January 2006

January 22nd, 2006

It is a bright, cold and sunny day today here at Frost Pond.  The temp is at 5 above, more in line with January.  It has been up in the high 40's the past couple of days and raining.  There is no snow left on the lakes, which makes it very hard to get around by snowmobile.  (sure would be good ice skating though)
   The roads up above us have major water problems.  The woods is full of water and it is running over the roads making large ice holes to drive through.  The water then freezes up under your vehicle making quite the mess.  If all of the precipitation had been snow, we would have 17 feet  of it on the ground by now.
   I have been sanding and plowing the roads, trying to keep them in good shape for the log trucks.  It has been a battle to say the least.  They are in real good shape now and the ice fishermen are happy about it as well as the truck drivers.
   The deer are running all over the place up here.  They winter along the river and it is not uncommon to see bunches of 4 or more on any trip out.  I have not seen any more coyotes chasing deer for the past week.  Hopefully the one I saw last week got the hint and went after some other type of food. 
   It is quite a bit of fun to find a place where the deer are, and to go sit and watch them this time of year.  I do not get the time to do it as much as I would like, but it does make for an interesting opportunity when I get the chance.  (I try to find a cell phone call spot where I know the deer are hanging out, this way I can watch them and still get other things done)
   As soon as the weather cooperates I will be trying my luck at the ice fishing thing again.  I am sure that I will be able to catch something besides a COLD.  I know that during February vacation I will be taking Jed and Maureen out for a day or two on the ice.  We take our lunch and have a terrific time!  Jed is getting to be a very good fisherman and he does enjoy the bonus of riding the snowmobile when the flags are not cooperating at the speed that he prefers.
   I just finished a "man sized" piece of homemade apple pie.  The next door neighbor was very gracious and baked me a whole one.  (not that I need it, but is sure tastes good)  Some of our other friends who have a camp up here invited me over to "suppa" last night, (and Friday night) and sent me home with leftovers.  It sure is good to have food that I did not have to cook myself.  When plowing and sanding for hours on end I eat out of a can about half the time. 
   Well, it is time for me to go to town and work on my fathers computer to get that back running again.  They have a time with it and it has been a month since I have had a chance to get down to "fix" it.
GT


January 13th, 2006

Well here it is Friday again already, and I am back at the computer once again.  Today was Friday the 13th, with a full moon to boot!  I wish I had known that before I got out of bed.  The first thing that happened was I managed to have a grader blade cutting edge dropped upon my fingers.  I still have all of my fingers, although they are not working all that well.  I then lost the rear wheels of the back of the plow truck.  After getting the truck to the garage, I found out that the keys to my little truck that I use to come home with when I break down, were in my other pickup at Frost Pond.  Yep, I should have stayed in bed today!
I have to tell you about what happened to me yesterday.
   I was out at the pit getting sand to sand the road.  It was just before dark and I was in the loader hauling from the pile to the truck.  This is a bit of a boring part of the job and I was just going through the motions.  I dumped a bucket of the mixture into the truck and was headed back to the pile for another.  I looked up and saw this deer running across the pit.  It ran up the access road that was all covered with ice and it was having quite the time.  I backed the loader around so I could see if it was going to make it up the icy incline.  While backing up I noticed a coyote following the path that the deer had taken.  It kept coming up until I got out of the loader and into the truck.  I lost sight of it and figured that it did not wish to be any place that there was a human.  I continued loading the truck and headed down the road.  I stopped at a turn out where the cell phone works to give Maureen a call.  While on the phone with her I looked in the mirror and he comes the deer running down the road.  It went around the truck and continued down the road, not looking so good.  It appeared to be very winded and was running kind of splay legged.  I was telling Maureen about all of this when here comes the coyote running down the road.  I watched it coming and told Maureen that I had to go.  I took my pistol out and when the coyote got about 100 yards away it finally noticed the truck.  It stopped and turned around.  I got out of the truck and started firing.  It took off running and headed into the woods in the opposite direction that the deer went.  I am hoping that it finally figured out that this was no place for a coyote to be as it had two encounters with a human in a very short period of time.
   I have heard it said that coyotes and wolves only eat the sick and the weak.  This was a very healthy looking buck (it went by close enough to tell it was a buck) that was very good sized.  Now I realize that the coyote was only doing what coyotes do when hungry, but there are not that many sick and weak deer around.  I guess if they chase a deer far enough then it will become weak and then qualify for supper. 
   It is estimated that there are over 20,000 coyotes in Maine.  What a decline this must make on the deer herd up here.  If a coyote eats an average of 7 deer a winter, that sure cuts into the herd. 
  One of the foresters said that the coyotes pick up the fawns in the spring and knock down the deer herd even more.  We could definitely do with a few less coyotes up here, then perhaps the population would increase back to the numbers that there used to be before the days when there were so many coyotes.  I am seeing deer every day now, or at least every day that I am out plowing and that is a good sign! (guess we need the deer to feed the coyotes, although I am not sure why we need the coyotes)
GT


