Down the Road
Down the Road
Cows don't follow a straight line
I had lost my starter tree and just wasn't sure where I was. Was I lost? Would a moose appear in front of me, laugh, and then gore me? Or would I just wander, never finding my way to the survey line? Or out of the woods? There is no feeling that I know as helpless and frightening as being lost in the woods. All those trees look alike. Any direction can be the right direction -- or the wrong way.
May 19, 2013 - 12:23:27 AM
Down the Road
That good Irish cop
On another occasion, I had been copying the police blotter for the paper that was employing me. One entry had been about a man, who had dropped his employer's bag of money into a trash bin. If I remember, he later found it. Mike had come to me and said I shouldn't use the man's name in the paper. I asked why, since police aren't supposed to limit what reporters write, and he said that should the man's boss see the article, the man who had dropped the money bag would likely be fired.
May 12, 2013 - 12:25:18 AM
Down the Road
Yard work with a walking stick
I came across a walking stick a couple of years ago, while reading a book on walking. The author suggested that a walking stick could relieve the sore -- she called it "healing" -- leg of some weight, thus making walking a bit easier. I bought the pair, gave Dolores one, and used one to ease my limpy way along through life. Then one day I forgot to remove my stick from a bus door when I shut it. You'd be surprised how quickly a walking stick will snap when a bus door closes on it.
May 5, 2013 - 12:17:20 AM
Down the Road
Winning over a teenager!
We were climbing 3,600-foot-above-sea-level Old Blue from the South Arm Road just north of Andover, and we came to what Steve Pinkham in his Mountains of Maine describes as "The path (The Appalachian Trail - my note) climbs very steeply out of Black Brook Notch to a shelf, where one can catch glimpses of the South Arm Road, about eight hundred feet directly below."
Apr 28, 2013 - 5:25:31 AM
Down the Road
There's no place like mini-home
What the heck's a mini-house? We didn't know either until we saw the flyer for the Bangor Home Show, which we didn't attend. But on the back was a full-page piece about this brand new concept of a house.
Apr 21, 2013 - 12:23:56 AM
Down the Road
Photograph of the Week: There's a Bear in There!
Apr 21, 2013 - 12:02:05 AM
Down the Road
How to know you're in Maine
I was up at Downeast Toyota the other day, getting Miss Kitty Yaris' oil changed, new windshield wiper blades installed, and the mouse leavings removed. When I realized anew that I was living in Maine. That the mechanic service clerk had remarked that the Golden Retriever must have smelled his chickens on his ankles -- where his jeans and boots met, assured me that the mechanic service clerk too was a true Maineiac.
Apr 14, 2013 - 12:13:11 AM
Down the Road
Oh, those jobs
We've all had these jobs, the ones that took up time and provided a little -- usually very little -- money between career stuff. Sure, I was a minister until God found out and called the Heavenly Personnel Department, and I taught school during which time one class of not-too-brights were just bright enough to keep another old Plymouth mobile so I could get there to teach them or not, and I was a news reporter when people would check my stories to be sure their names were spelled right and that I hadn't told the truth about them.
Apr 7, 2013 - 6:22:07 AM
Down the Road
Deer I have (not really) known
Several years ago I was walking along the Park Loop Road in Acadia, when I glanced into the woods alongside the road. There was a doe, a regular-looking doe, not an albino, walking along. I didn't want to frighten her, so I continued walking the road. She continued walking in the woods, about 50 feet in, and we talked as we walked.
Mar 31, 2013 - 12:17:29 AM
Down the Road
Oops, another billing error
Recently, a couple of newspaper articles explained the correct way to handle such false billing, payment, or fraudulent billing and paying by Medicare. Number one, call the doctor. Number two, call the hospital. Number three, notify Medicare of the non-whipping out or digging in and the fact that someone had charged Medicare for that non-treatment. Worse yet, that Medicare had paid it.
Mar 24, 2013 - 10:23:49 PM
Down the Road
Photo of the Week: Summer Weather at the Craignair Inn
Mar 24, 2013 - 12:02:38 AM
Down the Road
Allergic to accidents
I came across a young lady standing alongside the road one night, right after her car had gone off the road and down the bank. I took her to the nearest house to report the accident. During the ride she told me her father was a deputy and would be really angry at her for having the accident.
Mar 17, 2013 - 1:44:36 AM
Down the Road
Critters, night and day
The other morning I was outside, hanging the bird feeder, sprinkling sunflower seeds for the squirrels and wild turkeys, and staring at the ground. Staring at the ground is not usually one of my day-off activities, but I was staring at tracks, bigger than kitty, shaped wrong for fox, not big enough for coyotes, but maybe the right size for.....
