Locke's Mills

The Greenwood Post Office is between changes right now. Initially the US Postal Service administrators planned for our PO to go to 4 hours a day with 24-hour lobby availability. Between the time they announced this and now, they have decided the Greenwood PO lobby was not adequately secure to have 24-hour accessibility. Postmistress Susie said any changes are up in the air at the moment. When she knows the new schedule, we'll know.

New banners have been put up along Main Street and Howe Hill Road. Mt. Abram purchased 24 new banners depicting a variety of snow sports. The Greenwood Fire Department helped them by installing the banners on utility poles this past week. The US flags along Main Street were temporarily taken down and the banners put up. The winter banners look good, and the flags will return in the spring.

Ever lock yourself out of your house while chasing an escaping pup? I did the day after the storm and had no spare key available. It was both Greenwood road crew and firefighters who saved the day by opening the door without destruction. Thanks, guys! Glad I paid my property taxes this year. Guess I'll pay them again next year.

Our town has a Facebook page (Greenwood, Maine), and there is some interesting stuff on it. There is an old picture of the decorated inside of the Locke's Mills Union Church courtesy of Steve Seames. That in itself is worth checking out. Hope you will put up some more old Greenwood photos, Steve.

Snow abounds, and, regardless of whether you like or dislike it, snow is a fascinating phenomenon. In a few hours, it changes our world from a rocky surface with a dull gray-tan color to bright white and soft. We are used to it and accept/expect it, but it is rather like waking up in a new world when the snow arrives.

There are 10 basic types of snow fall, and within those 10 types there are numerous sub classifications. The big storm we had last Thursday was mostly needle particle snow. Most of us refer to it as powder snow.

When needle snowflakes fall, they look like little needles instead of like the six-sided snowflakes called dendrites.

Powder snow does not last long around here. It settles, is compacted by wind, and the crystalline structure changes from needle to another type. The light snowfall we had over the weekend was a mix of crystal types; dendrites, columnar, plates, stellar crystals, and numerous types clumped together. Fascinating stuff that snow. Grab a youngster (chronologically or mentally young) the next time it snows and go outside to check out the snow crystals. You can find photos of the different crystal types online. The youngster can help you on that end of things.

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