Is it Autumn Or Is it Summer?

There are admittedly signs of autumn around – like the few trees which have changed colours out here, but prevailing temperatures are not supporting the idea of an ending summer. Ever since we moved to this island, and ever since we have lived ANYWHERE else we have never been able to enjoy such a warm and nice October month. We are having lunch and supper out on the porch and around noon time it was so hot in the sun that Bea got our RV-shade out and hung it up on the porch roof, making it much more comfortable to sit outside. Even after supper we were able to sit outside, until the sun was hanging out west over the city of Eastport. The only time it is a bit cooler than say in August, are the mornings. That is when I am running our 50-Dollar heating system. This house is equipped with an electric forced air furnace which I hate by two reasons:  1. It is way too expensive to run. 2. It provides a steady swing in temperatures from too hot to too chilly and it has me running to adjust the d**n thermostat every now and then. So I decided  that it was time for a change, and I went with a 50-Dollar  system. Alright, it is not for everybody and I hadn’t really planned it that way. But co-incidents sometimes seem to help. It was well a month ago that a neighbour had put a wood burning stove out by the wayside and he was about to poke out the firebricks. I found that a rather foolish business and promised to pay 50 Bucks for the thing, provided the firebricks would stay in the oven. The deal was accepted and said neighbour helped me with his twin-wheel dolly to bring the heavy sucker the 50 yards or so to our house. We managed to slide it down the outside access stairwell and over the next few days I connected it to our brick chimney positioned right beside that electrical furnace.  I was lucky enough to find a 6” stove pipe in the woods, fully usable and after I had some firewood down the same stairwell I was in business. Right over top of that stove runs the forced air duct. The heat from my stove transfers into the air duct and meanders nicely up through the vents. More importantly, it warms up the chimney which passes right through the center of the house and on top of it all, it warms up our floors. Ever since I have installed that stove we have a constantly and evenly warmed up house. yet another bonus is the now dry-as-a-bone basement. All humidity has vanished. Sure, we need to feed that stove with firewood, but so far that has happened only a few times during the morning hours. Also we have no dirt in our living room or the kitchen, as all firewood is brought into the basement from the outside. Today I made myself an errand across the border to buy a bread at “Martha’s” but was met with a “CLOSED” at the door. Her store will stay closed until October 24 which will be a sad time for us as we will have to make do with the bread we can find at the local grocery store. I also stopped by the local car repair shop and finally got myself a new battery for the FORD LTD and hopefully will be quit all starting troubles with that. When crossing back across the bridge I saw the 3 U.S. border officers standing on the bridge looking across the Narrows and over to the Canadian side. What was going on out there? I could see a green fishing vessel being close to the shore at Mulholland Point, and there were several cars parked by the lighthouse. After passing the Canada Customs I had to investigate and swooped down to the lighthouse. Well, you will remember I talked about that car in the water yesterday?  Today they were about to pull it out. It was low tide, and they had brought a tractor down to the beach. From the green fishing vessel a small boat had been dispatched. The guys had tied a rope (not a cable) to the red minivan and were now pulling the car around. It was a hard go as the thing seemed to be stuck in the muddy ground. They had also tied a big yellow buoy to the car. The rope tightened so I’m sure one could have played it as a guitar and….finally snapped. Of course I didn’t have our camera with me so no pictures of it here, but I had seen enough and proceeded home. When I got home I saw Bea working behind a heap of branches on the lawn. That girl had started a radical pruning action on our front yard apple tree. I went about the task helping her and cut down a few more branches with the chainsaw. Pictures of that adventure can also be seen on her blog “Dinner for two”. There was a lot of wood in those branches which I cut up into handy small pieces and fed it down the stairwell into the basement where I’ll stack it until it is dry enough to burn. It filled an entire wheelbarrow. Thanks for stopping by again!

The Wonder Of My Roadrunner Posting And An Alarm Went Off!

