Snowy/Icy Hike in the Bangor Land Trust

Jessie, the kids, and I went for a hike this morning over in the Bangor Land Trust within the Northeast Penjajawoc Preserve.  The temperature was around 15 I think, it was cold but we sang silly songs and jogged to stay warm.  Willoughby was warm thanks to his mega bulky winter attire, which had the unfortunate effect of limiting nearly all his movement.  Poor 1 year olds never have it easy!

We hiked a 3/4 mile loop, which dips down into a valley where a pretty little brook flows into the Penjajawoc Marsh.

There was 9" or so of snow on the ground but a thick crust allowed us to stay on top and walk with ease.  Wynn spent some time throwing snow/ice chunks into the ice below, she managed to make an opening and then we listened as the ice chunks scraped along as they were carried downstream under the frozen surface.

Jessie was brave! She would go out to the very edge of the hole, could not have been more than 1/4" of ice beneath her front paws but she never broke through.

On our hike out we found a fairy house Wynn and I had built last fall - she was totally psyched that it was still there!  The roof was no longer weather proof, all the needles and leaves are now gone, but the timber-frame was still intact.  There are a few others in different areas of this forest that we built last year, we look forward to checking on them during another adventure.

By the time we returned to the car the kids were beginning to get cold.  Wynn complained of cold fingers and toes but was quietly still singing so it could not have been all that bad.  In fact she completely forgot about her cold extremities and wanted to play on the frozen field near the trail head, we were running and sliding on our butts down the icy surface.  Willoughby, as you can see below, was less than impressed and was ready to get into the car and eat waffles, one of the regular snacks we carry with us.

We headed over the the dentist's office next, where we have been visiting on a regular basis in order to raise comfort levels before the big appointment next month, which I sure hope goes well!!  Plan B involves the OR and is NOT cheap!  We have been following Plan C for the last few months, which is to just wait, take daily doses of butter/fermented cod liver oil along with some Chinese herbs, and hope that things don't get worse... not sure that this plan is going to endure the long term but things aren't getting worse!  The dentist spent 30 min chatting and being goofy with the kids, which I find absolutely impressive given his busy schedule, he is certainly gaining the kid's trust.  Wynn was given a kids dental catalog which she has just spent the last 45 min looking through, picking out her favorite tooth brushes and other dental gear.  Maybe she will be a dentist?  Or maybe a dental gear designer!!  Willoughby is napping.  Now it's time to get the wood stove up and hot again.

Sand Beach in March

This is what we were doing 1 month ago:

Now winter, though snow still covers the ground here in Orono, seems behind us.  In fact, as I write this it is 62º outside and another beautiful, if not extremely windy, day.

So yesterday Wynn and I (along with a handful of friends) traveled to Acadia National Park and took advantage of the AWESOME weather at Sand Beach.  In the summer the only comfortable place to swim is in the stream that empties from a slightly inland pond.  Today the pond was frozen and the water was, like the ocean, cold!  The sand was thankfully baked warm by the sun and was wonderful to stand barefoot on.  This log bridge spanned the stream; Evan made it just a bit farther before requesting a rescue:

The 2 two year olds ran around the entire time - this rock was a seriously cool play location and hosted a whole bunch of fun jumps and sand sculpture building opportunities.

 

We had the place nearly to ourselves, such is the luck of visiting in the off-season.  There were some friendly dogs to pet and some other families, some flying kites. 

This water just looks tropical to me!  That effect is just slightly perturbed by the fact that Wynn is wearing fleece pants and a rain jacket, but Evan is very much naked from the waist down!

This weekend is a full moon.  The forecast is calling for clear skies and the plan is for some easy (my wrist is still healing) night climbing or night cycling around the park.  The roads are still closed to cars yet they are free of ice and snow - perfect.

Snowshoeing for Bouldering

Good blog reading music:


Yesterday was a beautiful day - a day that truly hinted that spring was just around the corner: light coats, no gloves, high angle sun... a glorious day.

We headed out to Dedham, ME with some friends. Our goal, to explore some bouldering locations from our friend's guide book -->
Our destination: Hurd Pond.

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Even after the 5" or so of rain and several days of 40º weather there was still 2+ feet of snow in the woods. The conditions weren't ideal for trail finding but we did eventually find one of the guide book climbs, though I can't remember what it was called or rated, V13? Here are Greg and Kim going through the moves:

Evan was climbing the same rock but around the corner. He would have made it but commented that he couldn't do it "with his mittens on."
There were plenty of sunny, dry rocks to have our picnic on, which made for lots of smiling faces.

Did I mention there as a surprising amount of snow!
The ferns were, as always, beautiful:
And at the end of the day Wynn found herself helped back up the steep hill by her two suitors!
I was hesitant to have winter leave, it's been such a good one. But a few more days like this and I will be stricken with spring fever for sure. Ending the blog on a Wynn note as I like to do:

Best Cupcakes in the Milky Way!

These are amazing - amazing!

If you are fortunate enough to live in the SE Pennsylvania or NYC then hit up Dia Doce and get your hands on some of these little cakes :) 

So worth it!

Went out for a mountain bike ride today - first one of the season!  And an early season it is :)  I wasn't sure what kind of conditions I would find - thankfully they weren't bad at all, just a little bit of mud between areas of firm snow and dry singletrack - These are the best mtb conditions I've seen this year!

