NORUMBEGA CANOE CLUB

Jan Camp 2011

2011-03-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

Every year I make a resolution to camp out at least one night in every month. After Man Camp, I always think, "Hey, I've got the hard one done, if I can make it through January and February, I'll have it made!" Then I don't camp out again till July.

Maybe 2011 will be different. I did make it out on January14th. Just a solo trip, no fire. It was kind of a proof of concept to see if 2 three season sleeping bags would work as one four season sleeping bag. It worked swimmingly. I brought too much stuff, as per usual, but made it down and back in one trip, which is unusual, and an improvement.

It got sub zero, maybe -2 or something, so I feel like I have actually been winter camping. I stayed quite warm, listened to iTunes most of the night. One key seemed to be sleeping in my clothes, including my mukluk liners. Then getting dressed in the morning consisted on putting on my boots over my warm liners. No trying to stick a warm body in cold clothes.

I kept my water bottle under the one of the sleeping bags, and it didn't freeze. I used my candle lantern, it was awesome, casting the picturesque glow of a fire, but without the hassle.

The Kick Off to Boat Season 2011

2011-03-15T16:00:00.006-05:00

Don has a friend who commissioned a boat to be build by Doug Hylan on the Benjamin River in Brooklin.

As they finished the boat they had an open house towards the end of January, so we went down to take a look. I was eager to go because I wanted to check on the progress to Robert and JoDee Baird's cat boat, the Mollie B., which is undergoing a fairly involved restoration there.

Doug had moved the Mollie B. outside for a breath of fresh air, and to open some room for the open house.

Here you can see the tale tell signs of a major refastening, and I think new ribs, as well.

This is the Deliverance, which has the look of an old fashioned sardine carrier:

Check out the fancy detail on the bottom of the sliding door:

In this one you can see Don plotting a course for Head Harbor:

On thing that I think about when I go aboard some of these yachts, is how luxury is relative. For example, here is the master stateroom on the Deliverance:

The picture above is the starboard side berth, looking forward. Below is the port side, looking towards the stern.

As you can probably piece together, the stateroom is about 8 feet long, and, at it's widest, about 9 or 10 feet wide, if that. You have to climb down a ladder to get into the room. Keep in mind that the Deliverance might be worth a half million dollars, and the only other place to sleep on the whole boat is the kitchen table in the galley. But to sit in that stateroom, even with its narrow berths, and the only natural light coming through two deck prisms and two 6" portholes, you feel like it would be the neatest bedroom in the world. Part of it is the finish, and the thought put into everything in the room. Nothing is happenstance, nothing is an afterthought. Every piece of wood is carefully thought out, individually crafted, and designed to squeeze the maximum utility and comfort out of every cubic inch of available space. Part of it too is just the romance of a big boat.

Anyway, I think there is a lesson that can be learned from this, namely, that living space can be small and wonderful at the same time, the two terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Here is the galley, with a footprint of 2' x 7', yet still beautiful and functional:

Compare that with the engine room, which is probably 8' x 12'. You can tell someone has their priorities right.

Here is a . . . uh . . . freezer? . . . ice maker? . . . something beautiful, anyway:

And on the starboard side, a tool locker, complete with benchtop vise:

Anyway, it is a beautiful boat, and it was a fun afternoon. A great start to the 2011 boat season.

Man Camp 2010

2011-03-14T17:55:00.004-05:00

Man Camp continued the trend of adding an additional person every year. This year Peter Dauk joined Jason Barrett, Justin Millis and me at Camp Bravo.

I also continued my trend of bringing a little bit less gear than the prior year, but I still brought stuff, a fair amount of stuff, that I didn't need. Especially since the weather was so calm this year.

Peter had visited a few weeks before the big event and together we cut nearly a cord of firewood, but didn't haul any of it to the campsite. That made a huge difference in terms of comfort. Unfortunately it snowed a couple of times, effectively burying the firewood we had cut. Justin and I were tramping through the snow in the dark, looking for lumps that betrayed the firewood hidden beneath the snow.

The temps got down in the single digits, but the fire kept us warm. There was no wind, so most of us didn't bother with tents. I didn't bother with a sleeping bag or blanket either. I was very comfortable though. I think I suffered far more from the heat of the fire, which literally gave me the equivalent of a sunburn, rather than the cold, which was insignificant.

I rigged up a tripod with some board leaning against it, and then insulated my back and the ground with some foam rubber that I was going to take to the dump. I had fashioned a red-neck recliner, and it made all the difference. No cold could penetrate from below or behind, And the radiant heat from the fire could slowly roast me. I could lean back and doze, or listen to my iPod, and still feel the warmth from the fire.

Justin and Jason had a traditional bedroll going on. I think the old timers were on to something.
Justin's set up:

Jason's set up:

Peter had set up an improvised tipi, which I am sad to say I did not photograph. He brought his dog, and they made it through the night in fine style. I think he will bring less stuff next year, as will I. It is hard to resist the temptation to bring one more thing.

