Frosty Halloween

It was a frosty morning again so I decided that I would make it a firewood production day. First I did  cut all the scrap wood we hauled in from my neighbour yesterday, then I started splitting some spruce I had stacked in the woods and it all went down into the basement. A wheelbarrow full of spruce ready to go into the basement Then I remembered my neighbour had asked me to cut down a few trees, so I ventured over with the Husquarna and turned into a berserk for 2 hours. Now guess what….I have another pile of round wood I have to cut, but most likely it’s not gonna happen tomorrow, as rain is moving in over night. The good thing with the rain is that the temperatures will rise again. But I’s rather have clear cold days than grey rainy weather. And that’s gonna be all for today. Trick or treat yourself at the door!

Busy Wednesday

Had a program to attend to today. I love having something extra to do. And today a little road trip was on the agenda. Our Molly had to go see the vet for her routine shots and heartworm check. Our appointment was at 11:20 EDT so I had some time to kill earlier and used it to split some firewood and get it into the basement.  We love that wood stove! While I was chopping away on the wood, a neighbour came by, carrying a cake. A cake??? Yep, it was a HALLOWEEN-cake. Full chocolate-type of cake.  I can assure you it was very good. Thanks neighbour! The vet, a very friendly young lady gave Molly two vaccines, checked her teeth, checked for fleas and took a blood sample (which Molly was not in favor of) for heartworm analysis. After 10 minutes they had done the test and it was negative. After all that excitement Molly needed to get outside and check out the green grass (;-) I was really surprised how quiet she was under the 50mile ride to the vet office. Molly doesn’t like to ride in the JEEP, as the car is somewhat rough and stumpy with a rather tough suspension. Today we rode in the Chevy van and she loved it. The van is a lot more comfortable for a longer drive.   Being half ways over to Calais I decided to continue down the road for doing some shopping. You know we have a “Lazy Susan” in our kitchen and one of the hinges had broken, so the door was hanging there half assed in need of repair. I planned to go to the local hardware store to see whether I could get a replacement. Yeah…Fat chance. There must be hundreds of different types of hinges out there, at least there was nothing which would replace my hinge. BUT I found one where the part which was broken was KIND of identical. So in lieu of something better I purchased this look-alike just to use a part of it. Then I went across the road to the local Shop‘n Save to find my favorite organic milk, but they were all sold out. Next best solution was wandering over to Wally World. They still had my desired milk and I could rejoin Molly in the van. See, I have a problem with milk put into plastic jugs.  I never buy it, because the milk smells and tastes funny, -well plastic.  A few years back I “discovered” organic milk which I liked a lot better. Why do we have to fill milk into plastic jugs? There is no need for it. I’m sure those plastic jugs are one heck of a waste problem. In just a couple of more days it’s November, and most of the leaves are down by now, and it starts looking a lot like winter. But larch trees or tamaracks, with their golden colour are now lighting up the woods everywhere. After coming home again yet another task had appeared. Our neighbour across the street has just gone through a house repair and was busy piling up a lot of scrap wood at the street. Having to feed a hungry wood stove in the basement we went over and hauled all that wood over. Cutting that up into firewood will be my task tomorrow. Until then I have some time off. Thanks for looking around here! Oh, I forgot the joke I heard today: Baaaad Parrot A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.  Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious or laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of  to clean up the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.  The parrot yelled back.  John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.  John, in desperation, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked, kicked and screamed.  Suddenly there was total quiet.  Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." John was surprised at the birds vocabulary stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Fellow Bloggers And Boondockers Are Visiting

A Rialta Motor Home was rolling up our driveway yesterday afternoon and with it came Jill and Thayer from Seattle, WA. They are currently on a 1-year journey through North America and had staked their route through Canada and most recently the Maritimes. As members of “Boondockers Welcome” they contacted us asking for a boondocking site for a few nights. Since they have settled in we have taken them on a roundtrip across Campobello Island, and this afternoon we all did a hike through the Roosevelt Park. Jill is the blogger and she started her blog first when they took off on this trip. They have seen so much and I have enjoyed reading their blog.  With the nearing winter they plan to move southward visiting family and friends underway. And just maybe….we are seeing them again next spring in the desert.

Hey…It’s Saturday!

