Where is Stephen King?

 Yesterday we expected it to snow all day.

In fact, we expected it to snow through today.

So what did we do?

Mark decided we needed to go two hours away -

to Bangor, Maine.

 We started the morning off at our local diner.

Grammy's Country Inn is just a short drive from our house.

The food is great!

Yesterday they were fairly busy with snowmobilers.

(Is that how I spell that?)

Mark loves to admire the sleds.

And my scrambled eggs were probably the best I've eaten there so far.

Thank you, Devin Dow!

 Then Mark decided he wanted to see a movie.

In Bangor.

So we went back by the house to let the dogs outside.

The snow around the house is getting so deep.

A lot of this is actually from the roofs clearing themselves

of the snow. It slides off those metal roofs pretty well.

On the end of the porch on the left side of this photo -

the snow is deeper than the porch itself,

so we can't even clear that end any longer.

Then we headed out.

The town of Haynesville is just down the road from us.

In this photo we were driving over the river.

You can see the snow piled up by the snowplows 

at the very bottom of the photo.

The guardrail is totally buried.

Then out between those two rows of trees

is a river - covered in ice and now snow on top.

In the spring when the snows start melting,

the water will extend out past all those trees.

 Steady snowing and the roads were not clear.

Some places were better than others.

 This little picnic area is between Haynesville and

Lincoln. Beneath that sign you can see the tops

of two covered picnic tables. I love how the

sign lined up with the tables as Mark was

driving down the highway and I 

was shooting out the passenger window!

Obviously the picnic area was closed.

Hahahahahaha!

In case you didn't already know -

I like taking photos of barns in the snow.

White and red barns normally - they look super against the snow.

I had never taken a photo of this barn in Lincoln, Maine.

All these snow photos were taken from the car while Mark was driving. 

That is a wall of snow between us and the barn. 

The house to the side of the barn had a plowed driveway for access.

And finally we were on I-95.

One lane clear - mostly because of the other cars

that drove before us.

We passed 4 snow plow trucks.

All sitting in the median cut throughs.

Talking to each other.

None of them actually plowing.

That speed limit sign made my day.

Hahaha!

We were doing maybe 55-60 at that point.

And we got passed (and buried) by a semi.

 The Penobscot River.

It's a beautiful river.

I got lucky with this photo!

Taken through the passenger window -

with my phone -

while Mark was doing about 55.

Unreal.

And those birds all just happened to be there.

Awesome!

(The piled up snow is from the snowplow.)

 I don't know how we did it,

but we got there in time to make our movie.

This was our second time seeing it.

I love the whole Maze Runner series.

Mark wanted to see the movie again.

Some of you know the issues I have had trying to get

my Tangle Starts Planner spiral bound.

This is my second copy, the first having been destroyed.

By a place I won't name but they go by

Aroostook Printing and they are located

in Houlton. Not happy with them.

Since we were headed to Bangor,

I grabbed both my books while Mark took care of the

dogs in the morning, and after the movie we took them

to Staples where the very nice and knowledgable young man 

successfully spiral bound both.

Without destroying them.

So it can be done.

(Shameless promotion of my books right here!

Tangle Starts.

Tangle Starts Planner.)

I didn't take a photo, but we ate dinner at

Chili's. Caribbean Salad is our favorite.

And fried pickles. Yum.

Then headed home in this. Ugh.

This was I-95 where you would think someone would

have plowed the roads or put down dirt for traction or salted.  

Remember those snow plow trucks we saw sitting in the median?

I am guessing that's what they did with their day.

Sit. 

Roughly 120 miles of this.

In the dark.

Did I mention we saw 6 or 7 deer and a moose earlier in the day?

Yeah.

You don't want to see those at night,

in these circumstances.

We know this from experience.

But we did finally make it home.

Thank you, Lord, for your guiding hand.

Not even kidding.

Kind of a scary ride.

And -

does that or does that not look like a frame

out of a Stephen King movie?

Still Snowing???

 It has been a heck of a week in Maine.