One thing we learned is that there were some dead trees that we cut down, old pines that had died several years ago, maybe many years ago, that Peter and I cut up. I thought they were too old and rotten to be much good. By morning, however, we were throwing 20" diameter tree trunks cut into 2' lengths on the fire and marveling how they burst into flame and put out searing heat in every direction.

Anyway, another great outing, and I think we will look back on this year as the year Man Camp became an institution, rather than an experiment.

Squeezie's Hobo Tooth

2011-03-13T18:27:00.002-05:00

A short film. By me.

You're welcome!

By the way, I made this video a couple of weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago. The Hobo Tooth is still hanging on.

Nearly One Hundred Percent of Zoe's Points for the Season

2011-01-25T17:09:00.002-05:00

New Year's Eve in Maine

2010-12-31T16:03:00.001-05:00

This is an attempt to post a video. Did it work?

The Bassassins

2010-08-21T19:01:00.006-05:00

Two weeks ago our baby-sitter took the night off, so, instead of going out on date night, I took Zoe fishing at our favorite nearby canoe haunt. The fishing was fair, it will pick up a bit more as the nights get cooler and some of the weeds die back a little.

Zoe caught this tiny minnow, but she was happy with it. She was really starting to get the hang of casting, and was able to unhook the tiny pickerel without loosing a finger. That is no small feat, because these bad boys are related to the deadly fresh water sharks of Borneo, and they have the razor sharp teeth to prove it.

Poor little thing, its not even as long as her arm.

Here it is, lunging at her throat, trying to rip out her jugular.

A few minutes later, I had to show her how it was done. Check this bad boy out! No, that's not a whale, that's a delicious bass. I didn't have my scales, but the bass did. Anyway, I figure probably he weighed 13 or 13 1/2 lbs. Probably a Maine State record, but I threw him back anyway.

Today, after two weeks spent on and around multi-million dollar yachts, I thought I should get back to my roots, so I woke up Kate and Zach for another trip in search of the lunkers. The morning was clear and bright, the seas calm. Just check out the reflection off this water:

I hooked another record delicious bass, but I let Kate reel it in.

A little later I hooked another Leviathan, and not knowing if the beast would be bigger than him or not, I passed the pole to Zach, with a stern admonition that if the great fish were to pull the fishing rod out of the boat, Zach should still hang on. I knew that if he could do that, the mighty fish would exhaust himself trying to keep Zach's life jacket under water, and that eventually they would both rise to the surface, where I could hopefully harpoon our prey like the mythical White Whale of Captain Ahab's fevered dreams.

In the event, none of that proved necessary, and Zach was able to land his quarry with no serious mishaps. All in all, a fine day on the river.

Here is Kate, trying to pet the fish.

2010-08-06T20:11:00.003-05:00

This morning when I went to take a shower, imagine my surprise to see the throw-up bucket, complete with HUMAN VOMIT, sitting in the bathtub. Weird. I had already asked Joey how she had slept, and she had had a peaceful night, so I was a little perplexed. Not that I suspected bandits or anything, it was just weird.

When I called to check in this afternoon, the mystery was solved. Apparently Zoe (who had gone to the fair yesterday with Joey, her Grammie and Grampie, numerous siblings, etc. etc.) had a dream that she was on a fair ride, and that made her sick, so she got up an threw up, and, knowing that she would get no sympathy from her parents went back to bed.

I have no idea how it is that the real rides did not make her sick, but the dream about the rides did make her sick.

This afternoon Grammie was a little too wiped out from the fair, so Joey gave her the night off from babysitting. I decided to take Zoe fishing since she hasn't got to go all summer.

Zoe had a little luck, landing two small pickerel, really not much bigger than minnows, but she was excited because she was doing it all, from casting to taking the fish off the hooks.

While it was no substitute for datenight, it was fun. Oh, and Joey's mom came over anyway and took Zach and Eleanor for a sleepover, which of course aggravated Emily to no end, seeing as she never gets to go to the pool or fair or anything. Or something.

Long time no blog

2010-08-03T19:24:00.005-05:00

Well, rather than try to catch up, here is what I have been doing between trips taking Magnus to the E.R.

In honor of Pioneer day, I decided to clear some land. The first day cut a path through the middle of the thickest part of the area I intended to clear. I have used this method before, and it has the benefit of making a path that leads back to the burn pile, it gives good access to the center of the problem rather than just chipping away at the edges, and also divides the work into two clear halves. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera for a before picture, but here are a couple of after pictures. This took about two hours, but of all the days, it was by far the hardest, if only because it was so hot, and I was so unused to clearing land by hand.

Here are some pairs of pictures that show the before and after, more or less from the same vantage point and angle.

