Pumpkins!

Yay! Pumpkin carving time. I hadn't realized how many pumpkins I had bought over the last couple of weeks (six) until I started to find places for them. Luckily, three of them are really small and fit in my centerpiece. Of course, you can never have too many pumpkins when it comes to carving them, especially when you discover the greatness of power tools. Thank you for the dremel Lesa!!

p.s. If you try to use a dremel yourself, do so in an easily cleanable spot (pumpkin dust is a bit sticky).

Toxic Waters

Below is a link to a NPR piece about the health of our water ways and the New York Times page dedicated to the series.
It makes you really want to switch to solar energy

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113927993

http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters

Isle of Haut

Earlier this fall Phill and I went to the Isle of Haut for a party at one of his Advisor's summer house. Upon the drive down there it occurred to me why I haven't seen this advisor yet... he is really far away!

After a two hour drive to Stonington we caught the mail boat/ferry to the island . I didn't take any good pictures of the ferry but it consist of a boat with a lot of deck space on which several lawn chairs were placed (this is still acceptable by coast guard standards apparently).

After riding the ferry to the island we had the choice of catching a 15 minute ride to the house or hiking about two hours through the woods (Isle of Haut is actually part of the Acadia National park system so the trail system- although very wet- is very well maintained). The car below wasn't what we would've been able to ride in , but we did notice that all the cars on the island were older, and without license plates.

Being that it was one of the first days we had seen the sun this year, Phill and I chose to hike through the middle of the island. The hike was quite pleasant and it was very surprising to see the amount of fresh water on an oceanic island. There was even a stream that was about the size of Bear Creek! (You can tell Phill was the one with the camera this trip)

Here is a panorama of one of the bogs we passed while on the island.
And me resting on the beach (note the nice pinkish color I have obtained by this point (who knew, I could burn after two hours of sun exposure in August).

We didn't take any pictures of the house once we got there (we have to work on taking storylines of photos), but there was plenty of good beer (somebody brought some kegs they brewed), food and cute kids (see below) playing on the beach.

Parent's Visit!

Mom and Dad came up for a week to see the fall colors of Maine and Phill and me. Too bad the weather was not the best, next time I'll try talking them into coming during the bug season so it will be a bit drier and camping or kayaking don't seem just a little crazy (aside from the bugs). Despite the weather we got around to all the Maine tourist attractions and mom got to try out her new camera and investigate all the shops.


Mom and Dad along the coast in Acadia National Park



Dad raising the Sails of the Olad in Camden


atop of Little Chick Hill

Summer... Is that you?!?

Today was the first day it reached 80 in Portland (2 hours south), hopefully it will get that warm up here soon! When I learned that this was an unusually cold year for Maine it made me feel a little better, but then I started to wonder if there is a policy to tell the new Mainiacs that is colder than usual.

Fiddle Head

So, as far as I can tell Maniacs spend all winter inside, doing things like drinking, making quilts and seeing how many layers they can wear without looking too conspicuous... In the summer however, Maniacs spend all their time outdoors, doing outdoorsy things and harvesting anything that grows. Fiddle head (the head of the ostrich fern) is one of the first wild delectables that pop up in the spring, just prior to turkey hunting season and when the fish start biting. They are often steamed and ate in mass quantities, but when you can't eat anymore (Phill and I picked 6 gallons in about an hour). They are pickled and saved for the long cold winters.

A fiddle head.



Clean fiddle heads

The great annual Kenduskeag Strem Canoe Race

To celebrate the end of Maine's bitter cold and long winter, Mainiacs come and join in on a 16 mile canoe race down the Kenduskeag "stream". While I had to work (post to follow), Phill and his lab mates joined in and helped celbrate spring.


Phill and Mike tackling one of the smaller rapids.


Note Phill's facial expression relative to Mike's.

One of the more crowded canoes..


A less fortunate crew

Mexico!

Warmth. Sigh. Glorious Warmth.

Hard water fishing

Fly fishing season in Maine doesn't start until April 1. When I heard this, I thought it was strange that someone bothered to actually create the legislation to enforce this since the accessible water in Maine before April 1st tends to be in its solid state. Ice fishing on the other hand is a great option.

Phill and friends walking on water

A set ice fishing trap

The product of three hours of shivering (They are much smaller than they appear)


I can't wait until the water becomes liquid again...

Superbowl Sunday = college hockey?

Having no TV and no real reason to support one team over the other, Phill and I decided to go to the University of Maine's men's hockey game against UMass instead of watching the Superbowl. After arriving and discovering that I couldn't sit in the student section even with a full price ticket (!), Phill and I were fortunate enough to receive a pair of tickets from an usher who had to work the game. The tickets turned out to be for seats right behind the goal (thank you usher man!)!
With a record of 7-5-1 for home games, the team's motto of: The tradition of success, hasn't been followed very closely so far this season. With low expectations Phill and I were pleasantly surprised when Maine scored a second goal within the last 40 seconds of play, leading them to a 2-1 victory. Go Blue Bears!

Brrrr!!!

It is official. Maine is the coldest climate I have lived in thus far. The temperature when I woke this morning was -24F, with a windchill of -44F. While this isn't the coldest is has been here this month, it was colder than either of the poles at the time. With the windchill it is currently 1F (this is the high for today!), making my daily walk a bit of an adventure. On the plus side, the views are amazing and everything has a layer of ice on it- making it glisten in the sunlight (sorry you Seattle-ites, it has been very sunny). While I haven't been able to make a snow ball (to cold for the snow to stick together- who knew!), I have been slowly working on making an ice castle and will have to send you pictures once I figure out a way to bring my camera outside without it freezing.