Sunset

I took this from our front yard, looking Northwest. I liked the texture of that cloud and the subtle colors. You can see a bank of clouds just peeking up over the treetops. That is bad weather rolling in....

Creative Drain

I think that using an old kiddie slide is a creative way to direct the water draining off this driveway. They will sure be glad that they have it today during the heavy rains that we are experiencing!

Abandoned Building

This building sits near the old mill that I showed you yesterday...

The Old Mill

This building sits beside the railroad tracks, just outside of town. The mill is no longer producing anything, but I believe that it was a furniture making factory originally. The owners have turned part of it into a storage facility.

A necessary evil...

I figure if I'm going to be complete, then I need to show you the 'dark' side of town. This is the West Paris Transfer Station. This is where many people go on Saturday morning. The boys & dogs love to ride along with Dad, and I went this time to take a picture, but it's really not my idea of an adventure. But, alas, we all make a lot of trash and this is where it goes.... an intermediate stop probably towards waste to energy incineration.

Downtown West Paris

Where are all the people? Well, I took this a couple of weeks ago before we had all this beautiful weather. Now, when you drive through town you see lots of people out on all those porches and many, many kids riding their bikes all up and down the street....

Water Truck

I don't believe this truck runs anymore. It has been parked in the same place for as long as I can remember, out behind a garage that is located right next to Route 26. I wonder if they actually do keep it running for emergencies though. Today the weather service has issued a Fire Alert. It has been an unusual spring and not much of a mud season, which is strange for this time of year. The snow has melted, but without the rainfall that generally comes in spring. And with the high winds and unseasonably warm weather we have been experiencing, the ground is actually pretty dry. We'll keep our fingers crossed that no one is careless with fire in the next few days....

A little girl's dream...

I love this pretty pink playhouse that sits out beside a horse pasture, just before you drive into the village of West Paris. I was riding beside my husband the other morning, when I asked him to slow down because I've been wanting to stop and take a picture of this for ages. He thought I was crazy! He'd never noticed it before....

Clouds...

These beautiful clouds were to the East of our house, reflecting the colors of the sunset behind me....

PS This photo was actually taken a couple of weeks ago. Finally, I can say "We don't have that much snow anymore!"

Gerbils!

I took our gerbils to visit the 2nd grade the other day. Here they are, on top of my car, looking over at Agnes Gray Elementary School. Everyone really enjoyed the visit!!

Not quite yet....

This is the Soapbox Derby hill in town, across from the school. It's actually great fun for sledding too! Finally, it's almost clear of snow, and the kids are busy getting their cars ready for the coming season.

Actin' Silly!!

My son was pretending that the signpost was all that was keeping him from rolling down into the river....

Rock Hopping

What is it about a line of rocks that makes us want to jump from one to the next? These rocks are lined up along the edge of the sidewalk at Snow Falls. My son couldn't resist. In the back of my mind though, I was remembering another time, when he was a toddler and he did the same thing. That time he slipped and smashed his front teeth. What a mess that was! The good news is that this time he escaped unscathed. ;-)

Snow Falls

These falls are a popular picnicking destination. There are walking paths over (via a bridge!) and around the falls and several tables with barbecues nearby are located strategically throughout the area. The falls are located right beside Route 26, the major highway up to the mountains. Throughout Maine there are designated 'Rest Areas' and this is one of them....

FYI this is a photo of only a portion of the falls. There is still too much snow to be able to walk down to the lower part, so this is the top of the falls. Snow Falls Gorge is located on the Little Androscoggin River.

My partner in crime...

I think I explained before that Haley is my shadow. This is her in the car on one our adventures. She doesn't want to miss a thing!

Bottoms UP!!

The horses are all hot & itchy in their winter coats, now that spring has finally sprung. Yesterday afternoon our 4-year old Paint mare, Lily, was rolling in the snow, trying to cool off. She was soaked! She was having a grand time, playing and kicking up the snow!! It was so funny to watch her!!

West Paris Village

Driving down High Street, just about to cross the bridge and enter "downtown". You can see where Route 219 takes off to the left, just after the bridge, right before the railroad tracks.


Remember Berry's Ledge? See how it provides a background for the village? (The previous photo was taken from the other side, which explains why it looks backwards, in case you're wondering.)


