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.