Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening after a nice day. Quite breezy here on the pond. Carol had set some quilts and wall hangings etc. out on the chairs out front to air out. She is doing this as we begin to go through all the quilts etc. that were in “climate controlled” storage, Except as we mentioned before, it may not have gone below freezing but moisture levels were way too high. A nuisance but hopefully all the items can be salvaged without too much effort. You got it, time will tell.

Earlier this week as I was cleaning up around where the now gone motorcycle trailer used to be, I found this little guy. A spotted salamander. 

 

He was just there doing whatever it is the salamanders do. I covered it up with the same clump of pine needles and let it be. I checked the next day and Spotty had moved on.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. Labor Day is this weekend if you can believe that. I am finding it difficult, I have no idea where this summer has gone. 

The two graduated seniors are ensconced in their respective dorm environments, Kailey at MECA in Portland and Parker at Bates in Lewiston.  Evan returns to his dorm at USM this weekend as well. New adventures for them all.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. Not much happening here on the pond. Hot heavy daytime weather kept me in the studio most of the day. Having no interest in the water and with no projects that can’t wait until cooler temps, that seemed like a nice cool place to be. Carol has been under the weather this week so we both have been laying low. I’ve been bunking in the studio so hopefully we share less germs. The weather is supposed to get hotter over the weekend, I don’t believe there is any real rain in sight,. You got it time will tell.

The lily has finished it’s display for another season. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, too windy for a fire. 

I have been wasting, I mean spending my time picking up sticks and burning them in the fire pit. I currently have four 55 gallon drums of them ready to burn. They burn quickly so I can’t see just leaving them on the ground in piles to rot for the next 10 to 20 years or more.

In chemistry class we learned the burning was called rapid oxidation. There is an endless supply of available clean up, but not as easily obtained after the leaves and bugs pop out. I like to play while the window is open, so to speak. When the window closes because the bugs get too bad or it gets too hot out, that is why there is air conditioning in the studio.

Unless I can find a market for some of the fire wood I have I don’t know how many more places I can find to make my round wood stacks. I’m eyeballing some at the neighbors that could be cut/split and stacked and left right there for them. The fun part done, let them burn it. It seems like it ought to work. You may remember my current pile from last fall. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, where does the time go?

I decided that it was time for my second dose of the shingles vaccine. I am not a lover of needles and shots. So I put it off about as long as I could. I still need the flu and the Covid shots, they’ll have to wait a little. The first dose of the shingles gave me a reaction beyond a very sore arm. It was the second day after receiving the shot and I was still feeling lousy when I finally realized that the shot was what caused it. Well today as the nice young lady was about to plunge in the goody juice I was telling her this. Of course she says “oh with most people if you have a reaction to dose #1 you will have a worse one to dose #2.” I hear this as the goody juice burns into my arm. Now several hours and much exercise splitting wood later, my arm is sore. But then again so is my shoulders and back and both arms and my hands. I don’t think much really has anything to do with the shot, other than the sore arm injection site. Had the shingles, I would rather have vinyl siding, less maintenance.

Yesterday I went over to the neighbors and retrieved the last four or so tractor loads of big wood. Today while I was resting after getting my shot, I proceeded to get it all split and scabbed onto the main wood pile. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday. I think today will pass as a rainy day. I was going to Rangeley for the soccer game but it was cancelled because of the rain. 

I am writing this in the AM as I have finally managed to make an appointment to change the battery on my ever expanding laptop. Everything still works fine but the battery is out gassing causing the case to swell. The Man is going to swap out the battery and test to be sure it is charging correctly. I don’t know if I will get back today or not. Hence, I’m writing this now. 

After a few trips to The Man I now have my laptop back with a new battery. Amazing, not as hot and seems to work much better.

Yesterday and the day before I worked on getting the tree out of the water that fell in during one of last years storms. 

 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~ 

I had a beautiful Thursday evening by the fire. The pond was flat as a mirror and unlike in the spring, it was quiet except for my audiobook. I am inside now as I write this, then I begin to sew until I quit for bed. Here are two pictures of a couple of my little friends as they look out over the pond and the sunset this evening. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

In the studio. 

The weather has changed it’s mind a great many times in the last few days. First we had the real hot weather last week then wind and rain knocked off most of the rest of the brown pine needles off the pine trees. Now sitting and looking out along the pond the big pines look a lot greener. They still look like real old pines, but at least a little greener. 

Of course after the pine needles fell off they landed in the pond and on the driveway. Those that landed in the pond ended up on the beach. 

With some help that was visiting our neighbors, we managed to get the majority of them cleaned up. Those that landed on the driveway were blown off again.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

From the studio. Too windy for a fire, that seems to be the pattern. This time of the evening is windy. Oh well, I’ll ramble here a few minutes then go to work. I shouldn’t be too long, it seems that each day is much like the last. I did go grocery shopping today, not much exciting going on there either.

