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273

My thermometer says its 54 deg. f. outside. The highest temperature I've seen this summer is 89. The official temperature for Rangeley, the nearest NOAA certified weather collection point, was 92. I'm quite a few feet higher in elevation, which is why my temperature is usually 2 to 8 degrees cooler.

We'll still have something called Indian Summer, which is a couple of warm weeks in September. We may get a warm spell in October, but that's the same month when snow often starts to fall.

The change in the foliage will happen soon, starting in just a couple of weeks. The land will turn bright orange and red, and tourists will come from across the globe to see it. Strangely, people from just across the Canadian border will come view our trees - even though I'm pretty sure maple trees don't care what side of the border they're on and those provide the greatest colors.

Many years, I get a tour bus in my driveway. Many GPS systems seem to think my driveway is a road. It was once a road - for logging vehicles. It was never a road fit for a tour bus. They come up the private road, see a paved driveway, and come visit me by mistake.

I'm so used to this that I have now fed the entire tour bus snacks and drinks, while they meandered around on my lawn and took pictures. I'm not even kidding. In their defense, it's absolutely stunning.

Hold on...

Here's what it looks like - except this isn't during peak foliage season, it's near the end of it. I'll try to find time to get pics of it during the peak this year. I'm sure I have some, but I know where these pictures are located on my NAS!

https://imgoat.com/uploads/00da03b685/138112.jpg

You can see a couple of the buildings on the farm, actually. The one way off on the right is a horse stable and the indoor riding arena. The one closer to the middle is where the cows hang out and get milked - and that's also pretty close to where the bacons live.

Anyhow, the temperatures are dropping and they'll continue dropping as the season changes. Pretty soon, I'll get to smash some snow - and that's pretty much the most awesome thing on the planet. I love smashing snow!

I not only smash my own snow - but I smash snow that doesn't even belong to me. I make a trip into the village and, along the route, I smash the snow for all the older people along my road. If I see you outside shoveling to get to work, I'll stop and offer to smash your snow.

They don't even charge me money! I'm pretty sure they don't know how fun snow smashing is, or they'd charge me money to smash their snow. As it is, they often try to pay me for smashing their snow. However, I only accept baked goods, hot meals, or handmade craft items as payment.

This will be my second year being allowed to smash the snow at the church and Grange Hall. I don't actually go to the church, but they asked me if I'd smash their snow. I curbed my language and didn't say, "Fuck yeah!" I used it as an excuse to buy a sander!

Picture an F-250 with an 8' plow - and another 1200 pounds of sander and sand in the back...

Yeah...

It's that awesome. I pretty much don't have to stop for much of anything. I could drive right through your Prius and probably not even feel much of a bump! I could probably park in your living room - and then just pop it into 4w low and keep on going right through it!

Winter is awesome...

Also, I made this sub kinda 'cause I wanted to express the awesomeness that is Maine. I could live pretty much anywhere. I pick here. I pick here for a whole host of reasons.

