Winter Shots around the Homestead

Most of us in New England will agree that it has been a very mild winter this season. Of course as I say this it is 16 degrees here with a light snow falling. To put it in perspective though we have only had the driveway plowed three times this winter and tomorrow is February 1st. Here are some winter shots I took around the yard.

The Stonewall

Redosier Dogwood?

 I think this may be a Redosier Dogwood but I'm not sure.  According to Native Plants for your Maine Garden by Maureen Heffernan this native shrub is grown for its red stems which add a nice contrast to the winter landscape. It is supposed to have small white flowers in the spring followed by rounded clusters of white fruit.  We'll see if I have identified this correctly as spring rolls along. 

Birch and Pine

Backside of the Bethel Inn

I'm on one of twelve local dart teams in Bethel and last night we played our match in the Millbrook Tavern at the Bethel Inn.  From the dart board I could look down the hill and see the front light shining from my house. I like that. 

Kayaking on the Androscoggin

On Saturday Lauren and I finally went kayaking on the Androscoggin River. We have done this three or four times in the past but this is the first time we went since we have moved here. What has taken us so long? Oh yeah….all those other life events. It was a great day for kayaking and we did see one bald eagle with a fish in its talons as it flew off to build some distance between us.

Unfortunately there was one annoying group of kids, 20 or so, putting in around the same time we were with coolers of beer, bottles of Jaegermeister, a boom box, and mouths yelling the f-bomb every minute or so. Fortunately they were in canoes that kept tipping over and were moving slow enough that we were able to paddle ahead and out of earshot range. I just hope all the bottles and cans made it back to land.

It felt good to get on the river again.

Table Rock Loop Trail

View from Table Rock in Grafton Notch State Park

I have been asking myself recently why I have not gone hiking more since I now live in the land of abundant mountains and trails. The White Mountain National Forest is practically in my back yard and Grafton Notch State Park is just a short ride to the north. So I kicked my lazy butt out of bed this morning, laced up the hiking boots, threw some water and trail mix in a day pack and headed to Grafton Notch State Park with the purpose of climbing the Table Rock Loop Trail. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this trail and it did not disappoint. You get a lot of bang for the buck on this particular trail (okay it’s a 2 buck honor system fee). They have a nice parking lot at the trailhead where you cross the road (Route 26) and begin hiking the Appalachian Trail for a very short while (0.1 mile) before you have a decision to make which is:

a) Do I go counter-clockwise and take the steep and rocky trail up? This is the orange blaze trail, or

b) Do I continue up the moderately steep Appalachian Trail for about one mile and then branch off to the right on a relatively easy trail toward Table Rock? (Blue blaze trail)

I chose option B and reached Table Rock in about 45 minutes. The views here are spectacular looking at Old Speck Mountain directly ahead, Sunday River Whitecap to the south and the Eyebrow to the north. Although the weatherman last night said a high pressure system would make this day sunny it was cloudy enough to keep the top of Old Speck hidden from view.

So I continued the loop which is 2.4 miles taking the orange blaze (steep and rocky) trail back down which is hard on the legs. I met a couple who said they have done this hike many times and think it is easiest to do it the other way. I have to agree with them so unless you only want to take the blue blaze trail back and forth I would recommend taking the steep (orange blaze) trail up and the (blue blaze) trail down. If you’re in pretty good shape this is really a worthwhile hike.

Old Speck

The Eyebrow

Mellow Yellow

I took this photo with my phone camera. It's beauty for the eyes and a pleasure to have on a morning walk.

I Got Lucky

When I was young the term “I got lucky” had a whole different connotation and now when I say “I got lucky” I mean something like …I just won a pair of free tickets to see and hear some cool music in a really neat place…which is exactly what happened to me last week. You see I entered this contest on a radio station I like here in Maine known as WCLZ and about a week later they emailed me to say I had won a pair of tickets to see Carol Noonan at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine for January 20th. This really was a prize because Lauren and I have been talking about going to this place for the past 12 months. If you check out their website you will see why http://www.stonemountainartscenter.com/ArtsCenter/ .
What they do is they bring in amazing musicians and entertainers with some pretty well known names like Joan Baez, Robert Cray, and The Indigo Girls to a “beautiful- new” post and beam barn structure located out in the middle of nowhere to entertain you, me, and the locals. There was such a nice vibe at this place that words cannot explain it. The box office lobby is a “beautiful-old” post and beam barn that they had moved just a short distance on the site and rebuilt. The bartender was one of the people who helped to rebuild the lobby barn which brings me to another point. You really sense “community and love” here, from the people who work at multiple tasks, to the songs you hear, and from Carol’s desire to give back to the community. In fact this event was labeled as The Album Release for Waltzing’s for Dreamers by Carol Noonan who notes that the sale proceeds will be used to “To put on some free shows for our recession hard-hit community…”