Mar 10, 2013 - 5:17:25 AM
Down the Road
To Park or not to Park
Folks in the Millinocket area don't seem to get it. Here's a chance to get jobs, make some money, and not be dreaming of a life that never will be again. Roxanne Quimby's trying to give you that chance. I've been around Acadia National Park since 1992, and from what I've seen here, I'd say grab the chance Quimby is offering.
Mar 3, 2013 - 2:43:36 AM
Down the Road
Heating the home and hearth
As a kid several hundred years ago, my parents had two coal boilers in their basement, a big one to heat the radiators and a small one about three feet tall for domestic hot water. I remember my father going down there and shoveling coal in every so often from two wooden coal bins that took up about twelve feet along one wall. The coal delivery truck would aim a chute down an open window and let 'er rip, or slide into the basement bins.
Feb 24, 2013 - 12:23:47 AM
Down the Road
Neighbors
The horses were too neighborly. Each time I entered their paddock to feed them, they would rush at me in their eagerness to show how neighborly they were. Each time, they also bit and kicked at each other to show their unneighborliness to one another and to get the best spot at the feed trough.
Feb 17, 2013 - 12:37:52 AM
Down the Road
Those cold, hilly cross-country skiing days of fun?
Now we were enjoying the new outdoor winter all-family sport, until our oldest daughter came down a hill behind me. At the bottom was a curve. Also at the bottom was a rock. One of her skis hit the rock, and soon we had one new pair of skis with a plastic front end on one of them.
Feb 10, 2013 - 1:12:37 AM
Down the Road
Those wonderful Subys
A news piece on the radio the other day stated that Subarus are popular in the northern states, states with snow and roads that get tough. One part of the show stated that if you want a pickup, you can buy one. But if you want to get around on these tough roads, get a Subaru.
Feb 3, 2013 - 1:23:33 AM
Down the Road
Bearing those arms
After all, I had a right to bear arms. Of course, I didn't realize in those long-ago innocent and youthful days that I had a right to bear arms. I thought I was carrying the shotgun to be allowed to walk in the woods in the fall without being suspect of having fallen out of one of the trees found in yonder forest.
Jan 27, 2013 - 1:25:15 AM
Down the Road
Those English tales
She also told me that the cars in England are almost all tiny, with great gas mileage. Some of ours are too, but there are still far too many gas guzzlers spewing their way down our highways. Except for some Toyotas, some Hondas, some hybrids, a very few electric cars, and a few others I'm sure I've missed.
Jan 20, 2013 - 12:15:24 AM
Down the Road
Global weirding -- January pre-thaw
From the Farmers Almanac, I learned that throughout the year there are "blips" in the weather patterns called singularities. One is Indian Summer in October, when the weather is warmer -- and a lot nicer -- than just before and just after Indian Summer. The January Thaw is another "blip."
Jan 13, 2013 - 12:10:52 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Week: The Tarn with Dorr Mountain (1270 feet above sea level) on the right
Jan 13, 2013 - 12:02:57 AM
Down the Road
Baby, it's cold -- no colder -- outside
When I left the house this morning at 5 a.m. to go drive my little bus, it was about one degree F above zero. The little Toyota Yaris moaned just a bit but started the first time. Always love that. She's never not started the first time. I too moaned a bit when I got up, but I started too. Only instead of moaning, I mumbled a few religious words.
Jan 6, 2013 - 6:12:09 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Week: Porcupine Islands Frenchman's Bay
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| Photo by Milt Gross |
Jan 6, 2013 - 12:02:02 AM
Down the Road
Moving on -- a new year
My bottom-line question is have things in the publishing world changed that much? Or is "vanity publishing" still a way to "sucker" aspiring writers into buying something?
Dec 30, 2012 - 1:00:39 AM
Down the Road
Christmas, its reality
Do those presents represent the gifts the three wise men brought to the Baby Jesus a couple of years after He was born? Or do they represent an American tradition of either giving or getting, depending from which side you view it all? The tradition of spend, spend, spend and keep the American corporations showing a profit.
Dec 23, 2012 - 12:52:21 AM
Down the Road
My most relaxing week -- on the ocean
Bob's daughter (he had been married before) and my daughter, Lorraine, drove me to Connecticut, where I climbed aboard the 38-foot twin-diesel yacht. My first chore was a father-son discussion with Scott, explaining that his remaining free of bodily injury in the near future would depend on his behavior's improving. That was not my precise discussion, but whatever it was must have worked, because he was an ideal son all the way to Falmouth.
Dec 16, 2012 - 12:17:26 AM
Down the Road
Wow! The heat pump -- what a savings
Adam, the engineer who operates Maine Alternative Comfort which installed our mini-split, said we could turn the temperature setting of the mini-split quite high to obtain higher temperatures in far corners of the house and still pay a lot less for heat than we had been with oil.
