Long time no postie. First week of winter edition.

After three weeks of weather that would swing from 0° overnight to 45° mid day a day or two later, it looks like the cold and snow has finally settled in. We had temps around 20° last night with a steady 15 mph wind and I'd guess 14" - 16" of snow.

I plowed twice between 3:00 and 9:00 but by midnight you never would have known. When patty left this morning the snow was deep enough that the undercarriage of her Jeep was dragging in the snow. The road crews left a snow drift 3' - 4' tall that she had to break through.


It took a little work to get the plow truck moving on the driveway (those dual rear wheel are a pain in deep snow), but once we were moving it made quick work of clearing the driveway. After our driveway I went to do the subdivision road and Katie's driveway. Katie's was no problem and things were going great on the Walker Farm road until the last pass. I was to close to the edge and was pulled off into the ditch getting good and stuck. I shut if off, then tried to start it later and it seems the starter has died. Add to that a failure of the pump on the plow and I've had a pretty great day.


I'm still kind of baffled how the started and the pump could die at the same time, right after I get it stuck. It's almost like someone is trying to tell me something.

Presently I'm home waiting for the wrecker to drop off the truck at my shop. They've no doubt had a busy day so I'm not expecting it until late.


I'm going to close on a warm and sunny note. This is us getting ready to take the boat out for a spin sometime in August. Doesn't a warm sunny day and a sea breeze sound great. Not even a week into winter and I'm already longing for summer.

Losing my child

Like most peoples kids, mine wake up earlier than I do. Thankfully both of mine are independent and I trust them enough to let them watch TV for a while until I get up and showered. This morning after Patty had left for work, Matthew woke me to let me know he was going to go back to sleep (they get up with Patty).

I dozed off for another hour and when I woke up the TV was on so I called for him. I got no response so I went into his room and saw that he was not in his bed. Next I went downstairs and saw that his pillow and blanket was on the floor but he was not. I started calling out for him with no response. I stepped out front and call for him, then out back. I then started checking every room in the house. He was nowhere to be found.

At this point I'm growing more and more nervous. He doesn't wander off and there is not any one place close to home he's always asking to go to. I have no idea where he may have wandered off to, the shop maybe. I try calling our Neighbor Leah to see if he's gone over there, but she's not home. I grab my fire radio and start to gather my thoughts as to how I'm going to call this in when I decide to make one more pass through the house and look in every possible space he could be in.

I look behind and under everything on the first floor and run upstairs. I open all the closets, look behind the big chair in their room and under the bed. In the guest room I open the closet and call out his name. Nothing. I turn around and pull a sleeping bag off the bed and there he is. Dead asleep.

I call out his named, shouting really, and he barely wakes. I shake him and one eye opens, then he rolls over and goes back to sleep.

I'm completely drained and so very happy I didn't make the call starting a missing child search on our road. The last call like that in our Town brought out police, fire and the warden service. I'm also pretty happy that I didn't actually lose Matthew.

Today is almost my birthday

In roughly 23 hours I'll be 39 years old. Wow! 39 years old. I think I'm suppose to go out and by a Corvette and start sleeping with my secretary.

Note to self: Hire Secretary.

More pictures

Boone, the black lab, is begrudgingly being used as a pillow.



Let the cooing begin.

Meet Hudson, or maybe Griffin. Possibly Turner.

As some of you know one of our dogs had gotten to the point where we had to put him down. Cole was a great dog and we miss him very much. Our other dog Boone was starting to act a bit lonely and we wanted the kids to enjoy having a puppy so after a little searching we found a breeder and now have a new canine addition to the family. The dog is an eight week old male Chocolate Lab that should max out around 80lbs. A bit smaller than Boone and Cole but a good sized dog.

The puppy has warmed up to Boone more than Boone has to the puppy, but I'm sure they'll become fast friends.

His name is undecided at this point. Matthew want's Beach Dog and Madi is lobbying for Sunset Sparkle Jones.

I'm assuming there will be tens of thousands of pictures to follow.

Hey look another political post

I'm not going to bore anyone with my yapping about the conventions or any of that.

