May 5, 2007: 10 Dozen Postings

That last posting about Peepers was my 120th blog entry since moving to Maine on January 8, 2007. It's almost 4 months (it will be 4 months on Tuesday). That means I averaged 30 postings a month . . . one post a day (though regular readers know it was more in spurts than a nice daily posting).

How cool is that? I really didn't think I would keep it up. But now I have a backlog of photos to post and I haven't been keeping up my photo website. Maybe I'll get caught up this summer (HA!).

I'll be back in Texas for 3 months and then back here in Maine for 3 more years. I don't know if I'll post anything while I'm in Texas, but I plan to keep it up when I get back to experience more Life with the Mainiacs!

May 5, 2007: Peepers!

Here in Maine, there’s a special sound that you only hear for a 2-3 week period. It starts in the south and fairly quickly, moves north across the state. It is the harbinger of spring, the indicator of the end of Mud Season and the beginning of Spring Season. It’s the sound of peepers. They are some kind of tree/brush frog and only make this sound in the spring. Here’s a website with lots of biological info on the species AND a project that local students can do to help the Maine Bureau of Land and Water Quality keep up with them:

http://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/doceducation/jeepers/peeper.htm

When I flew back from Texas on April 21, MRM and RBF heard them in a marshy area just outside the airport when they came to pick me up. They even drove back around after they got me so that I could hear it for myself. Not too long after that (May 1, to be exact), I heard them in the creek beside the Education Center. Last night, when I was walking home, I recorded their song on my Palm voice recorder. It’s not the greatest quality recording, but it’s MY recording. :-) On the Maine.gov website above, you can hear a better quality recording, but I’m posting mine here for documentation’s sake.

May 3, 2007: Great News for UNT!

This doesn't have anything to do with Life in Maine, but I'm so excited, I have to share it somewhere. [Or maybe it's related to life in Maine because if an albino squirrel can make headlines in Texas, what's so odd about a donkey making headlines in Maine? Maybe our cultures are more alike than we think.]

At University of North Texas, we had an unofficial mascot of an Albino Squirrel. Last summer, "Baby" met an untimely, but natural death when it was attacked by a hawk. It would be the natural fate of an albino squirrel to be easily spotted by a predator. But Baby was actually the second albino squirrel to be spotted on campus. And now a third is found! This is a baby squirrel and it is assumed that it's "Baby's baby." Below is the article, but also the link to the source article because if you go to the source, there are links to an article about Baby's death (which made BIG local news on all the TV stations and radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area . . . even the memorial service was aired on TV) and there's a link to the Albino Preservation Society, a campus organization. I personally own an Albino Christmas Tree ornament and a series of "Albinotines" -- special heart shaped greeting cards with photos of Baby sent in lieu of Valentine's Cards. It's all great fun.


May 03, 2007
New baby albino squirrel discovered living on UNT campus
Posted by: Julie Elliott Payne



The UNT campus community was in mourning after the campus’ albino squirrel, "baby," was killed by a red-tailed hawk. But as the spring semester winds down, it turns out “baby” left a legacy - a third albino squirrel has been discovered on campus.

The newest squirrel - a baby - is living near Maple Hall and was first seen the week of April 27. It is part of a group of several baby squirrels living in a tree near that residence hall.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Some students consider the albino squirrel an unofficial mascot and good-luck charm. Just last month, a memorial was dedicated at the Willis Library Cyber Café in honor of “baby.” K.T. Shiue of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts took the photos of “baby” used in the memorial and was able to capture several photos of the new squirrel.

The first albino squirrel on campus, nicknamed "Thelonius," was spotted around 2000. It is unclear what happened to that squirrel. “Baby” was first spotted in April 2004.

In 2002, a group of students founded the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society to raise awareness about the animal.

story and photo retrieved May 5, 2007 from: http://inhouse.unt.edu/index.cfm?commentID=1777

The story also made the local TV news' website with even more photos:
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/13258627/detail.html
And here's a personal connection: some of the photos (the one on this blog entry that came from the UNT website and two of the one's on the Channel 5 website) were taken by K.T. Shiue who was in my doctoral program with me.

