Archive for the ‘maine’ Tag
This has been a better week than I expected. The weather has been beautiful with lots of sun and temperatures in the low eighties. The better-half’s schedule is finally cooperating and her days off fell just perfectly. We packed up our cameras and headed to Kennebunkport, Maine for lunch and a short shopping spree as she searched for a Father’s Day gift for her Dad.
It’s little early for the normal crowds of tourists but it’s obvious that the summer is nearing. Traffic was moderate but as always finding parking is a huge pain in the ass.
Before the advent of the Bush family to the national scene this place was just a small quaint little town on the water with a small harbor full of lobster men’s boats. Now it’s THE place to go in southern Maine for all of the Bush family admirers. Everything Bush all of the time.
We decided that lunch at Federal Jacks was in order. Federal Jacks is located on the main drag directly adjacent to the harbor. It’s a great restaurant and also the original microbrewery responsible for the Shipyard line of beers. We took a seat on the deck of the second floor and ordered drinks and a light lunch. Here’s the view from our table.
“Black Bean Chili and Chips”
It’s low tide so the smell of the ocean and fish fill the air. Some of us like that but many others like the schmo at the next table do not. It’s the the ocean dumb ass, get over it. Go play tourist at the Grand Canyon where you can enjoy the aroma of hot sand. Brother!
We walked through a number of shops until my better-half found that special gift for Dad. We decided not to spend the entire day there because it’s quite likely we’ll be back a few more times before this summer is over.
There you have it, another day in this northern paradise. If you visit Kennebunkport in season there is one problem you’ll be forced to contend with. A small town, limited space, thousands of people and unless you pay there will be:
Just a friendly warning.
I’m feeling somewhat so-so today. I’ve got the blah’s for some unknown reason and it’s making me a little crazier than usual. I have a number of small projects to do but my motivation has disappeared. It shouldn’t be this way but it is. Even though the weather is beautiful, the house, garden, and yards look as good as they ever have, I’m still blahhhhhh.
Todays title is mish/mosh and it’s the perfect descriptor of where my head is at. Todays posting will contain almost anything that crosses my mind with no rhyme or reason. To start off this list of so-so crap will be today’s celebration of a stupid flower. For years my better-half and I wanted to find and to grow white iris’s. We have hundreds of blue or purple iris’s but white ones seem difficult to find. Last summer we stumbled on a white iris plant that we purchased, gently planted, watered, and babied hoping against hope to see a bloom this year. Our wish was granted this week when this bloom made it’s first appearance.
I can’t believe I actually became excited by this but such is my life these days. Every little special moment must be celebrated no matter how lame I may have thought things like this were in the past. With that in mind here are a few updated photo’s of the garden and yards now that the weather has warmed and the plants are really taking off.
As you can see I have chives growing every where. The main reason is exactly what you see, gorgeous blooms throughout the garden. Later I’ll harvest them and have dried chives for cooking next winter. It’s just a beautiful plant for those of us who love beautiful flowers and the always delicious taste of onions.
Over the years our herb and vegetable garden has changed dramatically as we experiment with plants that can be easily stored, canned or frozen for our own use. Most of the herbs are culinary with the exception of the catnip, apple mint, spearmint, and peppermint. The catnip is permitted only because it’s removal would really piss off the neighbor’s cat if he couldn’t stop over for a buzz every so often. The mints can be used for tea or potpourri when dried but we don’t use them all that much. They just supply a wonderful aroma as you walk through the garden.
There you have it, another posting of my disturbingly blah day. The better-half and I have an upcoming day trip to Kennebunkport, Maine which should make for a few interesting photographs of the harbor and surrounding area. That should make my next posting a bit more interesting . . . or not.
BLAH ! ! !
Well I’ve calmed down somewhat after my fiasco of traveling home from Texas. It’s time to get back to normal and return to my quiet life without airlines, crowds of people, and over priced everything.