I do want to pass this article along.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/661828.html

I enjoy the contrast of this Punk sticking his thumb in the eye of the political establishment of Cuba compared to the American hating knuckleheads that pass for Punk in the States. The modern American Punk likes to pretend that they're taking a huge risk by telling George Bush to fuck off when in truth it's about the safest thing one can do.

This guy and his band though, they are really sticking their necks out. Standing up against a true tyranny.

Watch the youtube video embedded in the page. Good stuff.

WARNING: Political post

I don't want to post political stuff here. There's enough of that available online and I really can't add to it. I am making this post today because I'm really floored by this article about Obama. The part that blows me over is not even about Obama, it's the creative use of language supposedly objective reporters are using, I assume, to lessen the effect of the truth on Obama.

Here is the article:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92PL7400&show_article=1

Here is the offending passage:

"Obama's target is an ad by the conservative American Issues Project, a nonprofit group that questions Obama's ties to Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground organization that took credit for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago. "

So when sixties radicals, Terrorists, bomb Federal buildings we call them "explosions" and we point out that they were "nonfatal", as if that makes the bombing OK. Ayers is a vile man and the Weather Underground crowd are/were as well. It kills me that these people were even allowed to integrate in normal society, let alone become University Professors after the horrible acts they committed. Nowadays Ayers claims he's proud of his actions as a Radical and wishes he'd done more.

In politics a persons associations are a valid way for a voter to determine the judgment of the candidate. You're known by the company you keep, and Obama has associated with some bad characters.

Union Fair

We spent a great day at the Union Fair. Lots of farm animals, really expensive junk food, rides and carni games. The kids had a blast. I'm including some photos but I assume Patty will do an Ophoto album so look for the email notice.

Yup, thems pigs.



This cow was in love with me. wherever I moved it would turn to look at me. When I walked away it let out a sad sounding Moo. We had a moment.



This sheep was in the Muslim section of the 4H hall. It's sporting the latest in sheep Burkas worn by all sheep of the Muslim faith. Ok I kid, there was no Muslim section in the 4H hall. It was a nice day so I'm guessing the covers are not to keep them warm, maybe it was to keep them clean before the were judging.



These two young cows were yoked together. They were absolutely pristine. So clean and pretty you wouldn't believe it. I wanted to go up and hug them.


I promised some people pictures of cute chicks and ducklings. Sadly all the avian critters were adults. The little guy is pretty cute though.



This guy, not so much.



Nor his cell mate.



This one's for you Alison. It was the best I could do.



Here's the family.


Matthew making fast work of his cone.



Believe it or not, there was a big cat show this year. Pretty cool to watch. A Lion, a couple of Lionesses, a big Siberian Tiger and a pair of Bengal Tigers including the white Tiger in this photo. The handler is dragging this Lion around by the foot. This animal was the comic relief in the show. It was a pretty corn show, but the kids liked it.

I envy these handlers, I'd love to play with one of these big cats. I feel the same way about grizzly bears. I just want to wrap my arms around one and wrestle with it.


And what country Fair would be complete without a demolition derby. It's been a long while since I've been to one. All the cars are small imports now. The last one I went to people were still using gigantic station wagons and Cadillacs from the '70.


Night.

BBQ/Rescue call/Boating

Patty, the kids and myself made a trip out to Northeast Harbor this afternoon for a thank you BBQ hosted by the N.E. Harbor Fire Dept. A few weeks ago they had a large fire that destroyed three buildings in the Center of town. Calls for additional man power were made and Fire Fighters from every department on the Island and many from the mainland responded. It was one of the largest fires this area has seen in a long time. The BBQ was great (really good pulled pork) and so was the weather for a change.

On the way home Patty and the kids wanted to take the boat out so we picked it up and headed to the Lamoine State park to launch it. Just as we got the trailer in the water the Lamoine Vol. Fire Dept. was toned out for report of some kids who had capsized their canoe in Raccoon Cove. I radioed dispatch that I was in the water in my personal boat and I was waiting for additional rescue personel before I would be underway. A few minutes later Stu Markoon arrived in 403 and grabbed some rescue equipment and we were off.

