This is my daily diary for my month (plus a couple of days) in Maine with Sailor, mostly on Little Deer Isle.

August 20/21 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Diane Pasta arrived about on time, I had ripped open my arm on the dog door corner of the garage stucco wall as I stumbled around the lawn mower, emplaced for Megan Holt to get it to mow my lawn mid-trip, and I was about ready to go after putting way the dishes and packing last minute stuff. (I forgot the heavy duty wallpaper paste I had intended to take.) We got to SFO with no problem, checked in, got Sailor installed in crate at NWA baggage claim and got TSA to check it out, got the gate (no seats) and boarded not too long thereafter. I got NWA tags for Sailor on both flights. I read the whole way, finishing the newspapers I managed to stuff into the backpack. My suitcase was just under 50# but free on NWA. I packed a lunch. We were early on both legs, but the trek from arrival to departure gates in Detroit was very long. Alamo was still at the counter in Bangor, and they upgraded me 2 sizes as they had no compact cars; I refused the Impala and got a Mitsubishi Galant. The hard part was finding the car in the lot. The drive to Restawhile was uneventful (down Rte 15 for safety but then on 199), passing very few cars at midnight but a couple of animals (no deer), and Restawhile was unlocked and move-in-able. We did not get to sleep very quickly.

I was a little less dazed & confused first day here than back home in Los Altos from Hawaii. Martha laid in food for breakfast, which was convenient. Went down to Dave's and visited briefly. (He wants me to pay for any use of his broadband Internet); I agreed to pick up his dial-up ISP at cost for the month, as I was unable to get AOL on MacBook Pro to "see" the filing cabinet as I left Los Altos and still could not. (Later thought maybe it was loss of resource fork data using a FAT formatted USB, eventually copying all the small Emprex to disk and reformatting it to HFS+, then the newer AOL filing cabinet file was recognized.) So I use dial up for AOL mail. So I set off for Blue Hill via Sedgwick road, stopping at a blueberry table by the road ($6/quart), and stopped at Mainescape for Canidae, the vet for T/D (no Hills distributors for Science Diet Oral Care), Rite Aid for non-stick dressings for arm, and the market for $70 of groceries.

Off on walk late to pay Martha & Steve, Albert Varnum passed me going to Mary Offutt's, so I found him: he has stage 4 melanoma and cannot start to paint the house but gave me a name in Sedgwick (Raymond [Pudgy] McVay), so I paid him for power wash and Martha for opening expenses, etc. Home, Barrett Flanders called for tennis at ICC for 10 am Friday; I accepted, having not played tennis in a year after the very painful tennis last year (right shoulder getting very much worse). So I watched one of my International Mystery movies (German) and went to bed, not getting to sleep well again.

Mail is coming, with Island Ad-Vantages today and WSJ starting.

August 22 (Friday)

It was not the best night's sleep; I was up around 7 am with sun well up, breakfast, walked Sailor, and got ready for tennis pick up at 9:30. We 3 went to the Island Country Club and checked in. The Fall membership special does not start until September 1 ($150 for 6 weeks), so it is cheaper to pay for each time there rather than pay the $350 for one month. It cost me $18 for tennis Friday. We had a pretty good time, my tennis is rusty (been a year), but the cortisone in the right shoulder's AC joint seems to have held up and is still working. My left shoulder has been getting rather bad in recent months, but it is not something that gets badly aggravated with use by getting inflamed and painful.

I tried to download the Virex virus protection update file (last one ever) since I forgot it at home, but in hours of trying a half dozen times, the connection failed. I couldn't get e-mail to run or get to any places in Netscape browser. This tied up the phone, and so Dave sent me an e-mail, I found out the next day.

Later in the afternoon, Sailor and I walked down to Green Ledges for the first time via the path to the road and down. I took the good saw and cleared away enough of the fallen trees to make going relatively easy but not smooth enough for ATVs to get through. Green Ledges was not in very good shape, which I guess was from Dave's guests rather than Peter's stay. We returned via Walter Dan's point: the former milkweed field is now regularly mowed, so the milkweed is essentially all gone, as are the Monarch Butterfly caterpillars.

I evenings, I watched from my set of 4 tapes and watched another International Mystery movie and some PBS Mystery! show (Sherlock Holmes).

August 23 (Saturday)

I got an e-mail reply from Walt & Phyllis Jones, and with another e-mail and then phone call Sunday evening. They are going to come down next Thursday and stay until Friday 9/29 since they will have real house with indoor plumbing. I managed to get the Internet dial-up connection to work a bit better and found the Bangor Daily News website (phone book only lists toll calls) where I found an 800 number and Internet offer for 2 free weeks of the paper. I signed up and hope to get the paper. (I think Mum & Dad exhausted their subscription 2 years ago so no remaining credit balance. Monday I confirmed that they had the Internet order and found that M&D still have 1 day left on their 2-year old subscription.)

I walked with Sailor down to Eggemoggin landing in the morning: a good walk. The weather was beautiful again. I met Ethel Frey, who said to give her regards to Dad. She took the house off the market last winter and decided to come to Little Deer Isle in the summers so long as she has family who want to spend time and be active here. She said she had moved some furniture out, but there is enough for summer use.

In early afternoon, Dave invited me to pick blueberries at Mary Offutt's field out of Sargentville, and we went. Dave & Anette had bought a rake, so we traded off raking and picking. The field was somewhat picked over, and it seemed like end of season left, but we got a goodly amount in Dave's huge bucket, which we filled up 2/3 to him and 1/3 to me after we got home. Picking 1-2 pm was hot. I eventually picked through and cleaned them up, but only got a quart and a half, but Dave & Anette gave me another quart Monday, as they had a bit much.

In the afternoon, I went down to Stone Turtle, but Sailor and I found no one there. On the return, we were met by a wet golden retriever - then two young boys who had been hunting for their father (later it seemed he was taking his girl friend for a walk away from the sons), and the boys took me down to grandpa's place (Eliot Wilbur and Winnie), so we chatted and had a grand time catching up. Winnie offered tea, and eventually we went inside, as the cool breeze came up and their son and entourage were gong to be late for dinner. Then about 6 pm we walked home for dinner and another set of PBS mysteries on tape.

August 24 (Sunday)

I sent update to the Jones and was able to download the missing Virex file finally. Then I was off to Eggemoggin Reach Friends Meeting, where I found familiar people and worship with about 10. Alan and Julie Clayton were there as well and a Nancy (probably clerk). They (actually Julie Clayton) had milk for my tea and very good cookies. Worship was good with 3 messages, all pretty good. Nancy, I think, brought in some sliced Boothby cucumbers, which were very interesting. She said they are developed in Maine by descendants of family on the first or second ship. They were tasty and clearly would not pickle well. (She is a Boothby. Aside: Boothbay should have been Boothby.)

So I had lunch, walked Sailor again, and got ready for tennis. Island Country Club was supposed to have open wireless, so I took my MacBook Pro in case I had time to try it out. I paid for tennis and played 4 of 6 half hours. My serve was not as reliable as usual, and I flubbed some shots, but I had a good time and came out of it not sore. Since Barrett offered a ride, I left reading glasses and sunblock behind (but had put some block on already), but managed to check out the ICC wireless Internet, and it worked just fine. Thus when I got home, I was tired and sweaty, so did not get a whole lot done other than a bit of reading (WSJ) to get them to Dave.