January 9th.2006

Another snowy day here at the pond.  I went out plowing in the wee hours of the morning and stayed at it all day long.  (have to keep the roads open for the log trucks you know)
   While plowing I came across a couple of vans full of kids parked along side the road.  I stopped and told them that if they left their vehicles parked where they were that the vehicles might not be in the same shape when they came back.  It turned out that they were going winter camping for 5 days.  I explained that if two log trucks happened to meet in this spot that something would have to give, and their van would probably be the something.  I plowed a spot for them to park and explained that the best place to stay would be at Frost Pond, where things were safe and off the road.
   While out and about Sunday morning I saw a couple of moose.  The bull still had his antlers.  I saw a handful of deer today while plowing.  One of them almost did not make it across the road in time.  She ran right out and it was all I could do to not hit her with the plow truck.  (that thing does not stop on a dime, or even a dollar)  The deer were moving a lot in the storm today as were many other animals.  I saw coyote tracks, fox tracks, rabbit tracks, (hare) and other tracks that I could not tell what they were from the plow truck.
   The ice fishing must have been good this weekend or else there was a football game on in the afternoon.  Sunday all of the fishermen left early and I figure they must have caught their limit and went home.
   The ice is getting thicker, but still requires some judgment before venturing off across it. Now is not a good time of year to go swimming if you have lots of heavy clothes on! (not that I would want to go in with swim trunks on through the ice)  It seems every week that someone is getting wet somewhere in the state this winter.  There has not been that much real cold weather so far.  I was talking with folks and we commented on how this winter we have not had the below zero stretches like we sometimes have.  I am sure that will change before the winter is over.  We get our share of cold and if it does not come now, then it will come later, it always does!
GT  


January 5th.2006

Happy New Year all!

It has been an interesting time since the last time that I had a chance to sit down and write in the journal. With Christmas and New Years just a week apart this year things have been busy. (when I was a kid I do not remember them being so close together) I went down to spend Christmas with Maureen and Jed and we had a fine time. Jed woke up at 1:00am and waited for us to get up so that we could see what Santa had brought! (I say waited, but he kept coming in every 1/2 hour starting at 4:30 to check to see if we were rested enough to get up)
   It has been a whole year since I started writing this journal. I do enjoy telling people about this area and what goes on up here, and I hear from so many people who enjoy reading it that I will continue my attempts at it.
   I just want folks to remember that I write in the same fashion that my life is. I may be talking about one thing one minute and something else the next, and then back to the original again and off to another subject on the next line. (talking to a guest about an upcoming reservation, letting someone know where to catch a fish or find some deer tracks, emailing our legislators about a proposed tax increase, getting some firewood for a cabin, inflate a tire for a guest....) Ok this takes care of part of a morning, I wonder what the rest of the day will bring. So forgive me for my slightly erratic style and just enjoy my ramblings.
   I was out sanding the road yesterday and the sun shine was great, except for when I was headed southeast. It was cold the night before last and the plow truck would not start that morning without plugging it in to the generator for awhile. When I got out on the road the frost was hanging all over the trees. With the sun lighting it all up it was just so pretty to look at. I marveled at the sight most of the day, because as the sun was coming up over the ridges it kept lighting new places.
   I put out 4 loads of sand on the section of road that I take care of and was out all day long. There were a couple of accidents with trucks on the Golden Road today. (one guy was involved in both accidents, so I reckon that was where the problem was) I have never had a close call with one of the logging trucks (well, not real close) but I like to remind people that they take a lot of room and you really need to give them all of the room that they need.
   We have about a foot or so of snow in this area, but just up the road they have a couple of feet. Further up in Maine they have almost 5 feet on the ground and on camp roofs and houses. (If you own a camp in the northern third of the state I would recommend having someone check it for you if you have not been up for awhile) According to a truck driver from up north that I was talking to the deer are having a hard time up there as there is some crust in the top foot of snow.
   Today I spent the day working on the computer. I am trying a phone that works over the internet and it took me awhile to get it hooked up and working. It is very clear but sometimes there is a slight delay in the voice. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is much better than the two cans with a string that we all tried as kids!
   It is snowing once again and I will be out plowing before daylight in the morning. I really enjoy it out there after a new snow. Some times the first tracks in the snow are mine, and other times it is from all of the animals out there running around.
   There is a healthy population of Coyotes around here this year and they are chasing rabbits steady. So far they have not managed to catch the 2 that are right here in the yard, but who knows, they may one of these days. I have only seen one of them during the day and that was awhile back. The tracks in the snow tell most of the story and they come up and down the road about every night. I sleep right through it and never even hear them. (not that they make much noise walking on the snow)
   Right in the middle of my changing satellite companies my web hosting company changed a bunch of their things around. They forgot to tell me that and I am locked out of a bunch of pages and have to redo all of them and load them into the new server. This has involved a learning process for me and that is one of the reasons that I was so long between entries. I will try to do better and keep you all posted.
   The ice fishing has started and some of the guys I have talked with say it has been great. Just remember to check ice conditions before venturing out in unknown areas. Our number one rule for our son is, ALWAYS BE SAFE!  It should be the number one rule for all of us. Until the next time...take care.
GT

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