Mainelife...thru the eyes of someone from away

Weird, Wild Week

This week in Maine has been a roller coaster of weather.   Last Sunday we had a high of 82 degrees.  On Tuesday we had a high of 59 degrees. Wednesday it was a record setting 93 degrees and Thursday we had a high of 59.  Without a drop of rain and hardly a cloud in the sky. 

 The weather woke up our forsythia, which went from nothing to spectacular in two days, and it's made the wild turkeys in the back 40 especially vocal.  We've been woken up every day for the last five by turkey gobbles very close to the yard. 
It's enough to make me consider a turkey hunting license. 

Turkey hunting or no turkey hunting, I may have to give up tennis and take up golf. Tennis has gotten very dangerous lately.  Have you ever been hit in the eye by a served ball?  It's not easy to let that happen and it doesn't feel very good when it does happen.

Sun Rise

It was a pretty good one this morning.

Gray Day, Redux, Redux, Redux

 

It's another gray day in northern New England.  I feel as if I shouldn't complain too much because we've had two nice days in a row,  but still.  Gray seems to be the dominant color for Maine in 2009.

Oh and thanks for stopping by, you loyal readers.  There's not been much to see here lately, has there?  I remember a year or so ago when one of my favorite bloggers, who had up to that point pretty much posted daily, suddenly became an erratic, infrequent poster.  His job had gotten busy and he had no time for the blog.

I was nonplussed. Ludicrous.   How could one not find 10-15 minutes in the day to post?

Lately my work has been so hectic that now I see. It's not the 10-15 minutes required to post, it's having the energy to be creative enough to write anything that anyone would want to read.  And I've not had the energy to pick up the camera, play with my Flip or do much aside from working.

I'd like to tell you that I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm not so sure of that.  It's good to be this busy in an economic climate like this and it's reassuring from a job security standpoint, but I'm about ready to end the 15 hour days and get back to my Mainelife. 

The Dip Net Closes

We learned last week that our very favorite restaurant The Dip Net won't be opening this summer, at least in Port Clyde.  The Dip Net no more? The place where we had chowder while waiting for the Monhegan Ferry; the place where we celebrated buying the house in Cushing; the place where RG flirted with the Chief Justice's wife (he didn't know who she was and she seemed charmed by the banter); the place that we take everyone to dinner?  The Dip Net was delicious food, fantastic views, and downeast casual  and it was our place. 

Rumor has it that the new owner of the Port Clyde General Store, who owns the dock, decided to not renew the lease.  Hey, all's fair in love, war and business, I guess, but an additional rumor has it that the new owner of the Port Clyde General store also bought a cute restaurant space up in Tenant's Harbor so that the Dip Net owners couldn't relocate there. 

In a move that is uncharacteristically mature for me, I'm withholding judgment until we verify this, but if the rumors are true, we won't be visiting The Port Clyde General Store or the new restaurant on the dock any time soon.  And if the rumors are true, we'll be shopping at Cabela's, not at that other joint up in Freeport......

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.

Whirlwind of a Weekend

So, now that it's Tuesday, I'm finally getting around to asking how your weekend was.  Mine was full--full of snow; full of family and full of work.  Meetings on Friday and Monday meant a weekend in Ohio and an opportunity for a haircut and more importantly a chance to spend time with my family in northern Ohio.  For 10 years, Jody at the jacob neal salon has been my go-to guy for my 'do, but since moving to Maine, it's been difficult to find time to see him.  I've done crazy things like taking off an afternoon from work and driving the hour and a half from the office to the salon in Columbus or flying the $10.00 SkyBus from Portsmouth to Columbus on a Saturday to get a cut.  I know it's crazy, but Jody is totally worth it.

I made an appointment for 9 am on Saturday and then planned to continue on north to my parents' house for Saturday night and Sunday morning.  Friday's work day started at 7 am and ended at 8:15 pm.  Crazy nuts day of meetings, book planning (authors in from LA for the day), crisis management--a usual day in the office with the added joy of a planning exercise created by some diabolical financial beancounter in an office in Stamford. 

My best laid plans...northern Ohio started getting snow on Friday night, enough snow that most high school athletic events were cancelled, with significant accumulations on Saturday.  Columbus-south to  Cincinnati was to get ice and freezing rain; and sure enough they did. The drive to Columbus was sometimes slowed to a crawl of 25 mph or so; and there were plenty of accidents--mostly tractor/trailors jack-knifed, although I had the good fortune to watch a Kentucky State Trooper blow by me and then execute three perfect 360's right down the middle of I-71.  He ended up in the right shoulder, facing in the right direction and continued on his way after a short pause (photo from a Flip video).  