I had too many phone calls in the evening, but all were worth picking up. The Joneses called after a couple from M&D. I also talked to Joseph either Sunday or Saturday, but I didn't get to calling Daniel; shucks.

August 25 (Monday)

Monday was supposed to be rainy, so I planned chores and projects for an inside day, but it turned out not to be too bad at all. I finished picking through the blueberries, walked down the new road to the Walter Billings son's new place - actually Anette tells me that Edward refused to give his brother an easement for access to his half of the land given by their father Walter Dan Billings, Jr. so he sold it to a third party who wangled this straight-as-piss easement - (forest destruction and poor design of road, but large building area right down between the tiny cove with abandoned boat and the cove by Walter Dan Billings' boat harbor. Utilities are underground. I also moved the Raccoon print from the kitchen to the parlor and the new replacement Wyeth Giant print to the living room over the right hand wood chair; it looks good and the wall color matches the print and frame colors well. I hung it about a half inch too low, but it is not obvious. (What is obvious is that the frame cannot be parallel to the ceiling and the floor at the same time.) I also went down to the Town office and paid my property taxes on the two properties, then later went down to open a checking account for old pharts at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust in Deer Isle and bought a tube of wallpaper adhesive for edges and seams (only a couple of ounces) at M D Joyce's to fix the various loose corners, etc. at Restawhile; I had forgotten again to bring some of what I have at home. Also, Pudgy [Raymond] McVay came by and had a look at Restawhile; we talked, and he seems quite competent. (He trades some jobs with Albert depending on job and business, and he has some work from Mary Offutt.) So I hired him to paint the house, for estimated $9500 (about what I thought Albert Varnum would cost), which he hopes to get a good start on this fall.

The third trip was to the club for bridge. We ended up with 4 tables, my cards were only decent for the first session, but distribution was a bit strange all evening. With poor cards, I did not do well; also I did not play superbly. Many asked about Mum & Dad, and I passed along what is up with them and the 180 Birthdays Party early in the month; that information then appeared in the next week's Island Ad-Vantages via Mimi. Most agree that 90 is getting on, and they understand why the trip from Honolulu is too much now. (I got home before 10 pm and hit no deer on the way. Then again, I drove more attentively and slowly.)

August 26 (Tuesday)

BHB had failed to get my signature for their 'signature card', so I had to go back first thing in the morning, but after breakfast and after Sailor and I had our morning walk, this time up to Ish Bicknell's new house, which has access just this side of old man Colcord's place (beyond the Douglass houses). The exterior is finished, but inside has no finished floors and limited furniture. It looks rigged for winters too. There are more runners in the morning than I remember last year. My free subscription to Bangor Daily News began, so I have a Sudoko and good funnies to read plus the news of the day. Dave says he does enjoy the WSJ, so I drop that off or, as today, in his newspaper box at his mailbox.

Dave & Anette's guests, Jim & ? Whiting, arrived the night before, so when I went down to deliver papers, I greeted them, had some of Anette's good tea and cookies, and enjoyed the view and company. I brought in the rest of the fallen apple tree branch which Steve had left in the field and later split the pieces all up and stacked them with older apple near the woodshed door/steps. I continue to get apples from Dad's Red Astrican apple tree. (Martha says the Red Astrican* is an August apple.)

* Mentioned as early as 1780, this variety is one of the older ones. It was being grown in Massachusetts by 1835. It has a deep rose crimson color, with juicy white flesh. A sweet flavor is combined with strong acidity. It cooks to a juicy, light puree.

August 27 (Wednesday)

I walked the old Bangor Daily News over to the Goss's early and continued a walk down to near Baker/Day, through the woods to our path, and back up to the house. After breakfast it was off to ICC for tennis. I did a little better, was in for 5 of the 6 half hours, and was sweaty and tired getting home after staying a little to use my MacBook Pro and Internet stuff, stopping at the Galley for a few groceries. I sorted out Mum's confusion on her e-mail and attachments and did not accomplish very much beyond a set on the cabin front porch with Sailor to watch the world go by. (It was too breezy and cold for a swim, and I figured out that I cannot get the left arm wet, so it might be a bit difficult to really swim anyway.)

So I did not get the beds made, the blueberry pie cooked, or the house cleaned. Those got postponed to Thursday.

At supper, my #15 2nd molar crown fell off in the carrots and beans, including the stainless steel post onto which the crown was built. Chris Lindsey's office was closed, and 2 calls to his after hours emergency number got me nowhere until, then asleep, he called at quarter to 11 pm. He says not to worry, it is rotten off to the gum line and should not cause any near term problems, but eventually the root ends need to be removed the jaw.

August 28 (Thursday)

The vacuum is only slightly faster or better than sweeping, but I did clean the house after morning constitutional. I ran into Art Larrabee from up towards Colcord, and he sent greetings to Dad from their morning walk exchanges over the years. I retrieved the red geranium from Martha and got it out front by the door. After a leisurely breakfast and newspaper (BDN), I set to other chores for the day. I had managed to get the blueberry pie crust made and the bottom crust rolled out and in the pan and the linens out for the downstairs beds with towels in the bathroom when the Joneses arrived.

After talking and catching up a bit, I suggested that we walk down to Green Ledges and have lunch on the porch, so I made crab sandwiches from Cheryl Robinson's crab I had bought the day before, took the last of the Nabisco Ginger Snaps, cut up 3 of Dad's Red Astrican apples, a jug of water, and off we went down the road. Walt is less able than 5+ years ago from 3+ years of shingles and depression, and Phyllis also less energetic from broken hip and multiple myeloma, but we all walked down and back after lunch, watching the sailboats and motor boats pass by, including Dave and Jim Whiting, who motored out and then were becalcmed, like everyone else. That was a successful explore. Then later, we went down to Stonington for dinner at Harbor Cafe: their lobster dinners were 2 for $33, so Phyllis and I had those, with Walt getting a too-big shore dinner. We had only a minor explore of Stonington and environs before coming home and breaking out the now-cooked blueberry pie and ice cream to good dessert. After Sudoku, newspapers, and more catching up, we went to bed at reasonable time.

August 29 (Friday)

After fixing a good breakfast and getting organized after more bright conversation with the Joneses, I figured out that the Lobster Zone C place could not give us a tour that day (Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 3 pm), we set of for lunch in Bucksport and to see Fort Knox and the new bridge with Observatory 42 floors up. They have been by Ft. Knox, as that is the route they take to LDI, but never been in to see it. They have reoriented the entrance and approach to the fort (now from farther up Route 714) and upgraded the signage and added a visitor center with offices for Friends of Fort Knox. We had no wait for the elevator ride to the top, and the view is rather spectacular, even on a partly cloudy day. You look down on Fort Knox, down the river, out to Blue Hill, with a view of all of Bucksport, and look down on the supports for the bridge from the towers at each end. We all went through the long alleys and two-step alley, through the main entrance of the fort, and saw the granite spiral staircase, cannon emplacements, etc. Walt & Phyllis wished they had investigated the fort before, when they were more agile and capable. I continued around the Fort after the Joneses left (tired of walking around): I continued down to Battery B, then Battery A, before leaving for home at Restawhile.

After brief walk about at home and paperwork, I fixed dinner and then set off to Stonington and the Opera House for the movie of the week: The Dark Knight with Morgan Freeman (et al.) & good enjoyment. I saw no deer driving home after dark either.

