the beach. But it was so cold we were both in long winter coats with hoods pulled tightly around our faces, gloves on, and wishes for even warmer clothes. I was going to take lots of pictures of snow on the beach but when we got downstairs and walked around the building, I turned on my camera and the battery was completely dead. For once, I only brought the camera and not the case which meant that my backup battery was not available. No pictures tonight!

Manila, Madrid, and Sichuan?

Check out my latest 20 cities:
1) April 6, 2007 8:15 pm: Dallas, Texas
2) April 5, 2007 7:13 am: Quezon City, Manila
3) April 5, 2007 7:06 am: Madison, Maine
4) April 4, 2007 8:23 pm: Boca Raton, Florida
5) April 4, 2007 5:20 pm: Albuquerque, New Mexico
6) April 4, 2007 5:18 pm: Portland, Maine
7) April 4, 2007 9:32 am: Brooklyn, New York
8) April 3, 2007 7:46 pm: Dallas, Texas
9) April 3, 2007 5:40 pm: Orono, Maine
10) April 3, 2007 10:22 am: Saco, Maine
11) April 3, 2007 8:01 am: Orono, Maine
12) April 3, 2007 7:25 am: Orono, Maine
13) April 2, 2007 3:47 pm: Orono, Maine
14) April 2, 2007 2:12 pm: New York, New York
15) April 2, 2007 11:33 am: Orono, Maine
16) April 2, 2007 10:12 am: Sichuan, Sichuan
17) April 1, 2007 4:22 pm: Dallas, Texas
18) April 1, 2007 2:58 pm: Denton, Texas
19) April 1, 2007 11:44 am: Madrid, Madrid
20) March 31, 2007 10:13 pm: Houston, Texas

Who are these people?? How fun is it to know they're reading my blog!

It's cape.

Here's another expression I've heard. The first two times I heard it, I had no idea what anyone was talking about. By the third time, I just asked. Each time someone said, "It's cape," we were talking about houses. One time someone was talking about different houses that were for sale and they described one as cape. Another time, someone was telling where an acquaintance lived and the directions were, "You go down the hill, past the red house that's cape, and it's at the top of the next hill."

Give up?

Cape Cod. They take the perfectly good descriptor, "It's a Cape Cod style house" and shorten it to "It's cape." I guess it should be with a capital "C" ?

April 6, 2007: Is it tar?

I'm spending Easter weekend at Old Orchard Beach with my team teaching colleague. We're putting together a proposal and decided that it was better to just give up one whole day than to try and pound it out one hour a week every week for many weeks. Last weekend was gorgeous spring weather here at Old Orchard Beach but this weekend, there's snow on the beach and we're wearing long coats. But it's still fun and since we're spending most of the time working inside on computers with the wireless internet access, it really doesn't matter.

So Friday night we're driving the 2 hour trip from Farmington to Old Orchard Beach (which is south of Portland) and my colleague is telling me about the choices she's making and why on our route. Outside of Jay, she says, "If possible, we're going to take Crash Road. If it's tar, we'll take it."

If it's tar? Is that like steak tar tar? No, that means if you can see the tar (i.e., the asphalt), then the coast is clear to take it because it's been plowed. Apparently Crash Road is actually the name of the road but it's also what everyone calls that road.

BTW, the road was tar and we did take it and arrived safely in Old Orchard Beach before sunset.

April 5, 2007: Holy Thursday, Batman!

Well, that title sounds a little sacreligious, but I couldn't resist because when I got up this morning there was at least 16" of snow on the ground. And, in keeping with my "all the big snowstorms are on holidays" theme, today's snow is on Holy Thursday, a holy-day which is the root of holiday, and so I'm counting it as the next big storm in my Holiday Snowstorms of 2007.

The University isn't closed but they've delayed opening until noon. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for me because I don't have classes or office hours on Thursday, but today I made 2 appointments with students since I didn't have office hours on Tuesday. I will really be testing the Town of Farmington . . . can they get the sidewalks plowed enough for me to get to the University before 1:00?

