Finally!

Well, we finally got some substantial snow, again. I have ached to go snowshoeing. After the snow at the beginning of this year, we had some cold days, but there was not enough additional snowfall. My knee has bothered me off and on, especially after the Women's March, and snowshoeing is an activity that for whatever reason (high knee stepping? soft landing?) doesn't make them more sore. 

In four days we got about 5", first; and then a few days later we got about 30-38", depending on where you were. It was GORGEOUS. These lovely pics (above and below) were from the day after the storm.

These, below, were right in the heart of the nor’easter:

Dogs had to leap-hop to move about the drifts.

Here's what it looked like at the tail end of it:

My husband was able to plow about four neighbors out, as well. One was trapped inside her house, post knee surgery. Her house faces north, where all the wind came from, and the snow in and around her yard and driveway was easily three feet or deeper. As we finished up, she opened her door to thank us, "I was actually getting claustrophobic!" Kind of scary, right?

The next few days provided wonderful snowshoeing. See for yourself.

Stillwater River, Old Town, ME

 I loved this late-afternoon shoe along the Stillwater River. It was so quiet, so serene.

There was a soft sunset the next day that I captured from my office parking lot.

Unfortunately, the weather turned warm quickly after this storm. I managed to get out for one last shoe before the warmth set in and reduced the snow to a mere few inches and ice. I did manage to get a pic of the pines in the University of Maine forest.

The very next day, we had fog and warm air and the maple sugar season had begun. 

The Rudest Canadian

Tonight we drink our Goose Island IPAs in honor of the goose on Hog Island who tried to steal our lunch, today. It all started wonderfully, on a pristine day on Eggemoggin Reach. We pushed off of the boat landing in Brooklin, ME. 

That's Hog Island, up ahead. We beached there for lunch. After pulling the kayaks up onto the beach, we began to explore a bit. 

As we rounded the south side of the island, we noticed a goose wandering the rocks. This was odd. We figured it must have been injured. It's my understanding that geese will wait until another flock comes along, then join them on their migration. We turned our attention back to our picnic spot. 

We heard him before we saw him. "Honk! Honk!"  

"HONK, HONK, HONK!"

Uh-oh. He knew we had food. 

"HONK! HONK!"

Mr. Maineiac said, "Geese can be nasty. They nip. We need to get out of here."

So we planned a great escape. The mister grabbed the lunch cooler and went to the left. I ran to my kayak, hopped in, and pushed off. Mr. Maineiac got the Canadian to follow and then quickly changed course and ran to his kayak. We paddled madly southeast. As we tried to make a fast get-away, we realized that we were not alone. 

"HONK! HONK!" The Canadian had followed us into the water! 

We also made a mistake and had headed into the direction of a strong wind. The water was choppy and we were getting pushed into the rocky walls of the neighboring island. We had no choice but to turn around and head right back into the Canadian. It felt vaguely like an Albert HItchcock movie. Honking filled the air.

We decided to split around him. Mr. went left and I went right. Hate to say it, but I was relieved when the Canadian followed him. (He did have the cooler, after all!) Since we were no longer fighting the wind, we were able to cover a lot more distance in less time. The honking began to fade as the distance between us and the Canadian grew. We decided to head toward an island about five minutes away. As we paddled, I looked back and saw that the Canadian had gone ashore on a nearby island. (That one at 11 o'clock in the picture, below.) Yay! 

We settled into a rhythm and were soon beaching for lunch. 

We found a nice spot on some granite boulders and had a laugh about the Canadian. As we started eating our sandwiches, we heard it, "Honk, Honk." It was muted, but it was there.

I am not kidding. We searched the water, and sure enough there he was, heading toward us. He was just a dot, but the dot was getting bigger with each honk. 

Just as we were considering packing everything up,again, a group of kayakers came by as they made their way to the boat landing in Brooklin. The Canadian turned and began following them! It was a hoot. Initially, we could hear them exclaiming about how cool it was that he was coming right toward them. Then, he began to swim among them and held them up for quite a while as they tried to figure out how to loose him. Luckily for us, he followed them all the way into shore. They are just specks on this photo.

We sat back and enjoyed our lunch. There was no question, though, that we had just met the RUDEST Canadian, ever : )