I climbed back on my trusty treadmill yesterday and I’ve got to say it was a real wake-up call. I went a full week without much exercise and starting up again was a killer. I just have to keep pushing myself to reach that final weight loss goal I’ve targeted. I really thought that after the Texas trip I’d have to work double hard to regain motivation to lose whatever extra weight I’d gained on the trip. The biggest surprise I had was when I weighed in showing a two pound loss bringing my total weight loss since last November to 38 pounds. Hooray for me. I’m now only ten pounds from my goal. With any luck I’ll be there by August and then I can really celebrate. Ten months of oranges, radishes, cashews, and protein will make any celebration an improvement in my diet.
It’s back to gardening, yard work, and preparing for the better-half’s trip to Los Angeles in a few weeks. The Spring seems to be flying along very quickly but Summers coming. I just wish the winter months came and went as quickly as these months seem to. As I lay on the floor of Reagan National airport the other night trying to catch three winks I could only fantasize about getting back to gardening without the fear of traveling nightmares. This young lady has a couple of gorgeous flowers that make her garden a sheer delight.
I’m planning on a major overhaul of my man-cave while she’s gone and I’m beginning today to collect the materials I need. The cave is getting a little crowded so I need to rearrange things a bit. My winemaking area will be expanded to include a new multi-level siphoning table as well as new shelving units for my assortment of accessories. I need more storage to accommodate the ever increasing number of wine bottles. I need that wine because it helps me relax me so I can continue my gardening fantasies.
This is my gardening helper. She’s in charge of all of my gardening tools and their maintenance. She’s a lovely young lady who is exceptionally talented.
Once my man-cave project is completed I can get down to cooking a little. I had dinner in a Mexican restaurant while in Dallas and we feasted on the best fish taco’s I’ve ever had. Along with the tacos we thoroughly enjoyed the chips and salsa and a Verde salsa that was unbelievable. It was citrusy and smoking hot and wonderful. It’s time for me to create my own version of that salsa. I’ve made a lot of salsa over the years and it should be fun to give this a try. I honestly think that this trip and the continuing Tex-Mex influences of my Texas born better-half are turning me into a wannabe Mexican. I know, it’s hard to believe and I’m as surprised as anyone.
The remainder of this summer should be fun and a great time to relax before Canning season starts in September. One last gardening fantasy before I go. Oh man do I love gardening . . . . .
My goal today is to give all of you a tip. After you get to a certain age never, I repeat never, make dandelion wine. I know that sounds stupid but let me explain. Over the years I’ve made dandelion wine a few times and it always tastes so incredibly good you might wonder why I’ve only made it a few times. The main reason is the amount of work that goes into making it. It’s a labor intensive project that becomes more difficult as you age.
Yesterday I was out in the garden just walking around and happy to see that everything I’ve planted has broken ground and looking healthy. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts the garden is well underway and my batch of red wine is bubbling happily along. I knew I wanted to make a second batch of wine but really hadn’t decided what it would be. As I was thinking and walking the mail lady pulled into my drive way with a package for me. It was a small order of winemaking materials I recently ordered to replace what had been used on the red wine. It must have been a sign from the wine drinking gods.
As I opened the box to check the order I glanced out the window and noticed that my yard was covered with freshly blooming dandelions. I decided at that moment to make a batch of dandelion wine out of those blossoms found in my yard. I should have had my head examined but foolishly prepared for the project anyway.
I dragged a plastic bag, a pair of latex gloves, and an already sore back into the yard and got to it. Over the next hour I harvested a few thousand dandelion flowers and filled the bag to the top. I started out just bending over to get the blossoms but the sorer my back became the more I thought about calling it a day. It wasn’t long before I was forced to my hands and knees to complete the collection process. One of my latex gloves had torn and that hand was now a bright yellow that took some serious scrubbing to remove. I now had the hands of a thirty-year smoker.