Before I end let me say you can eat here before the show at the same table where you will then experience the show and the food is good and plenty. We had a delicious large salad with fruits, nuts, and cheese which we split and still brought home half. I then had the salmon chowder loaded with chunks of fish and other goodies which came in a bowl the size of a small bathtub. Okay I exaggerated here but not by much, you’ll see and yes I took at least half of that home too.

Carol Noonan and the Stone Mountain Band is so worth seeing if you can create the opportunity and I think you will feel lucky when you arrive at the Stone Mountain Arts Center even if you have to pay for the tickets

More Foliage

Bethel, Maine

Lauren and I took a trip over to Marden’s yesterday in Rumford to pick up some stuff and took these photos along the way.  I bought another leaf rake, some copper piping insulation, a couple of wood chisels, some sheet rock nails and a few plastic buckets. We also conveniently found ourselves next to the Route 2 Diner in Rumford Center at lunch time so we pulled in and both had Hash Benedict where they make their hash fresh each day. The weather has been too nice lately which leads me to believe that there must be a big storm brewing for us in the future.  Enjoy the day!

Rumford Center

Androscoggin River at Rumford Center

Living in Number 2

The Homestead at 8:30 this morning

Living in number 2 is spectacular. In the current issue of Yankee Magazine they rank the Top 25 Foliage Towns in New England and Bethel, Maine comes in at number 2.   

http://www.yankeefoliage.com/ffeatures/top-foliage-towns-ne#/cms/images/image_8570.jpg

For the past three weeks I’ve been relishing the onslaught of colors presented here each day. Mother Nature seems pretty diplomatic on how she goes about this as well. Maybe she knows that not everyone can be in the same spot on one weekend so while one tree may be totally void of leaves the one next to it will be peaked with orange, red, and yellow, while the next tree to that will still be predominantly green saving itself to show off next weekend.

Color Diplomacy

It’s at times like this when I fantasize about being independently wealthy and artistic where I could just roam the countryside, situate myself in a beautiful spot and then spend the day painting it.  

A Fall Weekend with Friends

Moose

This past weekend our longtime friends Doug and Ellen Guidry came to visit us and check out the Bethel area.  It was Ellen’s birthday on Saturday and her wish was to see a moose.   As you can see by the picture above we were able to deliver her birthday wish.  We saw this Bullwinkle in Grafton Notch State Park after we had checked out Screw Auger Falls.  It was off to the side in the woods when I spotted it so I pulled over and shut off the engine.  Instead of going further into the woods like I expected it would, it walked up the embankment into the middle of the road, stopped and posed for us while we took this photo.   We continued on our leaf peeping journey working our way into the center of Andover, ME where we stopped for an ice cream cone at the Andover General Store and Diner on what was likely the last day for this season to get one according to the nice young girl who was working this day. We then showed Ellen and Doug the swimming hole at the Andover Lovejoy Covered Bridge which Ellen told me reminds me her so much of the swimming hole of her childhood in Pennsylvania.

 

Saturday night Lauren cooked up a fabulous dinner of Baked Haddock, Sunshine Squash, and Roasted Red Beets.   The beets and squash were locally grown in Bethel while the Haddock came from our lobsterman Tucker C. Jordan of Cape Elizabeth who sells it here at the local farmers market.

On Sunday before Doug and Ellen left to head back to Gloucester, MA we all stopped at the Swain Farm Stand to buy some squash and take pictures. This is the first year I ever ate Sunshine Squash and it is now, officially my favorite squash of all time.  It is a deep red orange color when cooked and is sooo…Delicious.  If you have never tried it before please do and then tell me what you think. 

All weekends must come to an end and the Gids eventually had to go. Thanks for coming to visit us Doug and Ellen. We really enjoyed your company and having you visit helps the house feel more like a home. 