Well, all up and down the east side of the country really. 

In the space of six hours we got right at two feet of snow.

It was snowing so hard it was difficult to plow and stay ahead of it. 

Then, just because it could, it snowed more yesterday. 

 On top of that our snow plow quit working.

The blade stopped going up and down which means

it is impossible to plow.

So we got deeper and deeper in the white fluffy stuff.

Our neighbor came and helped us - plowed us right out -

and told Mark what was wrong with the plow.

 $160.00 later we have a working plow again.

So Mark went today and plowed the neighbor's drive.

This particular photo was taken to show Larry - 

the man who made my big dragons - that they are getting buried. 

You can just see their heads peeking out behind the Storybrooke sign.

 Unbelievably it snowed a little more today.

But the sun came out and it warmed up to the low 30's, so some of the snow finally came off the roof. 

And of course I had to document the snow in my

Tangle Starts Planner.

Hahahahaha! I am loving this book!

If you are interested at all, here is a link.

Stay safe, stay warm, stay inside and drink coffee.

New Dragon from Mystic Reflections

 Check out this sweet little guy!

A friend sent me a link to an Etsy shop for

Mystic Reflections and in her shop I found

this dragon that I just had to have!

Cause - dragon!

 He doesn't have a name yet. 

This dapper little fellow is about 2 1/2 inches tall. 

What should I name him?

"Him?" you ask.

Yes.

Cause this is totally a little boy dragon!

I think I like his eyes the best.

And the wings and also the tail.

Hahaha!

Now to find somewhere safe to sit him.

In case you weren't aware -

I am all about the dragon!

You can see Caralyn Edwards' work at

www.MysticReflections.com

Our Week in Pictures

 With all the rain in Texas with Hurricane Harvey

and all the rain starting in Florida with Hurricane Irma,

our little paradise here in Maine wasn't going

to be left out.

Enter stage right - rain, rain, and more rain.

Above photo was this morning in Houlton.

Our 'real' town.

So much fun doing the dump run in the rain.

 This one was a couple days ago -

probably following another dump run.

Heading towards Linneus where we actually live.

The skies do some crazy stuff here in Maine.

 Next door to our house is this potato field.

Large by some standards in the south,

but small when compared to many fields here.

I promise - there are some places where there

are potato fields or hay fields as far as the eye can see.

The farmers are seriously harvesting now.

Getting the potatoes out of the ground,

or rolling up roll after roll of hay.

Actually, I have no idea what the function of this

piece of equipment is, but potatoes started

showing up shortly afterwards. 

 Yesterday, I got a text from a neighbor saying it

was time for us to go pick up potatoes.

Once the field has been harvested,

the potatoes you see laying all around are just

left behind to rot.

So you get your buckets or bags and go pick potatoes.

They store for up to 6 months in cardboard

boxes in your basement.

They help carry many families up here through

the winter feeding their families. 

 This field was full of red potatoes.

Used to be Jason's favorite for mashed 

potatoes, so the Frankles played farmer

and picked potatoes for her daddy. 

Look at this photo and the one before,

those red round lumps just laying on the

ground, or peeping through the plants 

left behind - those are the potatoes.

In about 15 minutes we were able to fill two

shipping boxes full of potatoes,

which we then stored in the basement. 

You can't argue that I'm not a Mainer now. 

Hahahahaha!

Have a great week!

This Week In Maine

My son Jason is here to visit for the week.

Bobbie and Frankie are already up here,

working and waiting to close on the new house.

It was nice to be able to show Jason some of our

countryside - without snow.

Yes, it's beautiful in winter,

but Maine is also gorgeous in the summertime.

This old barn was just north of Monticello.

 We were there to see the sunflower field.

Bobbie and Jason found it and took us there.

Of course I wanted pictures.

This field is to left of the red barn in the first shot.

It was crazy. So many sunflowers.

And every so often there was a random sunflower

a foot or so taller than the rest.

Can you see the one right in the center?

The fields are all ready for harvesting.

