Camp shopping!

Matt and I went camp/land shopping in the Springfield, Lakeville, Lee area today. We looked at three camps: one was out of the question yet had 46 acres, two were really nice camps with less land. It's a beautiful area with access to many lakes.











We liked this camp. It is new and has 36 acres with it.


We are calling on this one tomorrow!












This we really, really liked. It comes with 10 acres.

Big Doings!

Giant spiders have invaded Maine. Annie keeps a watchful eye on the one on our fence.

Scenes from Saturday

I was glad when Johnnie and Kim pulled into the yard so I could stop doing chores. For my birthday they brought me an apron that reads: "Susan feels better after she wines a bit," and a beautiful candle.

No way quay!

Matt and I finally finished a week long scrabble game. It was down to the wire when he scored with Quay, (that doesn't sound right?) He got a triple word score for the word: quay. Who knows what a quay is? Not me, so we checked with old Mister Webster. Quay: a platform that runs along the edge of a port or harbor, where boats are loaded and unloaded. Matt scored with quay and won the first game of the season by 60 points. This is war!

"Hon, we need to ...." Whenever I hear these words I know that it is something I need to do by myself. Tonight, it was to clean up the endless pictures of nothing that I have on the computer. Thought I would share a few before deleting.








Flowering maple tree that has taken over my arbor.














This is a magazine rack Mark made for me about three years ago. I finally got around to painting it and adding bling.

More birthday presents!

I have been telling Matt for 2 weeks that I wanted pumpkins and corn stalks for the front yard. For my birthday, he brought me home both. Annie and I played ball tonight and decorated the front steps.

Home alone

Matt is on-call this weekend. Saturday he was called out to Bar Harbor, from there he had to go to Skowhegan, and then on to Dexter. Since it's raining, I hibernated watching Food Network and took my new cook book for a test drive. These are Spicy Oatmeal Raisin cookies. They are great with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

Tonight I opened a can of whoop ass.

Come early Spring, we retire the Scrabble board for outdoor activities. Another sign of fall around our house is when I dig out the board and the games begin. I am ready to kick some Scrabble ass!!!

Birthday's Everywhere!

Like Emily, I received my first birthday present of this holiday season! Mom and Dad sent this great dessert cookbook. All recipes start with a cake mix and are so easy. I am not a dessert cook, so I think this is my parents attempt to say "have more sweets the next time we visit."

We took the boat to Schoodic Lake today for one last boat ride. It was a beautiful day to be on the water. Schoodic is in Brownville Maine only about an hour from our house.

To me, the best part of boatin is floatin and the best part of fishin is readin.














Matt and Mark reeled in two big bass. It is quite exciting when you realize you have a fish on the line and am not merely hooked on bottom.

Changes!

My family, (who all deserted me and moved south), have probably forgotten the beauty of fall in Maine. Here is a few pics Matt took the other day to remind you.

Live party music!!!

Phyllis's surprise birthday party was great! About 30 people showed up to celebrate the occasion. Their new home looks great! Butch provided the live music. He took requests, but Happy Birthday is not yet in his song book. But man does he play a mean Elvis!



Matt and I took a break from the festivities and walked down to the stream on their property. It's called the Black Stream and guess what? You take the Black Stream Road to get to it. Matt said it was a great place to put in a canoe and go hunting. I asked is that legal, "hunting from a floating object, especially a canoe?" He said "course it is." Sounds to me like a good way to accidently shoot your foot off. Tippy canoe and all.

Tator State

Of course I made this arrangement? Not. I bought it at my favorite craft store with a 50 percent off coupon.












My friend Phyllis, Butch's Mom, turns 70 tomorrow. After a trip to my favorite craft store and a few glue gun burns, I made her this wreath. Big party tomorrow night at their new home in Levant. It's a surprise for Phyllis!.











Matt worked up in "THE COUNTY" yesterday and came home with cukes, tators, the best corn, and some homemade relish called "Lady Ashburn Relish."

More signs of fall!

Everybody is a weather man. Now that the season is turning you hear things like: "can you believe the leaves are changing?," "I had to turn the heat on this morning," "God it's cold." These are comments usually made by a true Mainer. Yes folks, I can believe it because it happens every year at this time.

Fair days. Cool nights.

This is the John Deere product I wanted,











and this the one I got.

The Carnie Life!!!

This is my new best friend, the bloomin onion guy.