The Pace of Life on Main Street in Bethel, Maine

Objects Found

Every now and then I try to imagine who may have lived in this old house before us.  I know some of the answers thanks to the neighbors and the Bethel Historical Society but I certainly don’t know them all.  The other night I was sitting in the guest bedroom, which is now the nicest room in the house, and is also the oldest part of this house.  I can tell it’s the oldest by the Post and Beam construction, hand hewn beams, and the wide pine boards, some over 20 inches wide.  It would have been a cabin when it was first built, basically a living area and kitchen on the first level and the sleeping room above it.  There was most likely an outhouse somewhere nearby. I tried to picture how many people lived here way back at the beginning. Were there a bunch of children? What did they do to survive? This lot of land is only ¾ of an acre now but was it once a larger parcel that they had cleared to farm?  Did they cut timber?  Did they work at one of the original mills across the street on Mill Brook making staves or grinding grain?  What did they eat most of the time? What did they wear?  With no electricity what did they do at the end of the day and what time did they go to sleep?  My imagination was reeling so vividly that I felt like I could almost see them and feel them in the room. 

So now and then I find an interesting object(s) that get me thinking and here’s a sampling so far:

Do they think I'm the 19th hole?

I know the story here; bad golfers.  Living across the street from the second tee of the Bethel Inn and Country Club a severe slice will many times end up in my yard.  I haven’t been hit yet by a golf ball but I did see one land 6 feet in front of me a month ago.  I also noticed that the golfers don’t yell “fore” when they head my direction like they do when they can actually see someone that their ball may hit.  I’m thinking if I ever do get beaned by a ball and don’t hear “fore” maybe I should unload the contents of one these boxes back in their direction one by one every second and when the box is empty I’ll yell “fore”.  Well that would be mean, but funny if you could see their reaction.

Cut Nails

Cut Nails. They’re very cool and I did not think they were manufactured any longer but they are.  The Tremont Nail Company in Mansfield, MA http://www.tremontnail.com/    makes them just like they did 190 years ago.  It looks like you can buy a pound of these (approximately 165 nails) for $7.15.  That seems like a bargain.

Moosehead Padlock

An old padlock with a moose head engraving.  I found this tucked away between some rafters in the unfinished loft area. I wonder what they used the lock for?   I wonder where the key is?  I wonder if Antiques Road Show would tell me it’s worth $20,000?

Porcelain doll arm - Broken pottery

The pottery chunks I found in the house and I can’t tell if they’re kind of old or really old.  The arm is like porcelain and would be from a small doll.  I found this out in the yard a few weeks ago when I was raking. I imagine a young girl named Lisa was out in the yard playing with her doll one day when her brother came over and teasing her, grabbed the doll and then tossed it where upon the arm broke off.  The girl ran into the house crying to mother that Eddie had broken her doll.  Mother yelled “Eddie… come - here – right - now.”   Although Eddie tried to say it was an accident he couldn’t pull one over on mother who spanked him, gave him extra chores to do, and then sent him to his bedroom for the rest of the day.  The doll arm remained right where it broke off all these many years covered by dirt and leaves just waiting for me to pick it up and write this blog.

Turmoil

This last item is really the most interesting.  I found it near the padlock under a loose board and a bunch of dirt in the loft.  I began to read… “Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil…” and then I really couldn’t make out much of the rest of it.  My thoughts were wow, this was written by a tortured soul and could this be a suicide note?  It was a creepy feeling.  I didn’t realize it was a Psalm until I Googled the part I could read and lo and behold it brought me right to Psalm 94:19 which in full reads:

"Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer."

I feel a little better knowing this person was asking for renewed hope and cheer but this is the kind of stuff when you find it that really gives you a sense of what at least one person was feeling who lived here. 

The Culahs are coming, The Culahs are coming

This past week there was a very noticeable change in the colors of the trees.  Saturday was a beautiful sunny warm day and although we had many house projects to do it was way too nice do to any of them.  Instead we did what any rational being should…we goofed off.  After we went to the transfer station we decided to explore the hills and some areas where we have not been yet and all I can is wow. Having been in California for the last five fall foliage seasons I have really missed this special time of year in New England which is so brief and so beautiful. It feels wonderful to be in the middle of it as each day more trees join the chorus of colors.  So here are a few pictures of the start of the season and we’ll see when she peaks.