There was some confusion regarding location and while we were waiting for better directions we were informed that the kids had made it out of the water on thier own. So back to the dock we go.

After dropping off Stu and Bill, Patty and the kids jumped on and we headed out for the Skillings River because the kids wanted to see our house from the water. They were less than impressed once we got there (it is pretty obscurred by the trees), so we slowly made our way back to the mouth of the river looking at all the other fancy homes, then back to the launch and home.

It was a busy day, but nice to be outside in the great weather (we've had a ton of rain lately).

Lamoine School Playground

The day finally arrived (Thank GOD!), and thanks to Jay Fowler and Sons (Jay and Perry) getting the ground work done on very short notice, EBS (Ellsworth Building Supply) donating Sono-Tubes and timbers, Harold Huebner for clearing the large trees, Granville Rental for providing a post hole digger and Sunrise Materials for the concrete, a group of six volunteers were able to assemble and install all the new playground equipment.

Sunrise will be by Wednesday to pour the concrete and a few days later the site will be covered by wood chips.



Management providing much needed direction.

Afternoon boating

We spent a couple of hours out on the boat today, just motoring around enjoying the sun.

The kids and Patty all had a turn at the wheel. If I can find time this week we'll try and get some Mackerel fishing in.

cars, carsing and cars stuff

New cars x 2 at our house. A GMC full size truck and a Jeep Commander. If the trend continues, next week we'll pick up some Jet Ski's or some ATV's. Following that there are snowmobiles, and motor cycles then maybe a motor home.


Pictures at 11:00.

Boat, boating, boat stuff.

We picked up a boat Monday afternoon. By 5:00 we had it in Eastern Bay off the Lamoine State park. It's a 17' sport fishing boat made by Key West Boats. Here is a link to the manufactures page: 1720dc

Ours is a 2001 with a 115hp four stroke Suzuki. The current year boat looks the same as the 2001.

I'll post some picture later.

Weekend Fire Call

There are not a lot of structure fires in my part of the world, but this last Saturday we were toned out for a mutual aid call by Ellsworth.

The tone came in around 10:50pm with a call for station coverage that was moments later changed to a call for interior attack qualified personnel. Lamoine Rescue 403 and Engine 401 rolled to the scene as did a number of people in personal vehicles.

I got there about 11:15 and by that time the roof above the rear portion of the building had collapsed. A Lamoine crew lead by Kevin Kane (Capt. Ellsworth FD) entered into the forward section of the building in an effort to limit the spread of fire. I was part of that team. The entire forward portion of the building was smoke filled, but no fire was showing. We advanced a 1.75" line to the back wall of the forward section, breached a solid core door and found the room behind it completely involved. I was number two on the hose line with Mike Jordan (LT, Lamoine vol. FD) on the nozzle. We opened the hose up on the ceiling, taking down the drop ceiling tiles and discovered the fire was above us and advancing towards the front of the building in the attic space. On Kevin's orders we closed the door and withdrew to our point of entry.

At this point we did some recovery of musical equipment, speakers and amplifiers before the fire and water destroyed them. Next Mike and I assisted Kevin while he pulled the ceiling down so we could slow/stop the fires advance through the attic. While we were putting water into the ceiling a crew outside using a 2.5" hose line was doing the same. They had cut an access hole through the gable end of the building. A 2.5" will move a lot of water so it didn't take long for them to pump enough water into the attic space above us to cause the Sheetrock above us to fail. When the ceiling came down on us we got pounded by all that stored water all at once, then a continuous down pour from the stream. It was a tremendous impact when it let go.

At this point I was in need of a fresh bottle of air so I left the building to swap it out. By the time I returned to my area, Incident Command had pulled everyone out of the building and we were working the fire in a defensive mode. A few minutes later I went to rehab. At this point we stood by as other crews and the ladder truck worked the fire.

There is a reason they call it fishing and not catching.

No hook, no bait, and no fish in the pool.

We'll just tell everyone he was working on his casting.