This looked like the exact same ride I went on when I was 10, so I didn't go there. I think the exact same guy was operating it.













Emily, I tried to win you a Miss Kitty but I suck with a water pistol.















Matt tending our booth.

Fall is in the air!!!

I wondered what these weird nests were in my trees and then the local paper, (Bangor Daily News), gave me the answer.

Hairy caterpillars are appearing along Maine roads and in forests in significant numbers this year. They are known as fall webworms who construct unsightly silken nests in the branches of trees. Although unsightly, the insects aren't considered a threat to the health of the tree. It's turning out to be a busy year for fall webworms.

In other tree news: this is a picture of what I refer to as "The Jerry Tree." My parents planted a birch tree the year Jerry was born on the shores of Silver Lake. My Jerry birch tree is about the same size as the one at Silver Lake when she was about 30ish. I bet the Jerry birch tree at Silver Lake is alot bigger now. N0 offense Jerry.

Blogger help!

I learned from Angelo that you never blog about your place of employment. You can get fired for that stuff. I am frustrated because I can't reset my time of post. I posted tonight at 7:06 and my blog post time is 3:30. I could not have possibly left work at 4:30: drove home, walked and feed the dog, started laundry, blogged the "walk about" with Annie, and started dinner, by 3:30. I believe my one of my co-workers and my supervisor may occasionally read my ramblings. Help?!?

Walk Abouts with Annie.

Most evenings Annie and I go on a "walk about" around the farm just to shake the day. Well, that and she has to poop. If you say to her, "wanna go on a walk about," she wiggles almost as much as if you say, "wanna treat." Tonight we were home alone, not that there is anything wrong with that, and these are some pics of our walk about.

Virginia Creeper

Yo Dad, this is the Virginia Creeper from Lee, Me. It's growing great, but when does it blossom? Here are some pics of other plants growing in my yard.

Sunday, Sunday, so good to me!

Ann T. M., Ann T. M
I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore.

Big exciting Friday night!

I picked tomatoes and am doing laundry. Oh the
adventures in vacationland!!!

Beer and roses.

Last year at Emily's college graduation Uncle Frank, Uncle Neil, and Aunt Susan snuck outside for a break. Somehow Frank and I ended up discussing our rose gardens. The conversation went something like this:
Frank: You know the best way to get roses to grow is to give them a beer once in awhile.
Me: No kiddin Frank, does it matter what kind of beer I give them?
Frank: Well, I wouldn't give them Heiniken or Corona because they will get used to it and want it all the time.
Frank, Neil, and I giggled like school children. I guess you had to be there. I gave my roses Milwaukee's Best this year, left over from a fishing trip, and they never looked better.

Master of all trades!

Amongst our closest circle of friends, Matt is known for his fishing and culinary skills. He is referred to as the "master baiter" when fishing. He will bait your hook with live bait, worms, an endless variety of flies, and untangle your line when needed. He is also known for his baked beans, and therefore referred to as "master bean maker. " Today our neighbor, who is a serious christian of the baptist kind, (not that there is anything wrong with that), brought us some baked beans. Myself, fresh out of the pool and with some spiced rum under my belt, thanked her for the beans, it being Saturday and all. However, I think when thanking her for the beans I might have said, "Matt will love these he is a master baiter," and I meant to say "master bean maker." Oops. I love him for both. Today he was a master mower.

That's my girl

Annie got a new soccor ball which she frequently trips over when trying to carry it in her mouth. She is not exactly poetry in motion.

Consider the turtle and other recent reads.

I just finished "The Devil Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger. A very funny book and a great pool/beach read. I have started to re-read "Waldon" by Henry David Thoreau. Which I have not read since college under the gun of a test the next day. I liked him then and I like him even better now. He has a no nonsense approach to everything in life. Here is one of my favorite excerpts:

Consider the turtle. Perchance you have worried, despaired of the world, meditated the end of life, and things seem rushing to destruction; but nature has steadily and serenely advanced with the turtle's pace. The young turtle spends its infancy within its shell. It gets experience and learns the way of the world through that wall. While it rests warily on the edge of its hole, rash schemes are undertaken by men and fail. French empires rise or fall, but the turtle is developed only so fast. What's a summer? Time for a turtle's egg to hatch. So is the turtle developed, fitted to endure, for he outlives twenty French dynasties. One turtle knows several Napoleons.
They have no worries, have no cares, yet has not the great world existed for them as much as for you.