Later this day we were invited to dinner at our friend’s house who earlier had met a thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail when she was walking her dog in Grafton Notch State Park and invited him to dinner also.  Greg Harris, with a trail name of “small-blue-dot” is from Austin, Texas and he started walking the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain, GA in April of this year.  I can’t remember if he said he left April 6^th or 26^th but either way he’s been walking for awhile.  He plans on reaching Mount Katahdin before October 15^th when they apparently close Baxter State Park for overnight camping.  Greg was a very thoughtful person and it was a treat to for us to be in his company for a few hours.  We wish you safe travels on the rest of your journey Greg.

A Late Afternoon in Andover, Maine

Wednesday I knocked off from working just after 5:00 pm and Lauren and I drove up to go swimming at the covered bridge in Andover, Maine. I guess technically, looking at the map it’s considered South Andover. It’s about 18 miles from our house and a beautiful ride though that valley that probably has a name but where the Ellis River serpentines its way south toward the Androscoggin River which it joins at Rumford Point. The Andover Covered Bridge which is also known as the Lovejoy Bridge was built in 1867. There is a plenty of perfect white “beach” sand on the east side of the river bank where you can plunk down your towel before you jump in for a swim. The water was cool and refreshing. The scene was… well…did you ever see an ugly wooden covered bridge? It was beautiful. We stayed for about an hour and then decided to drive over to a nearby lake which we heard was another good swimming spot. The lake apparently has three different names, Ellis Pond, Silver Lake, or Roxbury Pond, so take your pick. It was a beautiful lake with the sun getting ready to set beyond the tree covered hills on the west side, a couple of kayakers, a water skier, a few kids happily swimming from the dock of their family cabin, and multiple other conversations carrying over the still water of a peaceful summer late afternoon. Lauren did a solo swim at this lake which was quite a bit warmer than the Andover Bridge swimming hole.
We then continued to drive to the east side of the lake to check out the summer camps and cabins which eventually turned into a dirt road. Now I love dirt roads even though you shake, it’s loud and you stir up dust as you drive along. You really know you’re in the country when you are driving along a dirt road. Just before we crossed Garland Brook I spotted two Moose off in clearing maybe 100 yards away. We just stopped the car and watched them. They watched us… and after about 8 minutes of that they decided we were boring and headed into the woods. Naturally we forgot our camera which we seem to do a lot on occasions like this. The pictures above are from other times when we actually remembered our camera.
My plan was to take a road I saw on the map on the north side of the lake that heads back east toward Andover. It was 7:30 pm now beginning to get dark and I think Lauren was beginning to get nervous, out in the middle of nowhere… on a dirt road….with me. She took out The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer to check out my plan. Then she got technical on me and pointed out that the dirt road we’ve been shaking are brains around on for the last 15 minutes was considered a “Other Passable Road” according to the map legend and that the next road I was planning to take was called a “Unimproved Road”, and that the next thing below that would be called a “Trail”. So in a sign that I must be maturing in life I turned around and headed back in the direction we came.
We made it back to the center of Andover just before 8:00 pm and were hungry. Luckily we made it in time to eat at the General Store and Diner before they closed. What is the best way to end a day in Maine? How about a Lobster Roll on a toasted bun, with French fries and homemade Cole slaw for $7.99? Yes, we took two. Mmmm…Per-fect-O! So far this is the best tasting and best lobster roll deal I’ve come across. But we are not done as we seek to find more swimming holes and eat yet more lobster rolls. Thanks for stopping by. - Pete

Summer..and the Living is Fun

Summer is my favorite time of year. This July had been so nice with family coming to visit and doing all those summer things like toasting marshmellows on a campfire, swimming in a river or pond, watching fire works, hanging at the Mollyockett Days fair and celebration here in Bethel, listening to live music at the gazebo, eating lobster rolls, watching the frog jumping contest, watching the parade, looking at fireflies blink off then on in our yard. Summer is my Nirvana and here are just a few of the photos taken over the last month.

Spring is here!

