Mainelife...thru the eyes of someone from away

The Inn at Long Sands

Unless a miracle happens between today and tomorrow at 11 am, The Inn at Long Sands (located next door to the Long Sands General Store will be sold at auction.

Unlike Frisbee's, Arline Shea didn't fall behind on her mortgage payments. But due to the credit crisis, after her Massachusetts bank decided to call in her loan, she was unable to get alternative financing. 

Frisbee's is still working to find a solution to their situation, but time is running out. 

The Global Economics Crisis--How are you impacted...or not so much?

Mac the Dog is right....I've been working almost 24/7 since the middle of November.  The good news is that it's a fascinating project and I love what I'm doing.  The better news is that our market seems to like what we've done and we're getting really positive feedback on it, so I'll probably keep my job for at least a little while longer. Despite that good news on the work front, we're hunkering down financially for a long haul, due to the economic realities.  We're lucky in that we have no credit card debt, we make more than we spend (at least most months) and we've always saved some of our paycheck.  We're in pretty good shape all in all, but we're still making some fundamental changes around here, and I'm wondering if anyone else is doing the same.

First off, we had to tell our daughter that the wedding fund was a bit smaller than it was last year.  That hurt, but there is only so much money left in the account.  Then, instead of leaving the wedding fund in the investment account where it's decreased 50% from last year, we closed the account and put the money in savings.  We just weren't confident about leaving it in the market.  

Then, we paid off the mini cooper. When we bought it, we could have paid for it outright, but the terms of the loan were 4.2% and our investments and CDs were paying out at almost twice that, so we decided to finance a portion of the car.  Last week, when CDs were paying 1.25% it seemed a better idea to pay off the car loan.  I still can't decide if that was foolish or wise. 

We're also cutting back on entertainment expenses: I cancelled our Netflix account, we cancelled all the movie channels except for HBO and I returned two cable boxes (my bad--we never should have had them in the first place, but I didn't realize that our TVs would receive without a box).  Total cable and Netflix savings for the year is $657.  

I cancelled my trip to Palm Springs to watch and play tennis.  

My entire family was planning a vacation to the Caribbean for my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary. We've delayed those plans for a year--maybe for longer. Partially it's because of the big wedding we're having but mostly because none of us want to spend that amount of money in these uncertain times. Instead, we'll all get together at my parents' lake house in Ohio and throw them a whopping good party in town.  

We decided to not replace the kitchen floor in the Cushing Cottage.  We found a nice used, braided rug at an estate sale and agreed that it covered most of the really icky parts of the floor.  We may still replace the kitchen counter.  But whereas it was a done deal back in September, now it's under discussion and consideration. 

RG is now only semi-retired guy.  He's looking for more consulting work and if that doesn't come through, I'm hoping that he'll find another part time job.  We'd like to build up an 12 month cushion of savings should I lose my job. Better safe than sorry in these times.  But then I wonder--Are we being un American by not stimulating the economy? Should we "spend it cuz we've got it?"and help those whose businesses are in trouble?  What should we be doing?

So, what do you all think?  Have you made changes to how you spend your money? Are you foregoing vacations or new car purchases?  Are you eating in more?  My friend Marge is only buying food and wine. Everything else is now non-essential.  

Mac the Dog Is Here!

Hey there Readers of Mom's Blog!  Are there any of you left?  She's been pretty neglectful of this site lately--mostly because she's been working a LOT. 

I tried to help her by writing up some stuff for you guys to read, but I just wasn't in the mood.  My hips are really, really sore. They're so sore that I don't ever go to the beach in the morning--partly because there are too many steps to go down to get to the car and partly because when I get there, well, it just hurts too much to walk very far. And I can't chase seagulls anymore and that can really depress a dog like me.  I'm not a dog that likes to complain, so mostly, I've just been hanging out on my couch or lying on my blanket while my dad reads his papers and watches ESPN.

But on Thursday, my mom and my dad went down to my doctor's office with me.  They talked quite a bit about my quality of life and my weight (I've put on a few pounds this past year... I still look pretty good for an old dog, but I'm definitely on the husky side now) and my pain management.  The vet went and got some old pictures that my dr. in Cincinnati sent along with me.  She didn't look very happy about what she saw.  She said my right hip was the most extreme case of hip dyplasia that she'd ever seen, and Mom said yes, it was diagnosed when I was 18 months old. All I know is that my hips hurt really bad and I don't like to walk or stand too much. 

So after they talked and talked, they took blood from me and looked in my eyes and checked my teeth and then----HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?---they stuck about 29 needles all over me.  No wonder they call it puncture something.  The dog had needles everywhere, to release my endorphins or something.  I had to lie really still on the floor of the dr's office and and the dr who put the needles in tried to bribe me with some cookies, but I was not falling for that trick.  I was not interested in those cookies. I just wanted to get those needles out of me fast and get home to my couch.  But Mom said I was a really good boy, cuz I just layed there (I'm great at that now) and waited patiently. 