Another pair:

Here is what the raspberry patch looks like if you mow it:

So far I have about 8 hours into it. Tonight Zoe, Emily, Zach and Kate all came out and helped for most of the 2 hour block. They were a big help. Zoe is a little freaked out by how big the burn pile is though. We'll probably burn that towards the end of September. It should be a doozy of a conflagration.

Logan Trip

2009-11-01T12:27:00.010-05:00

On Thursday My two brothers, my nephew and my Dad drove up to a ranch in Paradise that has hunting and fishing. Fishing is catch and release, but there are definitely some big trout. You can't tell from the picture, but there are some lunkers in there. We didn't go to fish though, but we enjoyed looking at the fish while we waited for the sporting clays competition.

I neglected to take any pictures of the sporting clays. Here is a picture of Jake, Jon, me and Doug afterwords though. You can see how pretty it is up there.

While we were driving around we saw a couple of roosters just sauntering along the road.

Doug, doing what I can't exactly tell.

Jake, annihilating the applesause cookies my dear sweet mother baked for ME.

We stayed in Logan that night and the next morning we got up and went pheasant hunting. It was a little cool.

The view from the bench.

This is picture of our guide Sean, and some of the dogs we were hunting with.

Dad

It doesn't really show up in the pictures, but its pretty steep, up and down. The elevation is about 5,000 feet. There is not much oxygen for my sea level acclimated lungs to process.

By this time I was carrying 4 pheasants in my vest, and huffing and puffing in the thin air. I started shedding layers at this point.

We had a great time. We let a lot get away, but everbody was successfull and it was a lot of fun. I'm sure all of us will remember the trip for the rest of our lives.

I can't tell which picture I like better, so I'll post both.

Thirteen, if you're counting.

Cleaning the birds. Maybe its just as well that its out of focus.

I'm beat! Thanks Dad for a n awesome trip!

Alpine Trip

2009-10-28T19:09:00.014-05:00

As I write this, I am in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake visiting family. Today my parents and I went to see my cousin's house in Alpine. In the past the house, which dates back to pioneer times belonged to my grandparents on my Mom's side, and before that, to my Great Grandpa Healey.
My Cousin, Danny, has done a great job restoring and updating the interior. It really looks nice. Our family lived there for a year or two when I was in first and second grade. Later, when my grandma and grandpa Healey lived there, I would go stay with them for a week or so in the summer, usually around hay hauling time. Its hard to believe its the same house.

For know I am just going to post some pictures, later I will edit this post and put them in order and caption the pictures. As you can see, the remodel is not quite done, but I'm glad Danny (or at least his Mom!) let us wander around the construction site.

Without further ado, here are some pictures:

Rusty Duck Dessert Topping

2009-04-15T09:55:00.008-05:00

Ok, I grew up in Utah. I used to think people who thought Utah was a desert were dumb. My thoughts went, hey, it rains and snows here, there's not much cactus, I've never seen a sandstorm, so this can't be the desert. When I was about 23 or 24 years old, I took my first trip East of the Mississippi. As the plane descended to land in Syracuse New York, I realized that Utah was, in fact, a desert.

View Larger Map
It wasn't the lakes and rivers that tipped me off, it was the trees. I had helped plant and water a few trees, and looking out of that plane window, I knew there was just no way to plant that many trees. That summer I worked at a camp in Vermont. It rained. Sometimes it rained all day long. There were no sprinkler systems, and you never saw people watering the grass, but the grass was always green. Weird.

The weirdest thing that happened that summer took place at the end of the July session. I was in the process of moving out of the cabin I was in, to one on the other side of the lake. I cleared off the shelf where I had set my keys a month earlier, and they were green. In one month, on an indoor shelf, my brass keys had tarnished. I was flabbergasted. Welcome to New England. In the intervening 20 years, I have seen things rust for no apparent reason. Sometimes literally overnight. Guns rust unless they are coated with oil all the time.

Fast forward to a week ago. I was outside working around the yard, doing stuff I should have been doing last fall during the Newell trial. The neighbors dog came over and was terrorizing Squeezie, barking and trying to play. Squeezie was squealing in terror, the neighbor was hollering for the dog to come back. I went to rescue Squeezie, but I didn't want to freak out my neighbor, so I set the gun, which was unloaded, on the outside oil tank. I ran the dog off, went over to take a tour of my neighbors new garage, tried to get the Saab running went in for dinner etc etc. Went to church Sunday, went to work Monday . . .

Well you can see where this is going. A week later I was unloading the car after church (we travel to Church with more gear than the Saints needed to cross the plains) when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something. I turned and my heart sank when I say my M6 sitting there in the weather.
Even if I had more than one gun (which I am not admitting to, what with Janet Napolitano investigating right wing extremists and stuff) this would still be my favorite. It is a shotgun, it is a rifle.But Wait! There's more: it has a place in the stock that will hold 15 bullets and 4 shotgun shells. I have used it to shoot porcupines, skunks, red squirrels, and a couple of chipmunks who couldn't tell the difference between my home and their home. I once shot a mouse inside the kitchen with it, and the gouge in the vinyl floor is still visible. I even shot a flying crow with it, which still amazes me, because it is not well suited to that task.