August 30 (Saturday)

After usual chores plus a little work in the garden and delivering the day-old BDN to Martha & Steve, I fixed me a good crab sandwich, apple, and water and headed for Price Heppe's Labor Day weekend luncheon party at Eggemoggin, taking the obligatory photo of his beach and Pumpkin Island with lighthouse. (The Hodges - Tom & Betsy - picked me up and drove me the last third of the way to Eggemoggin.) Someone said they reroofed the lighthouse. There were a bunch of folks there, and I enjoyed chatting and meeting up with some of them. There were Footes, and Murphys, but I'm not sure about Shedds - lots of neighbors. It was a lovely day, despite claims of possible showers. So I walked home around 2 or 2:30.

Then I went down to Green Ledges to restart the cabin, turned on the gas (only a little ambiguity how to set the levers) and lit the stove (very easy) and the refrigerator (only a very few tries to get it lit) and then poked around, returning to Restawhile for dinner and a movie.

There are lots of trees down around, not just the July 2006 but Fall 2007, as Martha had written. Sadly the big spruce along the path to Agnes' Rocks - the one partly ripped up in the hurricane of '54 (or whenever) whose roots were raised and bumpy on the path, shattered just a foot or two above ground, leaving the shattered end over the path; also, some other spruce in the same area were toppled (one right on the edge). This will take some work to clear. There are also lots of dead trees knocked over the other paths as well, but still with a little work, Sailor and I can navigate over, under, or through them.

Late, we moved down to Green Ledges with minimal food and gear. The night proved a bit cool, so I added more blankets after. I took my sheets and towels down to simplify the laundry. We stayed in the master bedroom, as usual.

August 31 (Sunday)

I had breakfast on the porch (lunch as well), and after usual walks, this time to the beach and new moon low tide and finding large deer track over the beach, I took off for Meeting at Eggemoggin Reach Monthly Meeting again. There were again about 9 there, and although no vocal ministry, it was good. Julie Clayton does a good tea and cookies.

After lunch, I organized my things and took MacBook Pro to ICC for tennis, leaving Sailor at Restawhile. Tennis ended up short, as only 2 of us were ready to play the 6th half hour at 4:30 pm. So I had to settle for only 4 times on the court and a chocolate milkshake, along with checking Internet and mail on 'real' computer and modern browser.

I had dinner at the road so I could easily shower - with plastic bag over wound and to rebandage - and watch a Foyle's War of this current, and last, season. The extra blanket and puff were nice to have, as a cool front came through and wind stayed moderate.

September 1 (Monday) Labor Day

At breakfast on the porch (all breakfasts and lunches have been on the porch at Green Ledges), I tried a 10 second delay picture of me at the table, but then the camera fell over and seems to have damaged the lenses (error message: Lens error; restart). This disaster with my brand new camera was distressing, but at least it could be fixed by ordering a new one. I did, from Amazon, paying for 3 day delivery, for a total of ~$240. This camera is much more delicate than my old Minolta digital. (Canon was closed that day, so I could not get any help, and Amazon said their 30 day warranty is from date of purchase (4/24), not from date of opening the box (~8/3).) I also did not get a photo of me having breakfast on Green Ledges' porch!

I did a mess of other computer and desk work, but without my mail, I could not pay first of the month bills. The day improved with age. I didn't have bridge at the club: holiday. And I forget what else I did beyond getting settled in Green Ledges, going for walks around it and the shore and beach, and exploring around. Perhaps I started to cut the large red spruce along the path - probably did and cut my right forearm a bit. Perhaps this was the day I updated the Jaquette Genealogy with the pages I mailed to Restawhile last fall and e-mailed cousin Elizabeth Bills on where she is in the Sharples books, but I see the e-mail was August 26.

September 2 (Tuesday)

I went up to Restawhile to bake brownies as my contribution to the pot luck dinner at Island Country Club. Later in the day, I waited for the mail to come to get my bundle of bills from home; it came about 3 pm, which was just enough time to sort through, pay bills/write checks, and get them to the post office by 4 pm. I also got an unemployment check, which I sent off to my bank to cover first mortgage automatic payment. I got a jury summons for when I will still be here, so I am getting a request back to postpone to mid-October. Wells Fargo is still being difficult: both not sending check images but charging me $12 for the pleasure of doing business with them. I called my banker in Los Altos, and she is again trying to sort it out. Perhaps fortunately, I got no credit card bills, as those are on a tight schedule to get them paid in time to avoid late fees.

I also spent much time in the woods clearing out stuff, mostly tackling the downed huge spruce along the shore path. I managed to cut some big logs and sections (by hand) to be able to get the path again walkable. I also cut a smaller spruce tipped over across the path from near the cliff, and I tilted it back up most of the way. All the sawing got my arms a bit sore and me very sweaty. (Weather was wind dying yet sunny, so it was warm.)

Dave & Anette picked my up from Restawhile for the ICC dinner. I had a Buckler beer - a rather good non-alcoholic beer. I talked to a lot of folks, but names do not stick in my head well, and it was noisy. I did wish Bob Vanderkay an early happy anniversary and updated the Banks (Susie & Bill) on my parents. They packed the maximum number they could into the club. The pot luck was better than many club-fixed dinners, and desserts were excellent; thus I took about half my brownies home. The awards went well, with the Ladies Golf getting the biggest play. Bob Sargent's award and talk was excellent: a Bill described playing tennis against Bob for years and how the very nice Bob was out to win on the courts always. A personal talk was better than one describing his life and work at ICC/tennis for 15-20 years. Lisa (Spencer) has retired (again) for the last time and was applauded, lauded, and given a free house membership for next year.

September 3 (Wednesday)

The weather had been rather breezy from the northeast until this day, when it began to change.

Dave offered a ride to tennis, but it ended up being a very mixed blessing, as he made an unscheduled stop at the dump (I had stuff I'd have taken), getting us there just at the cut-off for the first round, plus and unscheduled stop at M D Joyce, where I needed some screen but had not yet measured the size. I only got to play 4 rounds, so got a lot of wireless time. It is sooo slow on 28.8 Kb dial-up. My tennis is improving, and I had a fairly good number of excellent shots, usually winning points: that's why I play - to have fun and relish the good shots rather than dwell on the double faults and the times I don't watch the ball.

After lunch, I thought to start planting trees, but despite taking the spade down, I ended up cutting more branches off the downed spruce and pitching them over the trunk away from the path for a couple of hours. I was really sweaty then, so quit to go up the Restawhile for a shower and to run errands, but short of time, I ran errands first. BHB gave me bank by mail envelopes, and I initialized the ATM card; M D Joyce sold me a 30" by 30" screen for the plastic rain barrel, whose screen top rotted out last year. The Galley sold me a bunch of groceries, where over a third of the cost was a new jug of Tide for washing clothes. Then I showered and messed around being tired. Eventually I watched the final Foyle's war episode, went to Eggemoggin for the sunset (arrived just as the sun was an orange disk on the top of Camden Hills on a pretty clear night), and gave away some brownies to Martha, who stopped by. (Earlier I stopped down there on the way back to Green Ledges to deliver a newspaper and get some of her green beans.)

We have a sliver of a moon, so it is not so entirely dark at night in Green Ledges - the easier to stumble around mid-night to go pee. Still, Sailor goes to sleep the bed and doesn't move until it gets light in the morning. It is now quieter, as the Labor Day weekend parties across the Reach are all pau.

