3/3/08 - 3/7/08 a little side trip

Grace, Beth, and I wrote a paper that was accepted by the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. We went to the International Conference in Las Vegas to present our paper. They closed UMF while we were out of town, so we did miss some more weather. Read all about our trip on my travel blog at: http://texastheresa.blogspot.com/search/label/SITE08

3/1/08 Cabin Fever

We got that foot of snow. It started Saturday morning (in the wee hours) and kept coming and coming all day long. By 4:00 it had mostly stopped. MRM and I had backed our cars in the driveway and parked them very near the end of the driveway. Cool trick--less shoveling when they're already at the end of the driveway and with front wheel drive, you don't have to try to shovel under the backside of the tires if you're facing forward (if you have to use reverse to get out, you have to make sure the front tires can get traction on the "reverse" side of the tire). There was a party to go to tonight and I decided to brave the driving conditions and go. I picked up Dalila who is a new professor this year from Portugal. She doesn't have a car and I promised myself I would pay it forward when it came to giving folks rides (in appreciation for everyone who gave me rides in spring 2007 when I didn't have a car). Plus, she's really fun (now that I know her from giving her rides to parties), so it makes for a great trip.

So we went to Games Night. This is the second one. It was started by a faculty group, but anyone can come. Last time we played Apples to Apples (which I first encountered at my Godfamily's house in New York [we played the child's version] on the drive from Texas to Maine) and this time we played Quiddler (made by the makers of Set -- one of my very favorite games) which is a combination card and word game. It was pretty fun. We created our own "team version" where everyone helped everyone else.

I'm really glad I went. And I did okay in the driving conditions. The roads were plowed, so you just had to drive slowly on the packed thin layer of snow. On the way home, at least until we got to Farmington, the roads were "tar" (you could see the black surface). In Farmington, the roads were still covered with a packed white layer. I'm guessing that they've run out of salt for the season (not very common most winters, but very common during this winter which has had an unusually high amount of snow spread out over soooooo many days) and either can't afford to buy more or are waiting for a new shipment. It's happening all over the state. It even happened at UMF where we got an email warning us to be extra careful because they weren't able to clear the sidewalks of ice in their usual manner as they were waiting for a new shipment.

3/1/08 How snowy is it?

Seasonal snowfall information for Franklin County, Maine
(retrieved from http://www.mainesledder.com/showthread.php?p=11548)

12/3/07 14"
12/12/07 6"
12/14/07 6"
12/16/07 12"
12/20/07 6"
12/28/07 4"
12/30/07 6"
01/03/08 10"
01/04/08 8"
01/11/08 3"
01/14/08 5"
01/17/08 4"
01/18/08 6"
01/19/08 2"
01/22/08 2"
01/26/08 2" (total = 96" = 8'0" @Franklin County)
02/01/08 5"
02/03/08 1"
02/05/08 4"
02/06/08 3"
02/07/08 2" (total = 111" = 9'3" @Franklin County) Keep in mind that some areas may have gotten even more, this is just a County average.

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FOR PERSPECTIVE, THE TOP 10 SNOWIEST SEASONS IN BANGOR WERE:

RANK    SNOW    YEAR
     (INCHES)

1      181.9   1962
2      132.3   1970
3      118.9   1968
4      112.1   1995
5      103.9   1971
6      101.1   1965
7      100.8   1954
8      97.7    1958
9      96.6    1981
10      95.3    2000

2/29/08 update on the update

We're expecting another foot of snow this weekend.

Happy Leap Year Day!!

2/26 - 2/27/2008 Snow Update

I know you're tired of reading about it, but it's just fascinating. Tuesday night they were predicting a really bad storm. They even canceled after-school activities at most districts. And after about 6 hours of snow, there was barely a dusting on the ground. I went to bed around 9:30pm 'cuz I had driven from Manchester NH airport the night before and didn't get in until the wee hours of the morning. So of course, that means at 2:00 in the morning, I'm wide awake because I had a good night's sleep. I looked out the window in the darkness and there was at least a foot of snow on top of all the cars! Sure enough, after I went back to sleep and woke up for the second time that morning, I measured the snow on top of the car (stuck my hand down in it) and it was over 8". That's unofficial and not an accurate place to measure, but it's convenient. Everyone around town's been saying it was 12".

I'm telling you, it's getting D E E P around here! MRM finally had to pay someone with a snow plow to come and clear the driveway because it was too much snow and no place to put it. One of my students from last semester sent me an email in which he said, "So is the real winter to your liking? They say it classifies as # 15 for the worst winters of all time recorded here in Maine. I guess that means you got to see a real winter before you went home so I can stop praying for snow now :) "

2/28/08 Spring

This is an actual, official email that we got in campus email today from the head of facilities management:

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


Cheer up! Spring is only three weeks away.

