March 30th 2006
Spring is here, or at least it sure has seemed that way for the past couple of days.  The road is turning to mud, and the snow banks are receding.  The bird population is changing and the woodpeckers are starting to drum on everything to attract a mate.  I can hear a mourning dove cooing outside this morning and the red winged black birds have been under the feeder a couple of times.  Before you know it the frogs will be peeping in the swamps!  There are several species of ducks in the open part of Rip lake, out in front of the dam.  (The water is down 10 feet or so now, and all of the gates are closed) 
   I was talking with someone yesterday and they said that the smelts were running in a couple of places a bit further down state.  They figured that they would be running in the West Branch of the Penobscot in a week or so!  That would be an early run for there for sure.  I will be taking Jed out on some night maneuvers to try to locate a new runs for us to dip. They still have Ragged stream closed to smelting and all of the Chesuncook Lake runs.  Ripogenus stream is closed as well as the Caribou runs. 
   Jed is back at Frost Pond and I am home schooling him right here.  He is enjoying the attention from "Dad" and has been good about trying extra hard for me.  (one can only hope that continues)
   He has set a goal to catch the first fish out of the pond once again.  He managed to do that a couple of years in a row and liked the distinction of being first. 
   It looks like opening day of open water fishing will not be too bad, at least not snowing like we have had in some of the past years.  I actually took the plow truck to Millinocket on Monday.  The forecast was not predicting any of the "last of the year storms", and I wanted to get it out before the roads broke up too bad.  Jed and I took it out early in the morning when the road was still set up hard.
   A couple of Eagles just landed on the pond to pick at the pile of bait.  I went out to take a look at them and could hear some geese honking out on the back side of the pond.  I think that they are the locals that live on Chesuncook, as it only sounded like a couple of them.  They come over here each year to look at the pond ( and usually the pond is still frozen solid) to see if it is a likely place to live for the year. (Not going to happen) I encourage them to leave and move back to Chesuncook where there is more room.
   Tomorrow is the last day if ice fishing and then the open water guys will be on the river!  Good luck to all of you who give it a shot.
GT

March 19th 2006

Winter is on the way out!  We have not had any significant snowfall for a couple of weeks now, and we have had a bit of rain.  The clocks get set ahead next weekend and spring is just around the corner. 
   I tried to burn some brush today, but the snow on the pile kept melting and putting the fire out.  I think I may have to wait a few days for more of the snow to melt off the pile before that project is worthwhile. 
   We had guests arrive today for a week of relaxing and reading.  They are going to take pictures, do some hiking (perhaps on snowshoes) and maybe a little cross country skiing.  We still have snow, it is just not as much as we used to have at this time of year.  One of these years we will have a winter like we used to have when I was a kid, and I am not sure how that will go.  Remember when we used to get storms that we measured in feet rather than inches, and get a number of them each winter!  In between the real storms we got the flurries that dropped 6 or 8 inches on the ground.  Oh the good old days.  A winter like that now would cause headaches for all of the folks who live in town, the snow piles up and there is no place to put it.
   I did take a picture of the mountain the other day.  It was during a return trip from getting a load of sand in town.  The sun was setting and I thought it might make a good picture to have on the journal page.

                                      
                           (click to enlarge)
I will soon be taking pictures of Katahdin with green leaves in the pictures rather than snow.  Open water fishing season is just a few days away, although there will not be any open water to fish in for at least a month.  The West Branch of the Penobscot will of course host the annual opening day crowd of people who cannot wait any longer to get in some liquid water, rather than hard water fishing. 
   This is going to be the first year in many that I have not been out fishing during the winter, I just never found the time to make the trip out on the ice!  My ice auger will probably not even start next winter, just to get even with me!    I am ready for green again though.  If we have winter with lots of snow it is much better than these "open" winters.  I can still find enough to do, it is just that it may not involve the same fun things that I love winter for.  I truly cannot imagine living in a place where the seasons just kind of transform without a distinct change.  (I guess if I lived someplace else I would think different) When the seasons change up here, you know that something is happening.  One of the first telltale signs of spring up here is the roads developing "frost heaves".  For a winter that has been warm in comparison to many of past winters, we sure do have some corkers on the road already!  It is kind of like riding a roller coaster.  Up, down, left, and right always in a different direction, sometimes at the same time.  I still would not trade with anyone though!
GT


March 12th 2006
Wow, it does not seem like it has been almost a month since I last did a journal entry!  I am sure that I entered things about when Jed and Maureen were up for February vacation. We went out one day and saw 14 Eagles along the West Branch of the Penobscot. (Jed claims he saw 19) We saw one of them trying to catch a duck that was swimming in the river. Many of the eagles were just circling around in the sky. There were both adults and juveniles in the mix. That white head and tail sure does show up well in the adults.
   Anyway, would someone let me know if I did have or did not post an entry the first part of March? (Blog) I hardly ever go that long between entries. I reckon it must have been the fact that there was not much in the line of excitement going on up here. At least not what I think of as excitement. (like cans of soda freezing in the truck)  But then again I may have had it all written and lost it in the transfer of files.  Who knows with all of this computer stuff!
   I have seen the local moose and it's twin out on the road a few times lately. I thought there was just one, but it turns out that there is a pair of them! They are hanging around feeding along the road about every day now. (I say that and they will disappear again)
   We had a prediction of an inch of snow last weekend and ended up with 10 inches. I had a good time plowing it as it was on the weekend and I did not have the big trucks to watch out for. They do make life interesting to say the least.
   I was sitting here working on the computer the other night and had a funny thought. I was working on emails, sending them on a round trip of something over 48,000 miles via satellite, with a computer running off batteries and an inverter. What was I using for light to see with? An Aladdin lamp that was manufactured somewhere between 1933 and 1955! (that means that this lamp is even older than me) It just struck me as funny that with all of this modern technology that I would be using a light that was that old. In 50 or so years will any of the things that we are using today survive and still be working as well as that old lamp?
   The eagles are coming to the pond to feed on bait that I put out for the coyotes. I have only seen two of them so far this year. The most that I ever had out on the pond was seven at one time. They must be happy when they find a free meal that does not require much work to partake of.
It has been warm and raining here this afternoon. It was up over 50 degrees today. The road will be closed to hauling wood sometime this week if the temperature does not go back below freezing. Spring is on the way and it should come very early this year. (Every time I say something like that things change and we get buried in snow again)
   Things are booking up for spring fishing already.  It should be a good year for fishing, the water is still high in the lake and there is still a crest gate part way open at Ripogenus Dam.  Any bets on whether or not they open deep gates this spring?
   Many of you folks are probably seeing grass start to turn green where you are.  We still have snow here, about 12 to 16 inches on the ground in this area.  It varies a lot, depending upon where you are. 
GT