Another Weekend Is Upon Us ...

And I find myself in a new venue. A family medical crisis resulted in relocation to Rock Hall, Maryland. Gee, it's REALLY Spring here! There's tulips and daffodils and forsythias and lilacs and acres and acres of fields being plowed and fertilized for the wheat, corn, oats, soy and barley commonly grown around here. Temperatures in the sixties and vernal rains. Cool beans. It bodes well for Maine if it is this warm next to Chesapeake Bay. There really is hope the ice will go out before the end of the month.


About that relocation. It was done on a Greyhound bus. It has been a very long time since I rode a bus. There have been a few equipment improvements. For instance, some of the buses had 110  volt AC outlets. I was on one that had seatbelts for each seat. The air conditioning worked on each of the 5 buses I rode on Wednesday and Thursday. That is right. Transfers were made in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C. and Easton, Maryland. A long, boring trip. Scary, too. Parnelli Jones came out of retirement, donned black-face and drove like a bat out of Hell between NYC and DC for four hours ( 1:45 to 5:45 AM ). I'd swear on a whole stack of Bibles that we only hit every third bounce or frost heave we encountered. And I know, as I was stuck next to the bathroom door on the rear bench seat on a full bus for 230 miles.


Then there are the things that haven't changed despite the spin that corporate Greyhound's new motto, "The New Greyhound", would have you believe. For the most part, riders are still poor, young or old, and often non-English speakers. Unlike the last time on a bus, no skis were in evidence. Service men and women were amongst us, usually on their first leave before deployment after training. Bus stations are still not as clean as airports, despite similar people loads and occupancy patterns. Chairs, if any are provided at all, are metal mesh and extremely uncomfortable for spend a six hour layover on. And some buses were atrociously filthy.


The best thing I can say about the state of interstate bus transportation is it is reasonably priced for an individual when compared to travel via a one-ton dualie pick-up. Make it two people and the economy vs. convenience takes a dive. Change the vehicle to something that gets far better gas mileage, like the Scion xBox I've driven for the past day getting over 40 mpg, and there'd be no comparison, even for an individual. Its still a third the cost of airplanes and at least I found the best kept transportation secret in Maryland - MUST. I was able to be picked up at the Greyhound agency stop in Easton, MD (about a half mile from the terminal of the Easton Regional Airport) within 15 minutes of my arrival and transported to within a few blocks of the hospital in Charlestown (thirty road miles or so away) for the staggering sum of a dollar (it'd be two dollars if I wasn't so old). In these days of $4 gas, that's a flipping bargain.


Anyway, I don't know how long I will be here nor when I can get back to Maine to finish the work I set out to do. That's the nature of medical emergencies, now isn't it? I do hope you are all safe and healthy. I will finally be able to catch up with reading some of my blog friends in the evenings. Who knows, I might have skimmed all  2400 entries by the time I leave. Then again, that delete button is looking mighty handy about now.


And So It Goes.

Spring Has Come

Spring has come to the Northern latitudes and per usual it is a mix of sun, rain, snow, and mud. Oh, my yes, make that MUD. Big letters. Cold and sticky. The bottom is frozen, too.

It's been a moderate year for frost around here. Probably only 3 to 4 feet depth in this vicinity. While cold enough to crack the dangley bits on the brass moose in Rockport, it never got below -24 or so. That is pretty mild, as winters go in these parts. Still cold enough to freeze my feet off in the trailer despite electric and gas heaters and a head high temperature near 75.
I am very thankful for my friends who took me in these past few months. No frozen feet here-- the floor has radiant heat.

The lake is still ice covered. But, with the forecast predicting average highs in the 40-50 degree range and no subfreezing lows over the next week, it should be mid-month or so when the sound of waves lapping the shores is heard once again. That is a week to ten days early ... average ice-out is between April 26 and May 5.

The camp road has been vacillating between rock hard and soup. The little Nissan has found itself violently tossed between frozen ruts or paddling like an old side-wheeler on the Mississippi.

Too soon to bring the "Flying Pig" back   as it would sink out of sight. Then there is the flooding issue. Given the amount of water in the snowpack, there's a good chance there will be minor flooding along the lake shore this Spring. When it comes to one's home, no flood is truly 'minor' is it?

I am using my so-called "smart phone" to compose this, so I will attempt to edit the entry to add a photo. My computer is moribund still. So no promises of success.

It's Back...

... the computer, that is. Best Buy's Geek Squad got the job done in pretty fair time, everything considered, particularly the number of days that the airports have been closed to traffic in the Northeast due to inclement weather. Still, it's been a couple of days shy of three weeks without connectivity but once in a while on friends' laptops. This time it was also the motherboard. That makes two replaced in less than 90 days. They even sent the power supply along to make sure that it wasn't the proximate cause of the failure and it was given a clean bill of health. Glad to say nothing happened to the data on the hard drive. A friend lost his HD yesterday and is having serious issues. I guess we aren't quite ready for the paperless world we'd hoped for.