Bob L.

Director of Facilities Management

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Don't you wish you worked at a place with such fun people?

waves in Antarctica

I know it's cold in Maine, but it's not THIS cold. I love how people keep sending me emails about places colder than Maine: China, Antarctica, . . . keep 'em coming!

Check out this one:

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The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice. That's what it is like in Antarctica. Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing.

Just look at how the wave froze in midair.

2/16/2008 How cold is it?

Are you tired of hearing about the weather? It's all they talk about here, but with good cause.

Last night, the sky was crystal clear, the stars were brilliant, the moon was almost full and the moonlight was shining down. Today the sun rose at 6:40am. It's a gorgeous day . . . bright sunshine, beautiful blue sky, a few white whispy clouds in the sky. I walked downtown to check my mailbox and the bank sign flashed 10:20am--sun's been up nearly 4 hours now. Then the bank sign flashed 13. It's THIRTEEN DEGREES! No wonder it felt cold walking! Wowser.

I'm leaving Monday to go to New Hampshire to catch a plane for Texas. I thought I should start shoveling out my car today. It might take a while. The problem with shoveling now is not the shoveling out, it's the shoveling to. Where do you put the snow? Everything around you is high. You feel like you're walking through tunnels. It was hard to shovel last week because I had to lift the shovel filled with snow over my shoulders to get the snow out of the shovel and on the other side of the snow banks that line the driveway. It was some workout. We've had more than 8 inches of snow since then. Now the snow banks are as tall as I am. I actually had to first break the tops off the snow banks and push that snow down the other side so that I could shovel my car out. Now shoveling is not only a physical exercise but also a mental exercise. How do you get that shovel under your car to get the snow out from behind the front tire and yet keep the snow in the shovel while you twist and lift to get it up and over the wall of snow by your side, all while dodging the rear view mirror which has an affinity for bumping your hip? It's quite an interesting activity. I got it shoveled out far enough that I can move the car. I figure tomorrow, I'll back the car out all the way and clean up the mess on either side of where my car was and try to create a bigger snow garage to park in. Fingers crossed, there won't be any more snow and I'll be able to leave on Monday without having to shovel or scrape.

2/7-14/2008 New Window

This window was only up for a week because it had a Valentine's Day theme, but it was really a message for the whole semester . . . for the whole time I've been here and the foreseeable future.

2/11/2008 "through the white and drifted snow-o!"

"Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the ____" And what words do you sing in that blank? As a kid, I used to sing "wide and drifting snow". It didn't make sense, but back then, neither would "white and drifted snow" which are the real lyrics. But now I understand.

Those howling winds created some incredible snow drifts. I don't think I ever knew the difference between a snow bank and a snow drift before, but I'm learning. Who knew that snow had so much vocabulary??! In the street light I could see gorgeous patterns in the snow caused by the wind. It looked like the patterns in desert sands. These photos don't do the beauty any justice. Oh well. I tried. Just know that we've had lots of wind and now we have drifted snow.

2/13/2008 WOW! That's a lot of snow!

Are you tired of reading about snow yet? Folks around here are certainly tired of the snow! But today's storm looks like it's going to be the worst one of the season. When I woke up the flakes were coming down but also twirling down. It was cool looking but I don't know how it was working. There wasn't any significant wind, but the snow was falling in / from different directions. At first the flakes were the little ones. Then there were LOTS of little ones. Then they got fat and fluffy. But the whole time, they're just coming. Lots of snow. The University is closed as are all the schools in the area.

I'm sitting in my room with the blinds open just watching the snow pile up on the roof. Fortunately, MRM has a metal roof and it really has been working. Snow keeps sliding right off. But outside my window is the porch roof and it's not as slanted, so snow doesn't slide off of it as often, even with the metal roof. So I'm able to see snow accumulating outside my window.

In the last hour, it has turned to teeny tiny flakes with occasional ice pellets that I can hear and also see as they bounce off the roof. The prediction is that we'll get 8 inches of snow and then it will turn to ice/ rain/ freezing rain/ sleet. Oh joy.

There's a 4 foot tall chain link fence in the backyard. Only 8-12 inches of the top of the fence is visible. It's in an area where that height is not due to snow banks created by plowing or shoveling and it's not drifted snow up against the fence. That's over 3 feet of accumulated snow just in the past 2 months. This is a real winter. :-)

2/12/2008 digging the car out . . . again

I teach a graduate course in a town called Dixfield on Tuesday nights. Last Tuesday's class was canceled because of bad weather. The class is held at the local high school and all the participants are teachers in the high school, middle school, or 2 elementary schools nearby. Since their district was closed due to bad weather, we didn't meet either.