My thermometer says its 54 deg. f. outside. The highest temperature I've seen this summer is 89. The official temperature for Rangeley, the nearest NOAA certified weather collection point, was 92. I'm quite a few feet higher in elevation, which is why my temperature is usually 2 to 8 degrees cooler. We'll still have something called Indian Summer, which is a couple of warm weeks in September. We may get a warm spell in October, but that's the same month when snow often starts to fall. The change in the foliage will happen soon, starting in just a couple of weeks. The land will turn bright orange and red, and tourists will come from across the globe to see it. Strangely, people from just across the Canadian border will come view our trees - even though I'm pretty sure maple trees don't care what side of the border they're on and those provide the greatest colors. Many years, I get a tour bus in my driveway. Many GPS systems seem to think my driveway is a road. It was once a road - for logging vehicles. It was never a road fit for a tour bus. They come up the private road, see a paved driveway, and come visit me by mistake. I'm so used to this that I have now fed the entire tour bus snacks and drinks, while they meandered around on my lawn and took pictures. I'm not even kidding. In their defense, it's absolutely stunning. Hold on... Here's what it looks like - except this isn't during peak foliage season, it's near the end of it. I'll try to find time to get pics of it during the peak this year. I'm sure I have some, but I know where these pictures are located on my NAS! https://imgoat.com/uploads/00da03b685/138112.jpg You can see a couple of the buildings on the farm, actually. The one way off on the right is a horse stable and the indoor riding arena. The one closer to the middle is where the cows hang out and get milked - and that's also pretty close to where the bacons live. Anyhow, the temperatures are dropping and they'll continue dropping as the season changes. Pretty soon, I'll get to smash some snow - and that's pretty much the most awesome thing on the planet. I love smashing snow! I not only smash my own snow - but I smash snow that doesn't even belong to me. I make a trip into the village and, along the route, I smash the snow for all the older people along my road. If I see you outside shoveling to get to work, I'll stop and offer to smash your snow. They don't even charge me money! I'm pretty sure they don't know how fun snow smashing is, or they'd charge me money to smash their snow. As it is, they often try to pay me for smashing their snow. However, I only accept baked goods, hot meals, or handmade craft items as payment. This will be my second year being allowed to smash the snow at the church and Grange Hall. I don't actually go to the church, but they asked me if I'd smash their snow. I curbed my language and didn't say, "Fuck yeah!" I used it as an excuse to buy a sander! Picture an F-250 with an 8' plow - and another 1200 pounds of sander and sand in the back... Yeah... It's that awesome. I pretty much don't *have* to stop for much of anything. I could drive right through your Prius and probably not even feel much of a bump! I could probably park in your living room - and then just pop it into 4w low and keep on going right through it! Winter is awesome... Also, I made this sub kinda 'cause I wanted to express the awesomeness that is Maine. I could live pretty much anywhere. I pick here. I pick here for a whole host of reasons.

(post is archived)

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Maine is a beautiful state. I spent some time in Rockland and I will always cherish my memories of that time.

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They have the public boat docks in Rockland, and there's a great bar/restaurant out on the wharf! It's also where they have Lobster Fest, which is delicious.

If I have time, I'll go spend a weekend - just up the road, at the Samoset (spelling?) resort. I go there and make an ass out of myself by playing golf.

When you leave the public boat landing, there's a bar right straight across the road - and it hardly has any tourists in it! It's usually just burly fishermen/lobster boat workers. It's pretty awesome!

If you go down Rt. 1, there used to be a prison on your left, in Thomaston. I've broken into the quarry across the road, but that was an acid-fueled adventure.

But, I'm nowhere near the coast. I'm way up in NW Maine. I'm outside of Rangeley, if you want to look it up on a map. It's beautiful! I much prefer it to the coast, though I'm pretty fond of LL Bean and the outlet stores in Freeport.

What were you in Rockland for, if you don't mind me asking? How long were you there? Did you ever make it to Lobster Fest? If not, it's delicious!

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I lived in Rockland for about a year and Portland for 2 years. I don't know if it's the same one, but we would go to an old quarry near Rockland and go swimming. My friends would jump in but I was never able to work up the courage, it was quite a drop from the top. Lobster Fest was great, nothing like fresh lobster, lobster rolls, lobster bisque, etc. I'll try to find them, but I also have some great pictures from the top of Mt Megunticook. Maine will always hold a special place in my heart.

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Headed south on Rt. 1, out of Rockland, the quarry is on the right. I have a couple of quarries that are much closer, including one in Jay and one in Hallowell. Most of them are closed to public access, lawfully. I can understand why, as it'd be a bitch to get insurance for them for public use.

I love Maine. I have a graduate degree in math and a few bucks because I sold my business. I can live pretty much anywhere. There are very few countries who won't give me a permanent resident visa and most offer me a quick path to citizenship. I pick Maine. There's literally no other place on the planet that I'd rather live.

Most of my life was spent in a very urban environment and now I live in the complete opposite. For the most part, I even avoid the coastal areas of Maine, just 'cause there's too many people and too much traffic.

As far as coastal areas go, Rockland is nice. It's nice when there aren't that many tourists and I get to hang out with the local people.

For anyone reading this, here's a trick...

Go to Rockland. Go to the bar that I mentioned - you can't miss it. It's got a fisherman in yellow garb on the sign. Go inside and wait quietly. Listen to the people. Find a person who works on a lobster boat. Buy them a drink and ask about lobstering. Go out back and smoke a joint with them.