It felt soo nice to be in the woods and on two wheels again, there is something in the experience that is incredibly therapeutic for me.


It's been a long time since I last posted to this blog, but I am excited to write that Wynn is the most awesome 1 year old.  Ever.  She celebrated her 1st birthday this week with a full house of friends and family and the largest platter of sticky buns ever!

Her MG and Grammy from Pennsylvania made the 10 hour trek to be with us even :)

MG and Vovo Louco gave Wynn her very own Piano for her birthday, Vovo watched her open the package via Skype.

Wynn somehow got huge in the last year, which went by without us hardly noticing. We often let her roam the house in the buff.  Last night, all within one hour, she managed to pee 4 times on the floor, poop once, and then pull the poop out of the toilet and onto the floor and all over herself... teach us to flush more often!  Needless to say, she headed immediately upstairs to the bathtub.

Now that she is 1 year old, and since she has been over the min. 20 lb. limit for a while now, she is able to sit forward facing in the car!!!  This has already proved to be the most effective happy-baby-in-the-car step we've ever taken - phewww!  

Our first long trip was to Camden, ME, where we picked up a FREE piano:

Wow!  What a find, this is a 1948 Baldwin Acrosonic, it cost $1000 when first purchased and after a professional tuning it plays just like new again!  From what we can tell it looks like it was last tuned in 1958!  We are incredibly grateful to the family that passed it on to us :)

We also had time while we were there to hike in Camden Hills State Park with the Gerbi family.  It was an awesome day, probably near 60 degF in many areas and not a cloud in the sky.  

We decided that with her new found 1 year old super abilities Wynn would be ready to start learning about physics.  Her first lesson was on static electricity.

She then wrote a research paper about her findings.

Ski Ski Ski your brains out :)

We've been skiing like crazy this week - the snow has been puuuurrrrrrrfect and the weather amazing.  I've been classic skiing every morning with Wynn in the baby backpack, and in the last two days Laura was able to join us too :)  It's much easier and faster to have Wynn in the backpack, but she really has fun in the sled too:

We also cut a new path from our backyard that allows us to ski directly to the groomed trails - awesome!  These trails are all set with classic tracks, though sometimes we get out early enough that only the corduroy has been laid down.

James, Laura, Wynn and I all went out for a ski on Saturday.  The sun was out, the temp just right, and James was passing along the best advice he had:

 

For skate skiing we head over to the University trails system where we are blessed with a dozen or so miles of well groomed trails.

Getting to the University (anywhere really) is best done aboard a bike.  Going skiing is no exception.

Today was the week's highlight - James, the dogs and I hopped in the car *gasp* and headed off to Great Pond Mountain in Orland.  We had heard through the grape vine (Thanks Jim) that this place might lend itself to a good day of backcountry exploring.  We had no idea how great it would actually be!

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I'll let the video tell the story:

We are expecting some serious rain tomorrow :( :( :( so I'm terrifically happy we made the most of this snow while it was here.  We will anxiously be waiting for the next good snow storm to pass through.

Wynn's Inheritance

Earlier this morning in SMS402 (Oceans and Climate Change) I watched A Sea Change, which I have to say is one of the better climate change documentaries I've seen.  The film follows Sven Huseby on his self-driven quest to gain knowledge on ocean acidification, that is, the acidic pH of our Earth's oceans.  The oceans were once thought to miraculously absorb the billions of metric tons of CO2 that humans expel into the atmosphere.  Scientist, not too long ago, were even asking themselves "how can we enhance this mechanism?"
We now know better, this great absorption of CO2 has come at a great cost.  The pH of the oceans is slowly falling.

Pteropods - these beautiful creatures, about the size of a lentil, exist near the bottom of the food chain and form the fundamental base for much of the oceans ecosystem.  They have been described as the angels of the ocean.  What would happen if their existence were compromised?  Well it is!  Pteropods have a thin shell that is delicate to changes in ocean chemistry.  Consider what we know about cola and teeth.  Cola has a pH of 2.5, compare that to the pH of pure water, which is 7.
The following images show a healthy tooth and then one that has soaked in a cup of cola for 24 hrs:

That was only 1 day later!  Imagine what the affects more exposure would have.  This is 1 month later:

It gets worse.  This tooth is relatively HUGE compared to the fragile shell of a Pteropods.  Current projections allow a decade or two before highly acidic oceans could develop.  Change needs to happen now!

Here is the real stinker, it would cost only 2% of GDP to combat global climate change.  So that bottle of pop would cost $1.02 instead of $1.00.  2% is less than half of the GDP spent on wars in the middle east.  This 2% would however take ENORMOUS discipline world over to achieve.  How then can we achieve what needs to happen?  Well we will need to show the politicians that this is something the world wants - that is something every one of us is capable of doing :)

Here is another flabbergaster - it would cost only $420 billion to construct and implement a solar infrastructure that could power the entire USA.  Remind me again why we have spent $950 billion fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan???????  I feel sick.
I don't want history to remember our generation as one of greed and materialism.  A generation that took from the world only to please our want of huge houses, SUVs, and giant televisions.  And for what?  What is a couple hundred years of this lifestyle worth?  Certainly not the comprimised planet we leave behind for our children.
Wynn will no doubt learn about and learn to deal with these issues.  I'd like to instill in her the ability to ask hard questions, discover as much as she can, and always think critically.  These are qualities that I believe can allow us as humans to, as someone once said, live long and prosper.