If you haven’t been living in Maine or paying attention to Maine news over the past week, let me give you a little summary: It’s been very wintery. First, we had an ice storm last week that lasted two days. Over 100K people lost power. There are still a few thousand that still do not have power. Power crews are working around the clock to restore electricity to about a thousand people who are still out. It’s taking a long time because so many trees were knocked down that some line workers have said it looks like a war zone. They need to use bulldozers and other heavy equipment to clear the debris.
Meanwhile, it’s very cold. Last week we saw temps dip below freezing, so the ice is not melting. Also, it’s snowed on top of the ice adding to the weight on the trees, and making it difficult to drive and/or fix the power lines.
That was last week. Today we are expecting (depending on where you are) between 1 – 10″. I live on the coast, and it seems to me they aren’t really sure how much we are going to get. One map says 1-3″ and the other 3-6″. That’s a big difference. All the maps agree that the middle of the state is going to get walloped. Good for skiers, bad for people without power.
The National Weather Service is mentally preparing us for another storm that could hit on Friday. Keith Carson, formerly of WCSH, now of The Weather Channel, used the word ‘dump’ in reference to predicted amount.
No, you whippersnappers, us olds aren’t exaggerating when we say ‘I haven’t seen this much snow in a long time.’ This morning’s Portland Press Heraldreports, ‘As of Sunday morning, Portland had received 25.4 inches of snow, 13.4 inches above normal’.
With the exception of power outages, I’m not minding this winter. It’s what Maine winters are all about. Sledding ,snow shoeing, skiing, 15 pairs of wet mittens crowded around the wood stove. Love it. Plus, it’s good for the economy, right? All those plow truck drivers are making a ton of dough.
Remember to follow on Facebook www.facebook.com/mainethings, where I post more updates and quick news bursts. Also, I’m on Twitter @mommyk8, it’s not all Maine stuff, and sometimes I swear. You’ve been warned.
Ski areas are posting updates on conditions via Twitter this morning. Sounds like most are open. If you head out, drive carefully, conditions are changing quickly and vary widely across the state.
Sunday River:
South Ridge Express will have a delayed opening. Head to Locke or White Cap lift for trail access. http://t.co/nr4oe19fED
Taking chances with education. via creative commons
When voters approved a casino in Oxford Hills one of the major selling points was the promise of 25% of revenue going to the Dept. of Education. Last year, that didn’t happen. Gov. LePage diverted $12M in funds from schools to the general fund to close a $112M budget gap. He told lawmakers that if the funds from the casino weren’t used, the school budgets would be cut by that amount anyway.
This year, the bi-partisan Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee changed the language in that budget so that the money will go to schools as voters intended. Projected revenue from the casino marked for K-12 schools for ’13 is $13.6M .
The badly needed funds would be a bright spot for Maine schools, who have seen massive funding cuts in the past few years.
This is not my old cat, though it looks exactly like him. Via creative commons
The Humane Society is re-thinking a long standing rule against adopting out animals in the weeks surrounding Christmas. The thought was people would give pets as gifts to people who don’t want them, and they’d end up back at the shelter.
This year, many shelters have decided to actually run promotions throughout the holiday season. Shelters workers say they have rarely, if ever seen animals returned after the holidays.
There are many amazing animals available right now. If you were waiting till after the holidays because you thought there was an adoption moratorium, guess what, you’re in luck! Please make sure that you follow adoption protocol, and if you’re adopting for someone else, just forgo the surprise and let them know ahead of time. Take them to the shelter with you, or perhaps write them a check for the adoption fee and stick it in a card!
Petfinder is a great resource for finding shelter pets.
Some random dude’s picture on Wikipedia. Via Wikipedia.
Everyone is straight up nuts about the impending ice storm. All the news stations are using the word ‘accretions’ repeatedly. CMP is e-mailing people. It is panic, mayhem! There’s nothing you can do about an impending storm and its accretions, so you might as well be prepared. In the spirit of mass-hysteria, I’m going to re-post one of my most popular blog posts of all time. I wrote this a few years ago when everyone was losing their minds over a blizzard. Obviously an ice storm is a bit different, but it’s mostly still pertinent.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m going to because, haters and whatnot – this is humor. Please don’t send me nasty e-mails telling me I’m an idiot.
Blizzard! Am I the only one who loves to see a weather forecast where one of the days actually says, “BLIZZARD? From twitter, I’d say not. While everyone is freaking out and getting their first aid kits, candles and water ready for potential power outages, I’ll tell you what you really need to do.