As you can imagine, I felt shock and horror to see the gun in this condition. I felt guilty, because there was really no excuse for forgetting it outside. I tried to console myself that when I had bought it 10 or 11 years ago, I only paid $198.00 for it, but I know that now they cost around $500 and sometimes at auction they will go as high as $650. I tried to comfort myself that this would provide a good excuse to finally Molykote it, since it rusts a little bit whenever I carry it out in the rain or snow. In the end it was just plain sad. The rust seemed like it could be so bad that the gun might have to be written off, but I wasn't going to just give up. Here are some before shots:

The rust was really unprecedented. I tried shooting a .22, but the hammer had so much rust that it was binding, and wouldn't fall fast enough to detonate the primer on the cartridge.

The only good news was that the bores were miraculously free from rust.
A few days later I broke it down. I was dreading unwrapping the cord on the barrels because I was sure that the paracord had acted like a sponge, keeping the barrels wet even longer and preventing things from drying out between rainstorm. Much to my surprise, the barrels looked remarkably good. I am wondering if I hosed them down with oil or vaseline before wrapping them.

In the past, whenever I noticed a little rust on one of my guns I would spray it down with Rusty Duck. This is just something I found at War-Mart one day. It seems to do a pretty good job. When you spray it on rust, the rust kind of dribbles off with the excess oil. My hope was that a hearty application, along with some 0000 steel wool would loosen things up and prevent the rust from getting worse while I gathered materials for a complete refinish.
Man! That stuff is remarkable. I had never given it a challenge like this before. I was amazed.

Here you can see where the parkerizing has rusted off, but to be honest that happened years ago. I always think its weird to go into pawn shops and the receivers, in fact all of the metal, on all of the Winchester model 94's are silver instead of black, but it just happens in this humid climate.

It doesn't look too bad unless the light hits it just right.

Heres the left side before:
And after:
Glossy!

A half hour later and the gun was back together, and it shoots.

Almost as good as new! Thank You Rusty Duck!

Man Camp

2008-12-20T10:35:00.011-05:00

After a steady diet of Calvin Rutstrum, Horace Kephart, George W. Sears, garnished with a little Townsend Whelen, I thought I should quit reading about camping, and actually do some of it. I was most intrigued by Townsend Whelen's quote that a tent such as this one,

was more than adequate for anything short of -20 or severe bugs.

Or check out this quote from Steward Edward White in his book Camp and Trail. On page 83 he writes: "Undoubtedly the lean-to is the ideal shelter, as far as warmth goes. You build the fire in front, the slanting wall reflects the heat down and you sleep warm, even in winter weather."

I was game to give it a try, if a bit skeptical. So I picked the longest Friday night of the year, got permission from my wife to skip date night, for which we had no money anyway, and invited some friends over for man camp. Peter Dauk and Don Brown declined, being a little bit smarter than the rest of us, Matt Wilson was interested, but didn't know if he would be able to get together, and Jason Barrett was game, but thought he might have to work on an appeal brief that is coming due. It looked like I was in this by myself, and so I modified the plan, and took a lot of stuff, and then kept track of what I actually used, what I wished I had etc.

The location for Man Camp was Camp Cobra. Camp Cobra is on a tiny stream of clear cold water with a gravel bottom, and in some fairly dense fir trees. It is close enough that you can get to it, but far enough away that there is no temptation to run back home because you forgot something.

Another test was to see if it was true that ash was the ideal wood for a campfire. Kephart claims that green (i.e. unseasoned) ash burns with a clean flame, makes long lasting hard coals and puts out a great deal of heat. While there is some ash at camp cobra, I didn't want to cut down those trees, so I cut some down on a different part of my land. I decided not to use the chainsaw, because Gearge Sears, a.k.a. Nessmuk would have used a hatchet with a blade the size of a book of matches to build a log cabin. I cut down three tree about this size.

Then, I loaded them on my recreational skidder and dragged them the rest of the way to Camp Cobra.

Yes, I realize that Nessmuk generally frowned on imported Japanese ATV's. If that offends you, please check out my mechanical toboggan:

Before you get all indignant the last 5o yards was on foot, and involved a river crossing. Well, river may be a slight overstatement since you can step over it if you have long legs. Anyway . . .

Below is a picture of the mountain o' gear positioned at camp cobra. At this time its about 2:30, and about an hour or so before sunset. At this point I spent the rest of my time cutting and dragging tree length stuff back to camp, to cut up in the dark. The temperature at 2:30, according to the digital dangler, was 23 degrees Fahrenheit.

