A golden goldfinch was spotted yesterday at our feeders. These little critters of the male persuasion are usually a duil yellow gray-green up until April at least but with these mild mid-winter temperatures dominating the news, these poor birds think it’s spring. Well, I can’t complain: I walked out for the paper this morning in shorts much to the enjoyment to a couple of passersby who honked at the crazy old guy picking up his morning paper along with the recycle bins. Was that you?

The weather is always something to talk about here in Maine. It is a significant part of life in the region. But this winter has been historically unusual with such early and deep snowfalls and this spring-like February and now into March. You want to say, “What gives?”

I read where the Chilean earthquake, which was a deep one, actually moved the earth off it’s axis a miniscule amount but moved it, it did. I am sure that the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, the dust of which circled the earth, had to have made some measurable difference in the tilt of the earth. Now that we can measure such things the added knowledge is bound to give more acute pause when things happen. Before we didn’t know. Now we do.

It all makes me feel not as secure on this planet as I have felt in the past. We are really this tiny blue speck in the unimaginable vastness of the universe. We are almost pre-copernican in our earth centered smugness. We have grown to believe we are safe, and can expect the usual in terms of weather and season into the ages.

I’ll bet that if you did a man on the street survey you would still find a few of us out there who really believe the sun goes around the earth. Actually, having worked in retail for a number of years, I can tell you without blinking that there are many of our brothers and sisters out there who question reality and worship the gods of Nascar, WallMart and the deep fryer. Deep fryer? Hmm – that actually sounds pretty good.

Well, I’m probably overly concerned about nothing. But I don’t think so. Something is going on. And I am not even sure I want to know what it is. I’ll think about it tomorrow. Jerry Henderson