I finished up and returned to the house to try and work out the kinks in my back and neck. Unfortunately the worst was yet to come. I wanted to make at least three gallon of this wine which requires five full cups of petals per gallon. The next step was to sit on the deck for another two hours with with a fresh set of gloves and a huge glass of icy cold Sangria. I sat there and slowly and meticulously began removing the petals from the stems. With my hands painfully cramping I finally reached my goal of fifteen cups of dandelion petals.
“Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab”
To make a long story short, I returned to my man-cave, gathered the remainder of the required ingredients and finally had the batch prepared. I placed the blossoms into two gallons of filtered water and boiled them for twenty minutes making a beautiful golden yellow liquid. I added the other ingredients as well plus seven pounds of granulated sugar and allowed the mixture to cool. That took a few hours and it wasn’t until after dark that I was able to finally able to add the yeast.
If I’m lucking and barring any unforeseen catastrophes, I should get at least 15-17 bottles of a gorgeous golden wine in approximately three and a half months. Was it worth the effort? I’ll let you know as soon as I can use my hands again and I can bend over without screaming.
This had better be the best damn wine ever made.
After thoroughly enjoying my day-off and cruising around the area with my better-half it was once again back to work. It seems that we’re finally free of the frost for this year so we I began planting the next group of plants which included black beans, green beans, wax beans and snap peas. Any or all of these are delicious to eat fresh from the garden but they also can be canned without losing their flavor. Normally we use them as part of the vegetable mixes we make for use through the Winter in stir-fry’s.
The vegetable mixes are usually the last thing we do before closing down the garden. The mix can contain any number of veggies that are left over at summers end. We try to make a number of different assortments as you can see by the photo’s.
The better-half has been trying unsuccessfully for years to grow gourds. She gives them a great start in the house under glass as you can see. Then they are moved to the cold frames before final planting. We decided this year to move some of the gourds out of the garden to a spot closer to the house where they can get sun and be better protected from the weather. We’ll cross our fingers and hope for the best one more time. In my opinion it’ll take a minor miracle to get them to grow large enough to produce anything useful. She’s forever the optimistic and is certain it’ll work this year. Half full is her manta in all things.
I wanted to plant the jalapeños and cayenne peppers but stopped myself. As a rule peppers do best when they have warm nights so I decided to wait another week or two. I’ll be able then to put the cucumbers, zucchini, and squash in and finally be done with the garden planting. So for now they remain in the cold frame.
My winemaking efforts continue and that red wine I mentioned in an earlier post has completed it’s hard fermentation and moved into glass jugs and sealed with air locks. It’s now just a wait of a few months for the jugs to clear. Eventually gravity will cause all of the yeast to drop to the bottom of the jugs and I can siphon off the clear and finished wine. I have to say I love the smell of yeast and wine when it’s fermenting. I wish some company could bottle that smell because I’d make sure my man-cave was always filled with that fragrance.
While I was cleaning and organizing my man-cave I was pleasantly surprised to find this bottle of wine.
This is a bottle of blackberry wine that I made back in 1986. I’ve recorked it a few times over the years and each time I’ve taken a small taste. It’s pretty potent after all those years but I think I’ll put it back in storage for a few more years before I try it again.
A day-off was really becoming necessary after the last few hectic weeks of gardening and lawn clean-up. Today was the day. The better-half was also on a day-off so we slept in a little, loaded up on coffee and breakfast, and then jumped into the car and took off. It was a semi-beautiful day but the cloudiness was going to make taking pictures a challenge.
We drove east towards the shore and the traffic was light. In two more weeks the tourists will arrive in force and make traveling a little more interesting in these beach areas. We drove up the coast for a few miles and stopped briefly in a small cove used primarily by local lobstermen. I snapped of a few photo’s of them at work and a few of the birds covering the nearby rocks. Neither seemed too happy about my picture taking but I persevered.
It was breezy as hell and the temperature had dropped just low enough to require a hoodie if you planned on walking around. We returned to the car, turned on the heater, and warmed up a little. As we proceeded north it was great to see everything struggling to become green again and the sun finally decided to make an appearance. We stopped briefly at the Portland Head Light which is one of the most visited and photographed lighthouses in Maine. It guards the entrance to Portland harbor.
