Archive for June 2015
After our fun day trip to Portsmouth and Kennebunkport we decided we needed some additional cruising time but a little further north in Maine. It was one of those days where we just drive. No GPS, no real destination, just drive until we get lost. The above photograph illustrates why traveling around in Maine is such fun. It seems that you can’t drive for more than a few minutes without seeing these kind of picturesque scenes.
It makes driving a real chore because you want to stop at every location but they’re everywhere. There are hundreds of lakes and ponds and any one of them would result in fantastic photographs.
It was getting to be lunch time and we were starving and craving some good old Maine seafood. This place pictured below was just a shack along the highway and since we had nothing to lose we stopped. It’s places like this that always seem to have really good food and fresh from the ocean seafood. We pulled in, ordered, and weren’t the least bit disappointed.
‘It doesn’t look like much but don’t be fooled.’
‘The prices were reasonable and the food terrific.’
We sat at a picnic table in the parking lot and pigged out. A sunny day, fresh fish, and and a huge container of iced tea. It just doesn’t get much better than that. We ended up driving more than two hundred miles before finally finding our way home.
‘Another great Maine day.’
‘One last scene from the drive.’
As I promised, today’s posting will conclude our day trip to Portsmouth, NH and Kennebunkport, ME. I left off last time as we were leaving the Red Hook Brewery in New Hampshire after a nice lunch and a tour of the brewery. I still was loving that beer buzz I had from tasting the many beer samples on the tour. Unfortunately by the time we reached the Kennebunkport area the glow was gone.
Our last visit to Kennebunkport had been prior to Memorial Day and things have changed dramatically in the last week. The tourists were out in force and the parking difficulties have returned. As much as I hate paying for parking there really isn’t much of a choice in such a small village directly adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. Three bucks an hour is enough to keep our visit to a two hour minimum.
We took a quick walk around town hitting a few shops and generally getting a feel for the place. Many of the shops from last year were gone and replaced by new owners wanting to make their fortune. Good luck with that.
As always we hung around just long enough to make a visit to Federal Jack’s restaurant. We never miss that stop when we’re in town because the food is great and the beer is plentiful. This is the original microbrewery location that eventually spawned the Shipyard Brewing Company. I switched back to white wine for my meal of freshly caught and cooked Fish & Chips.
The town is famous for the Bush family and as you can see the entire population is celebrating the 90th birthday of Barbara Bush this month. As we left town we took a short ride up the coast past Walker Point where the Bush family has their summer residence. The day remained gray and chilly but that’s just life in Maine in early June.
We arrived back home with a camera full of pictures and full bellies. Now it’s time to relax for a while and watch a movie. We’re both hoping for warmer weather soon but I suppose that’s Mother Natures decision as always.
Last Wednesday was a day we don’t often have. My better-half and I were able to combine some semi-decent weather with one of her rare days off. We decided to start our day in Portsmouth, NH where we could shop a little, enjoy people watching, and take a few updated photographs of the waterfront and harbor.
Even though the weather wasn’t perfect (cloudy and chilly) we still enjoyed roaming around Old Town. The shops there are as diverse as they can possibly be making the visits much more interesting. Jewelry, clothing, trinkets, and of course food. We did our best to sample and purchase a little of everything.
The older part of town is filled with many interesting buildings that have been repurposed many times over the years. Lots of college and high school students filling the streets to make things even more interesting. I have to say that the new fad of coloring one’s hair a vibrant blue doesn’t do much for me but I’m acquiring a real appreciation for the women’s new obsession with tights. OMFG!
‘What’s a day without music?
‘Lady Blue’
After walking around town for a few hours I found something interesting. It was a building decoration which captured completely the message my feet were sending to me.
We ended the day with a stop at the Red Hook Brewery for a light lunch and then a tour of the facility. It never hurts to learn a little more about beer making and those free beer samples didn’t hurt either. While I’m not much of a beer drinker it’s nice to have an occasional beer buzz that early in the day. We departed the Portsmouth area for a leisurely ride up the coast to one of out favorite places, Kennebunkport. I’ll save that part of the trip for my next posting.
All in all we had a very nice day.
