No Frost Yet

As of October 18th we’ve yet to have a hard frost. That’s not normal for northern New Hampshire. My lovely wife volunteers at a botanical garden. There are flowers in her pollinator section that are blooming again. She’s never seen that happen in the garden before. 

It’s been a pretty mild fall. However, it can go from unusually warm to unusually cold overnight. Just south of us is Mount Washington which has the worse weather in the world. Major weather systems come together in our area so anything can happen. 

Long range weather forecasts have never been very reliable. It appears they are doing a worse job now than in the recent past. That’s not really a surprise. Weather predictions rely heavily on data from previous years. That’s handy -until some basic conditions change and the present is not like the past. 

With that in mind I’m paying close attention to forecasts that predict heavy snow in my area. There might be something to it. Winter here can be both warmer than normal and snowy than normal. Actually, I prefer that over the opposite. Nothing worse than a deeply cold lean snow year. That’s when the frost is driven deep in the ground causing all kinds of problems. I’ve had both water lines and sewer lines freeze. Neither are any fun. 

Now all I have to do is to talk my lovely wife into us buying a new snowblower. 

-Sixbears

Pushing Spring

Here in the Great North Woods spring doesn’t exactly follow the calendar. It was sunny and in the 50s today, which was nice. Most of the snow around the house melted and I was able to get the motor scooter out of the basement. 

It was tempting to go for a ride, but logic and reason prevailed. The roads are still covered in winter sand. The back tire probably should be changed first. Then there’s the little issue of it not being inspected. At the end of the day it was the sand that put me off. One year I dumped my old KZ-900 after hitting sand on a mountain curve. Only needed about six stitches. Scars are reminders of lessons learned. 

Most nights it still gets below freezing, so there’s truly no hurry. The ice doesn’t leave the lake until about the third week of April. I’ve seen it stay around until the second week of May. 

As you can imagine gardening around these parts is a hasty affair. There’s a thin sliver between the last spring frost and first fall frost. People make it work. 

-Sixbears

Of two minds

I'm in a strange state of mind. Part of the time I'm thinking of everything I'm going to need to go sailing and camping. Call it my warm weather thoughts.

To make that trip happen, I've got to deal with getting everything ready up here in the frostlands. Call it my cold weather reality.

Take today for example. The new tires on the boat trailer needed to be pumped up. The air compressor had to be kept near the kitchen woodstove so it'd be warm enough to run. Bearing buddies could use a bit more grease, but it's a struggle in sub zero temperatures.

Even simple things like screwing on the new license plate is a hassle. Do I put it on in the morning when it's 15 below, or hope for it to warm up a bit and take a chance the next snowstorm won't bury the trailer again. Decisions. Decisions.

My windshield washer motor has been broken for some time. Really want that to work for the trip. Stopped the project when the temperature dropped below zero. I had to remove some plastic panels, but from experience I've learned the truck's plastic cracks and shatters at low temperatures.

There are a few small projects I want to do on the sailboat before putting it in the water. Those will wait until I get to my friend's place in Florida. The best that can be done here in snow country is to get all the parts and tools together and store them on the boat.

I'm trying to remember to pack my shorts and sandals while bundled up like Nanook of the North. Warm weather doesn't even seem quite real to me right now.

It'll all come together by Saturday moring . . . it'd better.

-Sixbears