After the sun set, but before it got dark, I set up my tarp. It is an 11' x11' tarp from Tentsmiths, and it is a thing of beauty, at least to me. I love, probably too much, because I am reluctant to use it because it is so nice. Here, I set it up as a lean-to. The way to do it and have sides is to set it up on the diagonal. The ridge pole originally had a triangular flap that hung down, but I tucked it up around the ridge pole. There is also a corner that is flat on the ground on the back edge, and is underneath the ground cloth. Anyway, it works. The front is about 5' off the ground, the front opening is about 7' wide and the back wall is about 6' wide at the base. I also tied a rope from the center tie out to a convienient tree, which makes the interior quite about bigger. The lean-to is about 5 ' deep I think. By the time I got situated, it was almost dark, and about 10 degrees.

By this time, I could tell that I was getting pretty dehydrated, and I realized that I didn't have enough wood to last through one of the longest nights of the year, so I decided to get a fire going and heat some water for some instant soup and bask in all that sweet heat reflecting down on me. I filled a pot full of water, and then started a fire with my Swedish firestarter and a cotton ball. There were tons of dry twigs, so starting a fire was quick and easy. I didn't have a good way to get the pot over the fire though. I put it next to the fire, and I was surprised for some reason to see that it had frozen over. Obviously it was 32 degrees when I pulled it out of the stream, and sitting in the snow at 10 degrees in an aluminum pot wasn't doing much to insulate it, but still I was surprised.

I moved the fire a little closer to the lean-to, as I wasn't feeling the Miami heat toasting my back, and that about put the fire out. More twigs = more fire, but the pot wasn't heating, so I got two logs, and pushed them close enough together on either side of the fire so the pot would sit above the flames, that about put the fire out too. Eventually I got my 5 minutes of boiling time to kill any bugs, and drank my soup. It was good, but tongue burning at first and cool at the end. (Actually I set it down and cut up some more wood and it was frozen when I turned back to it.)

I started putting some ash on the fire. It burned great, except as the night wore on I realized that it put out a ton of smoke, and although it made great coals, the coals did nothing to warm the lean-to. Only bright leaping flames from softwood did anything to ease the chill. I think Ash would be the bees knees in a stove, but for a lean-to heater, the choking smoke was a downer, and there wasn't as much flame as I needed. Granted, it took a few hours to figure this all out. Here's what it looked like at about 7:00 p.m. and 6 degrees with light snow and swirling wind.

Against all recommendations I had no reflector behind my fire. I know better, and this may be a primary reason the experiment failed. I big reflector tarp, which I brought but never set up, may have acted as a chimney, and should have reflected more heat into the lean-to. There was no convenient way to do it, and I was playing catch up by this time.

I was sitting on an Ensolite pad and a wool blanket folded in half. That was not enough. I was coldest from the ground, more than the air. As you can see from the pictures, there was only an inch or so of snow on the ground. Not really ideal, but nothing that would have given pause to Townsend Whelen either. You might be able to see how close I was to the fire, but I was still fairly cold on my back, and failed to sense any heat reflecting down on me.

By about 8:30 I was tired, sore, and beginning to get cold. I thought I had probably contracted emphysema and maybe lung cancer from all the smoke I inhaled and was thinking about packing it in. I dozed off and awoke a moment later by the sound of someone crashing through the woods. Instead of laying down sustained suppressive fire with the m-6, which is my preference just on general principles, whenever I am startled while in the woods, alone, in the dark, I hollered to see who it was, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but Jason Barrett, fresh from the doctor's office. It was a delightful surprise to say the least. We set up his tarp in an effort to block some more wind, and proceeded to cook up some venison steak and hot chocolate etc. It was nice to have someone to help saw some wood up.

Here is Jason, stricken with walking pneumonia, yet totally game for a winter camp out.

Here's me, affecting the nonchalant pose that a Calvin Rutstrum might strike in such a circumstance:

We stuck it out all night. It got down to 3 degrees with some wind. Then we left early in the morning. Like 1:00 a.m. early. Well it was a learning experience, and I still have a lot to learn.

What worked well:

Swedish Anorak
LL Bean Washable wool pants with suspenders.
Army Surplus Mukluks
Swedish wool mittens, keep your hands warm, but you can also pick up hot pots and burning logs with no problem.
Woodenboat mug was awesome: no burned lips, kept my hot chocolate hot.
I had a candle, that was nice, but would be better if I could hang it up like the stonebridge folding candle lantern that everyone likes so much.

What didn't work well:
One Ensolite pad and a wool blanket is not nearly enough.
The tarp did not stay warm. Next time I will make it narrower and deeper, more like a cave.
You definitely need some kind of reflecting surface behind the fire, the taller the better for smoke and wind management.
Fresh ash burns as advertised, but for radiational heat, standing dead softwood is the way to go.
Balancing a pot on two logs with the fire between them is not as easy as it sounds, at least for me.

If you have any other ideas on what I did wrong, please don't hesitate to comment.

Update: I got some good sugestions at Canadian Canoe Routes. Check it out here.

