Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Meet the latest addition to our family!!!

This is Chloe. She is an eight week old Yorkshire Terrior that my dear friend and boss felt I should have as a birthday present.
She came complete with all the accessories and weighs a pound or so.
We were not prepared at all for this addition to our family, not to mention how Annie might feel about her, but so far we are all adjusting. Matt and I are in love with her. Annie is not so sure how she feels and may need therapy.


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Too much fun!

In the Northern Maine Woods! I love this pic I took of my teammates having fun.

Race for the Cure!

My friend and I, along with 5,000 other runners and walkers, participated in the Race for the Cure to raise funds for breast cancer awareness.
The opening ceremonies were great. Many survivors were celebrated, great entertainment, and we did the salsa to warm up for the walk.
Great day!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Ultimate team building!

White water rafting on the Penobscot River. My boss thought it would be a great team building exercise to go rafting.
Ready to raft from left to right: Brandon, Mark, Michelle, Rena, Erika, and me. As the brochure reads: The Penobscot is the most challenging river in Maine and one of the best in the United States. You will experience more technical rapids, exposed rocks, steeper gradients and awesome whitewater.

Michelle was glad when the ride was over. We enjoyed a post ride meal of steak, chicken, salmon, three bean salad, bread, and rice. We were so tired, cold, hungry, and glad to be alive.


We took three rafts up the mountain, just in case.

Our wet suits were cold, wet, and not the best fit.
Erika wanted to take this floatation device down the river with her. She is the new bride who's wedding we attended in Bar Harbor last month.

Michelle, Erika, and Rena are getting ready to ride.
Rena and Brandon trying not to look nervous.

I love that we were able to take home pictures of our adventure the same day. The rafting company, "North Country Adventures" has a photographer take pictures of you during the ride and are available on CD for you at the end of the day.
This is Blake, our safety guide in his kayate. We loved him. He is the guy that will try to help you in the event you fall out of the raft. He is a wild man!
We really did this today and lived to tell about it!
Believe it or not, we were still in the boat coming out of this rapid. I was scared to death, but can't wait to do it again next year. We are in there somewhere. You want to just hang on for dear life, but must hang on to your paddle and work together to get through the rapids. The guide in the back of the raft gives commands on what to do. When he yells, "Go, go, go" you paddle with all your might.
That's me, third rafter back on your left. Of course, Rena got us what's called "The Ulitmate Ride." It's twelve miles, six hours long. The river is rated a Class 4 river with some class 5 rapids on a scale of 1 to 6. We stayed at the Big Moose Inn at Baxter State Park the night before and had quite a party. One tends to drink more when think you might die the next day. Hitting those rapids instantly brings you out of a hangover. We were quite a team!!!

Monday, September 07, 2009

Labor Day weekend at Duck and Dobsie Lakes.

I love this boat!
We cruised all over Dobsie Lake. The weather was perfect.
Rita and Bobby had family visit.

Bobby and Matt were catching fish left and right, with Rita providing supervision.

Our fire pit continues to be a work in progress. We upgraded this year by adding a steel tire rim to contain the fire better.

Works like a charm.
Gathering wood is a favorite activity while at camp and a necessity as the nights start to get quite chilly.

Captain Matt with Skipper Bobby.

I'm not so sure if we did this or not.

Rita's nephews loved fishing off the dock...

...while the men told fish stories.

This is a little cabin on an island on Dobsie Lake that I wish belonged to us.

The more time I spend on Dobsie, the more I realize why my Uncle Roy loved it so much.


Thank you my Native American friends.


Hero and his Dad fished the back of the boat.

Hero was in his glory.
This is the shore of Duck Lake just down from our little slice of camping heaven.

I love pond lilies.
On the shore of Duck Lake. It's very pretty but not good for swimming. Very mucky, weedy, and we have seen blood suckers. I was a spoiled child and spent every summer where I could go swimming right in front of our camp. Personally, I am looking for a place on Dobsie where I can do that again.
In the meantime, this will certainly do nicely.























Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Lettuce rejoice!

For the little things in life. Like a garden that we started out with great gardening enthusiasm but were stunted by two months of rain.


Matt with another Uncle Henry's find.

If nothing else, we had tons of lettuce this year.