September 4 (Thursday)

Dave offered a sail in the afternoon, which was the first and nice, but the wind was quite weak, and we motored home. We wandered out into the Reach and up towards Eggemoggin Inn. I didn't have shorts down at Green Ledges (need washing), so I had to go in my work jeans, which were dirty and very sweaty from a couple days of working in the woods. I had finished sawing up the downed trees along the path to Agnes' Rocks and getting that path open and had moved on to planting red spruce after collecting many from overcrowded sprouting trees on the cleared land next door. Thus after the sail, after returning to work in the woods on tree planting, I had to retrace my steps from towards Agnes' Rocks to parking area, as I had dropped the trowel from Green Ledges. In the process, my jeans ripped above the knee, but I thankfully did find the trowel at the last tree I planted on that round between the parking area and where the swath reaches the shore.

Aha! My UPS delivery did happen late in the day with the replacement camera. I got it loaded up with battery and memory, and got the time zones set the next morning after reviewing the instructions. Now I can take pictures again!

I continue to deliver used BDN to the Gosses, which they appreciate. This means the walk after breakfast is up to Restawhile to get the new newspaper, then to Martha & Steve's, then down to the shore and over to Green Ledges: a good walk.

Dinner was at Restawhile again, so I can do computer and phone and then watch a tape: German Tatort movie. Since I have to change the dressing on my left arm about every day, I do that up at the road (supplies and good light).

September 5 (Friday)

After rising and breakfasting at Green Ledges, I was doing chores and mail for some of the morning - mostly at Restawhile, and then came down for lunch and a sail with Dave and two of his Parkinson's sailing friends at about 1 pm. So first I went out and fetched in a bag/bundle of red spruce from along the path from 'our' point into Edward Billings' woods towards the cove. There are lots of small spruce crowded together and easy to get in the moss.

I borrowed a memory card reader from Dave and loaded it from camera memory to my Emprex for transshipment to Peter, etc. with no problem.

The weather was good as we started out for our 2-hour sail, and we went out to near Fiddle Head before turning around. The wind moderated after we went through Eggemoggin harbor, but then breezed up a bit when we got back to near the bell outside Buck's Harbor. I saw low clouds beginning to build in from the Southeast, and they were overtaking us when we got near the mooring after 3:30 pm. I took Jack in first, as he had an appointment. The left oar on Dave's inflatable broke in half and floated away on the way back out, and the goodly breeze outside Agnes' Rocks point made it hard to retreat to the beach. Getting kayak paddles, I could not get out to get Dave and Bill(?). So Dave motored in, but gave us a scare when it seemed his motor kept dying off Baker/Day , with the easterly wind blowing him onto rocks, but he was really just trying to retrieve the blade half of the oar, which he did. So I did not get out of there after bringing gear up, etc. until going on 5 pm.

So I came up with Sailor for dinner and computer/telephone work, leaving the spruce for Saturday. I watched Inspector Lindley in its last season on tape.

September 6 (Saturday)

The morning was foggy but warm and humid; this is the calm before the storm (tropical storm Hanna due overnight into Sunday). I was up too often and too early, but that meant I could get on to my 'final' push on tree planting. After breakfast, I went down to the big downed spruce and adjusted the line on the bent spruce, added another new spruce near the stump, and then went off with my bag of 16 or so red spruce to the middle third area within 50' of the path, parking, and road. When I had exhausted those, I went back to the pre-1970's parking area and got another load of red spruce, which I put out along the road, including the triangle Dave keeps clearing. Hauling the water for a pint or less for each new tree makes the job exhausting, but I got about 50 or so trees in this year. I see most of my past tress have taken. I suppose this means in 30 years there will be woods of spruce. I am now focusing on planting trees in 'my' third, largely to replant from Dave's constant clearing. All the work is exhausting me though, but I did get them all in before the forecast rain, which ought to water tham all in very well.

I discovered 2 more pine trees: one is 8' behind the old pine tree, struck by lightning 15-20? years ago. The location suggests that it is an old seed from that pine tree many years ago. It is 6-8" tall. The other is about 45' inland from the path to Agnes' Rocks, taking off where the juniper just begins near the swath. This latter appears to me on 'my' third of the land.

I started organizing to return to Restawhile after Hanna comes and goes. I had intended to stay down a week or more, and the weather is now supposed to change to have lows in the 40's rather than 50's and 60's; hence Restawhile looks a better bet. Anette and Dave gave me the Arabel chair to use at Restawhile, so I brought it up, Dave had taken it from my garage whilst I wasn't there years ago; it matches the chair in M&D's bedroom.

After baking chocolate chip cookies and then watching an episode of Lewis and having dinner, I went down to Green Ledges about 9 pm. Rain had started around 8, and Black Brook was amply full and flowing as I crossed it.

September 7 (Sunday)

Hanna rained all night fairly steadily, and at 4 am I heard the front screen door banging a bit so opened the door to a blast of wind and hooked it - then went back to bed. I think it stopped raining between 5 and 6 am, and when I got up just before 7, the wind was under 10 kt moving from N to NW and the skies were clearing. I went out to Black Brook: it had been over the bridge a bit early in the morning but was just underneath when I went out. Black Falls were full throated. I found a small streamlet at the old tree with roots inland over a big open crack - going down that crack, jumped over the water, and went out to Restawhile Beach. The drainage from near Baker/Day had cut into the beach with a stream of water, and there was a 30' wide area of minor stream on the beach where there are low cliffs near Dave's. There were 2 steams gouging the other beach too, the largest on the far side. Dave says he recorded over 5" of rain last night. So after breakfast - on the porch as usual - I packed up to Restawhile for laundry and Eggemoggin Reach Monthly Meeting. (Hanna produced a small stream from the rock wall in the cellar towards the drain.) The road next to Sargentville Chapel was eroded about 18" deep, making it impassable.

Before going to Meeting, I started the laundry. Meeting was pretty good, again with 9. Refreshments are always excellent; they seem to come mostly from Julie Clayton. One couple at Meeting said that the road from Sunset was closed just past the country club; I saw later that was still true.

The recording at ICC said the whole club was closed for the day because of the heavy rain. Thus no tennis, so I went down to Green Ledges and finished the dishes after having lunch on the porch before putting most of the porch furniture away again inside the cabin. I turned off the refrigerator but will clean it later.

I tried to catch up on homework / computer work, and I did prepare two edited files to send for FASE (Planning minutes) and Palo Alto meeting (Worship & Ministry). So late in the afternoon, I set off to explore the rain damage (lots of culverts ruined and driveway ends washed out with equipment starting to go to work) and go to ICC in case it was open with wireless. It was closed, but the wireless worked from the porch OK. I took care of a few things, but the hour was late and I was completely unsuccessful getting any of my photos to get through on e-mail to Peter. I did see that Halemaumau is more active with lava lake now visible but have not seen the video yet.

So dinner and cookies plus last blueberries and ice cream and to bed, hoping not to be up at 4 am to latch the door.

Dave said he recorded 5.5" of rain; weather.com says 4.9", and Bangor got 2.7". The woods are very wet with pools all over.

September 8 (Monday)

Sailor and I walked to Mueller's and the beach in the early morning; I gathered flowers for my table on the way back: yellow, blue, and white. I ate the last of the blueberries with my GrapeNuts while I read the Bangor Daily News. We walked down to Dave's through the wet woods and across the streams to get a CD-R so I could get the photos off to Peter by mail today. I also borrowed the card reader again to be able to preserve the dates and times of the pictures, as Canon's utility and iPhoto changed them.