Yes, all that time without Internet access caused some significant withdrawal pains. I missed talking to my wife and reading your blogs -- I have over 1000 entries to read and there was 710 messages unread in my email account. I skimmed for important stuff this morning (while the computer addressed the demands of 20 different programs insisting they needed to be updated) and then deleted the rest (mostly adverts - ironic as I haven't two sou to rub together). I have read a few books -- Cordwainer Smith's classic YA novella "Norstrilia", Alastair Reynolds' premier novel, "Revelation Space" (the first in a trilogy, as it turns out) and re-read Robert A. Heinlein's "Job: A Comedy of Justice" for giggles and grins. Just started in on Ursula Leguin's "The Telling" which I have only read parts of but have never finished. 

Iggy and Belle are doing fine, enjoying having a room twice the size of the Airstream to hang out in with warm floors and lots of sunlight.Belle has been a very bad kitty of late, but that story will have to wait. I have to hit the road and there's several stops to make before the closing bell. 


With luck and a fair wind, more to come another day.

Dodged THAT Bullet...

"Showed up for jury pool yesterday along with nearly 200 other Penobscot County residents. The usual fun and games. Hurry up and wait ..."

Guess the Fates weren't happy with my entry about the jury selection process. All 10 paragraphs are lost in the bit bucket. And, of course, it was all polished, witty, erudite commentary on the Maine Judicial Systems kinks and foibles (not to mention the hot menage a trois between the Baliff, the hot blonde and yours truly).

Short version -- voir dire for a major murder trial now being conducted took almost 9 hours and I discovered butt muscles can actually cramp in a 'Charley Horse'. Missed serving by "that much, Boss". Last lottery draw for 15 out of 37 spared me. Free until next week, when I must show up and go through the process all over again.

And So It Goes.

We're all hunkered down for some really nasty weather. Four inches of rain is predicted along with high winds. I find myself eyeing the trees, trying to guess if that limb or this stem will give way at 50, 60, 70 MPH?
The joy of living in a glorified beer can.

The leaves around the lake are turning colors rapidly. I suspect that the best of the color will be gone from North of here before Columbus Day weekend. Around Bangor and Downeast, west across US Route 2 through Rumford into the White Mountain National Forest, the Mount Washington Valley and across to Burlington, Vermont, all should reach peak for the holiday weekend. Southern New Hampshire and Vermont, Northern Massachusetts should all peak 10 days before Halloween.

Visited my doctor last week. He seems to think, barring accidents, that I'll live to see another day or two. He suggested I lose a few pounds, but I told him I loved my wife and didn't think I could handle a divorce. Har-de-har-har. Back again yesterday for a blood draw after 12 hour fast. I didn't realize they use the hour from 8 to 9 to get their s%&* together. The Doc's dog was happy to see me.

Hope y'all are safe and sound. Back to court on Monday. Then it time to emulate the Ant and quit the Grasshoppering. Winter is just around the corner.

Bah Humbug.

We don't need no steenkin wires...

Heard from the repair shop yesterday (original estimated completion date). Seems it is taking a lot longer than anticipated. May be Friday or early next week, now. Living out of motels is getting very old and very expensive. I miss my tin can home, alot...

Took much longer to remove the inner fender than expected. I suspect they have tried to do it without completely removing the galley cabinets and sink, which would be an enormous waste of time. Then comes the clincher. The long wires that were ripped out were indeed the power supply and neutral to the second double pole-double throw switch that controls the water pump. Seems that when manufactured, Airstream installed that long wiring run before they installed the outer skin. Replacing it would entail removing said outer skin and destruction of the factory watertight seals - not a good thing. Compromise was necessary. Have agreed to abandon the double switch circuit for a small bezel and lighted switch below the hanging locker door that might be reachable while seated on the throne with your toe...

Off to New Orleans, now that all the BCS championship crazies have left town and freed up some motel rooms. We spent the past weekend on the Gulf of Mexico in the Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Shores, area that was so badly devastated by Katrina. It is changed forever. Gone are the honky-tonks, restaurants, souvenir shops, motels, rental houses, and the easy-going, beach culture. It's as though the heart has been torn right out of the region. The US and state governments have been extremely slow releasing disaster recovery funds. Insurance companies have weaseled out of paying for any damage to structures located within 3 or 4 blocks of the beach, claiming it was all wave action, rather than winds, that destroyed the buildings. Thousands have been bankrupted and left homeless as a result. We're not talking about the hoodlums and hoi poloi of the Ninth District in New Orleans that were flooded out when the levees broke. Nope, we're talking whole families, business owners and operators, whole beach communities and the infrastructure along the beach. Here and there, a travel trailer is setup, laying claim to the land that once hosted their home. No water, no sewer, no lights/electricity available yet. Just one small stretch of Gulfport is getting new sidewalks and street lights -- it's costing over 2 million dollars. Bringing back whole communities is going to be very difficult. It is enough to make you cry, a year and a half after the storm.

More when the spirit moves and I have access to wifi.