Using all of my past years of people watching as reference material I’ve come to the conclusion there must be one helluva lot of people in this world who are neat-freaks and germaphobes. There must be hundreds of thousands of us out there because we seem to be mentioned in every TV show and movie there is. Someone’s always mentioned as being "so anal" or “too anal”. It irritates me only because I’m one of them. I’m a certifiable neat-freak and proud of it and have been for years. I’m also reasonably sure that we neat-freaks aren’t nearly as crazy as those damn germaphobes.
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If you aren’t either a neat-freak or germaphobe you may become one after reading the following tidbits of information. More useless and somewhat disgusting information you probably don’t really want to know. Enjoy it anyway.
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Bottled water is rarely tested for purity. An Environmental Working Group study found that ten popular brands were riddled with chemicals and pollutants, some as high as regular tap water.
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About 99% of imported food is never inspected by the FDA or USDA, the two agencies responsible for protecting Americans from tainted products.
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One pound of peanut butter can contain up to 150 bug fragments and five rodent hairs.
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One in five coffee mugs contains fecal bacteria and E.coli, which can cause diarrhea, food poisoning, and infections.
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Vegetarians beware: many low-fat and non-fat yogurts and sweets contain gelatin, which is made from animal tendons, ligaments, and bones.
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Peaches, apples, nectarines, and strawberries are among the top six "dirtiest" foods, according to investigations by the Environmental Working Group. More than 90 percent of samples of these fruits tested positive for detectable pesticides, even after being rinsed or peeled.
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Red-colored grocery items like fruit punch and strawberry yogurt are often dyed with carmine, which is made from ground up cochineal beetles. For some, carmine can cause severe allergic reactions and even lead to anaphylactic shock.
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A diet high in processed meats like sausage, hot dogs, and luncheon meats increases the risk of pancreatic cancer. Chemical reactions that occur during the preparation of these meats yield carcinogens, which could be responsible for the association.
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The well know poison arsenic is approved by the FDA as an additive to poultry feed and given to at least 70 percent of chickens raised for consumption in the United States.
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A medium fruit-and-yogurt smoothie at Dunkin’ Donuts contains four times as much sugar as a chocolate frosted cake donut.
In 2008, a Nebraska policeman was awarded $40,000.00 after he sued Taco Bell/KFC restaurant that served his family food containing an employee’s urine and spit.
That’s about enough information for me. Ugh………. Gag me with a spoon.
‘Rear Yard Water Feature’
Today I’m celebrating my release from two days of captivity in "computer hell". All of my network connected items are finally working once again and all is right in my world.
I spent four hours yesterday digging into the software on my main computer in an attempt to find that one little thing that would fix all of my networking problems. It was a mentally exhausting exercise that really didn’t make me much smarter just more frustrated.
As I peeled away the layers of this damn computer onion I discovered a lot of settings that are automatically set by the Windows program when working with local networks. After four hours of searching I discovered a small screen that I’d never seen before. I clicked on a small box on that screen which initiated some sort of BS setting, and miracle of miracles, everything began working properly. I read the small descriptive blurb near that switch but understood none of it …… but it worked.
‘It’s amazing what a little rain can do.’
Today is a day of much needed rain and I’m relaxing with the cat in front of the television. As you can see by the photo’s the rain is quickly turning our property into a jungle. I just finished watching for the umpteenth time, season one of Sherlock. It’s a modernized version of Sherlock Holmes produced by the BBC. It’s my all time favorite recreation of Holmes and believe me I’ve read and seen everything ever made or written about the great detective. It’s just a great way to spend a lazy and rainy day.
Earlier I prepared an appetizer for our dinner tonight which I hope will be spectacular. I hollowed out eight fairly large jalapeños, stuffed them with a mixture of cream cheese and spices, and wrapped them in bacon. I’ll toss them on the grill and crisp them up to start off our meal of roasted chicken. Add a small salad and we’ll should have an excellent meal. I may even throw in a few tortilla chips and a jar of my home made black bean/corn salsa. That’s hot enough to spice up any meal and to keep your mouth burning for quite a while.
I’m also spending some time planning our two day vacation for next week. It may involve a day of shopping and walking through the Old Town section of Portsmouth, NH, and also visits to a few local wineries and breweries. It should be a relaxing couple of days if the weather doesn’t screw it up.
everyuselessthing.com 