April 26, 2007: She's baaaack!

Look what's in the newspaper one more time:

Jenny the donkey's owner cleared in court

By CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Thursday, April 26, 2007

PITTSFIELD -- The woman who owns Jenny the donkey has been cleared of any wrongdoing in connections with the animal's escapades earlier this year.

Mary Gaeta was in Somerset County District Court in Skowhegan on Wednesday to answer a summons charging her with animal trespassing.

Gaeta's donkey, Jenny, made headlines across the nation in February after escaping from Gaeta's farm, Mary's Garden, and spending more than a month avoiding numerous capture attempts.

Pittsfield police issued Gaeta the summons in response to neighbors' complaints on Feb. 20, just a day before Jenny was captured.

Gaeta said the case was dropped on Wednesday.

"They called my name and some man got up and said, 'This has been dismissed in the interest of justice,'" Gaeta said. "To me it was a waste of my time."

District attorney Evert Fowle said his department took Gaeta's age, 70, and her clean record into consideration in dropping the charge. Fowle also noted Jenny had not been free since she was captured in February.

"Our office thought that human wisdom dictated giving her a second chance in this regard," Fowle said. "Justice tempered with mercy sometimes is the way to go."

Jenny, who made headlines thanks to her ability to avoid human contact, now receives regular pats on the head from Gaeta and her partner, Joe Varricchio. Equine expert Karina Lewis, who was instrumental in coaxing the donkey into captivity, continues to work with Jenny.

"She's not as skittish as she was," Gaeta said. "I can pat her and I can brush her hair."

Craig Crosby -- 861-9253

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

retrieved April 30, 2007 from: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3846625.html

April 24, 2004 missing that springtime weather in Texas . . . NOT

This just came across email at UNT, issued by the National Weather Service at 2:00pm:

200 PM CDT TUE APR 24 2007

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 230 PM CDT
FOR DENTON COUNTY...

AT 200 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL...AND
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
DENTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
KRUGERVILLE AND AUBREY BY 205 PM CDT...
RAY ROBERTS PARK ISLE DU BOIS BY 210 PM CDT...

HEAVY RAINS MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS STREETS...DITCHES AND
UNDERPASSES. AVOID THESE AREAS AND DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS AS THEY
MAY BE WASHED OUT.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CDT TUESDAY EVENING
FOR NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only to be followed by this one that was issued at 2:10pm:


BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
210 PM CDT TUE APR 24 2007

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHEASTERN DENTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...

* UNTIL 300 PM CDT

* AT 210 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR OAK POINT...OR ABOUT NEAR LAKE DALLAS...
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
KRUGERVILLE BY 215 PM CDT...
AUBREY BY 220 PM CDT...
PILOT POINT BY 235 PM CDT...

EVACUATE MOBILE HOMES FOR A STORM SHELTER OR PERMANENT BUILDING. IF
NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH AND COVER
YOUR HEAD.

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

quarter-size hail, floods, tornadoes, . . . aaaah, springtime in Texas. It must be time for the Byron Nelson Golf Classic.

Spring Break

April 14-22 is Spring Break here at UMF. I went back to Dallas for the week and worked at UNT. It was very hectic but I did get to see a bunch of friends and have some fun besides. Then, all of a sudden, the time was up and I was back on a plane to Portland, Maine. Now I only have 18 days and it's back to Texas for graduation (Friday May 11) and a family reunion (May 10-12).

The Dean sent out the email below to everyone in the College of Education, Health, and Rehabilitation while we were on spring break:

------ Message ------
From: Katherine Yardley
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:40:10 -0400
Subject: Theresa Overall

Hi All,

Please join me in congratulating Theresa Overall who has accepted the Visiting Professor of Secondary/Middle Education position. She will be assuming Mike Muir’s position while he is on leave. Theresa will be offering the introductory course, in addition to courses in technology integration and classroom management that are part of the Secondary Block.

Please join me in wishing her well!