What I Did Over Summer Vacation

2008-08-30T19:27:00.030-05:00

Well, its been a pretty good summer, a little weird for having a new baby move in right in the middle of it, but with the spirit of "divide and conquer", we have been able to do some fun things, but usually not all eight of us at the same time.

For me, some of the funnest times this summer have been spent on Don's sweet boat. I was telling Bishop Hayes about it, and he pointed out that I have spent more time on Don's boat than I would have spent on a boat I owned myself, and of course he's right. I don't have the time or money to put into fuel, maintenance, slip fees, insurance, etc., etc. Never the less, it is an awesome boat, and Don is great company. So, without further ado, here are some pictures and captions of the summer:

Here is a picture from one of my few canoe trips this year, back in May. The fishing has not been very good, compared to last year. I don't think I canoed at all in June or July.

As I alluded to above, one reason I haven't spent as much time in the canoe is because we've gone out on Don's boat. Here are some pictures from a trip in June:

Eleanor

Zach watching Fort Knox slide by, or as Eleanor prefers to think of it, a castle, or in the alternative, Egypt.

Later, after the Magnus was born, Don and I went mackerel fishing early one morning. There were mackerel everywhere, even some bigger fish churning up the surface, but we got skunked. It was a beautiful morning, never the less

Don running the boat down the Penobscot River.

We had an awful lot of this kind of weather this summer.

"As long as the fog doesn't catch us, we should be fine"

Don, getting bored with fishing, decides to check out his sweet craig's list inflatable dingy. It looks like it could use a little more air, eh?

For Bucksport Days, I took Zoe, Emily, Eleanor and Zach to the Parade.

Then the bounce house, but I didn't get a picture of that. Zach was a little intimidated at first, then he got used to it and he wouldn't leave.

Then the car show. This is Brother Joe Jensen's car. Its a REO Flying Cloud. He was the Bishop in one of the wards in Manhattan. I am pretty sure he was the Bishop in charge of the building when they converted the top floors into a Temple. That would keep you busy. He has a summer home on Alamoosook Lake, but when he finally got released as Bishop so he could enjoy it, his wonderful wife got sick. She passed away this spring. He has been here a lot this summer though, with lots of family. He is a great guy.

After the car show, we went home, ate, dropped off Squeezie and then Zach, Emily, Zoe and I went with Don and Terri and Molly on a trip around Verona Island. It was a beautiful trip on a beautiful afternoon.

Zach showing Don how to run a boat.

Zoe and Emily hanging out on the bow.

Here is a picture of Don's wife Terri and their daughter Molly. The boat is named the Miss Molly in her honor.

Here is an old farm on Verona Island.

Here is a picture of the new Penobsco t Narrows Bridge, with the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge behind it.

And the bridges from below

In August, Don, our friend Perry, and his two boys took the boat to Rockland for the boat show. As you can see, the weather was pretty typical. I spent a fair amount of the trip humming "three hour tour, a three hour tour."

Perry at the helm, while Don explains something important. You cannot shut off the engine unless the key is on. This may seem trivial, trust me though, its not.

Don in his typical mode. If Don doesn't get a brain tumor from talking on a cell phone, then nobody else will either. He is selflessly conducting an experiment on himself to prove once and for all, that there are no health risks posed by cellular telephones. Hopefully he is right about that.

This schooner was heading away from Rockland.

These schooners were heading into Rockland.

Saturday morning was clear and beautiful. This is a Buzzards Bay 30. My friend Robert Baird had done some of the bronze castings for these boats.

Here is a good picture of Don's boat. We woke up and Don cooked about 6 lbs of bacon, because that way he had plenty of bacon grease to deep fry the two dozen eggs we ate. Boy that was yummy, and you couldn't beat the atmosphere.

Here is some of the crew trying to move after eating.

Don at his home away from home, Hamilton Marine, trying on some rain gear.

Here is the galley on a boat similar in size to Don's boat. We took this picture for some ideas.

The ride back to Bucksport was beautiful. This is what Camden looks like from the ocean.

Before school started, we needed to have a campout at Camp Bravo.

Here is the set up, Zoe is tripping over a tent peg and falling towards the fire. Smooth!

The Crew. Zach, as usual, is heavily armed, but still smiling.

Emily, reading Charlotte's Web, the climactic scene of which takes place at the Blue Hill Fair, by the way.

Zach and Zoe enjoying the camp fire.

Classic Squeezie pose, classic Squeezie expression. I have decided that Eleanor feels no guilt, and can therefore not be persuaded by appeals to her better nature. She just doesn't give a crap. This is the same trait that makes her so accepting of everyone. I'm not sure its good or bad, its just Squeezie, and what you see is what you get, because she doesn't really care what you think of her, so she can't be bothered to pretend to be something she's not, unless that thing is a princess.

Bedtime. Zach kept falling asleep, sometimes with his eyes open.

Safely tucked in.