I'm pretty sure that I have to go get punctured next week too and there's some new kinds of pills in my bowl every day, but I feel a little better. I could go walking for 10 houses yesterday instead of my usual 5 or 6 and now when Mom makes lunch, I feel good enough to come see what she's making, even though I know a dog doesn't get lunch, just breakfast and suppah for the dog.  Before the needles, I didn't ever get off my couch unless someone came to the door or it was time for me, Mac the Dog to eat.

I heard Mom telling Dad that I had a new lease on life.  I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. As for this blog, I'll try to get Mom to work less and pay more attention to it....but who knows how much those needles cost? She might have to get a second job to pay for them.

The End Of A Long Run?

Gosh, we surely hope not.

Frisbee's Market in Kittery Point, Maine has been selling groceries and sundries at the same location since about 1828.  Now, it's in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, doors closed, by court order.  Frisbee's is the place where you can get penny candy for the kids and a nice bottle of wine for dinner.  It's a place where you can ride your bike to, get a cold soda and enjoy the view of Portsmouth Harbor. It's also the place where you take Lucy, the Mini Cooper on her first Saturday in Maine (August 2005). 

The Frisbee family says that the store (and their restaurant, Cap'n. Simeon's Galley--the "Cheers" of Kittery) is the nation's oldest family run business.  At one time, the family owned the town wharf, but deeded it to Kittery in the 1800's.  Frisbee's Market has survived the Great Depression and economic downturns for almost 200 years, but mounting bills, combined with the recession and credit crunch have left the owners unable to find financing or investors. 

On Monday, the Frisbee family called Gov. Baldacci of Maine for help. Within a few hours they received a call from the Finance Authority of Maine, who is going to try to help the family keep the business. 

Shankopotomous. The Word Of the Day

This cracks me up every time I watch it

It's A Wild, Wild Life

 

The Talking Heads song has been playing over and over in my head since about 4 pm on Friday afternoon. Around that time, we were heading through Brunswick on the way to Cushing, when a Bald Eagle swooped past the car and headed up the river.  

About 45 minutes later, I spotted this pair, sitting in a tree overlooking upper end of the St. George and RG was kind enough to pull a yooey on Rt. 1 and go back so that I could take a couple of shots.  At that moment, I was desperately wishing for my Big Lens, but a little cropping and some editing and we can at least see that they're real Bald Eagles.  

We arrived at the house just before nightfall. As we were unloading the car, I noticed that the toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom looked like someone with a muddy bottom had been sitting on it.  Funny, because I'd thoroughly cleaned the entire cottage both bathrooms before we left on Sunday in anticipation of house guests this weekend.  Then I noticed that someone with very dirty hands had been in the downstairs sink.  

Then I noticed that Malcolm, the bobbing-headed moose wasn't on his shelf next to Larry the bobbing-headed lobster.  Malcolm was on the floor next to a pile of scat.  UT OH. We had a visitor...mouse,  raccoon, wayward lobsterman, squirrel, something else?  

There was scat on the couch, on the rocking chair by the sliding doors and the nice LLBean comforter that I'd splurged on for the guest room looked like someone had cleaned off on in after a mud-wrestling match. Very strange because everything is snow covered and frozen. There's no mud or dirt to be seen for hundreds of miles, at least none that I can think of. Even the clam flats are frozen solidly over.  

Uncle Dick finally spotted a very large gray squirrel behind the chair in the living room.  Aunt Patty and I did what any wise woman would do--we went and stood in the driveway while the guys got the critter outta there.  I wish I'd had the presence of mind to grab the camera, but I was a little too freaked and besides, the next time we saw that guy he was sprinting off the deck, down the hill, heading toward the river.  He didn't even pause to climb a tree.

For all we know, he might have decided to swim over to South Thomaston.  

We stripped the beds, sent the guys to the store for Lysol and disinfectant. We swept, washed and sanitized and marveled at the lack of damage done.  He must not have been in the house long, as nothing was gnawed and nothing was really damaged (the bed spread has two small holes, easily repaired). We were very lucky. It could have been much worse. 

On Sunday, we spotted the really large red fox who frequents the area--not once but twice. He's almost the size of a coyote and very healthy looking--he's definitely not lacking any food source this winter. 

We arrived home this morning to discover that the ice chopping dudes who were to clear the ice dams on Saturday did not, in fact, do that.  Ice chopping dude arrived around 11 this morning and thankfully, we've had no more water damage than what had happened on Friday morning.  Top that off with a Santonio  Holmes' Super Bowl MVP Award and some good company for the Super Bowl and it was a fine weekend. 

UPDATE: Last night, local news reported on the health of the Bald Eagle population in Maine (more than 450 nesting pairs and eagles living in every county in the state).  Video of the report is here. And of course, there's the Bald Eagle cam, where you can watch the eagles' nest.