Here's the latest weather advisory:
NORTHERN FRANKLIN-CENTRAL SOMERSET-SOUTHERN FRANKLIN-SOUTHERN SOMERSET-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...AVON...CARRABASSETT VALLEY...COBURN GORE ...DALLAS...DAVIS...EUSTIS...KINGFIELD...BINGHAM... FARMINGTON...WILTON...SKOWHEGAN...PITTSFIELD...MADISON...FAIRFIELD
554 AM EDT THU APR 5 2007
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON ...A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL CONTINUE WITH VARYING INTENSITY THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS... BEFORE TAPERING TO SNOW SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 12 AND 18 INCHES...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF FRANKLIN COUNTY. THE HEAVY WET SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE TREES TO LEAN OVER...AND DOWNED TREE LIMBS. THIS COULD RESULT IN ISOLATED POWER OUTAGES. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL THIS MORNING...BE PREPARED FOR WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS AND BE SURE TO LEAVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION SAFELY. PLEASE REPORT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE ...1-877-633-6772 ...WHEN YOU CAN DO SO SAFELY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...YOUR LOCAL MEDIA... OR GO TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GRAY FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS WEATHER SITUATION.

March 31, 2007: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for new Education Center

Saturday afternoon UMF had a ribbon cutting for its new Education Center. We've been in the building all semester, but the ceremony needs to be in warmer weather so everyone can travel and you need to be "settled" in the building so it looks lived in. The ceremony was great.

The president spoke and so did three elected officials. They all were interesting and fairly short. My favorite was Janet Mills who grew up in a house that was one of three they removed to build the building. Her only notes were some scribbles on a yellow note card ("a" as in only one) and she never looked at it. She told about growing up here and who else lived in the other two houses and all the "education" that went on in the area. She knew names and dates but focused on the people and their desire to serve others and their passion for education. It was really great.

Here's the president, Theodora Kalikow:


Here's US Senator, Susan Collins who was also honorary chair of the campaign:


Here's US Congressman, Mike Michaud:


Ms. Collins is a Republican and Mr. Michaud is a Democrat and there were a few "bipartisan cooperation" jokes back and forth.

Here's State Representative Janet Mills:


Then they all got together along with Kathy Yardley, Dean of the College of Education along with 2 other folks (I forgot if they were the architect, the builder, or another campaign chairperson) and "cut the ribbon". They each had a pair of scissors and on the count of three they all cut.


This building is "green" as far as being economically, ergonomically, and ecologically sound in its design and implementation. The list of "green" features is phenomenal. The architect and the contractor were in attendance and even had slideshows of the building's progress throughout construction and all of its features. It was fascinating and informative.

And as any reception worth its salt, it had food. But they had really yummy food that was very attractively displayed. (As Chuck always says, "Presentation is everything.")



and just because I could get a closeup photo of it, here's the seal of the University:


I sat in my office with the door open doing some work both before and after the event. Lots of people were giving self-guided tours of the building, so I was glad they could see one of the offices. I had many lovely chats with alums and former professors. UMF was originally a Normal School and for many years that's all it did was train teachers. A home economics curriculum was added and then an Arts and Sciences program. So most of the people who were associated with the University from "way back" had to be in education. I loved hearing their stories and seeing their passion for and love of UMF.

April 2, 2007: Belated April Fool's from Mother Nature

I woke up this morning and there was a snow dusting! Ha! Just when I was writing yesterday about spring. MRM says it was really sleet and freezing rain but it was white on the lawn when I looked out the window . . . in Texas, that's snow. It was drizzly and wet when I went outside, but I figured that was just melting snow. That was all before 9am.

Now it's 11:00am and it really is snowing outside! Big white puffy flakes are coming down. It's great! It's not sticking, but who cares. It's snowing in April and I'm here to see it.

I remember one Palm Sunday in Texas when it snowed during mass. We were in the Fellowship Hall where one whole wall is windows. We looked out and there it was in all its glory. It was our own little Palm Sunday miracle. But in living in Texas for 35 years, that's the only Palm Sunday snow that I remember. Here in Maine, yesterday was Palm Sunday and today is Palm Monday snow. :-)

Here's the picture of the crocus in the snow this morning:

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