Here is another picture of Egypt. I took it Thursday. Don, two of his friends and I spent 8 hours fishing. Our combined catch was one mackerel. But again, good food, awesome weather, and wonderful company made for a delightful trip.

Today I took Zach and Zoe to the Blue Hill Fair. I love the Blue Hill Fair, or as Squeezie prefers to call it, the Blue Hair Fair.

"Zach, get close to the goat and I'll take your picture." Zach doesn't trust the goat though.

Notice the nervous fingers in the mouth as he dares to reach in to pet the goats.

Almost September, time to start getting ready for winter.

The Horse Pulling competition.

Zach and Zoe in the Army recruiter's HUMVEE.
Zoe, keeping it real.

Zach, checking out the hardware.

He was trying to talk the recruiter into sending him on an all expense paid trip half way around the world to a warm and exciting destination.

Zach has grown a lot lately. We checked him out on the growth charts this morning, and he is in the 25th-50th percentile. Here he shows he is taller than the tires on the sweet HUMVEE. He looks a little Chinese here.

We finished off our trip to the Blue Hair Fair with some Ox pulling. I love the ox pulling.

Well those are some of the highlights of the summer, there are many others: Zach falling out of the canoe head first, the birth of Magnus, the sweet Saab convertible, swimming at the Bucksport pool, Zions Camp at Flagstaff Lake and ice cream to name a few, but Joey has covered a lot of those, and I'm sleepy.

P.S. Utah beat Michigan 25-23 at Michigan.

Ten Things You Can Do to Make Your Next Canoe Trip More Exciting

2008-05-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

10. Suggest that it would be a good idea to attach hooks to the ankles of the smallest child, and tow him with a rope in hopes of catching a really big fish.

9. Issue cutlasses to the crew before departure, in case of pirate attack.

8. Always refer to the kids' hats as "combat headgear".

7. Identify any rapids you encounter as "x falls", where x= deadman, widowmaker, doomsday, etc.

6. If you run aground, propose to remain in place till freeze up, and then walk out over the ice.

5. Claim that any large birds you see are vultures. Comment about how seem to be following you for some reason.

4. Remember that any fish that gets away is a fresh water shark.

3. Constantly ask one of the kids if he or she is a really good swimmer.

2. About halfway into the trip start inquiring who was in charge of packing the tent. Mention that its going to be a cold night, what with no sleeping bags and all.

1. Tear out a blank end page from a bible, and divide the page into pieces equal to the number of your crew. Make a black spot on one. Fold the pieces up and place them in a hat, and have each of the crew draw out one piece of paper. Whoever gets the black spot is the Jonah, with the understanding that in case of trouble, the Jonah will be thrown overboard, albeit with much regret.

Hong Kong Bird Flu

2008-05-17T08:41:00.005-05:00

Joey has been excited to get the bird feeders up and running, but I fear all these birds have brought the H5N1 virus. Zach threw up on Eleanor's Birthday Thursday night. We were at the restaurant but I could tell he wasn't feeling good, so I took him outside so that if he threw up, he wouldn't wreck the evening for everyone else in the resturaunt. He perked up after a while, so we went back inside, but stopped off at the bathroom because I wanted him to try and go potty. As soon as we were in front of the toilet he threw up. Awesome! We went back outside after that, because I didn't want to stay in the bathroom, but I didn't trust him to know if he was going to throw up in time to make it to the toilet either.

Then yesterday afternoon, Squeezie started throwing up, then last night Zoe and Eleanor both threw up (once each in bed, and several times each in the toilet). It was a long night. Joey was going to go the the Stake women's conference, but decided to stay home and take care of the sick kids instead, because I am apparently not qualified.

Here what most of the family is up to this morning (its about 10:00 a.m.).

Its a pretty blah day.

Canoe-Copia

2008-04-20T17:16:00.024-05:00

Well after a short and wet trip last Saturday, and in view of a cold windy forecast for this Saturday, I took advantage of some unseasonably awesome weather on Thursday to play hooky from work and go canoeing. The weather was gorgeous, and thanks to cleaning out the car for FHE, I had found the parts to assemble one working fishing pole!

Zach and Eleanor were game for an outing, so we loaded up the canoe and headed out.

It is definitely more work paddling without Zoe to help out in the bow. When we got to the good fishing spot, I realized I had left the fishing pole in the back of the Yukon. Doh! I tried a little more commando fishing, with the same results as last Saturday.

Since the weather was so awesome we pushed on towards Hot Hole Pond. We had to go up and over one beaver dam, but with the canoe so lightly loaded, it proved to be no big deal. Just on the other side of that dam, as we were entering the lake, we saw some Canada Geese. One of the honked at us for a while, then flew off with his two pals. I took a picture of them, but you need a magnifying glass to see them,

or in the alternative, click on the picture and zoom way in.