So this week, both UMF and their school district were open, so class was on. It only took me 20 minutes to get the snow off my car and shovel around it so I could get out. But remember, that's after the 90 minute process Friday morning (only 4 days ago) and the digging out on the Saturday morning before that (6 days before that).

It was sunny and beautiful (really cold but in my car with the heater on, I just noticed sunshine and blue skies) on the drive to Dixfield and there were no winds. Yea. Apparently the day of the bad winds there were many accidents where people were literally blown off the highway. It's bad enough that the roads are icy, but when the wind blows you off the road, it doesn't matter what kind of traction you're getting. So I was very appreciative of sunshine and no wind.

But guess what . . . there's another storm coming tonight!

2/11/2008 Howling Update

The Boston Globe had this little article about Maine weather:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
GRAY, Maine—Mainers should brace themselves for high winds and wicked cold wind chills today after a messy weekend of winter weather.
more stories like this

The National Weather Service has issued wind and blowing snow advisories across the state, calling for sustained winds of 15 to 30 miles per hour, with a few gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

The winds could bring down tree limbs that are already weighted down with snow, which could result in power outages.

Bangor Hydro crews worked through the night to restore power to customers in Hancock, Washington, and Penobscot counties. About 8,000 customers were without power around midnight, but the majority of those outages have been restored.
(retrieved 2/13/2008 from http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/02/11/wind_advisories_issued_across_maine/)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gray is about an hour and a half south of Farmington. It's the home of the National Weather Service's Weather Forecast Office. When those "sustained winds" hit, it was like you were riding inside a noisy truck without earplugs. It was a loud noise that just kept going. Paul, a friend at work, said it's basically hurricane winds. Alan (another friend at work) said his old house was just creaking like crazy. It was definitely a new weather experience. The brunt of those winds was during the night, so I slept through most of it, but apparently, the high, sustained winds lasted well over an hour. And then there were sustained winds that weren't as high plus lots of gusts all throughout the night/ early morning.

2/10/2008 Howlettes are full-fledged Howls now

Check out this weather advisory:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
920 PM EST SUN FEB 10 2008
...VERY WINDY CONDITIONS TONIGHT AND MONDAY...
.COLD ARCTIC AIR WILL POUR INTO THE REGION ON STRONG AND GUSTY
WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS TONIGHT AND MONDAY. SUSTAINED WINDS OF 15
TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED.
WINDS THIS STRONG COULD CAUSE TREE LIMBS...LADEN WITH THE WEIGHT
OF SNOW...TO BE DOWNED. THIS IN TURN MAY CAUSE SCATTERED POWER
OUTAGES.
THE GUSTY WINDS WILL CREATE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE FRESHLY
FALLEN SNOW. ALSO ANY SLUSH OR WATER ON ROADS...PARKING LOTS AND
SIDEWALKS WILL FREEZE UP AS TEMPERATURES PLUNGE INTO THE SINGLE
DIGITS AND TEENS TONIGHT.

I can hear it. The wind is really howling now. Benny wanted to go outside and as I opened the storm door, a big bunch of "scattered powder" blew right in the door. And it was C O L D ! !

2/9-10/2008 National Toboggan Championships

Did you know there was such a thing? It takes place in Camden, Maine, which is near the coat. But somehow they get enough snow to have a resort called "The Snow Bowl" which has a variety of snow-related sports available. One of them is a toboggan chute and for the past 18 years, they have held The National Toboggan Championships. (If you go to their website, you can see a video of a toboggan going down the chute--think luge only silly and slower). Apparently, it's quite a blast, all in good fun. Folks come from as far away as California and Georgia.

UMF actually had two teams entered comprised of faculty and staff. Costumes are encouraged (as long as they don't interfere with safety) and since UMF's mascot is the beaver, that was the theme for both teams. They had beaver teeth and long-sleeved UMF beaver t-shirts (over many other layers, I assume). It was going to be quite the event. Unfortunately, there was an accident where one toboggan had turned on its side at the bottom of the chute and as they were setting it upright and clearing the ice, the next toboggan came down the chute and crashed into the first one. People were injured, though the news report says none were life-threatening injuries.

I really wanted to attend. I told the instigator, err, I mean, the organizer, that I would love to be a fly on the toboggan and she replied, "Weanie!" Then it turned out it was going to happen during the time I was scheduled to be returning from Boston, so I put it on my to-do list for next year.

No UMF folks were involved in the accident, but they were disappointed that they did not get to compete. Here's to 2009's event!

I dowloaded these photos from the Ashley's Flickr collection: