In case you couldn’t tell already, I am dictating this blog so please excuse the disjointed stories and scattered thoughts.
So yesterday, as I was coming back from Princeton, I was driving down Old Mill Road, which is the road you take to get to the dirt road to the camp, and I was greeted by a, I think it was a West Highland Terrier, that was very upset to see me, and told me in no uncertain terms to turn around and never come back. But he would go over to my driver’s side door and bark, and I’d stop, and then I would start to inch forward, and he would bark like crazy and run in front of the truck, and so I’d stop. Then he’d come over to the driver’s side door again, and bark, and then I’d move forward, and he’d run in front of me again. So I’d stop, and I’d look up, and there’s his home. Lady there didn’t seem at all concerned about the fact that her dog’s running out in front of the truck. (Sidenote as I am dictating this. Here’s a deer in the road crossing the road. Oh and yesterday we had to stop on US route 1 for a whole group of wild turkeys crossing the road.) But anyway I inched up closer closer to her house and she finally came out and said oh sorry she gets out. She climbs the fence and I look over and there’s about six or seven other dogs in a little penned off area. She lives there. in her mobile home with three additions added on and her confederate flag in the window which I thought was a little strange. I thought I was in Yankee territory but she was nice enough and got her dog so I was able to continue my trip.
Yesterday was interesting. I got to play the part of a lumberjack. I started to walk around what is essentially an island where the cabin is. They had a big windstorm last December. I heard one person say 100 mph winds. Based on the destruction I would tend to believe it. There were huge trees down as well as smaller trees all over the island. So I got to use my chainsaw to cut some of them up. It was quite the sight. Me singing the Monty Python song, “I am a lumberjack and I’m okay, I sleep all night and I work all day…” while cutting up some downed trees. I only remember that one line and sang it over and over again. If you are familiar with the song or check it out online, don’t worry, I am not trying to tell you something about me.
While I’m cutting the trees and clearing paths to get to the outhouse, and to the shed. and also try to clear the path to get to the cove that I can cross to get to the mainland. The cove itself looked a lot different than it did just a month ago with a lot more leaves, and water plants in the cove, and much more difficult to actually get to the actual shoreline. I got to see the bog up close and the bog was a lot different than I expected. It was much thicker, you step on this thick mat of, it looked like hairy mossy stuff, very undulating and you feel like you’re stepping on a thick blanket on a waterbed.
It’s that kind of mushy and forgiving. So that will be a challenge to build a walkway over that but it was just different, not a problem. But it was an interesting bog.
Today I’m going out and going down to Princeton again to get the things that I forgot to get yesterday and also going to stop by the general store to see if I can get the name of a contractor that will build roads through the woods to get to the closest point on the mainland to the cabin.
Yesterday was a busy day. It wore me out. At night, my legs cramp up, my arms cramp up. I’m drinking a lot, but I’m perspiring a lot too. Yesterday was 80 degrees, today is going to be 85. The lows are in the 50s, and then later this week it’ll drop down to the highs in the 60s and the lows in the 40s.
So who would have thought that half-inch electrical conduit would be so hard to come by in DownEast Maine. I went to the Princeton Ace hardware store and purchased eight pieces of half-inch electrical conduit. I go out to the yard to pick it up and the guy tells me “nope we don’t have any”. So they said to go down to Calais and Hammond lumber would have it down there. So I went down to Calais and went to Hammond lumber and asked for half-inch conduit. I needed eight pieces and they said well we have five. So I bought five pieces from them and they said but the Calais Ace would have it so check out them. They actually called them to confirm they had it.
I finally have my 8 pieces of 1/2 inch electrical conduit. So while I was there it was a little past lunchtime and I hadn’t had lunch so I thought ‘well I’m in the big city of Calais I’ll have lunch here.’ And so I went and had lunch at the bar at the St. Croix Bar and Grill where I met Michael who is a respiratory therapist at the local hospital on contract for 3 to 6 months and had a wonderful conversation with him. Very interesting. He lives in Middletown Delaware now. He’s been doin gcontract work for many years and has been all over the country. Had a wonderful meal there. I had the dynamite sandwich, which was kind of a spicy sausage and hamburger sandwich, excellent, with mud something fries, some sort of seasoning they put on the fries that was excellent. So, all in all, a good day. And heading back to the camp now.
The other interesting aspect of the St. Croix Bar and Grill was there was an eight-month-old baby on the bar that was the bartender’s daughter. She was just sitting in a holder on the bar and all the patrons were having drinks at the bar and interacting with her so she’s getting quite the education. She was a very pleasant baby. Never said a word, she just smiled, and was just all around a very good baby. Couldn’t hold a candle to our Noah, but otherwise a very good baby.
So I stopped by the Waite General Store this afternoon to ask if they had any suggestions on contractors who could put in a dirt road through our property to get us closer to the cabin. And wouldn’t you know it, he has a business card for the dirt work guys that do exactly that type of work. They actually have the contract for ATV trails in the area when they get grants to add to the ATV trails and just do a wonderful job of clearing lots.
So I’ll be giving them a call shortly and see if I can possibly meet with them before I leave this week. But I commented that I hadn’t been able to find anybody online that does this kind of work in this area. He said word of mouth and handing you a business card is the way things are done around here.
Also, when I was at the Waite General store, I asked where the local dump was, and he advised me that I need to stop by the town building between 9 and 11 on Wednesdays, to talk to somebody to get a sticker so that I can drop things off at the town dump. So downtown Waite consists of a church and the women’s auxiliary building that doubles as the town hall, vehicle registration and tax office among other things.
They’re only open on Wednesdays during those hours in the building next to the church on Old Mill Road. So, fortunately, I didn’t miss it, so I can stop by tomorrow, and hopefully, if she has any, I can get my sticker so that I can drop things off at the town dump.
The people that run the Waite General Store are Joe and Wayne. They’ve been running the store for about 15 years, formerly having lived in Key West, Florida. So they went from one extreme to the other. Nice guys, couldn’t be more helpful.