My couch is sticky, like a sweaty fat man

When we first moved to Maine, Patty and I spent more than I care to admit on a leather sectional couch. We were sitting at the kitchen counter asking ourselves: "Should we spend all this money on poor starving kids in South America, or should we get a large piece of furniture?". I've never looked into the details, but I'm pretty sure an entire village vanished due to our selfishness.

Anyway, it's summer in Maine and for us that means one day it'll be beautiful and 80 and the next 65 and completely overcast with dense fog rolling in off the water. On the humid days (like today) my wonderful leather sectional soaks up the moisture in the air, then in the evening when it cools down it becomes as comfortable to lean against as a wet dog. So there I sit, with a fleece blanket between me and the offending leather.

I guess the moral of this story is to choose life. Or maybe it's to buy suede instead of a buffed full grain leather. I don't know. All I know is, my couch is pretty gross to sit on sometimes.

The first sign of the coming apocalypse.

The AP is reporting that Starbucks is closing 600 underperforming stores. They're also limiting new openings to just 200 for fiscal 2009.

Think of all the caffeine deprived zombies that'll be wandering the streets. You can't just cut off people after you get them strung out like that.

It's time to dig fallout shelters, start hording water and canned food. Go by a gun, the end is nigh.

Kids should be seen, not heard.

One way to put this idea into effect is to put them to work. I've set up a little sweatshop at my place staffed by my kids making round metal parts with threaded holes in them.

Actually Madi is drilling and tapping a backing plate for a new lathe chuck that's going on the Sheldon Lathe. Matthew really wanted to help, but even on the step stool he's just not big enough to work the levers.

The events of the evening of Aug 18, 2002

The Bat Cave has a funky 70's sound track...

So I'm sitting in front of the T.V. in my normal late night catatonic state with Blacksploitation classic, Foxy Brown (1974, starring Pam Grier) playing on the Independent Film Channel. I hear some strange sound from the fireplace so I go get a flashlight to check it out. I find nothing in the fireplace so I plant my ass back on the couch. A moment later, out of the corner of my eye I see what at first I think is a big moth,,,,, a very very very big moth...... Oh shit!!! It's a BAT!! I scream like a school girl and run to the other room. My first thought is "I need my shot gun", my second thought is "Well that was a stupid idea, a broom would work better".

I scream to my wife to close Madi's bedroom door and hers. I quickly turn on all the lights in the house so I can see the damn thing. With all the lights on the bat is starting to freak out, making loops through the living room and dining room. My dog was sprawled out on the floor watching the bat go round and round like this was something that happened every night. My wife starts coming down the stairs until the bat zooms past her at eye level. Changing her mind she heads back upstairs leaving me to deal with the bat, what a wimp.

By this time I had my weapon at hand, the bat was starting to target me, making dive bomb passes as I advanced towards the living room. it swooped into the hallway and I took a swing at it and missed. It made another pass and I took another swing missing again. On the third pass I could see that the bat was coming in for the kill, it was him or me. He banked left then right, looking for a weak spot in my defenses, then he dove for my neck. Standing my ground, knowing I had to take him out to save my skin, it was do or die. With ninja like skill and swiftness I brought the broom down and slayed the evil dragon with one fell swoop...... Ok that was bullshit, I was swinging the broom around like a hysterical 12 year old girl, and with some dumb luck (that magical force that's done so much for me over the years) I managed to kill that flying rat.

So I'm back watching Foxy Brown, and Superfly is on next. Really bad 70's movies and a little mortal combat make for a good night.

The Smiths give me vertigo

First post.

I always wanted to do that.

So I'm a bit under the weather. It's some kind of odd G.I. thing where I feel crappy one day, good the next then back to crappy. I blame the kids. Since they've become social and started school I've been bombarded with various malady's. Anyway back to the subject of this post. As I said, I'm under the weather, but as a good independent contractor I'm working remotely to make a Tuesday deadline. So I'm sitting at my desk Setting up an IDS log monitor front-end thingy listening to iTunes, when The Smiths How Soon Is Now starts playing and that weird reverb side to side intro is coming out of the speakers and I started feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy. A few more seconds of it and I'd have had to hold onto the desk or rush to the bathroom.

Anyway that's it, no moral to the story, The Smiths make my head spin.