Congratulations, you're in!

Now, ask 'em about 'boat price.' They'll pipe up that you can just come down to the wharf and get your lobster there - and pay wholesale prices. (This is called 'boat price' in their lingo, usually.) They'll tell you where, when, and maybe even offer to show you where the wharf is.

Another good spot to score lobster at boat price is on Bailey Island. There, just go to the bait shop and ask questions - but don't appear to be a tourist. Be legitimately nice and interested - and you can probably even go out on a lobster boat, but they'll expect you to do a little work and it's pretty hard work.

It's wise to have at least two boat price lobster providers! You can have a whole giant lobster feast and spend a trivial amount compared to what you'd spend in a store, even in a Maine store where lobster is comparatively cheap!

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I'm glad someone enjoys winter, at least you live in the right place for it. Me, now living in the West as a transplanted Easterner, I'll take spring and fall any day. Summers are too hot, winters are too cold. Oh, we get a colorful fall out here (or a reasonable facsimile), but nothing like the stunning colors of an East coast autumn. Keep your snow ... you're always welcome to drive out west to smash mine if you get a hankerin' ... but I do envy you and the beauty of great forests of the East. There's nothing that compares to driving down a back country road that's like a tunnel through the intense greenery. I don't miss the humidity, of course, but once of the East, always an East coaster at heart, me thinks.

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If you get bored, fire up your favorite search engine that has satellite maps (or use that Google Maps thing that you can download) and then set it to take a drive through my area or check the satellite images. I love the back roads and I'm in the mountains, so I get some great views. I also love to drive and the roads are perfect for it - except frost heave season. I leave my daily driver in the garage until the frost has come out of the ground.

(I'm not far from Rt. 16, between Rangeley and Eustis.)

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lol, I don't think I've ever seen someone so excited about clearing snow. Hopefully some of that excitement will rub off on my husband since this is the first year he has to clear a driveway.

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Smashing snow is one of my favorite activities! I love smashing snow!

I have a variety of implements to smash snow. I have shovels, scoops, ice scrapers on poles, a snowblower, a snowblower implement for my tractor, a bucket on my tractor - which is one of my favorite ways to smash snow, and my plow truck! Hell, I probably forgot to list a couple of implements! Oh! I have a special 'rake' to take snow off the roof!

I smash snow into piles and then I get really giant piles of snow - and I smash them with my tractor so that I have room to make more piles of snow. I'm in the mountains of Maine. Last year, I got only like 14.5' of snow and I didn't get any giant drifts. Sometimes, I get drifts that are almost as tall as my house!

I love me some snow. Smashing snow is pretty awesome.

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I may need some lessons on smashing snow this year.

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Looks beautiful

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I'll get some more pictures, if folks are interested.

All these red things are actually blueberry plants. They turn red around harvest time:

https://imgoat.com/uploads/00da03b685/138131.jpg

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I did not know that, We don't have any views like that or the earlier one around here.

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https://imgoat.com/uploads/00da03b685/138136.jpg

You can see it more clearly in that image. That's the wild Maine blueberry, which is a distinct variation. They do also grow on the islands and into Canada, both in NS and in Quebec. However, all wild blueberries have leaf color changes towards the end of the season. It's the plant pushing energy/nutrients into the fruit.

Hmm...

I don't have a lot of time, but if folks are interested in pictures then I might be able to try to make posting them a more frequent activity. I have lots and have potential for many more. I also give zero shits about being doxxed and I'm also trying to spend more time giving content to Poal, instead of posting as much to Voat. They've got plenty of content and Poal's slowed a wee bit from the earliest days. So, I try to think of shit to post.

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Really beautiful stuff, glad you enjoy the cold/snow. Then again, you should with where you live.

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I love me some snow! I even love the cold. I get pissy when it gets above 85.

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Lol, had to pull weeds all day in the direction sun -maybe 85 or so.

Btw, check your email playa.

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I have been researching most of the afternoon with my guitar student, the eldest hoodlum.

We watched Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

Research, I tell you... It's officially research.

I'll check email momentarily.