Yadkinville YMCA

This was just after the massive rain that just passed through while I
was waiting for my son.

Santiago's skiff..

This is basically what I envisioned Santiago's skiff would look like when I read Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" when I was about 13. The story was really a metaphor about life, but all I could focus on was wondering how he caught that giant fish from a row boat?!

To our environmental health: Algaen Corp.

This time, they are talking about the strain that can produce bio-diesel - really amazing:

Algaen Fuels

My previous posts on Algaen Corp.:

Algaen Nutraceutical

Harbor seals

While out on our MERI adventure (MERI slide show), we came upon a large group of seals. Their expressions are not to be beat. One of the scenes I was unable to capture on my camera was the two seals that took up residence in the cove out front of my sister's house. They came out every morning to fish for breakfast and just splash around for a while. It was not that my camera was not close by, it was more that I felt that it was better to watch them which seemed to be good for my blood pressure. Some things don't need to be or maybe even shouldn't be recorded - just appreciated and remembered.

Blue Hill, Maine with a little Freeport, Stonington, Castine and Port Clyde included.

Instead of my trying to explain in words how I feel about Maine, just have a look at the slide show. Its a large movie file so give it a minute and make sure your sound is on.

Older post on Blue Hill.

Left behind and hoping to be refit.

It has been a while since I have posted a "left behind". The irony is that this one is similar to my first post, although with a totally different history. This looks like it may have been built in the late 1940's probably on Beal Island where the design of standard lobster boat was conceived about 80 years ago. I would like to believe that the person working on this boat is doing so to preserve the memory of having spent time on the boat with his grandfather. Learning how to pull traps, band the lobsters, bait and reset the traps. I also suspect that this boat has seen seas that most of us could only begin to imagine off the coast of Maine, brining her captain and crew home safely time and again. This one is definitely worth saving.

I met a retired Lobsterman who now spends his time working with MERI (Marine Environmental Research Institute). He ferries a group of people most week days on short environmental tours that are fantastic. A man with a wonderful history who offered this comment about lobstermen "They are the salt of the earth. Hard working, grizzled, honest and don't ever lie to one!" Understood Dick, thank you again for the tour.

Slide show from the MERI tour. Hope you like wildlife.

Back from Blue Hill with lots of pictures.

OK these were actually taken in Freeport when we stopped to do our part to support the local economy by loading up at the LL Bean store (side note, there is a clever little Mexican restaurant near Blue Hill called El El Frejoles). Anyway, my son was begging me to let him go fishing and this large predatory bird was having all the luck. There will be many more pictures to come, so if you love Maine like we do, stay tuned. If you have never been, I hope they inspire you to go, it really is wonderful.

Low Tide

This was the scene this AM as I prepared to row out to the Whaler and
bail three days of rain water. The sun is out, the market is stable
and life is good.

I really &@$#%*€ hate Windows Vista

Third time was also a failure.

I hate Windows Vista

This is now my third attempt at installing SR pack 2 on my windows
vista (aka POS) machine. I have two Macs at home that run flawlessly
and never waste as much time as this machine does. Windows 7 better
fix this steaming pile of an operating system.

Maine Evening

Really hard to beat this. With limited connectivity and the smell of
the ocean, I could seriously forget about the real world for a while.