FORT KENT, Maine — More years ago than I like to admit, as a student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, I participated in a seminar titled simply “Cold” in which we explored various literary treatments inspired by chilly conditions.
After living under wind chill advisories and warnings for the past several days, I now feel like I’m well on my way toward earning an advanced degree in the frigid phenomena.
It’s no secret that Maine — and much of New England for that matter — has been dealt an arctic blow compliments of a polar air mass flowing down into the states from our neighbor to the north — Canada.
Really, it’s the climatological gift that just keeps on giving.
According to the National Weather Service in Caribou, on Wednesday northern Maine just missed breaking the record low of 23 below zero for that date in history by one degree.
Wind chill temperatures over the area dropped to well below zero, with Greenville getting as low as 45 below and Frenchville 42 below.
Professionally, it’s given us reporters and photographers in the affected areas something to do as we try to illustrate exactly how cold it is.
Earlier this week I had read online that soap bubbles — remember, the kind we blew out of plastic “wands” as kids? — freeze and form crystal designs in frigid conditions.
That, I thought, was a visual project waiting to happen.
Trouble was, there are no children within a mile of Rusty Metal Farm, ergo, neither was there any bubble-making liquid.
One Google search later, I was mixing up a batch using dish soap, water and corn syrup in my kitchen.
Now I had the mix, but not the means to produce bubbles. A quick scan of my kitchen though turned up a circular wire whisk that looked perfect for the job.
Minutes later I was outside merrily blowing bubbles and snapping photos as they wafted about turning crystalline as they froze and ultimately burst.
By mid morning I had filed several photos to my editor who immediately called asking, “You got video too, right?”
Whoops.
Luckily I still had bubble liquid, so back outside I went armed with a bubble-cam — my trusty GoPro video camera mounted on my bicycle helmet, which I wore on top of a stocking cap.
Overall, I was happy with how the frozen bubble video — which can be viewed online at bangordailynews.com — turned out
Here on Rusty Metal Farm, the cold snap also means keeping on top of things to make sure all animals and machinery are warm and cozy.
A high-powered heat lamp has been running non-stop in the Rusty Metal Chicken coop, and I can’t wait to see that electric bill.
Out in the dog yard, the four-legged members of the Rusty Metal Kennel sled dog team are snug as bugs in rugs in their cozy houses stuffed full of fresh straw daily.
They also are enjoying a special cold weather diet of a hot rice/fish/meat/kibble stew cooked up on my downstairs wood furnace.
In fact, so popular is the stew, I think the dogs are hoping this cold snap never breaks.
So far, the only disaster that the cold weather nearly caused was in the heated shop, which, I discovered Wednesday, suddenly was not.
Turns out, the oil powered, hot air furnace in there was not kicking on because the door of its access panel had come loose. When that door opens — even a tiny bit — a safety switch turns off the furnace.
By the time I discovered this, the temperature in the shop — which has water pipes in danger of freezing — was down to 35 degrees.
Luckily, one of the few things impervious to even the coldest conditions is duct tape. And using a roll I found in the unheated portion of the garage, I sealed that furnace door closed using enough strips of tape it looks like an Egyptian mummy.
Elsewhere around the region, folks are doing what they can to keep hearth and home toasty. There are those, however, who seem to thrive on venturing out into the deep freeze.
Take my friend Jonathan Kelley of Presque Isle who has made it a goal to run every day in 2015. An idea that probably seemed like a good one pre-polar vortex.
“Monday was the worst,” he told me via email. “With temperatures around minus 25 and I had on everything I could physically move in.”
So far, he’s kept to his goal and warns others venturing outside to dress properly, ditch the earbuds to hear any approaching traffic and make sure to wear bright, reflective clothing after dark.
Good advice that anyone having to be outside for work or play would do well to heed.
According to the National Weather Service, we are in this cold snap for at least the next several days.
On the bright side, the days are getting longer and there are only 70 more days to spring.
Julia Bayly of Fort Kent is an award winning writer and photographer, who writes part time for Bangor Daily News. Her column appears here every other Friday. She can be reached by e-mail at jbayly@bangordailynews.com.
