Down the Road
Down the Road
Nuts and bolts of news reporting -- "good old" days
I recall doing two or three stories of fires, which were "hot" enough
to phone in to old Hot Fingers. One day Hot Fingers said to me over the
phone, "We appreciate these quick fire stories. I just hope you're not
setting them to have something to write about."
Feb 5, 2012 - 12:20:05 AM
Down the Road
Snow hiking and cross-country skiing and icy driveways
"The (Appalachian) trail was completed
in August 1937 when the Civilian Conservation Corps connected the ridge
between Spaulding and Sugarloaf Mountains in
Maine."
Jan 29, 2012 - 12:27:53 AM
Down the Road
Cougar in Maine, to be or not to be
"The last time an
Eastern cougar was shot and killed in Maine was 1938. Now, it has been
declared extinct. Yet, hundreds of people believe they've seen them.
Meet a couple of those people and U.S. Fish and Wildlife expert Mark
McCollough."
Jan 22, 2012 - 4:41:13 AM
Down the Road
Icy trails, so much nonfun
In
my cross-country skiing days, ice the trail would transform the "shush"
of skis into the "clack " of skis. And I was so thankful for those
trees I could grab as I went by...or sometimes skied right into, which
thankfully stopped those clacking and out-of-control skiing adventures.
Jan 15, 2012 - 12:15:11 AM
Down the Road
Gimpy walking, a different mindset
There is in place a new national law or regulation that public
trails near parking lots or roadways must be made wheelchair accessible
when updated. That's fine, and I hope more of them become wheel chair
accessible, because I don't think being confined to a wheelchair should
stop a person from enjoying the woods. Especially the woods away from
motor vehicles.
Jan 8, 2012 - 2:43:47 PM
Down the Road
Your new home for the New Year, or later, maybe
What's unique about Ecovillage houses? They are constructed with a
view toward sustainability and protecting the environment. That means
renewable building materials, energy provided without fossil fuels,
clustered housing to make common infrastructure less expensive and
provide surrounding open space, a place for homeowner gardening and
farming on more of the old farm property, and more.
Jan 4, 2012 - 9:15:17 AM
Down the Road
No resolutions, just plans that you make happen
I love this Happy New Year to us, which I can't improve on no matter how hard I try. I especially like, "It is a nice time to make plans and try to make them come true." None of this "resolution" stuff. Too lofty. Too far up in the clouds
with no feet on the path heading into 2012. Too hard to spell.
Jan 1, 2012 - 12:20:16 AM
Down the Road
Oh, pretty straight Christmas-tree-farm Christmas tree
So when I spotted this nice group of trees 100 feet past the drive, I
knew I had found the prime place for picking. Kind of like that best
fishing hole or favorite ravine to sit and watch for that big buck.
Dec 18, 2011 - 2:17:47 AM
Down the Road
Where'd Green Mountain get its name?
I've known its older name for years, but being an ancient investigative
reporter, I asked the Mount Desert Island Historical Society what they
knew about it. From the documents Tim Garrity, the executive director of
the Historical Society, sent, I've learned that way back in the early
1800s it was called Bauld Mountain, obviously because it hasn't -- nor
had then -- trees on top so is bald. (I like our spelling better.)
Dec 11, 2011 - 12:23:05 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: Cadillac Mountain
Dec 11, 2011 - 12:02:30 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: Upper Hadlock Pond
Dec 10, 2011 - 12:02:44 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: Across the Bay in Sullivan
Dec 7, 2011 - 12:02:48 AM
Down the Road
Jack's barber shop again
That walk-telling-of reminded me, of course, of a cat tale. I told
Jack how our newest cat, 13-year-old Kitty, a coon cat, had been
outdoors when I had driven into our drive a few days earlier. Also
outdoors had been a flock of about eight turkeys, wild ones, you know
the kind that aren't supposed to be this far north because the climate
is too cold -- or was.
Dec 4, 2011 - 12:20:03 AM
Down the Road
Leftovers
I now believe firmly that Thanksgiving leftovers involve not only the
turkey and other goodies we save from our meal at home or bring home
from the restaurant and Craignair Inn, but memories.
Nov 30, 2011 - 3:00:43 AM
Down the Road
Pilgrims didn't have turkey day
And the giving thanks part, wrote Meara, was that their guys had
recently killed a large number of Rhode Island Indians during a raid on
those Indians in which they took part. Gosh, no turkey, no
Indians, and being thankful for what? Killing Indians? Those first
Thanks givers really slaughtered Turkey Day!
Nov 20, 2011 - 3:00:35 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: A Turkey Feast
Nov 20, 2011 - 12:02:52 AM
Down the Road
Attending the Grateful Dead
We sat and settled in for a long night of really nice music -- and lots of marijuana infected air wafting around us. If I were ever high, it was that night. I recall going somewhere for large sodas. You needed "large," because anything smaller would have been totally spilled by the time other Grateful Dead goers had bumped you with their elbows on your way back to your seat.
Nov 13, 2011 - 12:27:41 AM
Down the Road
The old trails
There are old trails in Acadia, which have been restored, and old paths such as the one that circles Jordan Pond. That one was rebuilt several years ago in the style of the original gravel path that had been built for those formally dressed sports from New York City and other foreign places.
Nov 6, 2011 - 12:23:23 AM
Down the Road
Things that go bump in the night -- or other frightening stuff
The things that went 'bump' in the night were an eighth-grader breaking into a second-floor window in our house in Danforth and a dog on the porch.
Nov 1, 2011 - 4:27:57 AM
Down the Road
Protecting the world's longest national park
According to statistics Dave Field, the Maine Appalachian Trail Club overseer of lands emailed me, there are 31,646 acres of AT land in Maine. The number of AT corridor miles is 301.24. There are 2,042 permanent boundary monuments along those borders that are on both sides of an approximate 1,000-foot wide corridor.