One year the farmers plant potatoes.

The next year they plant a grain crop or something 

that can be turned into hay for the winter.

We've done a good bit of riding the 

4-wheelers, too.

Here is a shot of the power line up near the

turbines, down the road from our house.

We always stop and look for moose or deer.

One time we have seen what we thought

was a deer. Too far away to tell.

I guess the moose are smarter than that.

This has the look of wheat to me.

It gets really tall and when the wind hits it,

it flows in ripples and reminds me of the song

America the Beautiful. 

Amber waves of grain.

Not far from the house is this really cool rock.
We thought Jason might like to see it. 

We headed back to the house.

Look at those skies. Pretty ominous looking.

Of course, wait 5 minutes and it will be clear.

You can see a bit of the sun there - trying to break through.

Our house is just behind those trees.

Prunella vulgaris.

Sheesh! What a name!

I need to rename this before I include it

in a tangle book for Maine. 

Hahahaha! But it was really cool looking!

This particular day we passed several families.

A few children.

Everyone waved to the Frankles in her

nifty helmet! Hahaha! She loves riding!

We rode up to our local diner - Grammy's -

and had some yummy local cooking.

Back at the house.

When you ask for a kiss - this is what you get.

Proceed with caution.

Hahahahaha!

We had a great week!

A Dandy of a Day

Sunday morning.

Bright and beautiful outside.

The high today should be around 76° F.

And the winds are blowing.

They always blow in Maine.

Couldn't ask for a better day. 

Lupins in Maine

Lupins. 

I had never seen these flowers before we moved

to Maine last year.

 They grow wild everywhere here.

Literally.

 As you ride through the countryside,

you will see pink, purple, blue.

Growing in wild abandon in fields,

in the woods, in yards. Everywhere.

 We got some seed last year and planted them

around the dragon hollow.

They take a full 365 days to germinate.

Not a single one grew.

Boooo!

 So, this year we planted seeds in the flower garden.

Direct sunlight.

We will see if that works.

 In the interim, this patch popped up at the edge

of our yard - where the wild raspberries line the

woods line. They had so many bees visiting today.

I think these are my favorite flower I've found up here.

Of course, I may have already said that about other ones.

Like the Stinking Benjamins.

Or the goldenrods that are just starting to bloom.

Seriously. There is just sooooo much to love here

in Maine.

This Week in Maine

 It's a beautiful week in Maine.

We've had some rain, but we've had some

beautiful sunny days, too!

Mark has been able to get some fishing in.

My little garden (it came with the house) is in

full bloom. Every day there is something new.

And I don't know what most of it is.

Above is some Queen Anne's Lace.

We have a ton of it. 

Growing like crazy and it's beautiful!

 I posted these pictures on Instagram and asked

if anyone knew what these flowers are.

I'm told this is a peony.

By about 15 different people so it must be true.

I tell you - this iPhone 7 was a great decision!

These are all cell phone shots.

Pretty much my whole blog is one big cell phone shot!

But just look at those water droplets on that flower!

 And on this shot of some buds.

We just have the one bush of peonies,

but there must be 15 buds on it.

 And what is a post about Maine without a shot

of dragons??? Our neighbor Mike called my dragon

hollow my "little slice of heaven" and he is so right!

This is one end of my bench. There is a dragon at

the other end also. Hand carved with a chain saw

from pine tree stumps! Not by me but by a fellow

in Florida.

 As we drive we see field after field of crops.

Mostly potatoes fields.

That's the going thing up here.

It's amazing to Mark and I how fast the crops grow.

We can almost see them grow as we drive past. 

This field edges up to our property.

All those white/cream things you see in the dirt at the

bottom of the photo - those are rocks. 

There are rocks everywhere up here!

You can plow and plow and plow and you will

never get rid of the rocks.

And today is just one of those days when I have to wear my crazy cat lady shoes! (Those socks have giraffes on them.) I'm not one to settle for plain and boring. Sorry. Hahahaha! Thanks for sharing our week here in Maine!