Holey Crap! Don’t Throw That Out!

It’s been a lo-o-o-ng winter here in Portland, Maine.  Now nearly March, snow tickles the windowsills and blackens the streets.  People warned us of the ugliness of this time when we moved here five years ago.  They urged us to look inward, to remember that spring is on its way, to ignore the permafrost on every surface in this salt-lick of a city.  But in truth, the snow itself, the mountainous banks lining every parking lot, even soot-gray, are a novelty.

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A turkey named Wilbur.

A normal person who moved into a house where wild turkeys wandered the backyard might be inclined to ignore them until they went away.  A normal person, once these turkeys disappeared, might describe the parting as fortunate.  But since moving into our house, replete with flock of wild turkeys, my family and I have done our darnedest to bond with these big birds.

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Sidewalk Talk.

I’ve been having a conversation the past several weeks with the president of our local neighborhood association. My issue? Many homeowners along the main arterial through our neighborhood are neglecting to clear their sidewalks of snow, not just following a storm, but ever.  Being that we live in MAINE, where we tend to get a lot of snow, this is a serious safety concern.

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