There you go, Dad! I took this photo yesterday afternoon for my father. He's grumbled that I didn't have a picture of downtown yet on this blog. I told him that it was because I really don't like to take photos of great, big, brown snowbanks. Well, they've finally receded, so here's your photo, Dad! ;-)


Look at what my husband just found in the newspaper, regarding the World's Tallest Snow Woman, whom I blogged about at the beginning of March!

From Ryerson Hill

Sunset, looking at the White Mountains from Ryerson Hill...

Ace

Here's a photo of my Quarter Horse gelding, Ace, after he spent some time rolling in the mud! He'll be 3 at the end of the month. He's a very friendly, easy-going guy, which will hopefully mean that he won't give me too much trouble when I start training him for riding this spring. We rescued him as a yearling from a woman who had too many horses in too small a space and couldn't afford to feed them. He's a bit stunted from that experience and I don't know if he'll ever grow to his full potential. The boys like his smaller stature though. He's a really ruggedly built, mahogany bay with no white markings at all. I love his dishy face, little bitty ears and big doe-eyes.

Flags at half-staff...

I saw many flags at half-staff today, but this one was the most striking. It's such a huge flag that when lowered it looks like it's dragging on the ground. It was the first one to really catch my eye and I immediately called my husband on the cell phone to find out why it was lowered. This is the article that he read to me from The Village Soup:

In remembrance and honor of Sgt. Nicholas A. Robertson, Gov. John E. Baldacci directed the United States flag and the State of Maine flag be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Friday, April 11.

Sgt. Robertson died April 2, as a result of wounds received in Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Services for Sgt. Robertson are scheduled for Friday in Brewer.

I find this rather disturbing....

Someone has a very sick sense of humor!!

Again, what?

I love vanity plates on vehicles and trying to figure out what they mean. This one could have all different sorts of meanings....

And what?

Look Out!!

If you see one of these signs, slow waaaay down. If you see a vehicle ahead of you slam on its brakes for no apparent reason, slow waaaay down. Some of the frost-heaves are big enough to bury a car this year!!

Look at my hands!

Here the boys are discussing the fact that his hands were freezing, but he couldn't use the hand brakes if he was wearing gloves. Perhaps it's time to put the bike back in the garage? Oh no, Mom, not yet!!

Wintery Mix

Not snow, not rain, but a slushy mess!

The boys want it to be spring so badly. The driveway had cleared up enough over the last few days that they were able to get out their bikes. Even though the weather was dreadful yesterday, they decided to ride anyway!

Hot dog, anyone?

My sons' favorite food. We will definitely be back here in May...

This little hotdog stand used to be located in Oxford, but last fall they moved it up here to West Paris. I'm not sure why, but I think they might get more traffic in this new location. They're closer to the road and more visible. And that new paint job is hard to miss!

Ralph goes to school...

Yesterday was a big day for my older son's hamster, Ralph. He visited the 3rd grade! The children all sat around a big table and he wandered around checking them all out. Then they each took a turn holding Ralph. He seemed to enjoy being passed around. He was completely relaxed and the children all loved him! Ralph is the best hamster!!

Yikes!

I had just let the dogs out of the house after being cooped up for a while. I was laughing at them running laps around the truck and then I saw that the poor cat, who had jumped up on the bumper looking for a dry spot, was stuck there! If she so much as moved a hair they might see her and the chase would be on! You can see her tail was all bunched up, she was quite anxious. But, after several charges past her, they moved on to play on the snowbanks and she was able to leisurely go about her business....

April Theme Day: Water

The first day of fishing season!!

Our younger son looks forward to this day all winter! He loves to fish and ice fishing just isn't quite the same. He is very good at picking out a good location to drop his line, and very, very patient. I was really looking forward to using a picture of him fishing this afternoon for my water picture on my blog, but due to circumstances beyond my control I wasn't able to go fishing with them, and my husband forgot his camera! Instead, here is a photo from last year, on the same day, April 1st. I took this picture at the brook behind our house, just below the waterfall, part of which you can see behind him. It's one of my favorite places to while away a hot summer afternoon, and a great place to catch fish. Although not necessarily on a day like this one....

There are 178 other bloggers participating in this theme day! Go check 'em out....

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