I fixed a neighbor’s water pump last week, now he wants his toilet replaced. I also told him I’d cut some more of his dead trees. Hopefully I didn’t open a can of worms. That is one commodity we are in no short supply of around here and that is dead trees and dying ones. I helped our next door neighbor cut a maple tree down and clean up the mess. When I split it for him, I saw that the middle third of the tree was rotten. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

In the studio. I could have been by the fire, I was last night, tonight was warm enough but it had been raining off and on so I opted to stay inside and continue working on #12 for 2024.

Much of my time has still been spent cleaning up this past winter’s mess. There is still a great deal more available if I am so inclined. I was reminded last night how fast I can burn the wood on a nice calm evening. 

I was on the way back, headed home with a load of wood I had gathered off the side of Old County Road, and noticed a neighbor out by the road trying to shovel back the gravel that the snow plow guy had pushed up against his stone wall. I told him let me take the truck home and I’ll bring the tractor back and pull much of it back for you. 

I think it’s always a good idea to help out the neighbors when you can.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

In the studio, it was too windy out… now it is just too cold. 

I sure hope it warms up before too long or at least is calm during the day so I can get back to burning up the mess everywhere. I keep cleaning it up, no end in sight. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Up in the studio. Not much new happening around here. One day is nice the next is cold and windy. At least the ice is completely gone now. I think I will hold off on going swimming though. 

The sunsets are getting pretty again with the reflections. This was from last night.

There is no beach in front of the house, water right up to the retaining wall.  Don’t have to worry too much about raking the beach yet. I do put the waders on from time to time to pull branches etc. out of the pond. I haven’t seen the float part again that Carol mentioned last time. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. I did pull a 25’ or so tree out of the pond, it had hung up on the other end of the beach. It’s up by the splitter now waiting to be added to the wood pile. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~ 

Christmas evening, and what a week it has been. Violent winds and torrential rain overpowered us last week. We had a little over 3” of ice in the pond last Sunday. After the storm the ice was gone and there were branches and trees down all over the area. The pond rose about 10’ up the beach and the storm runoff is still pouring in. 

We were out of power from Monday morning until Friday morning. A rather large tree blew over across the driveway and onto the power lines after the drainage ditch saturated the soil.  

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

By the fire, Sunday evening. Beautiful sunset. 

 

Overall it was a nice weekend. We went to Rangeley for Grandson Parker’s soccer game. Was a good game and they won. We had anticipated a chilly afternoon sitting by the soccer field. We had taken our heated winter jackets just in case. Was a beautiful afternoon.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Sunday evening out by the fire. 

Had a substantial shower just after I finished grilling the burgers. Excellent timing. I had already started the fire and was able to rekindle it and dry off my seat. I sit on a cushion anyway and not on the seat of my chair. That is only bad if I forgot to bring it inside the night before and it rained. You can count on that part this year, it will rain.  

The clouds during the sunset looked cool, I see a dog, you?

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

What a nice day yesterday was, dare I say it, almost too hot. I guess we have more coming. Time for it anyway. Will need to walk earlier in the day before it warms up too much.

We had a visitor the other day, an otter came to visit. I think it wanted to cross over to Mud Pond but the beach it had to cross smelt too much like the neighbor’s dog. Pretty animal, fun to watch.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here. Sunday evening, different fire, same view, different sky. 

Carol had a hard day, bed early. At least it is in her bed. 

Too hot to walk today, I have decided that it was much easier walking when it was cold out. Put on the clothes and just go. When it is hot there is only so much that is coming off in the name of propriety. I guess that is why I put lots of walking miles in the bank during the colder months. Saw this on my walk the other day. It was kinda scary to see. 

Shows the fragility of the seasons and how short they really are.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, all is well here on the pond. Monday was quite chilly and breezy. Well not really breezy, it was down right windy. Even Winnie the Pooh would have thought it was more than blustery. The wind the last couple of days have blown a decent amount of debris to clean off the beach. Again.

Might get to it later today. Or not, time will tell.

I walked around the pond yesterday with daughter Erin. 

 We found a few Mayflowers on our journey. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan again, I write this on Tuesday evening. I am no longer off my feed, I just can’t seem to get a good rhythm going the last few days.

Carol, however, is off her feed, under the weather, laid out flat or hobbling with a wheeled walker. Painful to watch but I bet a lot worse for her. Somehow she has “put her back out.” In my opinion, a very painful situation.

This happened several days ago. Probably why my rhythm has been off. She has no idea what is going on with it or how she did it. There are many “normal” everyday things that Carol does. Making the bed, changing towels and doing laundry, keeping the kitchen cleaned up and on and on ~ I’m sure many jobs I’m not even aware of. Many of these things she does as I spend a chunk of every day walking.

The Woodpile

Dan here ~

Me again, glad you’re back to read my rambling. My walking has been off this week I ended up with just under 46 miles for the week. This brings my year to just under 750 miles walked since December 31, 2020.

I have been raking and cleaning brush up by the septic system and relocating my woodpile. Why would anybody relocate their woodpile you ask?