I guess once you cut your lawn for the first time of the season it has to be spring. I cut my lawn for the first time last Saturday with the new Honda lawn mower I bought. All I can say is the lawn mower is wicked nice and my lawn seems wicked big. It’s looking nice after I made the cut and raked up all the twigs and thatch in the lawn. No sooner did I finish that and about 200 dandelions popped up out of the lawn two days later. Some people consider dandelions weeds but I actually like them. I think they look beautiful with their bright round yellow heads in contrast against a dark green lawn. I don’t intend to purposely get rid of them except when I mow them down next time. But I won’t dig them up or put weed killer on them. Give me dandelions any day just take my bamboo.
So new events since the last time I wrote would be; I paid my taxes so now I’m broke, our neighbor caught a raccoon that was rummaging around our barn in a Hav-a-Hart trap and relocated it for us, and we now know we have a Porcupine that comes into the barn because I’ve found two quills recently where it seems it has a fondness for the wood which is part of the stairs. It just chews away on the wood. We joined the Bethel Historical Society and attended a talk there two weeks ago.
We also joined the CSA at Middle Intervale Farm in Bethel. If you don’t know, a C.S.A stands for Community Supported Agriculture and what it really does is build a relationship between you and the farmer who grows the food you put in your mouth. When I go to the “supermarket” I have no idea who grew the lettuce, tomatoes, and asparagus or raised the beef I bought to eat. At the CSA I do know. Cynthia Flores and her helpers grow the veggies and John Carter raises the Angus cattle for the beef. The other benefit is the food we purchase here will only travel 3 miles back to my house before I eat it and not a few hundred or a few thousand miles. So with the CSA you pay them some upfront money and commit that you’ll be a customer and for that they give you a dividend of extra food. For example $150 will buy us $160.50 worth of food so it’s equal to a 7% dividend. This farm has a wonderful farm stand where it’s done on the honor system. You select your items, write down your name and amount and leave the cash in the cookie tin unless you’re a CSA member where you just log your purchase. Lauren and I went there yesterday because they just opened for the season. We bought some fiddleheads and some Angus T-bone steaks for the grill and had a feast. Yum!
We finally went to Massachusetts on Monday to pick up Dusty our cat that was staying with Amber, Tommie and the in-laws. It’s been two nights in Maine and I think she likes it. She has new places to explore, new smells to smell and maybe she even missed me and Lauren.
Today a young deer crossed over our lawn and then went across the street to the brook and golf course but Dusty missed that sighting. Finally the picture of the Turkey above Lauren took on Monday in front of Rite-Aid which is the busiest intersection in Bethel…..not that we have a lot of busy intersections to choose from. We’re enjoying spring and hope all of you are too!

The First Meal

Today is our official 1 month celebration of living in this house and we have lots that we’ve accomplished. One big accomplishment was having our first dinner guests for a sit down meal. My sister Anna, Doug, and their daughters Helen and Ella came for a visit last Saturday and were our very first dinner guests. This is yet another example of how Desire Moves because Lauren had a strong vision of having family over for some homemade beef stew served in blue bowls and on red plates around a big table in the dining room here in Maine and… it happened! Lauren bought the bowls and plates at Crate and Barrel in California with a gift certificate that some of her friends had given her from work as a going away gift. Doug helped me bring in the dining room table from the barn to set it up and minutes later we were having our first meal. The beef stew was delicious as Lauren had the beef slow cooking in a Crock Pot from the night before and pre-roasted the vegetables before adding them in near the time of eating for a great texture and taste. Served with hot bread, butter and beer it was Delishio! Nice job Lauren.

We have been doing so many little projects that I’m starting to lose track of what was done. We’ve cut doors to make them fit better, primed and painted the kitchen ceiling, painted the bathroom floor, installed two new sets of accent lighting in the kitchen which required installing junction boxes and we put in a new countertop in one section of the kitchen to make it clean and workable. For the counter we used ¼ inch birch plywood and then put three coats of Good Stuff on it which makes it a food safe surface. Good Stuff is more like a paste then a poly-urethane so you apply it with a rag versus a brush. To be honest, I don’t know how this can be food safe because you need to have ventilation when you apply it, you’re supposed to avoid eye and skin contact and it ate through the fingertips of the latex glove I had on. The pictures above show how the kitchen looked when we bought the place and then how it looks now. We’re calling this temporary because we have plans (in our mind) to really re-do it nicely when we have the money (in our pocket).

I also started to cut some of the limbs on the pine trees in our yard which I’ll be cutting down to allow for more sunlight and it will also make the yard look bigger and our stone wall will be more noticeable. There’s also a fair amount of bamboo I have to get rid of. It’s not the nice tall bamboo that Panda Bears eat. It’s about 4 to 5 feet high and from everything we can tell and from everyone we’ve talked to this could be a real challenge.