As you can see it’s just a place made for photographers. It’s almost impossible to take a bad picture there. Normally this place is mobbed with tourists but we were lucky to get here before the Memorial Day madness.
Our trip continued north as we entered the city of Portland. If you you’ve never visited Portland your missing something special. It’s a small city with a small town feel. It has a colorful waterfront as you can see and if you like the ocean the aroma of low tide here will enchant you.
My better-half has a overwhelming desire for beer at almost any time so I decided to make a quick stop at Three Dollar Dewey’s, a local ale house and restaurant. It’s located on Commercial Street in Portland, adjacent to the harbor. It’s a charming area with fish markets, micro breweries, and some serious parking issues if you visit in season. We try to stop at Dewey’s whenever we’re in the area for a quick cold one and a large order of fries. They are just what the doctor ordered.
We finished our fries and drinks and then walked around town for a few minutes of people watching. Everyone was out in large numbers enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. Check out this little project someone created along the street. Snap a padlock of some sort on the fence and write your name on it. I though it was pretty cool so take a look.
It was mid-afternoon and time for us to depart. We enjoyed this relaxing break from our normal lives and were ready to head home. Tomorrow is another day.
Needless to say the Spring garden work and yard cleanup continues apace. The only part of my body that’s not sore or aching is the tip of my nose. Everything else is shot to hell and letting me know about it every time I move the least little bit. Fortunately all of the hard work is finally paying off which is rather satisfying for so early in the year. The better-half who is in charge of the flower gardens is already seeing amazing results as you can see by these pictures.
It occurs to me that the plants in Maine understand what a short growing season we have and make the most out of every minute with whatever rain and warmth they can find. The grass can look like a field of dirty dead plants one day and within a week it turns into a lush green carpet that very quickly needs to be cut. I added the first mowing of 2014 this week along with all of the other chores I had on my To-do list.
The herb garden suffered a little more from the winter weather than I first thought. The neighborhood cats will be highly upset when they discover the huge catnip plant has passed away. Our garden was a regular stop in their travels where they could roll around in and eat some catnip. It was like the town’s feline opium den. I suppose I’ll be replanting it once again even though my cat Stormy is unaffected by it’s influences. I made enough room in the herb garden so that a larger than normal patch of parsley can be planted. We use a great deal of parsley through the winter and we ran a little short this Spring.
“Asparagus”
The asparagus roots have been planted and hopefully within the next two years we’ll have a thriving patch to harvest from. I love it with my meals but it takes such a long time to establish before we can use it. It’s recommended that we don’t harvest from this planting until early in 2016. Patience for this I just don’t have.
The lettuces were planted yesterday as well. I’ve put in three varieties this year along with spinach and two varieties of kale. The kale is freezable and my better-half tells me that kale chips are in my future. They don’t sound all that appetizing but I’ll withhold final judgment for now.
“Spinach/Lettuce”
I’ll be waiting at least another week or two before putting in any plants that could be killed by a frost. I’ve gotten ahead of myself in past years and been burned when a late frost wiped out a large number of my plants. I guess gardening is a great way to learn patience but it’s not something I’m known for.
This garden is much smaller than most people think when they see the results each Fall. The excellent level of production takes good planning, crop rotation, great compost, and plenty of good old sunshine and water.
I consider this a modern version of the old WW II Victory Garden. It takes a little hard work and investment of time but growing and eating your own crops makes sense to me. I know what I’m eating without fear of spoiled plants or diseases and it’s fresh and tasty. It hasn’t been sitting somewhere in the back of a truck or warehouse for weeks before the store displays it for sale. Enough of my preaching, it’s time for me to climb down off my soap box and go accomplish something.
Another week of this and I’ll be all out of a gardener’s best friend, Ben-gay. I should start buying it by the case every Spring based entirely on how my butt and legs feel this morning.
I’m making today an official day of rest. For you religious folk out there today is my Sunday. No gardening, no home repairs, and no shopping. It’s a do my workout, post my blog and relax kind of day.
