Progress of the season

Monday was the first sign of spring I was looking forward to, the last of the ice and snow came off the roof of our addition. We had some water coming in several places inside the mechanical room portion and some dripping in the window frame of the den because of the ice dam on the shallow slope of the roof there. Quite aggravating so I'm glad that issue has gone away. Today was the second sign I've been longing for - temperatures in the 60s! I was able to go for my lunchtime walk without a jacket. The next sign will be the greening of the trees, grasses and such.

During today's walk I passed through Deering Oaks Park where I noticed this (and several other) oak trees, solidly anchored yet leaning over considerably. They never drew my eye to them in the summertime but today with me just beaming as I looked around with a new vision in warmer weather I was seeing more detail and was momentarily taken aback at the sight.

Probably more a sign of the end of winter than a sign of spring came as Carol and I were in the kitchen talking over dessert that some movement in the front yard caught my eye, a deer was browsing on our front yard all of 5 or 6 feet from the house. The doe was skinny and roughed up from the harsh winter. She was in the process of regaining some weight at the expense of our lawn which given her condition is forgivable - this time.

Mis-calculating the space/time continuum...

... don't you hate it when you do that? As I'd blogged awhile back when we went to Daylight Savings Time I tried explaining the adjustment to my Maine to NZ time formula until New Zealand's DST. Just trying to be aware of what time and day Ian is functioning in while whatever time it is where I'm at. Well here's a news flash - NZ, being in the Southern Hemisphere, DST change is "fall back" mode, fall is arriving there. That changes things by two hours since the original formula was described - not correcting things back. So now the formula will be: subtract 8 hours from our EST and apply the resulting time to the next day. If I had a clue this was what was coming I don't think I'd even have started trying to explain it. The lesson: don't mess with the clock when it involves the other side of the International Date Line and the Southern Hemisphere combined.

No breaks on brakes

Had to take the truck into the shop for brake repairs. It began as a brake repair and like most times when taking a vehicle in it becomes more than what we hope. I was having the snow tires switched out for the summer treads as well when they discovered that the rear brakes shoes were deteriorated and the drums needed to be replaced. So much for the tax return, eh. In the process of moving my truck around the facility the repair technician had a bit of a tangle with another moving vehicle which resulted in a bit of a scuff and dent along one side. This being a dealership with both repair and body shop they offered to repair the damage and provide a rental as the work wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. So they hooked me up with those folks that pick you up and I ended up driving home in a PT Cruiser.It's the first time I'd ever been in one. When they first came out I thought of them as a gimmick though they were kind of cool looking but Chrysler is still making and selling them. Well this thing is a sweet little ride, feels like it's in a glide mode and I like the seat position. The interior styling is pretty cool also, tasteful retro thing. After supper Carol and I took a ride around the region checking out the handling and just having fun taking a spin. I could get use to it. I'm afraid it can't pull the camper though so get me back in my truck.

Good Bye to March

Happy April Fool's day - I wish I had enough time to think up a blog prank, instead here are some pictures of what 53 degrees brings to the house on Ledge Hill.

Temperatures and snow makes it's own fog and
here at about 6:30pm there was a stiff breeze
coming through making the fog race across the yard.

The ice melting off the garage roof dripped off the
eave all day and did a number on the thick ice that
covers the ground outside the breezeway providing
E'owyn a place for a cold drink.

Ice, snow, rain or hot sunshine, Patches wants his ball.