Never in my life, have I seen this much snow. Seriously, y'all, there is so much snow that I cannot walk through it unless I shovel a path. Then, every other day or two it snows again, and I have to re-shovel my path.
I will be honest, my husband has done most of the shoveling, but one day I decided to surprise him. He was at work, and I decided I would do all the shoveling before he came home. It was a lot of work. The hardest part was having to throw the snow over the 5 foot snow wall that had built up on the side of our front path. Shoveling is not for the weak.
2. Stack firewood
Before winter hits, you have to be prepared, and being prepared means stacking firewood. Our landlord told us he used about 4 cords of wood So we ordered 4 cords, having no clue how much that was. Well, here it is in this picture, and I got out there with my husband and stacked it all in the woodshed. Come the end of winter it will be gone. That is a lot of wood!
3. Play in deep snow.
I have played in an inch of snow that melts before noon, but this is the first time I have ever lived where there is deep snow. I might be missing something, but I don't even know how to make a snowman or snow angel in snow this deep.
4. Take care of a chicken.
I know many of my friends have chickens in other parts of country, but this is my first time to have a chicken. I know I should have more than one, but an "unfortunate incident" happened right before we moved in knocking the five chickens we were supposed to have from our landlord down to only one. She is the lone survivor, and she is now a family pet. She is hearty and strong, surviving the harsh winter without other chickens to keep her warm (we equipped her chicken coop with a heat lamp). We are proud of our little survivor, Diana.
5. Dress for frigid weather.
I always knew how to dress for a cold day, but I never knew how people survived frigid temperatures. Then I went to the L.L. Bean Flagship Store. It is an amazing place, full of all kinds of magical clothing items that make freezing weather bearable, and, dare I say, enjoyable. I don't go anywhere without my snow boots or thick down coat, unless it gets above 20, which is a warm day.
6. Start a fire without a gas fireplace or fire starting block.
When I moved here, I assumed we would have a fireplace, but we don't. We have a wood stove because winter up here is the real deal. This is not a fun little fire that I light when it drops to the lower 30s. This is a heavy duty stove that I keep fire blazing in all winter long.
7. Go sledding.
I will be honest, I am not very good at this one. When I tried to let the girls sled down the hill in our yard, the sled just sunk right through the snow and stopped. I think the snow is too deep and our hill is too flat to go sledding, but I am probably wrong. I am just a southern girl who has never gone sledding before, and I have no clue how to get the sled going in deep snow.
(If you have tips, please leave them in the comments.)
8. Go ice skating on a frozen lake.
I was an ice skater when I was younger. Never in my life had I ever skated on a real lake. So one day, I went down to the frozen lake, laced up my skates, and did my thing. I heard gurgling under the surface, and it made me too nervous to stay out there any longer. I don't know if that is normal, maybe it is, but it freaked me out.
9. Have a Post Office box instead of a mailbox.
When we moved in, I asked our landlord about our mailbox, and he told us to get a Post Office box because the mailboxes get knocked over by the plows in the winter. I had no clue what he was talking about. I could not even fathom that much snow, but he was right.
Here is a mailbox in the winter. Do you see it in there buried deep in the snow? Yeah, now I am glad my mail is in a warm, dry building and not covered in snow.
10. Visit a ski mountain and a beach on the same day.
A few weeks ago, we went to an amazing place called Camden. It has a ski mountain, and it is on the coast. It wasn't open for skiing yet, but before I leave Maine, I plan on skiing that mountain just so I can get a glimpse of the ocean from the top of the ski mountain. Awesome!
11. Visit lighthouses.
A trip to Maine isn't complete without visiting a lighthouse or two. They are gorgeous, and make for great pictures.
12. Take a long Sunday drive to look at fall foliage.
In the fall it is something you must do here. We loaded up our van and drove all day on a Sunday after church just to look at the colors, and we didn't tire of it. It really is one of the most breathtaking sights I have seen, and pictures don't do it justice.
13. Get coffee at Dunkin Donuts drive-thru instead of the Starbucks drive-thru.
Dunkin Donuts is the thing here. There is one on almost every corner, and their coffee is amazing. It helps that there isn't a Starbucks drive-thru in my town. I choose the convenient drive-thru over the fancy coffee any day.
14. Wonder when I will see the ground in my backyard again.
In Texas, we would get excited over a coating of snow on the ground. Now I get excited when a small patch of ground pokes through the melting snow. I haven't seen the grass in over a month.
15. Eat fresh lobster.
I didn't like lobster before moving here, but once I moved here and tasted the fresh stuff, I changed my mind. Fresh lobster is delicious. One thing of note: there aren't any Red Lobsters in Maine. I think I know why.
16. Go skiing for a day trip.
I love to ski. I grew up going on ski trips. In fact, our honeymoon was a ski trip, but I have never lived anywhere close enough to a ski mountain to go skiing for the day and drive home at night. It is bliss for me. I love to ski, and now I can go on a Saturday without having to bust my budget.
17. Go to the beach for a day trip.
Same goes for the beach. We love the beach, and now we are close enough to go to the beach just for the day. Why don't more people live here?
18. Ask myself if I am saying "y'all" too much.
I really do this. I am pretty sure I don't have much of an accent when I talk, but my dead giveaway is how much I say "y'all." I say it a lot, y'all, and I constantly think when I am having a conversation if I have said it too much. I never did that in Texas.
19. Pick apples.
I love apples. I am an apple a day kind of girl, so when we went to an apple festival in the fall, and I was able to load up on apples, I was in heaven. I made apple everything, and ate at least an apple or two a day.
20. Make snow ice cream.
The snow cream was delicious. The snow frappuccino I made was not.
What do you love about Maine? Let me know in the comments.
Stay tuned next week for my follow up post:
- 20 Things I Did in Texas That I Never Do in Maine
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