Finally I need to talk about “noises in the night.” When we moved into the place we replaced and installed a bunch of new smoke alarms. To be exact five new smoke alarms and one carbon-monoxide alarm and they are all battery operated. About a week ago at 3:05 AM one of them went off. It only beeped once but it was loud and one beep was all I needed to bolt out of bed to see if the place is on fire. I couldn’t smell smoke or see flames upstairs so I ran down stairs and checked out all the rooms and the basement. Nothing, no smoke, no flames, just one loud beep. I chalked it up to weird smoke alarm behavior and eventually went back to sleep.

Three nights ago at 5:15 AM Lauren and I both woke up to this sort of high pitched squeaking sound. I jumped out of bed to try to figure it out. What was it and where is it coming from? At first it sounded to me like a bird had somehow gotten into the house and was now flying around frantically trying to get out. But as I searched around the sound had stopped and I was stumped. So I went to the bathroom, because I usually do that anyway once a night and heard the noise nearby again. With my flashlight in hand I aimed it at the noise just in time to see the tail end of a mouse scuttle under some boards in the floor. I told Lauren what our noise was and she laughed saying something like “Oh brother…. a raccoon, mud, and now a mouse. So first thing in the morning I went to Western Maine Supply and came back with eight mouse traps. I smeared peanut butter on all of them and set three in the basement, three near the area where I saw the mouse and two in the ell to the barn. I felt confident I would have one by the next morning but when I woke and checked all the traps, nothing. Mmmm?

Oh well… we went to Portland today and had lunch with Amber and Tommie and to give Amber “The Pickle” which is the green van we have borrowed from Lauren’s parents for the last two months to take back to Gloucester. Of course it was nice to see them…because it always is. We ate at Gilbert’s Chowder House having some seafood and chowder. Speaking only for myself I’ll give it 3.5 out of 5 Lobster Claws…Sorry Gilbert….the chowder was too cool to begin with and the clam cakes were…eh…okay but not great. Your waitress was very nice though.
We made it back home about 5:30 tonight and lo and behold… I got one. Sorry Mr. Mouse but the trap I had set pretty close to where I saw him was too much temptation. It must have snapped perfectly and then it fell eight feet down hitting the bathroom floor landing just one foot away from the toilet. Can you imagine….? Oh well, never mind. Here’s to one month of living in Bethel and more adventures! Thanks for checking in.

I’m not sure Where to Begin?

I’m pretty sure this is what Lauren and I say on a daily basis since we’ve moved into our home. So allow me to randomly blab on my blog. Today we bought a 2002 Ford Explorer from Bob Everett at Bethel Auto Sales which was an enjoyable experience. I even enjoyed registering the car. Why? Because it was so easy. We went to the Town Hall, walked up to the counter, gave the woman our paperwork and a check for $157.98 and walked out seven minutes later with our registration and two license plates to put on the car. No line of people, no “take a number” machine, no wait. That is the way life should be…and is.
So we’re coming up on our full third week of living here and Lauren says that she has two nemesis; MUD and a certain raccoon. Lauren has been mopping and cleaning up layers of dirt, mud and whoseknowswhat from the floors and walls of the house. What makes it more challenging is that Mud-Season has officially begun and anyone who steps from our muddy driveway into the house has the ability to ruin all of Lauren’s hard labor. If we could Lauren would pave the driveway tomorrow with asphalt. This is coming from a girl who would always give her dad a hard time anytime he seriously considered paving his gravel driveway in Massachusetts. During Mud Season heavy trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds (I think) cannot drive over certain secondary road which is what the orange sign in the picture represents. That sign was posted on March 4th and stays in effect until May 15th so that basically means we have up to 2 and 1/2 months of mud season. I built a little pre-step from the driveway to our porch that hopefully will help, then we have two mats to wipe your feet before you even enter the door, then we have a 4 foot by 6 foot mega-mat just inside the door where everyone WILL take off their shoes and walk around the house in socks until the mud is gone or we get the driveway paved.
Now the Raccoon is the critter that has been crawling all over our stuff in the barn because it is not secure from the outside. It would take me a couple of days to secure the barn because there are so many open access points but we have other things in the house that need more attention. We didn’t have any food in the boxes in the barn but the raccoon thought that Teabags, Metamucil and Hungarian Paprika might make a meal so it ripped into those boxes and now has no problems with constipation.
Let me end by saying that we have couches in the living room, a working TV with about 20 stations, heat and hot water, beer in the “Frigidaire” and unity in the community. Thanks for checking in.