Martha and Steve came to mow the lawn and work in the garden, so I trimmed the dead off the lilacs for a while. Mowing cut off all the yellow flowers (Hawk Weed, Martha says - not dandelions). At noon we had tea and the rest of my chocolate chip cookies. While enjoying the cookies on the deck, Steve pointed out a Pileated Woodpecker on the poplar tree towards the Carter/DeGozzaldi's, and it stayed around a while - quite handsome; I wished I'd had my camera on me.

I cleaned up my NCL backpack, it having got dirty lugging stuff under low branches, etc. back and forth between the houses. It looks much better; I even got the blueberry out of it, I hope.

In the afternoon, I took up mattocks, spade, and bucket to repair the road down near first left turning below the initial down hill: it looked like a pond builds up and then overflows via the road for a short distance and has eroded it in July and Hanna rains. I managed, with great effort and sweat, to dig a bypass ditch through a hillock, hoping this will let it drain away rather than over. Then I recovered find gravel to fill the small canyon. We will see whether it does any good. I also brought a bucket very full of gravel for my driveway entrance.

After watching the start of Federer-Murray US Open finals, I had to leave for bridge. Federer handily took the first set but was failing badly in the second. A NYTimes blog let me follow it at the club until time to go to bridge; when it went from 6-2 7-5 2-0 to 4-0, it looked like Federer would take it. Although I didn't play perfectly, we had fun, and I seem to have come in 2nd place for $4. (I started out with Mimi as partner, and because of a passed out hand, in the last (5th) hand, it was passed to me in 4th seat, and I bid 1 club as a genuine club, but the bidding went on with no one knowing what anything meant.) (My second place finish appeared in the Island Ad-Vantages!)

September 9 (Tuesday)

The morning walk was after breakfast, via Goss house to deliver the newspaper, then poked around the Day/Baker houses (all vacant; small one unlocked), then to see Dave, then to Green Ledges to put away the dishes and check that the refrigerator was dry and clean, thence by path to Walter Dan's little cove and up the North Gracemere road to see that the granite road had not washed out, and home via quick visit with Blaine Joyce and kids in the store (Becca and ?Jonas?). Between 'our' point and Walter Dan's point lies Pirate Cove; I noticed that there have been a number of cliff collapses in that area - 3 or 4 - which have made an old high route along the shore by there unsafe. (There is general erosion of the soil and vegetation at high tide too, all along the shoreline.)

While washing dishes, the radio gave weather alerts - two of them - about strong thunderstorms in a line from Rockland to Stockton Spring, so I called Dave. We did have rain the rest of the day, no great wind, but some lightning and thunder. It got cold, so I did indoor chores. I did TechTool maintenance on both volumes, having to move a couple of big files over to OS 8.6 to get the optimization to work.

I finished the FASE Board minutes and got them off. I also worked on taxes, getting the information together to update the penalty form and first step to computing taxes and any penalty. I have to pay IRS & FTB this weekend. Thus I watched the final Inspector Lindley before dinner and Sherlock Holmes (final solution) after.

September 10 (Wednesday)

I was up early to get ready for tennis on a brisk, sunny, windy day. I took the Tuesday paper to the Gosses, had breakfast, and got all my errands lined up: dump, tennis, bank for copies, and Galley. I stayed a bit longer than usual after tennis to use the wireless Internet to check up on things too.

Tennis was good; I am getting a bit better, but the wind made it hard for everyone to play reliably. I had some brilliant shots and some embarrassing flubs: so life goes. I played all 6 half hours, but since it was breezy and cool, I was only muscle tired and not hot and sweaty tired. Thus a good morning, which ran past 1:30 pm with MacBook Pro activity and ordering chocolate milkshake to last me until lunch, after which I got home and rescued Sailor.

We went down to Green Ledges for a cup of tea and the view (stove still on & taking thimble of milk), and I again paced off the downed spruce, and got about or a bit over 90'. The mail came with my weekly Priority Mail, but it took 5 days to get here. One bill was thus overdue, but I can finesse that by a phone call. The package was fat this time, and I will have to sort out the rest later.

I enjoyed a particularly complex Maigret movie after dinner. Bed was promising to be a bit cold.

September 11 (Thursday):

I almost slept in, but for mistaken call from Isaac Goss. It was chilly, with low 40's outside and low 50's inside, so I lit my first fire in the parlor stove, which warmed the place up nicely with one load of wood. It was bright and sunny, so outside warmed up when in the sun for the day, even though the cool breeze made it feel cool in the shade. So I paid the rest of the bills in the morning and tried to get my IRS Penalty tax form updated based on latest info on income and expenses, getting some from Internet.

I got newspaper to Steve & Martha early and today's to them at 4 pm when they invited Jaquettes for tea, with excellent apple crisp. Before tea, I set out with Sailor for the post office to mail all the checks to pay bills from yesterday and question the slowness of priority mail and cost to mail 9x12 to Honolulu. We stopped at Walter Dan Billings, Jr.'s house on the way out since they looked to be home, and Walter had a nice long chat about boats, etc. He again said Jaquettes may use the beach all we want, just as his father told Doctor Bill to be free to use the beach. (Edward will not be up this year.) Thus it was getting late when we go to the post office, but about to hurry home, Anette arrive to mail a package, so we got a ride. Sailor much prefers the cooler weather.

So after dinner, with which I watched the next Inspector Lewis mystery, I tried to update the TurboTax estimate on the MacBook Pro, but the file was not recognized from home on the FAT formatted Emprex, and the file was too big for the Mac formatted one, so I finally put it in a StuffIt archive for transfer, which finally worked. (I must find out how to fix the creator/type for files on OS X.)

September 12 (Friday):

Dave moved up the trip to Castine to put away Mouette to 11 am, which is what I had suggested, and stuck to Friday instead of Monday. Rob & Polly Wright stopped in just as I was getting ready to go, with sandwich, etc. Weather was to be 15-20 kt wind SW turning S with 2-4 ft swells, and that is about what it was. Dave expected 10-15 kt from the South, so it was more exciting that he expected, but a little less exciting than I expected, partly because he had another man, Dick Davis (~70), come along. Except when we were pointing into the wind a bit much, we were going 5.8 to 7.2 kt on the way there. We got to Castine around Cape Rosier in record time for Dave: just over 2 hours, even before Anette had finished lunch there (by car). I have never sailed into Castine, past the State of Maine into the harbor before, so the sights along Cape Rosier and into Castine were a treat. I took a few pictures. So we put it on the dock, stripped the sails, etc. to take, and left it secure there in a stiff breeze. We had tea or coffee and treats before driving home, and the rain began by 3 pm, about when I expected it. It rained the rest of the day and evening. The excitement, outdoor wind and salt air, and work tired me out, so I turned in a bit early.

I read newspapers, worked on computers a bit, and watched the last of the Inspector Louis mysteries on tape. The weather for Sunday looks rainy, so maybe no tennis, which I would miss anyway. I also split a bit of wood early in the day (slightly punky apple) and found the spruce not splitable with only an axe.

I am still changing my left arm dressing every 2 days or less, and the wound is looking better and better. There has been no oozing or blood for weeks now. ... One of these days I wrote a card to Geoff Smith, but I did not get reply. Blaine Joyce talked to him on the phone, and the prognosis was uncertain, at best.

