Goodbye Irene

About two hours after posting the "Hello Irene" blog ta-da, the electricity went out – three days and 10 gallons of gas later we're back on the grid. I hate to think what's going to happen when the big solar plasma storm the scientists expect hits. It's nice to have a generator in this situation but the insistence sound of the motor at a constant roar on our deck doesn't take long to get to you. I shut it down at night though a couple of our neighbors have a regular backup system that starts up when needed and shuts down when the power returns. They were just far enough away to not disturb a nights sleep. Relatively not much damage in our yard, a lot of leaf and stick material scattered about. The wind did sent the propane grill off the deck, the cover must have acted as a parachute and gave it some lift. Now that the power is back on I told Carol I feel as though I have a touch of Stockholm Syndrome, I miss the dominance of the generator... oh, there, its passed. I wonder if there's a cold brew in the fridge?

Hello Irene

Moving quickly former hurricane now tropical storm Irene is moving into my region of the storm path and should max out here late afternoon through midnight or so. Already awash in waves of rain and gusting winds I took a walk around the yard and up the driveway down which water running like a brook. At the roadside I have a 4" PVC buried perpendicularly on the high of the driveway entrance that diverts rainwater and snow melt that runs down the road shoulder from spewing down my pavement. Recently it's been clogged up so I took a spade, cleared and bermed the dirt sending runoff into the pipe again. Not like it was a big deal but I'd been meaning to do it and not like this there was a lot else I could do in this weather. The wind and rain has kicked up again just now, if it gets worst that this later it could be more likely that we'll have some power outages. Tomorrow's forecast, sunny and breezy.

Another lake vacation flys by

Must be something about getting older because even though I came home a day earlier than usual the days my mother and I were there still seemed to be just a blink of the eye when all is said and done. It's not like we hurried through anything, a lot of reading, basking in the terrific weather for the final two days, Wednesday was particularly perfect. I did mow the grass and some string trimming in the afternoon. Earlier I'd planted a hydrangea at Margaret's that Lois sent up. Mom was invited by Margaret to attend the monthly senior citizen appreciation dinner at the local American Legion hall.

Patches always knows how to kick back at the camp, he too enjoys looking out across the lake.

Thursday morning begins with a peaceful calm.

Though not a clear sunset that evening it definitely was an interesting one with some pretty weird swirls and such, part of the reason I watch and photograph it each evening.




Patches can't be bothered by the sunsets, a little sensitive about being color blind.


Friday morning brought out a sculler. Later after running an errand into town I took Mom on a tour along the camp road to see the other camps, we don't have a boat. As a bonus there were two yard sales along the way, a favorite activity of Mom's. She picked up some good stuff at both places – I even bought the T-shirt I'm wearing in the next photo, from Wales no less... the one in Great Britain, not in central Maine, "Cymru" for you old school types.

The truck is loaded, camp tidied up Mom and I are ready to head home.

Greetings from the lake

Click on the image above for an enlarged view of a panorama of the lake sweeping from the shore line of each side of my location. Distorted but interesting, I took it with my cell phone which has better features than my regular camera?!?

As mentioned in the previous blog post my mother joined me for this vacation at the lake. Some rain had come through but the clouds opened up for a few nice sky photos, no sunset view to speak of as heavy cloud cover at the horizon. Mom settled in quickly after arriving and has been enjoying the atmosphere of the camp and region in general. She brought along several books to catchup on as well as the two of us teaming up to prepare meals and bonus for me, she insists on taking care of the dishes.

Monday was mostly cloudy, mild enough to sit outside and look out across the lake and do a little reading. I did have a task for the day – yank done the squirrel damage ceiling over the bathroom shower and close it up with stronger material. It isn't pretty but it's tree rodent proof.

As Mom (right) and I were finishing supper my mother-in-law Margaret and her sister Carolyn (left) stopped by for a visit.