First off, yes get prepared. Fill up your tub with water. What? You don’t know that trick? It’s so you can flush the toilet. Because Ew. Being able to flush your toilet is KEY.
This is not my house, but it could be easily. Via creative commons
Next, Do all your dishes and laundry. Make sure dishwasher is empty, and ready for filling. Trust me, nothing is worse that waking up to no power (well, except maybe a brown torpedo, see below), and a sink/dishwasher full of dishes, or a washing machine full of clothes that can’t be dried. Especially if the power is out for 3 days….
Then, charge up all your things. Phones, iPods, Laptops, what have you. You don’t want to be stuck in a power outage with out your electronics! Also, when your kid asks you for the thousandth time when the power will be back on, you can just say, “Here, watch Blues Clues.”
I will speed eat all of these cookies while the power is out. via creative commons
Make Cookies. When the power is out, you’ll be glad you did. Plus you need something to go with the milk you try to guzzle down before it goes bad, even though the power has only been out for 2 hours and you could just take everything in the fridge and put it out in the snow, which brings me to the ‘porch fridge’.
Clear off a spot on your porch/patio/lawn etc. where you can put your fridge/freezer stuff. This is only necessary if you lose power for more than 12 hours. A few years ago we had about $500 worth of meat on our porch. I was afraid I would awaken to a pack of coyotes on my porch enjoying some nice free range pork, but they stayed away.
Find your shovels, boots, snow-pants, sleds, skis, etc etc BEFORE it starts snowing. Again, trust me. It’s really hard to find your snow shovel when it’s buried in a foot of snow, somewhere over there.
And finally, do a quick poop scan and scoop of your lawn if you have dogs. NOTHING is worse than finding a brown torpedo in your snowman.
If you do all these things, you’ll be totally prepared and hopefully nervous breakdown free. I have also found, the more prepared I am the less likely I am to lose power. It’s called Murphy’s Law, people.
If you were in Maine in the 80s-90s, it is very likely you will recognize ‘The Spirit of Maine at Christmastime’. It was in heavy rotation on WCSH6. I’m not sure if it was the only channel it ran on, but that was pretty much the only channel that came in at my house, so I saw it a lot. I know all the words to this by heart, still.
It’s pretty great, as far as state-themed holiday songs go! I haven’t heard it in years, but thanks to the magic of youtube, here it is!
Just did a bit of investigating. There isn’t a ton online about this song, but I did find out it is from 1989, and did in fact originate on WCSH6, apparently in conjunction with a Bob Elliot story about Christmas.
This is my new site. Here’s the deal, I’m going to curate various interesting things going on in Maine. I plan to include news, events, products, and….I might even do pod casts!
Who Am I? I’m Kate Kastelein. I’m a married mom of 2. I’m a writer. I’m a 9 millionth generation Mainer. I’m pretty sure that’s all you need to know.
Why am I doing this? I love Maine. LOVE Maine. Maine is not doing so well lately. We are the oldest and whitest state. We have a terrible dearth of white collar jobs. Young people are fleeing the state in droves. This should not be happening. It’s an amazing place to live and raise a family. There are a lot of problems, we have a long way to go, but I want to help.
How can blogging about Maine help? I’m not really sure. I do know that there doesn’t seem to be one place to get news from around the state, that includes regular news outlets, blogs, tweets, etc. Maybe gathering everything together will highlight what a great place it is?
Am I planning on re posting ALL the news in the state? No. Just the stuff I find interesting. Is it presumptuous and narcissistic to think others might care about what I find interesting? Sure. Do I care? Nope.
Is this going to turn into some super liberal hippie loving blog? No. I’m going to try VERY hard to keep politics out of my posts. However, I’m very passionate about education, food, and the environment. Typical hippie crap.
Am I scared of trolls? Yes. I read a lot of news. I see comments. People are horrible nasty creatures. I’m going to put on my big girl pants and not worry about it. I will have a firm policy of deleting and blocking rather than engaging the super haters. You can disagree with me, but the nasty stuff will not be tolerated.
Can I follow you? Yes you can! I’m on twitter @mommyk8 and www.facebook.com/mainethings I’ll put some buttons on as soon as I figure this beast out. If you are tweeting about this blog please use #mainethings Thank you so much.
Can I send you things? Yes! Things about Maine only. I’m planning on a feature called ‘insider tips’. It would be particularly helpful if people would submit their favorite little known Maine tips. For example: LL Bean will resole your duck boots with a larger size. If, say, you are a pregnant lady and your shoe size goes from a 7.5 to an 8, take them in and have them resoled. I don’t know how much this costs. I will find out.