8am!  Everything is quiet in the house. Molly has been outside and came in again, for thereafter establishing herself on my bed, where she joined Bea in a Who-sleeps-longest contest. Meanwhile I have been up and about since 6:30 stoking the wood burner in the basement, starting coffee, and finally reading through this mornings blogs, leaving my comments. No school bus is breaking the quiet of this morning as it is Saturday. The sky is partially grey and the air seems to have a winter temperature of some sort.  In order to assist the wood burner I have turned on the electric furnace for a while. Reading the various blogs I see that the Bayfield Bunch has reached Arizona, while Jim and Sandie are already established at Apache Junction. “Sassie” is hanging out in Nevada’s valley of fire and has asked in a comment why we aren’t on the road yet. Well, it’s like I said before, there are plans which will delay our departure indefinitely. Also we consider a different pattern of travel. Ever since we discovered the Holtville Hot Springs we have been returning there. We always had big rigs to travel in. Our first one was a 37ft Fiver which I hated to drag across every mountain. Next was a 40ft. Diesel Pusher which was really nice to drive but very expensive as Diesel prices are always half a dollar over regular gas and well….the mileage wasn’t great either. Now we are having a 27ft Travel trailer which is nice enough, has lots of room but there is still the issue of having to pull this thing almost 7000 miles through the country. We have been thinking of downsizing even further but would we have to sacrifice our comfort?  If we really plan to move around more than what we have done in the past we need to be small and light weight. Small also means that we can get to places we couldn’t reach with our big rigs. Light weight as in saving on fuel. Is there a trailer out there which is medium sized and low weight? We don’t want to be cramped in a tin can. European trailers are much much lighter, but they are just not available here. Our 27footer Flagstaff has a dry weight of 6145lbs – an outrageous weight for any European travel trailer. We once had a 23 footer in Norway and the GVWR weight was only 2600lbs. One of the reasons being that under carriages are of aluminum and not heavy duty steel.         We would be happy with this 1990 HOBBY trailer with 2600lbs. GVWR Th above 2014 version of the same brand is the same size than our  Flagstaff and weighs about 2500lbs LESS and no “crazy” graphics on the side either! The somewhat “boxy” design of our Flagstaff trailer showing how far U.S. manufacturers are behind the development of modern solutions. It is beyond me why import restrictions prohibit those trailers entering the North American market. Molly emerged as the winner of today’s sleep-in contest as she was the last appearing for breakfast. We are expecting boondockers Jill and Thayer from Seattle, WA visiting with us today. They are members of “Boondockers Welcome” and have been traveling through the Maritimes for the last weeks. Thanks for stopping by!

A Trip To Wally World And A Coastal Walk

We didn’t do all in one day but it happened in between my last posting and today.   “Round Lake” between Calais and Pembroke, ME We HAD to do a trip west through Maine to get to the newly extended Wally World in Calais. Why?  Well, me I needed a new pair of jeans and once in there we sure found a couple of other things we could use. See, that’s how Mr.Wally makes his great income. But I must stress that we did not buy food in their new food department. No Sir, we drove the 300ft over to Shop’n Save, the local food market. We know that store and we have realized that they have lower prices on food than Mr.Wally has. Just about everything is slightly lower in price and besides, we want that store to survive. When getting to the till I made it my business to tell the nice cashier lady that I knew about them having lower prices and that we wouldn’t start shopping at Wally World for food. But of course, Wally’s parking lot was way busier than the one at the local Shop’n Save. Had an oil change done at Wally World and I’s sure checking out the aisles While we driving along a couple of shots were taken from the car. Even though most of the colours are now gone there are still nice photo opportunities. And then the other day we did a coastal walk to “Hidden Beach”. Diane, a neighbour, came along for the walk. It is a short path starting at the Herring Cove view point, leading through the woods and finally coming down to a tidal lake. The lake is divided off the ocean by a gravel bar, but when high tide rolls in the water finds a way through the lakes outlet, which at that time is reversed to be an inlet. This “Hidden Beach” is flanked on both sides by rugged rocky cliffs, leaving no way to access this beach by walking along the water’s edge. Gas price pr. gal. in Maine Leading along the gravel bar, the path picks up again on the opposite side climbing up through the woods. This part is really water soaked and one has to have a springy step to master along without getting the feet into the water.    When approaching the edge of the cliff, Molly became afraid of the deep cliff and lay down refusing to go another step. The path ends at a public subdivision road on the hilltop. It was a great little walk in our usual beautiful sunshine, even though it has gotten a lot colder now. In fact Bea moved our outside furniture away as there won’t be any more eating outside. The little tidal lake                                                  and the ocean                                                                                      Gravel bar between ocean and lake Weekend is here again and though it is hard to believe, we are quickly approaching the month of November. See ya later and thanks for dropping by!

A “Beloved” Teacher or A Simple Bully?

