Patriot country is jubilant – Tebow country not so much. The game last night was not even close in scoring at 45-10 so once again we learn the lesson that you win some and you lose some, but to lose on National TV is not so good. The New England Patriots will now go on towards the Super Bowl but there will only be one winner in that contest also. There are still some playoff games before February’s showdown at the Super Bowl where the winner will get a big Superbowl ring and the team will be feted across the nation while the losers go home to their families and nurse their loss. I have watched some football games and cannot figure out the rules, but cringe as I see these bulked up men knock each other over and grab for that little football and one minute of fame if they come up with it securely in their hands. I wonder how much punishment the human body can endure before they call it a day? Bill was asked to go to a member’s home to watch the game – a male bonding experience to be sure. I was somewhat disappointed that the women did not go out and do something themselves – but then compared to Phoenix or some other large city, Augusta is not exactly as rife with things to do at night while the men occupy themselves with the football game.
The temperature this morning was -6 degrees. That is not exactly swimsuit weather. Last Sunday it was just below 30 degrees and there were some people at church without coats. I was bundled up like the Michelin Man and they assured me that it was just a little cool. Not time to break out the winter coats. How cold does it have to get here for people to rug up? I bought show boots when we first came and wore them when it was only 30 degrees. I am sure the locals laughed themselves silly seeing me look like a Michelin Man in snow boots. I wore them today and even though the girl in the store assured me that they would be very warm boots, I did not think that to her (a Maine resident), warm was from Zero degrees and above. Zero and below is chilly and perhaps time to put on a coat. My Feet were cold all morning in church and did not get warm until after lunch. I have seen people in Walmart in tank tops and it is snowing outside and there is no hint of them wearing a coat. I guess the answer is “Whale Blubber” .
After our ice storm on Friday, the snow has a crust of ice on it. To walk in it is quite funny – what looks like it is solid is not, and your feet just crack through the ice into the snow below. When the sun shines on it, at the right angle it looks like the snow is actually made of tinfoil it is so smooth and shiny; at other angles it looks like royal icing that has been smoothed by the Wilton Method and there is no error in the smoothing out job that nature has done. The diamonds (that show up in the snow after the snow shower is done and the sun comes out) have all been solidified by the ice storm. Many buildings have icicles hanging from them – especially in Hallowell. There is one store there that has a canvas awning on the front, and the icicles are hanging from the scallops in the awning itself. While driving on Rte. 3, we saw where some water had seeped out of the earth above and as it moved out over the rocks, it formed an icy waterfall – frozen in time. I saw Bridal Veil Falls in Provo canyon in this frozen condition as well. We stopped along the road at Hallowell and took pictures of the frozen River. The Ice is not solid from bank to bank – but there is a good bit of it frozen but not safe to walk on. Parts of the frozen river were giving off mist in the morning sunshine and I found myself wondering just why certain patches of icy river were giving off this mist…..after all the entire breadth of the river was in full sunshine.
Just under the topsoil here in Maine, is granite. You can see now much granite there is by looking at the icy water fall picture. You can see where the holes were drilled for the explosives to be put in so that the road could go through. I really doubt if you would find any subsidence here due to the granite just being under the top soil, but it poses a problem for home building – especially seeing that in this part of the country , you need to have a basement to counteract the freeze/thaw factor in the weather. I never cease to marvel at the houses here. Many of them just ramble on and on and seem to have added annex after annex and so it looks like an “afterthought house” for want of a better descriptive term. I wonder if their families just grew and so the afterthought annex was added to accommodate the added people in need of a home. Was it to house newlyweds? How about housing aging parents? They certainly are interesting houses. The older homes that have been turned into apartments must have been magnificent dwellings in their heyday. I really doubt if they were all built as future apartment buildings.
We drove through town to church and saw where some people had tracked up the snow in the Capitol park. I am glad that the Occupy Maine group has been moved out. Not only is it way too cold to be out in it living in their flimsy tents, but it would really destroy the beauty of the pristine snowy park with this ratty group of people living there.
We drove out in the country looking for a member, but did not find them. What we did find was fields all tracked up by snowmobile tracks (that is on my bucket list). It really looked like the people on the snow mobiles had fun out in the empty field and some of the tracks even led off into the woods. I think you would have to know your way around to just take off and roar into the woods on a snowmobile. In one front yard they had a toy-hauler for snowmobiles. It looked rather lonely sitting out there. In a field nearby there was a lone tractor and it really looked forlorn. No one loves a tractor in the winter I suppose. Many of the homes were “afterthought houses” with large wood stacks in the back ready for the cozy wood fire that heats the home.
Interspersed with the houses were small farms with Large Red barns that looked really picturesque and on some properties there were barns that had seen better days and were leaning into the earth (fallen down completely to put it mildly). Other barns seemed to be filled to overflowing with farm stuff and hay bales. A lot of the homes appeared to have sun rooms – i.e. rooms with lots of windows, and these small rooms looked like former hot houses for plants ready for the growing season.
So along with the leaning barns, and the hay rolls with snow on them, the bright Yellow No Hunting signs, caught my eye. How could anyone avoid being seen by the deer or whatever else they hunt around here – there are absolutely no leaves on the trees and therefore no chance of sneaking up on anything. Lean hunting in winter, I would say…..so why bother putting up the sign?
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