I’ve been working steadily for the last week and one by one the projects and problems have been solved and accomplished. The damage caused by my better-half’s derrière to the garden’s raised bed has been repaired. It wasn’t a tough job just a little time consuming. It’s amazing to me just how in a few years time good old Mother Nature is can totally destroy a piece of untreated lumber.
This was a raised bed I built a few years ago and in two years time I was forced to replace three sides of that rectangle. It was initially built with untreated lumber I had laying around. Three sides to the bed were totally rotted but the fourth side I didn’t replace at that time. I used pressure treated lumber for the replacements, made the repair and moved on. It was that remaining untreated board that I just finished replacing. I tried to take it out in one piece but it crumbled in my hands as I lifted it out. Hopefully this repair will last a while longer and I won’t be replacing anything for quite some time.
I no sooner finished that piece of work when I started preparing for the next project on my Spring To-do List. As I mentioned in my last post the set of steps on the rear of my house had been badly damaged by the falling ice and snow from the roof. A quick trip back to Lowe’s to purchase another load of pressure treated lumber and I was ready to go. In years past when this has happened I just replaced the broken railing with exactly what had been destroyed. Not this time.
I spent some time designing a much heavier and stronger railing for those steps that I hope will stand up to next years ice fall. I’ve tried everything to eliminate the ice problem including attempts to rake the roof with a snow rack with a twenty foot handle. The back of the house is just too tall for that. So the railing I just finished should be able to take the hit from the ice without exploding into a zillion pieces. I won’t know until next Winter just how good or bad my design really is. I can’t explain to you just how much ice we have on that roof and how much it really weighs. I can tell you that when the ice finally let’s loose the entire house shakes on it’s foundation. The first time I experienced it I almost had a heart attack, I thought we were having an earthquake.I put the finishing touches to it yesterday and I’m pleased with the results. That was the last major repair needed and now I can focus on the garden.
One of my smaller garden projects was to build another large cold frame. I built a small one and have been using it for a few years and it’s saved me a lot of money in plant replacements. With this screwed up Maine weather another large cold frame makes a lot of sense, I’m also building one for the better-half’s daughter who has created her own garden over the last two years that is slowly turning into something special.
During our house remodel a few years ago I rescued a few windows and put them into storage. They make the perfect top for cold frames. I finished mine this week and have hers almost completed. Once they’re both installed I can finish the cultivating of the garden and get the fabric placed into the frames. I do the fabric installation early in the Spring which helps to warm the soil in the frames and eliminated the weed problem. Once that’s complete I’ll remove the plants from the cold frames and replant them one final time. Then it’s sit back and watch them grow until late summer when the canning can begin.
It seems the springtime work is never done and unfortunately it never is. It’s been requested that I frequently update the progress of this garden through the summer months and into harvest time. I’ll be doing just that and will try to keep it interesting with as many photos as possible.
In my last posting I was whining a little about not having much beach time here in good old tropical Maine. Being the bonehead I am and living with my boneheaded better-half we decided not to wait any longer to hit the beach. The snow had just melted and we were ready.
After a visit to one of our favorite watering-holes and after toasting a few glasses of cheer we made a bee line for the nearest beach. You need to understand that the temperature was in the forties with a twenty mile an hour wind making it feel like twenty degrees. Alcohol can do a lot of things but it doesn’t help a person stay warm and toasty on a windy beach in Maine in April. I was freezing my ass off almost immediately after leaving the car but the better-half was off to the races running around the beach like a German Shepard chasing a stick. We both were snapping pictures the entire time but that ended rather quickly.
It was then I spotted a herd of totally insane people running free and unfettered among us normal and sane folk. The waves were roaring in and these fools in their wonderfully uncool wet suits were trying to surf in water that was only just above freezing.. Surfing in Maine in April is like running naked through a nudist colony in February. It’s just nuts. I watched them for a while but was forced to return to my car so I could once again feel my fingers.