The United States is again shocked about yet another example of school violence.  The latest incidence of a 13-year old student going wild to get his revenge on society might as well be a day the NRA is celebrating. Access to weapons for everybody…is the mantra you hear from indoctrinated gun lovers. Looking at the headlines at CNN or CBS this morning, I read about his celebrated and “beloved”  teacher, a former marine, who also was a sports coach.  But there are also voices saying that the particular  student was bullied by this teacher. I am not saying one or the other is the truth, as I really don’t know. It would take some intimate knowledge to judge this case. But I feel compelled to tell my story, which I remember all too good, even though it happened many decades ago. I have already  stated earlier that I hated the gym lessons. As a result my gym teachers hated ME. All of them did, because I was a pain in their behind. Yes, throughout my entire time in school, gym teachers have hated me and bullied me. Well, it was painful, but finally I got the skin of an elephant, because I needed to survive. But what if…..I would have had access to a weapon?  Would that have resulted in the first school shooting episode in Germany? What I am saying is that the 13-year old student from Sparks, NV must have had a reason for the way he acted. It was probably a similar reason as many of his predecessors. Nobody starts shooting unless the person is a total mental nut case or a plain criminal. “You have destroyed my life and now I’m going to destroy yours” was the last this student told his teacher. And doesn’t this lead us to think that bullying in school is the reason for most episodes of school violence? Combine that with easy access to weapons (where the hell did he get a semi automatic from?) and you have the perfect scenario for many more school shootings. What’s gonna happen over the next days and weeks is that psychologists, psychiatrists  and all kind of self-proclaimed profilers will write volumes about what they think must be studied and done and evaluated. But the truth, in fact, is in plain sight for everybody to see.

A Few Torrential Rain Showers Made For A Lazy Sunday

It is the time of the year when mornings are getting increasingly dark and dull. I have a hard time to realize that it is 7am, I’m awake and yet it is dark outside. Of course, the other night we had a bright moon. I grabbed the NIKON and tried to shoot a pic out the front window looking across the Passamaquoddy Bay capturing the reflections of the moon, but the pic turned out unclear. I am, in fact looking forward to getting back to Standard Time on November 03. Interestingly, Europe does the change back to Winter Time on October 27 – a week earlier than North America. What would that be good for? Well, besides of getting dark mornings we are also getting some rain. Torrential rainfalls made me stay in my IKEA chair this morning, while Bea went to the old Anglican Church. I am not a guy who can stay put for extended periods of time. So in the afternoon I strode off into the kitchen to make a German Apfel Streuselkuchen.  And I am somewhat proud to say it turned out to be a GREAT cake, even though it was my very first Streuselkuchen. We had it with whipped cream and a good cup of coffee. I guess I will never be without this German afternoon coffee thing. We did our daily walk with Molly after the sun peeked out, but overall it was a rather lazy Sunday. Thanks for dropping by!

An Ever So Soft Touch Of A Dog Paw…

Here I am in my comfortable IKEA Poäng chair, reading a book. (yep, I got another one) Suddenly Molly is approaching from her doggie bed, looking straight up to me, sitting down. My hand finds her soft fur, a soft groan escapes her and she folds herself down to the floor, rolling over. I look down and she looks up. Her soft brown eyes full of devotion. Her paw touches my wrist resting there while I caress her behind her ears. I close my hand around her soft paw. There it is - all the love one can encounter between a dog and a human. It is one of these moments I relish in life. We are a team. We share our daily lives. I feel pain when the question rises: How much longer? Molly is soon 11yrs. old. Strangers who don’t know that, are always perplexed when they learn about Molly’s age. She looks 5 or 6 – not a day more. And she seems healthy. We keep her feed rationed. She is not overweight, and we don’t buy the cheapest stuff for her. We walk with her – every day – several times. Rainy days can be a bust – but we try anyway. We would feel bad if we wouldn’t. Bea’s mom is not doing well anymore. And Bea has to fly to Germany to see her.  So she’s booked a flight in November. I hope winter will be holding off until December. We won’t be putting in any early appearance in California this year. I’d be happy if it happens at all. There are things happening, we don’t know the outcome off yet.       Camped at the Holtville Hot Springs March 2013 Finally, we had one rainy day today. But it was warm. Warm and wet! Thanks for visiting here!

I Screwed UP!

I screwed it up.  Yep, i posted the same thing twice. And when I removed the latest posting the blog came up without ANY posting. That is if one would have clicked on the posting itself, not the blog title. So only way to limit the readers frustration is doing another post. Hence this one! Hopefully you will still be able to see the fall pictures of October 17. You can on the blog title to see the post or click here. So there! See you later!

Fall Colours Of Campobello

After a couple of colder nights we finally got fall colours on the island. They usually appear a few weeks after the mainland, where nights have been colder earlier. So --- we had to take a hike and a drive into the park today. First we walked the boardwalk in the Eagle Hill Bog. This is by far the easiest of all trails as most of it runs high and dry on a wide boardwalk. Only the far end takes a climb up to Eagle Hill, from where we had a grand view of the bog and the coastline. Fall colours were really great – only a stand of tamaracks was yet wearing their green coat. It sure is a pity that so few visitors are seeing Campobello during the late fall. A quick look into the Roosevelt Park’s parking lot showed only a few cars. Yet the cottage stays open for another 2 days, while the visitor center is open to the last day of October. So instead of boring y’all with my ravings… why don’t I just put the pics up for you to see.                   Now you be the judge of it! Thanks for dropping by.