Kathy

Katherine W. Yardley, Dean
College of Education, Health and Rehabilitation
University of Maine at Farmington

------ End of Message ------

Looks like there might be 3 more years worth of Life with the Mainiacs and I can't wait!!

Snowshoeing

I actually did get to go snowshoeing. It was a while back and I was waiting to write about it when I got the pictures and video figured out. Then I forgot about it. I promise to write more later, but meanwhile, I did figure out how to upload the video of the momentous occasion. The video is actually pretty hysterical. If you click on this link below, you can read all about it before you view it. The link is going to take you to another website (podbean.com). After you laugh at the video, click your browser's back button to come back to this website.

http://texastheresa.podbean.com/2007/04/14/snowshoeing

Going to the movies

I think the last time I went to a movie in a movie theatre was before I started my master's degree in 1997. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I really think that's true. If I went to a movie with you, would you please email me and remind me. Even if I did go to the movies in the last 10 years, it has only been once or twice. It's very safe to say that I rarely go to the movies in the theatre.

But now that I've finished that dissertation . . . I've been 3 times in Farmington!! The theatre is close, there's rarely a line, the seats are comfy, and the price is incredibly reasonable. Best of all . . . I have time to do it! And can go guilt free. :-)

In February I saw Dream Girls**, in March we went to Bridge to Terabithia, and Thursday night, in the middle of all the Friday the 13th snow, we went to see Firehouse Dog. There were probably 10 people there and 1 employee. So Judy, the assistant manager would sell a few tickets, then go work the concession stand, then go start a movie, then come back. She was very nice and efficient. It was kind of fun. How small town can you get, eh? We were the only ones in our theatre. We talked during the movie and laughed out loud whenever we wanted to because we could.

BTW, I can highly recommend all three of those movies.

**see the Feb. 7 posting "cigar box under the counter" for details about the movie theatre and the movie Dream Girls

Friday the 13th Weather

It started snowing last night and snowed throughout the night. We awoke this morning to probably 6 inches or more of snow but it was 31 degrees most of the night so it's not too icy or anything. The streets are plowed. But it was a very wet snow and so we lost power in the night, probably due to fallen lines or trees falling on power lines due to the weight of the snow. We lost power at some point, but I slept through it. I had to reset the microwave clock before I could cook my oatmeal. Other than that, I wasn't affected too much. Walking to school was interesting, though, because there was falling snow everywhere. I walked home in a beautiful white snowstorm last night, but this falling snow was big blobs of snow falling off the trees that shade the sidewalk in summer but provide diving boards for snow clumps on days like this. It was like getting hit by lots of tiny snowballs being dropped instead of thrown. I should've used my Mr. Tumnus umbrella.

Most schools were let out early yesterday in anticipation of the storm and some had late arrival this morning. UMF canceled all classes after 5pm (I wonder if the classes that start at 4:30 but last until 6 were canceled or only met for 30 minutes or what they did). But we had no delay this morning. So I didn't have to try to pretend that Friday the 13th was a holiday to keep up with my "it always snows big on holidays" theory. There's a big storm in the west heading this way that is scheduled to hit here Monday with lots of snow. And Monday is Patriot's Day! It's a New England Holiday. So the storms hit Texas Independence Day and Patriot's Day. How appropriate is that??

But we're not the only ones with wacko weather. I just got this email on my UNT email:

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

From: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu
Subject: Be aware of evacuation and shelter plans in the event of severe weather today
Date: April 13, 2007 10:25:47 AM EDT
To: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu

Weather forecast for today includes the possibility of significant severe weather -- including damaging winds (up to 60-80 MPH), hail, tornadoes and localized flooding -- all campus building representatives are asked to make sure the faculty, staff and students in their buildings are reminded of the building's shelter and evacuation plans.

Currently, the forecasts include projections for rain or possible thunderstorms from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, the greatest potential for severe weather is predicted from around 2 p.m. throughout the evening.