Oct 23, 2011 - 12:23:54 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day by Dolores Bernier
Oct 16, 2011 - 12:02:05 AM
Down the Road
How book ideas start
I've always been a sucker for books, beginning when I was a tiny tyke in Pennsylvania. I recall those Christmas trees under which Mom and Dad had wrapped six or eight kids books for me to read, The Black Stallion, Laddie of Sunnybank, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, The Hardy Boys, and lots more.
Oct 9, 2011 - 12:13:14 AM
Down the Road
Sailing, sailing on the schooner Surprise
In Bar Harbor, Steve Pagels offers a great ride on the Marguerite Todd around the Porcupine Islands but this was different. This was Camden. The first schooner ride we found online was the schooner Surprise, which we called, credit card in hand to make reservations. "Well, how can we make reservations?" I asked. "Give me your name, and I'll scribble it on the list. You can pay by cash or personal check when you get here."
Oct 2, 2011 - 12:20:10 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: Schooner Surprise
Oct 2, 2011 - 12:02:35 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: Schooner with Curtis Island and lighthouse in background
Oct 1, 2011 - 12:02:40 AM
Down the Road
The bus otter
River otter, sea otter, Indian smooth coated otter, Giant river otter, Brazilian giant otter, southern sea otter. These are the names of otters I found on a web site, while I was trying to find an answer to my question.
Sep 18, 2011 - 12:25:13 AM
Down the Road
When nature outwitted a hurricane
I recall a hurricane in western Maine, the memory of which has stayed with me for years because I was taking still photographs of a windy scene. I was a reporter, and I was to cover the hurricane for our weekly newspaper.
Sep 11, 2011 - 12:45:48 AM
Down the Road
The Red Hen of Bass Harbor
Since Melissa's wanderings were around an area which is part of my Island Explorer route, I began to tell the tourists about her. I would see her from time to time wandering around the neighborhood or pecking at this or that in her own back yard.
Sep 9, 2011 - 11:10:29 PM
Down the Road
Our web of memories
All of us, who lived during a good part of the 1900s, have our memories. I wondered as Harry spoke where I was during the various phases of the Cartaglia's life story.
Sep 4, 2011 - 12:40:58 AM
Down the Road
The fair, the fair, let's (not) go to the fair
I began visiting fairs as a kid, when my family brought me to visit Great Aunt Amy in Belgrade each August. Fairs were fun then, but I always found myself more interested in the "hoss" an ox pulling then the rides or other amusements.
Sep 2, 2011 - 9:30:09 AM
Down the Road
One, two, three tries and you're in -- the pond
We're planning perhaps one more series of loading, unloading, loading, and unloading again for this summer at the same pond. Next time we can cruise along in that pleasant breeze after not getting lilies tangles in the propeller.
Aug 21, 2011 - 12:55:13 AM
Down the Road
A duck, a raccoon, and the politicians
Rockina loves to hog the feast, as it seems do many of our noble politicians down there in all the D.C. heat, scurrying around making plans for our help at their next election.
Aug 13, 2011 - 1:37:06 AM
Down the Road
The sign was wrong, I tell you!
Moody Mountain Road is a paved back road that passes a small lake and climbs a low mountain, Moody Mountain, of course, on its way from Lincolnville to Searsmont. It seems to be populated with a few folk, folk who, like us, enjoy a good chuckle. The chuckle that made us stop "Ellie" and grab a photo of a road sign, a homemade one about 12 feet tall. Did you know it is 95 miles from You Are Here to Saponac? We didn't, and we're still not sure.
Aug 3, 2011 - 12:25:48 AM
Down the Road
That magnificent buck and not-so-dumb doe
This doe may or not have been Gracie, when she visited us last winter. If she was Gracie, she has grown a fair amount between then and now this summer when she "chats" with us from our dooryard. Milt Gross photo.
Jul 31, 2011 - 1:20:29 AM
Down the Road
A park for challenge and relaxation
That day, while I leaned against the stone wall contemplating little or nothing, I overheard a "knowledgeable" tourist tell another man that, "...there is this mountain and Mount Washington. There aren't any others in Maine." - "Isn't that right?" the tourist asked me. - "Yup," I replied. - Why try to tell someone who already knows everything anything?
Jul 24, 2011 - 12:15:12 AM
Down the Road
Lost and not claimed on the bus
Passengers frequently leave items on Island Explorer buses, things like cell phones, cameras, wallets, very occasionally a child, never a dog, but this week some one left something on another bus.
Jul 10, 2011 - 12:15:05 AM
Down the Road
Birds of a feather, fun and sometimes a bit clumsy
Did you ever watch our noble national symbol, the bald eagle, eat? We did, and he was so close we got good pictures -- before CDs so those photos are not with this column -- of the clumsy big critter, kind of humped over, almost upside down as he chowed down -- or up.
Jul 8, 2011 - 12:15:10 AM
Down the Road
Aboard the UFL Airline
What do you mean, what is the UFL Airline? You most likely have flown it, only it claimed a different name so you wouldn't figure it out. But when you see what UFL means, you'll recognize both the airline and the flight or flights you took.
Jul 3, 2011 - 12:35:59 AM
Down the Road
Photo of the Day: How to Keep your Cool
Jul 3, 2011 - 12:02:31 AM
Down the Road
Riding the rails -- with the clickety clack
The coach in which we rode, along with about eight other passengers -- mostly local folk instead of the tourist crowd you find in Camden and Bar Harbor -- was built in 1926 and used in some other foreign land called New Jersey. The interior of this coach was made of wood. Id' never seen such an train-coach interior before this venture.
Jun 26, 2011 - 12:30:15 AM
|