It Feels like Home

We did it! We moved into our house a week ago today and have had seven days of house projects and seven nights of warm comfortable sleep. Our biggest surprise and delight is just how warm this house is. We never turn the thermostats higher than 68 degrees and it always seems to be warm. In fact I think I probably made a $5,000 mistake by putting baseboard heat on the second floor because it has never come on until we finally forced it to come on last night for the first time. We’ll set the thermostat to 62 degrees at night on the first floor and the second floor seems to stay at 67 degrees with the rise of the heat. Oh well another lesson learned.
It was a busy week and although I can’t show you anything as impressive as a new heating system we did accomplish a lot of little things and that is what we “need” to do because this house has a thousand little things that need to be done. First we got our new FRIGIDAIRE Refrigerator delivered to the house. It has an EnergyStar approval and averages only $41 an year in cost, yay…go green! Because we bought it at Agren Appliance in South Paris, Maine we got a free DVD player and they’re taking care of the $100 rebate we receive. I have to side step here for one moment to acknowledge my memory of Annie Van Ness, Lauren’s Grandmother who always called any refrigerator, no matter what make, “the Frigidaire.”
Another important item we had installed was the Cable Internet and TV Service from Time Warner Cable because….well like everyone else in the US that’s the only choice we had. Oh yeah, I could get Satellite or I could string together some coffee cans and stick an aluminum pie plate on my roof. Whatever happened to free TV? Yes we have “choice”; Pay or… stay in the Dark Ages. I apologize, I digressed.
Let’s see, we got our bedroom set up and we have my office space functional. We found the curtains we were looking for so now we have curtains in the bedroom instead of a bedspread hanging over them. I replaced some old broken floor boards in the first floor bathroom and enclosed one of the two doors in it so we had sensible place to put “The Frigidaire” (yes, we put it on the other side of the bathroom). I replaced some of the old smoke alarms with new ones and installed an extra one. I insulated many of the gaps and cracks in the basement foundation with fiberglass insulation and GREAT STUFF Expanding Foam Insulation. When you can see daylight between some of the granite rocks you know you need to fill it. I removed the old stovetop and oven and will haul that to the dump later today.
Lauren is a cleaning and painting machine. There are multiple layers of dirt, grease, crud, and grime on every surface area in the house and armed with TSP and DAWN Liquid Detergent she is cleaning, scrubbing, re-cleaning and then painting. Until we can get to the point where we can actually remodel the kitchen and bath we’re just trying to get it to “clean and bearable”. She’s doing a great job. Lauren also seems to like going to the hardware store as much as I do. That’s a picture of her in front of Western Maine Supply taken yesterday just as the snow started to come in. I think she likes some of the recognition she gets from the guys coming into the store. Hey, if it puts a smile on her face…it’s okay.
It wasn’t all work and no play last week. Lauren had three of her longtime friends, Mary, Mona, and Cindy come up for a visit from Gloucester on Tuesday. I got to hang out with them that night where we had a nice supper and then went to Sud’s Pub for a drink and where Scott the bartender commented on my “Harem”. After that it was over to the Funky Red Barn where we played a game of pool and there were only two other guys there but Mary knew them because they were from Gloucester too. It’s a small world.
On Friday we went out to dinner with Susie and Gary who we had rented an apartment from in their house for the month we were here while waiting for our heat to be installed. We stayed a little more than a month so instead of charging us they said “take us out for dinner and we’ll call it even”. So we went to the Jolly Drayman at the Briar Lea Inn which is an English style Pub and had a wonderful dinner and wonderful time. Gary actually bought the Briar Lea years ago when it was just an old farmhouse and turned it into an Inn by installing ten bathrooms and a ton of other work so we now know a lot about the history and evolution of the place.
Well it’s Sunday and I’ve got work to do. I have to go to the dump for starters. The other picture above is the scene from our bedroom window this morning. Thanks for checking in and hope you are all well! Peter

