Top 20 signs you might be in Maine instead of Texas

1. Based on aural evidence, there is an extra letter in the alphabet in the Northeast.  It's probably got it's own entry in the dictionary, like extra letters in some foreign languages.  It would be filed between the "A" and the "B"... "AH".  Found primarily at the end of words:  piss-AH, runn-AH, etc.


2. There are Dunkin Donuts gift cards for sale in stores, next to the iTunes cards and pre-paid credit/phone cards.
   
   [caption id="attachment_183" align="alignright" width="300"] #3 > Not sure what I'd do if I saw a Moose on a Snowmobile[/caption]


3. Snowmobile crossing signs and Moose crossing signs.  Don't get many of either of those in Texas.


4. One has to turn on the headlights, during the day, because you're driving through a dark tunnel... of trees.


5. Iced tea == a glass of tea and 3 slivers of ice.  And I mean slivers.  Not chunks, slivers.


6. Covered bridges.
   
   [caption id="attachment_184" align="alignright" width="300"] #6 > One of the very best things up here...[/caption]


7. The rivers under said bridges actually have water- running water- in them.


8. There are "notches" everywhere.  (Crawford Notch, Pinkham Notch, Evan's Notch, et al)  The part of Texas I live in, there isn't any geographical features that need a 'notch' in order for you to transit across....


9. Redemption centers.  I think the last time I returned a bottle for credit was in middle school, in Missouri.  Apparently, this is still a thriving practice here.  I even saw one "redemption center" with curb-side service.


10. Single street signs.  A lot of streets in various towns (of all sizes... saw this in Portland, ME, too!) have only one street sign on top of the pole... just telling the name of the lesser, cross-street.  Probably done to save money.  Guess one had bloody well better know what street one is already on!


11. Tiny squirrels.  Texas squirrels would rough these things up about the neck and head without breaking a sweat.


12. [In apposition to the squirrels] HUGE ponds.  Up here, small lakes are called ponds.  Medium lakes are sometimes called ponds.  I know people think Texas aggrandizes things... but I really do think these are lakes.  But they're not.  They are ponds.  I guess.


13. In Maine, the cold tap water is actually COLD.  Even in the summer.
    
    [caption id="attachment_185" align="alignright" width="259"] #16 > The New England-style hot dog bun.[/caption]


14. The farms in Maine have greenhouses for growing tomatoes.... at the height of summer.  It just doesn't get hot enough without 'em.


15. Leafblowers.  The sound of leafblowers on a summer day.....  What?!  You're calling me on this one?  Oh yeah... forgot to mention... the guy is up on the roof, using a leafblower to blow off the thick carpet of pine needles.


16. Hot dog buns.  There is a distinct difference between a Northeastern hot dog bun and the ones we have back in Texas.  First saw these type of buns at Fenway and Yankee stadium... and I've seen them in the dining hall here.  TBH, they're better....


17. The 'commutes' are much prettier here.. even a short trip to Portland or other cities includes breathtakingly beautiful country.


18. I can't quite shake this feeling... Stephen King might be lurking around somewhere.  That man has a mind that just thinks different from the rest of us... and knowing he might be lurking is a bit spooky!  (He has long lived in Maine, and the spot where he was struck by a car while out for a walk in the 90's is just a short drive from here)


19. Martial Arts Highway Signs.  In Texas, everything is so flat, you can pretty much see an intersection of the road from 6 miles out.  Up here, you might come around a curve and have two intersections staggered around the bend or over the hill.  So, they put up these signs.... but to me they look like some kind of illustration from a Martial Arts book.  Makes me wonder if the Maine Department of Roads has a catalog, with thousands of designs to cover every possibility... (I'll take a #12857- "Wind Kisses the Willow")
    
    [caption id="attachment_186" align="alignright" width="297"] #19 > I'll let you decide what the sensei is doing in this martial art pose. I'm not goin' there....[/caption]


20. Mailboxes hung on chains from tree limbs.  I've never seen this before.  Allison and I think its probably to protect the mailboxes from wandering(drunk) drivers on these narrow roads.. or the random youth-impelled baseball bat.  Allison did remark that it might make it easier to find the mailbox when there's 5 feet of snow on the ground during the winter.  Me?  I was already thinking how much fun it would be to rig one of them up to move around when the postman tries to pull up and put something in it.....

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