September 13 (Saturday):

Off to Waterville day after walking down to Green Ledges to turn off the gas and to Steve & Martha's with the Friday BDN. I also baked oatmeal cookies (copied the recipe from the I Hate to Cook book in Green Ledges), some to take with me. (My oven at home is a little hotter than the dial says, whereas Restawhile's seems a bit cooler than the dial setting, so I have had to adjust my temperatures.) A cloudy cool dreary day in the morning. I also went to the post office to mail tax checks. I need to refresh my bank account sooner than expected.

The fuel light came on when I went to post the estimated tax checks (and get the WSJ), so when I got the dishes all washed and things packed, I called Phyllis to give 3 pm as estimated arrival and took off for Blue Hill via Rte 15 to go via US 1 and I-95 after stopping at Trade Winds to fill the tank up (for the first time). Gasoline is $3.799 on Little Deer, $3.899 across the bridge, and $3.699 in Blue Hill, but turned out to be $3.599 at the Shell where Rte 15 takes off from US 1. Thus Sailor & I took off for Waterville, arriving at exactly 3 pm. Sailor did fine, as I was a bit careful on the back roads, and the US 1 and I-95 are smooth and make for happy canine rider.

My tin of cookies disappeared before dinner time. We played Clue - fancy version in a tin box - and although I was not getting all 3 categories nailed down quickly, 3 people got it wrong, so I then knew who the evil doer was (it was me: Miss Scarlet), so I won. Randy (Walt & Phyllis's son) did the BBQ, and Ben (Randy's son) joined in with things better than 2 years ago, as he is now a freshman in high school. Corn, large steaks, salad, and rhubarb-strawberry pie. They had football games on, and I managed to get most of the pictures I have taken on the wire to Joseph & Daniel as well as Peter. (I finished them up the next morning.)

The evening was clear with near-full moon and bright Jupiter still in the southwest when I took Sailor out for last walk. The smoke alarm started beeping in the night, and Sailor was too hot, so I opened the windows.

September 14 (Sunday):

Breakfast was hearty (bacon and eggs), and we chatted it up until it was time to leave for Meeting. Walt rode with me again, and Phyllis got a ride. It began to drizzle by the time we got through the intersection which is East Vassalboro; Walt acknowledged that he had got and listened to the MP3 of Bert & I on East Vassalboro. Sailor stayed in the car with windows cracked, hence rain came in later, and I stayed for singing, worship, lunch, and meeting for business. There were several people worth talking to, including Dick Kelly and an attender who is now retired law librarian: she said it was a wonderful job to have worked herself into. Vassalboro is less formal in M4B than is Palo Alto, it got started a little later than I would have liked, and it went on a bit. I suggested that the Burial report was not just accepted but the draft policies approved; so it was. It being cool and rainy, I decided to got to Rockland for Heritage departure (Steve & Martha + his mom, etc. went on a 5th anniversary 5+ day schooner cruise as they had for their honeymoon), Farnsworth Museum, and to go to Olson House for the first time even.

I got to Farnsworth at nearly 2:30 pm, Olson House closes at 4 pm, and the museum at 5 pm. I decided to do too much, so bought a senior full admission for $10 and drove too fast to Olson House, which is south through Thomaston and then east to the end of Maine in Cushing. Sailor barfed in the car on the seat opposite where he stays (behind me) which I discovered and cleaned up before I left. Olson House was marvelous, with only light drizzle, so inside and outside were available. I engaged a good docent who gave me more information and a bit of a tour, even beyond the "don't cross" ropes, and had a good time. I explored all the rooms, many of which have Andrew Wyeth painting reproductions to illustrate the location of the view painted or the places where he painted the picture. The famous Christina's World is not quite reality, but she explained how it deviated from reality of 1948. The house looks just as it does in the painting, but the barn is much closer to the field and Christina than the paining shows, and it has just got new shingles. I went down to the Olson graveyard and got Sailor and me photographed there by the last to leave save me before closing. I left about 3:50, having had a full hour there, and went too fast back to Farnsworth, where the rain was heavier.

I managed to go through Wyeth Center in the old church completely but quickly and the Andrew Wyeth gallery in the museum proper - but nothing else before they threw me out. Several paintings were new to me (and the galleries). The N.C. Wyeth Bright and Fair, Eight Bells is still spectacular (painting of their house in full August sun), as is Jamie Wyeth's Portrait of Orca Bates - both in the old church. I had a long chat with the guard or docent there, and he went on at great length about how curators have full say on where paintings are hung, color of walls, etc.; he probably chooses the paintings to show too. So when I commented that two stunning ones were in the same place as two years ago, he said they have a new curator, who does things differently, but with the limited number of James Wyeth paintings, the two I pointed out are just perfect paintings so they go in the patron's eye as soon as he enters the gallery. He was very interesting, but it took up my limited time, so after one more look at the Eight Bells (house), I went to the main building to the Andrew Wyeth galleries and had time to compare Maidenhead (or hair) in a church with the study for that in the other room; the docent said they had just arrived this spring. (James Wyeth owns very little of this work, whereas Andrew and Betsy own most of his. Much of N C Wyeth's from book pieces went to his parents in Massachusetts, and when they died, all those went to the local library there, and only once, when the library was undergoing major renovation, did Farnsworth get them to show.

So at 5 pm I was thrown out, and then it was the long nearly 2 hour drive home in the rain, and it was getting darker when we got home at 7 pm. I had not time, nor weather, to hunt for the Heritage. Sailor barfed a little as he got out of the car. So then I had 5 messages, unexpected since I seldom get any and told family I would be gone. After the next to last International Mystery movie I had on tape, I returned phone calls and went to bed. Sailor was pooped out with all that unpleasant car riding.

September 15 (Monday):

Full moon today. ... After the usual morning walk and stuff - being rather slow on the uptake after a long day yesterday - I said hello to Joan (she had fallen and ripped up an elbow that morning and waved good-bye to their kids (?) who were off to home) and also went down the Howland road. (I heard later that Edie H's brother sold the main house to someone else.) The old house was completely rebuilt, but with same screened porch, but there is a new house going in on a road around to the left; this is Edie's, I gather. It is incomplete, has straw walls, is on 3 levels (a sliding door in the ground/basement level was open, so I explored), and is back from the shore. They have a completely new dock/pier out into Swain's Cove and new underground utilities. I passed a workman going in as we came out. I fixed oatmeal with raisins today for breakfast. (It was cold and foggy with wind early but cleared off into warm sunny day.) I did scrub out the car to remove the traces of dog barf; dog barf of dry food is innocuous anyway.

I picked up Steve's splitting wedges and splitting axe on the way to mail the 15# box of books home - it cost $15 with $500 insurance, but the Sharples genealogy set (The Sharples-Sharpless Family, Vol. I, II, & III) is not replaceable. Then off to the Galley for a few groceries, but mainly cantaloupe, only to find they had no melon. (I got the other 3 things.)

In the afternoon, I was hoping to get computer stuff done and letter out, but Dave wanted help with getting the float up for the winter, so I went down to help out. He appreciated the moral support as much as the actual heavy lifting and ideas. He had a hard time getting the car back up the narrow road from the beach into the garage, turning it around twice for best traction. His pulley arrangement gave 5x leverage dragging the float up, and with rollers and sliding board, it all worked out with no disasters on the way. (I stopped in at Green Ledges, and with no smell of gas, I think I got it turned off all the way.)