I made it to Columbus in time for my haircut and then onto my parents' house--where 6 inches of snow had fallen and more was coming down.  It was the perfect opportunity for some sledding with my nephew, followed by a hike in the snow and some hot chocolate. My five year old nephew stars in and helped me create this video. I suggested a bit more editing, but he felt that we needed all this footage. He also picked the music. I remain a fan of the Flip:

Sunday, after a morning of swim meet (my niece is quite a good swimmer, but has been sidelined by a stress fracture sustained during the Cross Country season--she had a good meet but needs more training to get back to top form) over in Amish Country, it was back to Cincinnati, more spreadsheet work and no snow.   

Now I'm back home in the land of 8 inches of beautiful snow, blue skies and my coffee maker, and so happy to be here.

Spruce Creek

Winter sunrise.

Moonrise at the Nubble

I took this photo with my iPhone after my late-ish afternoon walk on Wednesday and then I forgot to post it. They say that the day before the full moon is the best day to photograph the moon and the lighthouse. In this case, it proved true, as we've not seen blue sky since then. 

Sign of the times

We had a lovely weekend in the midcoast with RG's brother and sister-in-law and I took some really nice photos to prove it. Unfortunately, I've managed to misplace the battery charger for the camera as well as the USB transfer thingamajiggy, so until one or the other is found, the photos remain in my camera. 
This was an iphone shot, so it's able to be liberated......

I swear that I spend half my life looking for things I've misplaced.  It's ridiculously frustrating, but I seem to be unable to break the cycle. 

UPDATE: Village Soup covered the "Buy a Lobster Day" event, held throughout the St. George region:

PORT CLYDE (Oct 27): Buy Lobster Day, held Oct. 24 throughout St. George, has been deemed a success because many more lobsters were sold locally at the retail level than could normally be expected at this time of year.

Buy Lobster Day was cooked up by a group of St. George residents as a way to show support to the lobster fishermen. It was also hoped that the promotion would increase demand for lobster, and that the resultant increase in sales would lessen the glut of lobsters and help the lobstermen keep fishing.

Amanda Davis, assistant manager of the Port Clyde General Store, works at the checkout counter. (Photo by Michael Dworkin)

"I think it was a beautiful day," said Anne Klapfish, one of the organizers of Buy Lobster Day. "A lot of people turned out."

Amanda Davis, assistant manager of the Port Clyde General Store, said 425 pounds of lobster were sold at the store on Oct. 24, compared to the usual 30 pounds. The price was $3.25 per pound.

"We had people from New Hampshire and different parts of [Maine]," said Davis. "We had a family from Belfast buy 100 pounds." The people from Belfast told Davis they planned to share the bargain catch of lobsters among their extended family.

On Oct. 24 at the Fisherman's Co-op in Port Clyde, 450 pounds of lobster were sold at $3.50 per pound. Donald Schwab, the manager, said customers "were pretty happy."

"We didn't do it to make any money," said Schwab. "Just for the PR."

An unusual phenomenon for Wildcat Lobster in St. George was reported by Stephanie Simmons, who owns the lobster pound with her husband, Travis.

"There were times when people were standing there waiting in line," said Simmons. "We had a really successful day — I had people coming in who would buy 20 at a time."

The special price of the day was $3.25 per pound.

Simmons said a lot of the lobster buyers were local people who came to support their lobstering neighbors. But Simmons said some customers came from Lincolnville and beyond Augusta.

Harborside Market and Gardens in Martinsville reported much better than usual lobster sales despite charging $4.25 per pound.

"We're very small, but we sold our record number of lobsters," said Terry Bomba of Port Clyde, an employee of Harborside who was working there on Oct. 24. "People came in for that reason — to buy lobster — they wanted to help. Everyone who came in was very positive."

Donna Dearborn, the owner of Harborside, said the special promotion for the support of lobstermen did make a difference.

"It was good," said Dearborn. "For this time of year, it was really good."

Other businesses that participated in Buy Lobster Day included St. George Marine, Simmons Wharf and Witham's Lobster.

I love Maine and Mainers. We're self-reliant, we help each other and we know what's right and what's wrong.  I'm not a native, I'm from away, but I love this place like no other.

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Ah. Fall.

Fall is my favorite season of the year....until winter, when I love winter the most...until spring, when I adore spring...until summer when summer is my favorite season.