Progress Report from Bethel

It’s been three weeks since we rolled in to Bethel and things are progressing fairly well. Community Energy was working every day last week on installing our new propane gas furnace and hot water system. It’s a big job because they’re removing the defunct oil burner and tank from the wet and damp basement and installing a new gas burner on the first floor. Also they’re installing new baseboard radiator on the second floor where the only heat previous to this was an 8” x 10” hole cut in the floor to the let the heat rise from the first floor. We’re not going to tough it out like all the families who lived there before us did, after 200 years we’re modernizing it. I figured the two most important things are to be warm and dry. I’m hoping by the end of next week the system will be ready to fire up.
Last week we took advantage of one of the biggest perks around here which is a free day of skiing at Sunday River. The deal is if you are a resident of the area you can get a free lift ticket, free ski rentals and a free lesson so Lauren and I headed up the mountain and Don (also known as the preacher) gave us some lessons. After a couple of hours he cut us loose and I wiped out twice on my own. That’s one way of learning. Later that afternoon we went down to the Matterhorn Restaurant and had pizza and beer. I had anchovy pizza which I love but can’t order too often if you’re sharing one. Thankfully these were personal size pizzas.
Amber, Tommie, and Maya came up this weekend to see the house for the first time. I know they think we’re a bit crazy and seeing the challenge ahead of us will help sustain that thought. We took them around town and stopped at the “Transfer Station” to dispose of some construction material and trash. Nothing but the best for my kids. Then we took the Mountain Explorer up to Sunday River to show them the ski resort and had a late lunch at the Phoenix House and Well Restaurant http://www.phoenixhouseandwell.com/ which overlooks the mountain. Today we took a ride up to Screw Auger Falls in Grafton Notch State Park. Needless to say the Falls were frozen over but there were a few open holes here and there where you could see the water flowing through (See the picture above) http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/surficial/sites/grafton.htm . On the way back we stopped and had some BBQ smoked Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket from BBQ Bob’s “Real Pit” BBQ http://www.therealbbqbob.com/ which was wicked good. He smokes the meat over low heat for up to 16 hours. Signing off from Bethel in the words of good old Walter Cronkite “And that’s the way it is.”

Our First Weekend in Bethel as Homeowners

Okay we still don’t have heat in the house we recently bought but we were able to find a small place to rent for awhile in the neighboring town of Gilead. It’s clean, has a nice kitchen and bath and it has heat. Last night Lauren and I decided to try out the Mountain Explorer which is the local free bus that runs constantly between the downtown area of Bethel up to the Sunday River Ski Resort making several stops between at key hotels and restaurants. We got on at the Bethel Inn which is right across the street from the house we just bought and got off at the South Ridge stop at Sunday River. Once there we entered the main building and were greeted by throngs of skiers and snowboarders clomping down the hallways in their ski boots. It was just after sunset Friday afternoon and the place was hopping. We spent some time at the Foggy Goggle and had a drink while we watched the skiers coming down the mountain and ride back up on the Chondola. Everyone was clearly having a good time inside and out. We then hopped back on the Explorer back into town and got off at Suds Pub for some dinner and drink. While we were waiting for our food a couple from our old neighborhood in Gloucester, MA came walking in the door at Suds. Matt and Sari Rochford knew we had bought a house in Bethel because the grapevine is alive and strong in Gloucester. Matt’s dad Billy was one of my groomsmen when Lauren and I got married almost 29 years ago and Matt’s mom Arlene and my mother-in-law Joan “talk”. It was so nice to see them and it made us feel at home. In addition we met two other couples who live in York, Maine but own homes in Bethel. Lauren seemed to hit it off with the women and I was so glad to see her talk, laugh and smile. We really don’t know many people here and Lauren definitely needs some other people besides me to talk to.

Today we went to Western Maine Building Supply to buy a snow rake for the roof and some 2 x 6’s. It’s supposed to rain Monday and that will make the snow on the roof heavy so I needed to at least get some of it off the low pitched porch roof. Lauren looks pretty professional using that snow rake, doesn’t she? The 2 x 6’s I used to help prop up the barn roof. The barn is in very sad shape because not only has it been neglected but over the years different people or maybe just one cut out some key support members and it has been falling apart. I’m not sure I can save it because the closer I look the more OMG things I see. After this we decided to check out some of the festivities at the Bethel WinterFest which starts today and runs until the 31st of January. First we went to the Gazebo on the Common to view a few ice sculptures. They were very nice but not kid-proof because as we were leaving we heard a crash only to look back and see the one with bears had been knocked over by a two year old. Then we drove down to Festival Plaza by the Casablanca Movie Theater and tried out some snow shoes which I really enjoyed. After this we tried out the snow-maze which is only 4 feet high so really tough for kids but not so easy for 5 to 6 foot adults either. It was bright blue and sunny skies today and no wind so it felt great. So far, so good.