Here are some random thoughts while waiting very impatiently for the snow to disappear and the ground to dry:

How about this for a job replacement strategy pursuant to the disapperance of lumbering and paper-mill jobs: medical. A national newspaper picked the Bangor area to analyze, and found that the area had lost 3,700 manufacturing and lumber jobs in the last decade. But it added 3,500 jobs in healthcare.

I often think about those in the lumber and papermaking trade. One reason is that there are dozens of small wood-crafting shops in my area of Franklin County, and I wonder if they can somehow prosper (or at least subsist). Also, I once lived on the main thoroughfare of Skowhegan, and was literally bounced out of bed when the big logging trucks rumbled through. (Pictured above are woodlands and open space in my corner of Cabin Country).

Of course, not many woodsmen can suddenly turn in the chainsaw to become caring nurses or well-trained medical techs. But I thought the statistic was quite provocative, and perhaps instructive for young people thinking about their futures if they want to stay in Maine.

NEW TOPIC: I got a great comment from a reader who (kindly) chided me on my proposed purchases at the cabin. To wit, why pay for mulch when a town recycling center or a rented chipper will provide the same material at little cost? And why buy stones for the driveway when you live in Maine.

(An aside: The best collection of stones I ever thought about purloining was at Campobello on the Canadian border. But that's a long way to go for one load.)

(Another aside: The property up the (dirt) road from me has an aging stone wall that is falling apart. I thought that if I moved some of the hefty, moss-covered rocks to my property, that stone fence might look better. My (more) moralistic kids say I shouldn't "relocate" those stones, no matter how ancient or unclaimed they appear.

NEW TOPIC - My key gardening tactic this spring could be pots. I want to put lillies, black-eyed Susans, and impatiens into pots. Maybe Terry the Motivated Renter can water them when I am not there. (Actually, Terry the Motivated Renter was so motivated to stay on our little road that he got a loan, and had a (tiny) house built.)

BIG GOAL FOR SUMMER: I want to hire a bush plane to fly over the Maine wilderness, northwest from Moosehead. If Maine is 90 percent wilderness as they say, I will not have seen much without an aerial trip over the miles of forests that don't have roads.

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