Dec 9, 2012 - 12:13:07 AM
Down the Road
Those doggoned dogs
Our family dog was a Shepherd-Collie mix. I don't know what kind of Shepherd, but this critter was not one to take a lot of unneighborliness from anyone -- especially the mailman, who once smacked him on the nose and made old Shep unfriendly in return, to men. A woman was fine. A man was hamburger...or manburger. So we kept him in our fenced in yard or on a leash.
Dec 2, 2012 - 5:14:37 AM
Down the Road
Choices send us down the road
A school superintendent where I once taught told the kids there was nothing wrong with a job, such as running a chain saw for a logging company. But he stressed that smart people would plan for other jobs should the favored one fail. My plan was, well, a bit vague, although I had one. It's just that it changed over the years as circumstances changed and my views and values changed.
Nov 25, 2012 - 12:20:44 AM
Down the Road
Not dead, I'm pretty sure
Dolores suggested I find out from Social Security if I were really dead. I phoned them, and they said I could come to their office in Bangor and maybe they'd learn, if I proved it, that I was still alive. Boy, what confusion. You're dead unless you prove you're alive. I noticed that Social Security didn't have to prove I was dead.
Nov 18, 2012 - 12:05:26 AM
Down the Road
A heat pump to reduce oil use
Adam said this was alternative heating, the idea being to not have to buy so much of that expensive heating oil. He said we'd have to use the oil boiler when the temperature dropped from cold to colder than that. We set our boiler thermostat at 64 degrees, and, Adam's gadget helped us win our bet, the one we weren't sure about. The boiler now comes on several times during each 24 hours, when the temperature is around freezing or below outdoors.
Nov 11, 2012 - 12:20:10 AM
Down the Road
Wild turkeys, fun fowl
Wikipedia also told me how they got here and from where by stating, "Historically, wild turkeys existed in significant numbers in York and Cumberland Counties, and perhaps in lower numbers eastward to Hancock County. From the time of settlement until 1880, agricultural practices intensified until farmland comprised about 90% of York and Cumberland counties.
Nov 4, 2012 - 3:50:12 AM
Down the Road
Those fun, spooky times
I remember those childhood Halloweens. In Pennsylvania, we had "mischief night," which was the night before Halloween. We didn't leave the house then, and kind of feared the evening away. What would those awful mischief nighters do? This was before horrible people made trick-or-treating a frightening, dangerous activity by criminal activity, such as doctoring treats to make them hazardous to innocent kids who ate them. This was before those horrible criminal people forced towns and schools to create Halloween parades and parties to keep kids off the dangerous streets Halloween night.
Oct 28, 2012 - 12:12:10 AM
Down the Road
Fort Point State Park, a brief walk through history
The light's fourth order Fresnel lens is one of only eight Fresnel lenses still in use in Maine. The original fog signal, a 1200-pound (550 kg) cast iron bell suspended on a pyramidal tower built in 1890, is still visible today, although it has been replaced by a fog horn in the same building," Wikipedia states.
Oct 21, 2012 - 9:42:01 PM
Down the Road
Moose, is that really you?
Another man told me he had been paddling his canoe on a small stream. He had been in the bow and his wife in the stern. They saw a bull moose, standing a short distance from them in the stream. He didn't tell me how far a short-distance was. He said they paddled closer but the bull just stood there, dining on whatever evil-tasting stuff he was finding on the stream bottom. They paddled closer -- and closer.
Oct 14, 2012 - 7:31:32 AM
Down the Road
I know a girls' camp, five miles away
Five miles away and 50 years ago, that's how long ago it was I sang that good old camp song with all the others from Camp Sandy Hill, a boys' camp in Maryland. The song was about Camp Sandy Cove, the sister camp for the girls, where the girls would sing "our" song in reverse.
Oct 7, 2012 - 12:57:13 AM
Down the Road
Over the bounding seas on the Monhegan mailboat
Joanne, the innkeeper, even made our reservations for the Monhegan mail boat excursion, and her doing it gave us free parking right on the dock. I have to say, proudly, that our nice, shiny Toyota Scion with around 1,000 miles under her American-made tires, looked pretty good alongside those expensive touristy cars and SUVs also parked on the dock. (Better than those more expensive rigs, she got 39.2 miles per gallon on this trip up and down hills and around sharp curves with stops for picture taking.)
Sep 30, 2012 - 12:13:47 AM
Down the Road
Have a bit of cheese, mousy
The trap is the only thing we've bought from Amazon.com we wouldn't recommend. Unless you want to provide a safe haven for your resident mouse, while it nibbles cheese.
Sep 23, 2012 - 6:20:40 AM
Down the Road
Doggone doggies
Sometimes, when Buster is shoving his nose through the pet door to test the inside world, the kitty, Leela, will notice this and begin to play with that nose. When you're a kitty, what can be more tempting as a play toy than a round, wet doggie nose poking through a pet door.
Sep 16, 2012 - 4:45:25 AM
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