Thus I did not get my homework done, had a hurried dinner, and went off to bridge at ICC early to try to see if the Stonington market, Burnt Cove Market, had melon. I did barely have time, they had local cantaloupe and foreign honeydew, so I got the honeydew and will have more than I need. At bridge, I had one spectacular victory, making 4 hearts redoubled by squeezing the doubler out of his high trump. As I played on the first trick, I found that I had the ace of diamonds in with my hearts, so I did not have 5 hearts go the ace, king, queen after all and was in deep yogurt. Thus I came in 4th (we had 2 tables) with no winnings, but we all had a good time. The moon was full and sky clear as I walked Sailor before shower and bed, with Jupiter clear and bright in the SSW sky.

September 16 (Tuesday):

Up early (~6 am), and off for walk to Eggemoggin to see Pumpkin Light in early morning sun: very nice. Breakfast, newspaper, and usual morning stuff, then I worked on the letter to family and sorting out inserts from the growing pile of articles and things. I finally got things together ready to go after a late lunch. (I made tuna salad, noticing that I have surplus of luncheon fillings but shortage of bread. I finished off the oatmeal cookies.) In the cool bright morning, I spotted the Pileated woodpecker working on the broken spruce tree out front - the now taller tree closer to the road. I heard it before I saw it.

With lunch, I called the lobster hatchery to check on the Tuesday/Wednesday 3 pm tours, and she said that was only July & August, but she had a family arranged tour at 2 pm, so I called Anette (she was very interested and walked up), I wolfed the sandwich, and we went off with only the family mail and newspapers for Anette & Dave, getting to the Stonington Lobster Co-op on Indian Point just before 2. Ted Ames was there and gave us a short good pep talk, and the manager gave us the tour. Almost all the lobsters have been processed out to the ocean, since the reproductive cycle and temperatures have stopped bringing in ripe berried females (the lobster fisherman bring them in and perhaps now have waiver to 'take' berried females). Females are kept in high-tech birthing chanbers (garbage cans) until they release the eggs, then they are taken and grown to shrimplets when they hatch in bubbled containers with brine shrimp and algae. Water is drawn from Stonington but filtered completely and run though bacterial and virus sterilization so the warm water can grow the lobsters quickly (14 days!) without diseases killing them off. Then some go to a Stage V experiment but the rest are released at IV (when they first have claws out front and are between swimming (III) and bottom seeking/hiding (V). Zone C is the only zone where the lobstermen are paying to grow lobsters and repopulate the lobstering grounds. Thus it was very interesting. I stopped to mail to family before 4 pm and came home.

We stopped at Arthur Poitras' Firehouse for his going out of business sale - he is retiring - and I found he had a blueberry rake for $30 and a (he says) Eisenhower era Rowantree mug at $12, so I made a deal at 2 for 1 and got both for $30. The blueberry rake is on the woodshed back wall.

I am thinking about my last days here and getting things organized. I had more problems today with corrupting Emprex HFS+ USB but got things set for Wednesday at ICC. Dinner and Lovejoy while working.

The days have been getting shorter noticeably in the 4 weeks since I arrived. Sunset has shrunk from 7:37 pm to 6:45 pm, and sunrise has shrunk the other end of the day from 5:48 am to 6:24 am. I turn on a light now to fix dinner.

September 17 (Wednesday):

This was a very busy day. I was up early and walked Sailor, then read the newspapers and got ready for open tennis with my MacBook Pro and stuff to copy at BHB. Tennis started a little late as stragglers arrived to make up 12 to fill the courts. I played all 6 half hours so got my $15 worth . Towards the end, my tennis really was much better with many winning shots and fewer flubs. This makes playing tennis rewarding. I then used ICC wireless, ran updates of all MacBook Pro software I wanted, and checked slow websites and ran AOL mail. (I can view just about all the mail on the MacBook Pro but not on the G3, as it has an obsolete version of AOL 5 and cannot show HTML mail at all, giving me just one line of [This version of AOL cannot view HTML mail.] - Only on getting home did I realize that AOL for OS X downloads the messages in a format unreadable by the OS 9 AOL client; I was then able to delete and replace the messages with what were still on the server, i.e., those less than a month old, which when I did it was back to September 8.). So I had both milkshake and hot dog to complete lunch at the club. Then off to BHB and made my copies to send to family and friends with pretty good success.

Being only a little sweaty, I decided to do laundry after splitting wood for a while, which I did, getting good and sweaty in my tennis duds. So I started laundry with most things and took a shower. (Tub is draining too slowly, and plunger didn't improve it. - It fixed itself on a later day.) Barely dressed, Dana Parker came by a day early, so I showed him the falling plaster, and he looked around. He says fixing should work and that the back roof is in good shape yet. He will get to it later.

Then I changed the dressing on the left arm, rewrapped it, and did the dishes - well almost all of them. Then Sailor and I hurried down to the Wrights at Stone Turtle for tea and snacks. We had a good chat on the porch. They put their jointly held family land into a family corporation. Near 6, Polly's sister, husband, and dog arrived, 6 hours early, so we said hello and good-bye. The view is nice, but getting smoky, and the sun was low in our eyes. Sally McCloskey's boat went out to Scott Island.

I fixed dinner and ate after Nightly Business Report (market disaster again), watched a show on tape, and got ready for bed. (I have about 1 show and one Maigret yet to watch.) I called Daniel, and it was nice to talk to him and catch up. He and Ellen have some kind of bug but are getting over it.

September 18 (Thursday):

I walked down past the Billings places in the morning. Sailor is very lively these days of colder temperatures but dry sunny days. I am working on checking my food supplies and counting the days, so I ended up having to go to the Galley in the afternoon to buy a little meat, some spices, and donuts - not that I need donuts. (I'd have bought green beans if they had had any fresh, but there are none anymore. They were plentiful and good last month.) When the mail came with WSJ and Island Ad-Vantages, it also had my so-called priority mail bundle from home postmarked 9/12: 2-day mail takes 6. So I went through all quickly, found 2 checks (EDD & ComGlobal) and no overdue bills, so sent off money to Schwab and both banks, mostly from Schwab account, to tide them over to next week and/or mid-October. (The ComGlobal money is from sale of the company and stock, and $1500 was to have come the first of August, but QinetiQ, which bought Analex, tried to make a claim for $1M, but the stockholders agent and others prevailed within 2 months.) The stock market has been wild this week. The errands, i.e., post office to mail 6 things, then Galley, and finally Harbor Farm, got me into the store to buy a few stocking presents of Christmas tree ornaments, so I am ready for at least another Christmas, even if Joseph/Rachel and Daniel/Ellen arrive.

I went down to the shore via Green Ledges on a breezy cool day with the shears so I could finish the job on the cedar along the shore path; now it is better. I did not do the cedar in front of the cabin this year or last. I also split wood some more, knowing that I will burn some in larger quantities very soon. This got me a little hotter than I wanted, but not so much that I needed to shower. I have split wood piles growing nicely in the woodshed from the apple and spruce.

Before going to bed a bit early, I put another blanket on my bed and enjoyed the clear night with stars, planets, and moon rising. I finished the last of the Inspector Lindley, which ended its multi-year run this year. (I will look at the last of the Foyle for a second time later.)