Every day I am again amazed about the number of page views a certain posting I have made on February 06-2013 is still getting.  It was my posting about the roadrunner I’m talking about, which has caused the excitement. Until today it received 4171 page views. So is the roadrunner the most popular bird in the world? It sure is one of the funniest looking ones and it’s ways to move (run) seems to be unique. I am curious to see whether this posting will continue to be the most read in my blog. A small cruise ship came by today and it is this year’s only one. About 100 passengers were tendered to shore and went through the Roosevelt Cottage. They also had “Tea with Eleanor”, which has become the most popular feature event in the park.  As the U.S. Government shut-down continues people who intended to visit the Acadia National Park are now coming up to Campobello and the Roosevelt Campobello International Park instead. After taking a few shots of the cruise ship I stopped by Jocie’s Porch which has the world’s best coffee, and had me a chat with a local fisherman. I was told an almost unbelievable story that an alarm had been sent over VHF-Radio about a car drifting in the strong current of the Narrows. It turned out that one of our neighbours had left the car in gear when getting out and that the car had continued on its own and finally hit the steep embankment and slipped into the water. Thanks God, nobody was in the car, though it is not clear whether the owners dog was still in the vehicle. I guess this is one of the things which can happen with automatic transmissions.

blogger Tags: Campobello island, Roadrunner, Cruise ship, New Brunswick, Roosevelt campobello International Park, sightseeing

Quartzsite LTVAs Closed!

I had never thought about it, but as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is a federal agency it will close all public camping area’s where fees are involved, like the Long Term Visitor Areas in Quartzsite. So I assume that also the Holtville Hot Springs LTVA is closed for campers. We read about it at Barbara’s blog “Me and my dog and my RV” Barbara is in Quartzsite right now and had to go to a 14-day area as she was not admitted to the LTVA. Hosts are in place though but are not giving out permits. Neither is a U.S. flag flying at the entrance. So folks, if you are heading towards an LTVA, make sure you have an alternative. I tried to access their website but even that is closed. Meanwhile life is going moving right along on Campobello Island and in Canada and I escaped boredom this afternoon by finding a few new and unexplored photo opportunities. A sea of Mountain Ash is contrasting with the blue water of the Narrows. As I was taking pictures along the upper duck pond, a couple from Pennsylvania joined in. She had a NIKON on a tripod and was eagerly taking in the grand views. It turned out they were quite surprised that nobody else (except me) was around in the Roosevelt Park’s Natural Area. They really enjoyed the solitude of the island. At Mulholland Point I saw the extremely powerful tidal current rushing by. With their engines running full throttle, two boats were making headway against the current. Living on a small island it can be a challenge to find new photo angles all the time. Weather conditions are the variable which can provide for new shots of well-known and earlier photographed areas and objects. It is fun though to look for those opportunities and I’d say it is an educating task as well, as it will help sharpen the senses. Thanks for stopping by!

With A Sardonic Smile…

If you are an American you can now switch to the next blog! A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.) Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.  A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: ----------------------- 1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters,  and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.'  Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels.  (look up 'vocabulary'). ------------------------ 2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.  The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of  '-ize.' ------------------- 3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. ----------------- 4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists.  The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent.  Guns should only be used for shooting grouse.  If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse. ---------------------- 5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler.  Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. ---------------------- 6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect.  At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.  Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. -------------------- 7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon.  Get used to it. ------------------- 8. You will learn to make real chips.  Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps.  Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar. ------------------- 9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all.  Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of  known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.  South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer.  They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.  American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion. --------------------- 10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters.  Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed  with a cheese grater. --------------------- 11. You will cease playing American football.  There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer.  Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). --------------------- 12. Further, you will stop playing baseball.  It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America.  Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.  You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries. -------------------- 13.. You must tell us who killed JFK.  It's been driving us mad. ----------------- 14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). --------------- 15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream)  when in season. God Save the Queen! PS:  Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)! Sent from my iPad