In the event a severe thunderstorm warning is issued for Denton, and damaging hail or high winds appear imminent and especially in the event of a tornado warning, people will need to take immediate shelter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Definitely Friday the 13th weather. And I'm glad I'm not leaving until Saturday morning for spring break in Texas. I can survive being in either kind of wacky weather but am not too excited about trying to fly through it.

March 25, 2007: But Wait! There's More

As if a 3 mile walk around the lake (with Benny and Cassie, the dogs, in tow) and all that traveling weren't enough, we went to a concert that night. It was actually MRM and I that attended and Creston joined us. It was really good. It was a concert by a French Canadian music group (which sounded an awful lot like Cajun music to me and they even played some Cajun music) with a local fiddling group as their warmup.

I saw Paul, who's on the Univ. Culture Comm. with me, at the concert. Turns out his daughter is one of the fiddlers. They're going to Ireland in a few weeks and this was a fund-raising event for them as well as a concert for us. The guy who plays fiddle in the quartet is a music teacher at the local school and the director of the Farmington Fiddlers.

The concert was in Nordica Auditorium at UMF, named for a famous opera singer from a long time ago. The acoustics in the room are fabulous and the woodwork throughout is gorgeous. I only wish the chairs were a little more comfortable. ;-)

I really enjoyed the music and even bought a CD!

March 25, 2007: A Walk Around Lake Minnehonk

At the second Sugar House, RBF ran into an old school chum, Christine. She and RBF literally went to a one-room school house . . . not that they're that old but that the rural area they come from is that small. We met Christine's husband, Wayne and before I knew it, we accepted their invitation to walk around the lake to the other side and see their home which is built inside a rescued old garage/gas station. It was a gorgeous walk through the woods, and the house was unique and wonderful.

Along the way, we saw the lines and buckets that their friends who own the Sugar House use to collect sap. It's not one bucket for every tree anymore. They run tubes from tree to tree to tree that then empty into a larger communal bucket.






This ATV came by twice. Look! It has a snow plow on the front (well, a front end loader maybe, but it was going to be used as a snow plow).


Check out the view of the lake from their deck:





They invited us back to do smelt fishing or kayaking or swimming. Wowser. I think I'll have to take them up on one of their offers. They were gracious hosts and a lot of fun. :-)

March 25, 2007: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday Part 2

Then we went to Mount Vernon. We had lunch in the Olde Post Office Cafe. Creston lives nearby, so we gave him a call and he joined us. The Cafe had actually had so many customers that it was out of nearly everything, but we managed to find something to eat and had a good time. Then we ventured out to find another Sap House from the listing we had from the newspaper. We found one!

Sunday March 25, 2007: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday

Maple Syrup folks all across the state celebrate Maine Maple Syrup Sunday by opening up their syrup houses and giving tours and free samples. MRM and RBF took me to two sap houses. The first one was just east of town and RBF actually knew the family.

This sap house was giving away maple syrup sundaes: vanilla ice cream with maple syrup on top. Yum!!




Above: MRM watches the process
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check out the gorgeous scenery around us:

March, 31, 2007: Melting Snow

You would think that spring would be on its way. Birds are coming and snow is melting. Little did we know . . .

Meanwhile, here's the majority of the yard around my house being uncovered by Mother Nature.

March 28, 2007: Faculty and Staff Appreciation Dinner

Dr. Grace invited me to this dinner a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure what it was, but I agreed to go. It sounded fun and it was a free dinner. It was a blast. Turns out a student organization puts on this dinner every year to appreciate faculty and staff. We all got a beautiful wooden frame that said UMF on it and had the date. I was taking pictures anyway, so I was going to have something fun to put in my frame.


One side of our table, L to R: Grace, Rhonda, Mary


The other side of our table, L to R: Kristin, Beth, Theresa

Little did we know that it was going to be the award-winning table! Our department really hauled in the awards!

L to R, Dept. Chair Rod, Beth, Grace, Kristin, Mary


The Blues Sisters L to R: Mary, Grace, Rhonda (who's actually holding someone else's award)


Kathy (early childhood) received two awards and Ralph (technology integration for elementary education and department chair) won one, too.