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Fog in winter is elusive and not always easy to photograph.
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But I managed a few quick shots of the farm across the street early last week.
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The dreaded greenhouses are still there…
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But look a bit better covered in snow.
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Early morning moon set.
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Success.
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The two new wall sconces have been installed, secured, leveled and oddly enough for DIY projects at Casa River… are fully functional!
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To be honest I’m not overly thrilled with the look as they were described to be antique bronze and look more black…
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But they’re a definite improvement over their tacky predecessors so I’m calling it good.
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Pink winter sky with full moon.
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And though these next pictures are not Lord Dudley Mountcatten?
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They could be.
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Sigh.
🥴
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We live in Maine.
Maine winters are long.
And though we’re having a freakishly warm day today, they’re calling for snow this weekend.
I was hoping to eek by until spring and not order oil for our furnace but the energy sucking bastard demanded more… and man. This time it hurt.
A week ago Sunday I checked the price for our area and it was $3.55 a gallon. Purchasing 400 gallons, which doesn’t fill the tanks, would have cost $1,420. But when I called Monday… thanks to the strike on Iran… the price had risen to $4.19 and because of Middle East unrest the company wouldn’t guarantee the quote for Thursday delivery.
On Thursday, the price had risen to $4.61… an increase of $1.06 a gallon in four days… with me writing a check for $1,844.
$424 more, just like that.
Ouch.
Last night I checked prices again and saw some companies are almost $5.
Damn.
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Our house is well insulated and since we replaced all the windows and 3 out of 4 doors, it’s pretty air tight to the winter.
Except here…
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Right over the door to our back deck.
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Where we always have one precariously placed icicle.
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Closing the door too hard can be dangerous.
😳
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We woke up to six inches of new snow in our part of Maine this morning.
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Enough to make everything look fresh…
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Enough so the rhodendrons are wearing white hats.
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Enough so the husband had to shovel his way out to feed the birds.
(He’s started bringing the feeders inside every evening because once the deer eat all their treat, the greedy bastards turn to our feeders and break them all trying to extract the seed)
But as much as I love a fresh snow fall, it was this Facebook story that made me smile the widest.
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Chebeague is an island in Casco Bay.
I lived there for 6 marvelous years during my late adolescence.
My father died and is buried there.
I met and married my husband there when he was home on leave from the Marine Corps.
Accessible only by boat, life there can be tough. But it’s also magical.
So it doesn’t surprise me that this little snowman built near the water…
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Should break free and go on a grand adventure.
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I like to think he’s still out there somewhere ….
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On his way across the Atlantic.
❤️
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Christmas was quiet here at Casa River…
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But it was also gloriously white.
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And may I just give a shout out to whoever invented snow blowers…
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Best winter device, ever.
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Yardstick deployment #2.
🤣
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And while the husband was out blowing snow?
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I was enjoying a good book, a cup of tea and the annual homemade rosemary shortbread gift from our neighbor. Delicious!
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After clearing the driveway, the husband ran out of creamer so we drove to the grocery store.
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It was a beautiful ride…
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Until we cruised around a corner and clipped a hanging power line.
Smack! Right on my side of the windshield of the husband’s new car.
Thankfully, it… and we … and the car…were okay. But I called the power company to report the danger.
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They got right on it, as we saw on our way home.
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Winter driving is beautiful, but it can be hazardous too.
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I love winter.
I love the snow and the quiet beauty of a white frosted landscape.
And thanks to menopausal internal heating, I don’t even mind the cold anymore.
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Though things got a bit extreme earlier this month.
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His Lordship?
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He thinks he likes winter, until his feet hit the snow after our first storm…
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And he makes a beeline back to the kitchen door.
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(Not His Lordship, but it could be)
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Winter makes for some interesting parking mishaps as well, though I have no idea what happened here.
😳
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I think we’ve had more snow this month than we had all last winter.
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Note to readers – this post was scheduled before our recent winter storm. It looks a lot whiter here now, as you’ll see tomorrow.
😊
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I love the blues and whites of a winter morning.
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Or at least I did, until yesterday’s rain melted it all.
😫
I do not love the fact that the New York Times locked me out of the mini crossword and the tiles game I’d been playing for free until I updated my mobile app.
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Boo to that.
On a happier note, there was a new bird sighting at Casa River.
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Not a great picture, but he flew off too quickly for more than one.
Evening Grosbeak.
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This sounds like my perfect retirement plan.
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Sign me up!
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Oh, hell no.
I’ve never fired a gun, but that abomination might make me reach for one.
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This.
This is why I never begrudge our grey squirrels a meal.
💕
And finally, just in time for Christmas… an epic gingerbread house fail from my pickle algorithm.
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Just….
No.
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These winter pictures popped up on my Facebook memories recently and I thought it would be fun to share.
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Backyard deer on their path. They don’t stray very far from it once it’s cut.
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That’s my husband shoveling out our neighbor who thought she could make it down her driveway in her car before plowing.
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She couldn’t.
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And here’s my husband a year later pushing his snowblower next door….
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To help dig out her husband’s plow truck.
My husband is a good neighbor to have.
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This is Mr. White, a beautiful boy who is no longer with us. He always wanted to go outside in the winter…
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But didn’t really like it once he got there.
❤️
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Are you tired of winter snow photos? If so, you have my permission to depart the pattern now…. because that’s all there is today.
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No adult beverages on the deck last week I’m afraid.
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The above is a rare deer track free shot of the backyard. Taken early in the morning, it didn’t last.
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The wind has been killer this season. The above is a shot of my husband shoveling the driveway when it was 6 degrees with 53 mph gusts.
Yours truly stayed inside.
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Driveway clearing after a storm is the Maine equivalent of the office water cooler. Everyone crawls out of their snowbound homes and chats.
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And if you’re lucky, your neighbor cracks through the ice crusted snow your snowblower won’t with his tractor plow.
😊
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River's world..... 