“Out of His Ever Loving Mind”
The better-half finally returned of her own volition all excited and happy about the entire evening. She coerced me into driving another few miles up the coast to our favorite beach. It hadn’t gotten any warmer and I argued loudly about getting out of the car at all. As usual she strong-armed me out of the car and down to the water. There we were once again watching another insane human being wind surfing like he was in Key West and it was August. Here are a couple of shots I took of that young idiot. I’ve been known to don a wet suit to frolic in semi-warm water occasionally but no matter what people tell you . . . . it’s still freaking cold with that suit on.
“Just Nuts”
We made our way home, turned up the heat, and discussed what mental illness could be responsible for such bizarre behavior, both ours and the surfers. We never figured it out but we really didn’t care anyway. We snuggled into our bed under our wonderfully warm and overused electric blanket that’s become the best thing about these Maine winters.
If you ever move to Maine one of your favorite words will soon become the word SUCK. All forms of the word apply to so many things here you’re forced into learning how to use it properly. Follow along and learn just how versatile the word can be.
This SUCKY Maine winter continues but unfortunately for me I seem to be caught in a bad SUCK cycle right now. Did you ever have times where things start going wrong and just SUCK. They say that bad things come in threes but I’m no longer a believer in that old wives tale. For me 2014 has started on an ominous note where bad things came in groups or CLUSTER SUCKS.
My favorite computer on which I do all of my writing and photography has decided to start SUCKING. It contains my life as it currently exists which goes to show how bad my life SUCKS as well. As sad as that sounds this computer never has issues because I’ve protected it from viruses, mal-ware, and anything else I could think of. It’s been as reliable as any I’ve ever owned. Then I made the mistake of permitting an update to install from good old SUCKY Apple ITunes. Now I SUCK for being that stupid. From that point on my computer’s registry was damaged causing lots of SUCKY error messages that I’ve been unsuccessful in fixing. I’ve read everything and tried everything with no luck. I just wanted to scream but had no one to scream at. That SUCKS!
My next adventure began soon after the SUCKING computer nightmare. I was awakened two nights ago and my bedroom felt like the inside of a freezer. Someone who shall remain nameless and whose responsibility has always been keeping the house supplied with heating oil, dropped the ball. No heating oil during a cold week in Maine in the middle of Winter is the definition of SUCKING. Fortunately we have an oil delivery company that was able to respond within 24 hours and refilled the tank. For a change they didn’t SUCK. You’d think that our problems had been solved but not quite. When things begin to SUCK it then comes contagious.
It seems when a oil tank goes empty the new oil causes a vapor lock in the feeder line and won’t permit any to flow properly until the line has been cleared. That I’ve come to find out just SUCKS. In past years when this problem occurred it required an emergency service call that lasted only fifteen minutes and cost $150.00. That not only SUCKS but it’s also borderline extortion. The better-half and I immediately decided that we’d try to correct the problem ourselves this time around. After calling on informational resources from SEMI-SUCKY friends and a few SUCKY YouTube videos, an hour and three hundred SUCKY curse words later we had our heat back on. Good news, right? Not hardly. That’s an hour of my life I can’t afford to lose and that SUCKS.
Two hours later on this calm Maine winter night with no wind gusts, no ice storms, no sleet or any other related weather issues we lost all of our electric power in the house for some unknown but SUCKY reason. Since we live in an area where cell phones have difficulty receiving a signal we were stuck sitting in the dark and bitching to one another. That made for a really SUCKY few minutes of conversation, for sure. It was a double SUCKING kick in the ass because we have a whole-house generator that should have kicked on immediately. Guess what? It didn’t freaking work and that SUCKED.
We’re now back and operational but who needs the constant stress of SUCKY crap like this? Now every time the wind blows I’ll be holding my breath waiting for the power to fail with no operating generator. That will definitely SUCK once again when that repair bill arrives. If this is any indication of how the remainder of 2014 is going to be, we are screwed.
2014 SUCKS THE BIG ONE SO FAR
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