September 19 (Friday):

It was a cold morning, with inside temperatures at 6:30 at 48° at the dry sink but 52° in the living room. I started a fire going pretty quickly and kept it going until mid-morning to get the house up above 60°. Later in the day I did my last wood splitting for this trip to Maine, splitting more apple and spruce. The apple has too much punky material, but it is hardwood - what is good. I filled the wood pile back to the top nearest to the kitchen and took the 3rd one in from just about empty to half full. I am burning the poor quality wood. I've dumped the leavings over the hill past the gas tanks.

I finished my FASE board minute revisions and sent them off yesterday. I also worked on the Quaker Culture Box on sacraments and gave Peter Arnold ideas on his starts, getting those off to him yesterday. So today I finished off the PYM NomCom minutes. There are minor holes on who was at what meeting, but I think between DJ's file of one meeting and my notes, they will do. I sent them off to the (new) committee.

I had bought a box of brownie mix, so I baked it; they weren't that good. In the afternoon, I'd have taken them down to Dave's for tea, but I found him repairing the road with guests expected. I sorted out WSJ stops and starts and a new BDN offer (doesn't really work for me). I had lunch on the front green bench in full sun, but with a light windbreaker, while I read the WSJ. Sailor chose the shade, as he got warm. I also started sorting out paperwork to get ready to return home. With washing dishes, splitting wood, baking, and inside paper and computer work (including tax update from ComGlobal stock sale), the day disappeared.

I left a message with the insurance agent on the Hanna damage; perhaps I will get a call Monday morning. I watched the last movie - an interesting Maigret.

September 20 (Saturday):

Up early, near 6 am - the Pileated woodpecker was pecking vigorously on the broken spruce. Sailor and I went on a shorter walk through Gray's Hill Cemetery and up the hill, since I had to get an apple pie backed for the Kellogg party arriving at 10 am or so. I used apples from the nearest tree on the right with a couple from across the road. I dashed off to the post office to see if my priority mail package - the last one - had arrived, and Linda's substitute found it easily. I will have to pay a couple of bills, only one is due within a week. I also have jury duty the week of October 15 somewhere or else phone in duty. So I did a little more splitting while the pie baked and then cleaned up. Kelloggs came whilst I was at Post Office, so I went down with Sailor for the events of the day.

Mary and Wally plus Judy came. We had tea and organized, while Judy kept an eye on the birds around. We went over to Caterpillar Hill, the farm in the Blue Hill trust for conservation, and took the long trail though the blueberry fields and woods (lots of pine), and Wally and Judy told about the mushrooms, debated the scat (coyote vs. bear), and we talked about various things. Then we returned to Dave's house and had pot luck lunch, quite an ample lunch, around 2 pm. I would say we had a grand time all around. Anette mentioned the Banks and Pat Fairchild wanting to rent Restawhile for a bit this year or next; I might we willing to rent to reliable friends of family. They had to leave around 3, so I came up to go through mail, sweep up a bit, clean the woodshed, and return the splitting axe and wedges to Steve & Martha, who were home from week on the Heritage and Rockland, so we exchanged notes on our week and their arrival in Rockland and my departure last Sunday, in the rain, and how we could not have connected. They will come Monday around 11 with bills to pay.

I returned to a Foyle for second viewing and skipped dinner after the large lunch except for the last 1" piece of apple pie. I had a fire as needed recently to warm the place up. Pat Fairchild, a Wiegand, called about renting Restawhile for a bit next year. Anette says the Banks also have interest for some time. Who knows, but family friends might be OK.

September 21 (Sunday):

Up early; the Pileated woodpeckers were in a pecking duel at 6:30. As usual, I had Sunday morning crêpes with the real maple syrup from home. Many things are the last time for the year. I gathered dump run items, including all the garbage and paper trash, newspapers, recycling. Everything seems to be in order.

Off to meeting, which was pretty good but huge: The whole Bucksport meeting (Narramissic Valley Monthly Meeting) was visiting Eggemoggin so they could plan the November Vassalboro quarterly meeting, so I stayed for lunch and conversation but bid farewell until next year. Organizing at Restawhile, I was surprised that the Seth Thomas clock rang at about 12:15 pm: that third wind up bell is an alarm which is set for 12:15, I guess. I have no idea how to set the time.

Dave offered a ride to tennis and the dump when I took his old catamaran roof-top carrier down. My tennis was not so hot this day, but the exercise and social interaction is good. Getting home, I discovered that my Emprex thumb drive was missing after checking mail, so I called the club, they found it stuck on the wicker chair I was it, so drove back to ICC and home with stop at Galley for strike-anywhere matches. Thus dinner was late. Weather was a bit strange at tennis, but clouds evaporated late in the evening. We barely had enough for 12, and I played 6 half hours again. It was getting cool at night, but no frost danger weather.

Thus the evening was disjointed and I did not get to watch the whole of the interesting Maigret before bedtime. I ate the last of the leftovers and some beefsteak, finished off the ice-cream, and went to bed.

September 22 (Monday):

Autumn starts today around noon. I woke up way too early: ~ 3 o'clock. So the morning was full of walk with Sailor, breakfast, washing dishes, laundry, packing, and organizing. I walked a bit with Art Larrabee as he went by, until Sailor started his morning constitutional. I had raisin bran for breakfast with the last of the honeydew melon, then worked organizing things.

First I tried to get the G3 PowerMac to talk to the MacBook Pro, having failed Sunday evening, and AppleCare experts said is was supposed to work but he knew no one who had ever made it work, so I gave up and moved files to the 2 Emprex drives and to the MacBook Pro. (Backup is unreliable, since Mac does not use absolute dates, and the file with a 10:00 am modification date in Los Altos has a 1:00 pm date in Maine on Macs but not on external drives.) I hope I got all I needed.

Pat Fairchild came over to have a talk about using Restawhile next summer, perhaps as early as early June. I showed her around, she is known to family, and she understands that she would really be living in someone else's house with all the stuff - old and fragile - around. If I can't get there until August again (PYM), it would help with the bills if no damage results. Later I called Bill & Susie Banks to see if they really did need a place for two weeks in October, but Bill said they had pretty much decided just to start home leisurely, visiting family, etc. on the way.

Martha & Steve came by at 11, as I was getting more frantic about packing, having not really done it yet, so I paid their bill and gave them my leftover food stuffs, showed them what to do, and got things settled for the winter and spring, perhaps. I tried the post office to check on my mail and mail stuff, but the line was long, so I did that after returning Ethernet cables to Dave on my way out after 1 pm: no mail.

I did get it all packed away and in the car, nearly leaving my jacket on the hook, and perhaps only left undone Sailor's stainless steel water dish, but Martha can put that away. I even got the ink cartridge wrapped and sealed away and the computer off. I would really have liked to have been able to back up the whole G3 PowerMac volumes onto the MacBook Pro for storage here.

I made and ate lunch and took second lunch for the plane ride, drove on to Bangor, filling up on US 1A, after stopping for dog barf on 199. He barfed again parking at BGR. Checking in went fine, and I had enough time.

On the way, there was no free airport wireless in BGR, DTW, or SFO. The flights were long, and I was tired. Diane Pasta picked me up, but after the belt at baggage claim croaked twice. Sailor traveled very well. Home was after 11 pm, and I skipped a shower. Home again.

Updated: October 16, 2008 (Created October 14, 2008)