Yesterday began as a rain out which had begun soon after midnight. I began the day by starting a fire in the camp's stove that is used as the central heating system, cooked up some breakfast and took to reading for awhile (Absolution Gap, Alastair Reynolds). Later in the morning we took a ride around the more northern region as a sort of tour for my mother which was a good excuse for me as I enjoy looking at the landscape of this part of Maine. We picked up a few grocery items along the way, grabbed a nice lunch at a small diner in Fort Kent (Shirley's Diner) then drove south on Route 1 along the St John River between Canada and the US passing through the towns of Frenchville, Madawaska and Van Buren before returning to the camp by mid afternoon.

My lunch at Shirley's Diner, chicken quesadilla with bacon and ranch dressing... oh yeah, a couple cups of coffee to wash it down. Mom had a soup and half a sandwich followed by a slice of pumpkin ice cream pie with redi-whip and crumb sprinkled topping. I got a sliver of it it, nicely decadent.

As we drove along the St. John I pulled over at a public boat launch/park. Nice to be able to easily get down close to the river. Since we were the only ones there we could wander down the long boat launch ramp without mixing up with anyone wanting to put into the water. Patches took it in stride, glad to be out of the truck for a stretch.

Margaret joined us for supper, I grilled up some turkey burgers and Mom fixed a a salad.

While talking before staring supper Patches gets to pull his infamous "I not on the couch, I don't know anything about what my backend is doing" maneuver. Well he has to be forgiven, it's his 12th birthday.

By late afternoon the sky did open up and a sunset was available, sweet.



End of the day, Patches ready to enjoy his birthday gift.

Wait for it

Been an interesting weekend though yardwork wasn't a part of it. It began by getting out of work only a little late Friday due to a time and deadline driven project which led me to go into the office Saturday morning. After getting home Friday Carol and I did kickback with supper and a couple of bottles of wine plus two episodes of Doc Martin. When leaving the office at noon the next day I received a text message from Ian stating that he and Ali would be arriving late that evening which was welcome news since we're always eager to see him, and Ali we hadn't seen since January when she left to do a study abroad in Rome aincluding some vacationing about Europe. Before all that we had a dinner gathering at my sister-in-law Elaine's place afterwards returning home to await the arrival. In the meantime we watched this week's Netflix delivery "The Adjustment Bureau", starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt – we liked it. Our visitors arrived much later than we had expected – after we had gone to bed. Other than rousing the dogs though they managed to settle in for the night on their own and we were able to enjoy our company over breakfast through lunch before they had to leave. A heavy rain began overnight and today has been a wet one mostly from drizzle and high humidity. Now the "Wait for it" part, one week before I go to the camp for my annual lakeside vacation. As it seems every year during the summer things have been relentless at the office so being at and about the camp will be a welcome respite. This year I invited my mom, Bert to come with me. Other than about ten years ago when she came up with Carol, Ian and I on the 4th of July week I don't think she's had ever been to Aroostook County. Beside getting some extended time to visit with one another she'll all be able to visit some with my mother-in-law, Margaret.

Low hanging necessity

Took the truck in for an oil change on the way to work this morning. As I checked in where I have all my automotive work done the counter guy mentioned that there was a manufacturer's recall that included my 14 year old Ford F-150 truck with 203,000 miles. Seems that the gas tank straps have been wearing out and will be replaced by the manufacturer at no costs. The guy asks me if I'd like to schedule in for inspection and replacement, I decided I'd call back about when. The waiting room has a monitor hooked to a video camera that views across the service bays and it doesn't take long for the oil change to be completed when counterguy approaches and asks me to come with him. We proceed into the service bay area heading for my truck and I wondering what now has broken down in the old white mare. He pointed through the rear left wheel well and lo and behold the front gas tank strap had broken off on the left side and was dangling beyond the bottom of the recently filled gas tank. I ended up grabbing a ride to the office while they as a temporary measure ran a cable to hold the strap in place while we await the arrive of the replacement. All in all, if they hadn't told me about the recall they could have just told me it needed the repair and charged for it. Given the age/mileage and abuse I wouldn't have given it a second thought.

Crisis, what crisis?!?

So after weeks of our fine members of Congress and those in the Senate deliberating on what's best for us and our country what do we get? More of the same, nothings changed and our national debt will continue to increase. Yeah, this has been going on forever and a day but there is more to it in this day and age. What's so hard about setting a debt limit and cutting spending from here on in? The ultimate rhetorical question.