Hot Hole Pond was more thawed than I had expected, but the center of the lake was covered with some rotten slushy ice. It was weird. Most of it was the consistency of a slurpy, you could pick up handfulls of it, and poke your paddle through it, but other parts would also fracture in big plates a couple of inches thick. Here is a picture of us aboard the ice breaker.

It was pretty slow going for a while.

We paddled to one of the inlets that has what I consider to be a beautiful waterfall. It looks like something you would see in a Japanese garden. It is always worth the trip. It even smells great from the splashing water. If you look closely you can see a big tree growing on the top of a huge rock in the upper right portion of picture. Thats determination.

By the time we headed back, Zach was sunburned and ready to fall asleep, but it was a fun trip.

When we got home Squeezie tried to convince Joey that we had run aground on a clay bank, and I had told her to get out and push. She went on to tell Joey that she had protested that if she got out and pushed, she would get all wet, and that I had replied "thats O.K., you'll dry out," What an imagination that girl has!

She also told the girls that we had seen pirates, that they all had one eye and one leg, and that we shot them. I like the fact that in her mind, the best approach to a threat is pure naked aggression.

Well, Zoe and Emily were bummed out that the had missed out on the pirate battle, so when Saturday rolled around sunny and warm instead of 50 degrees and cloudy with stiff winds, we went out again.

This was our first trip of the year with four kids, and I was a little worried about if we would fit or not. I need to teach Zoe to steer this year so that next year she and Emily can be in their own canoe.

The first thing we saw was a birch stump that the beavers had chewed off, and it was soaking wet. My first thought was that a beaver had been chewing on it and had dripped water all over it, but the more I looked at it, i decided it must be sap running up from the roots. I still don't know what the real reason was, but it certainly caught our attention. Well, mine any way.

I did remember the fishing pole this time, and fairly quickly caught a pickerel in my favorite hot spot. The first time he hit the lure was three feet from the side of the canoe, and he made a big enough splash to get water on Eleanor and Zach and scare the crap out of Zoe and Emily. On the next cast we caught him. As I got him up to the canoe, Zach was screeching about how he wanted to go home, and he was trying to climb under Zoe's canoe seat, and I was trying to get the camera out, and the girls are looking over the side for a better look, threatening to capsize us, and then the fish shook off the hook. No picture.

Well, we didn't get skunked, but another 45 minutes of trying every trick in the book yielded no further results. The girls wanted to go to their favorite camping spot on Hot Hole Pond, so we paddled on down. It is probably 2 or 3 miles total from the parking spot to the lake.

The extra weight in the boat made it much more of a proposition getting it up and over the beaver dam. Zoe had to get out and help drag it up and over. (I helped too.)

This trip there were no geese, but we did see a loon. Again, its hard to see without extreme magnification, but try clicking on the pictures if you want to see the loon.

All the ice that was on the lake Thursday was melted on Saturday, except for a narrow shelf of ice on the south shore.

This picture also shows a pretty typical outfit for spring canoing. My wool pants tucked into my 16" tall bean hunting boots, a wool shirt and a hat. Pretty old school, and except for the UT baseball cap, wouldn't look noticeably out of place on Hot Hole Pond in 1915. I have my share of Patagonia fleece and breathable waterproof membrane shells, but the more time I spend in the Maine woods, the more I like wool. Last year I canoed for 3 days in late July wearing some wool calvary twill pants. That was a revelation. Wool gets the rap of being hot. It doesn't have to be. Look for something in a lighter weight, like a pair of pants from a tropical wool suit. Wool has the reputation for being scratchy, but it doesn't have to be. The tightly woven fabrics, like calvary twill or gabardine are quite smooth. What wool does accomplish is absorbing a ton of water without feeling cold, or wet or clammy. Wool also breathes. These are two things that synthetics are fairly poor at. Wool also is much better dealing with sparks. Anyway, I am a wool fan, and if you haven't checked out wool lately, you should.

The kids climbed around Camp Alpha for a while to stretch their legs. I took a picture of them on the rock.

I also had the video running on Zach, just in case something took place worthy of america's funniest home video, but it was all pretty uneventful. He does look funny walking towards the crevasse.

Here is the return trip from the island.

After we left I tried fishing in the tail waters of the waterfall. I have seen a couple of dozen trout here in years past, but saw none this time, and had no bites. I grew up fishing for trout in Utah, but have no idea where or how to catch them in Maine. It is a mystery I hope to solve at some point.

We did see a beaver lumber out of the willows and plop into the lake, but it happened so quick that most of the kids only saw the splash, and I didn't come close to getting a picture. Another sweet blog momement missed.

On the way back we were able to canoe right over the beaver dam that had proved to be such an obstacle on the way up.

When we were almost back to the truck we came upon a mallard drake. They are much more tame when duck season is closed and they aren't constantly getting shot at. Eleanor wanted to touch it.

Even when we got close enough to make it fly, it would only go 30 or 40 yards and plop down again. We followed it all the way back to the truck.

Once we were home I had Emily take a video of me unloading the canoe. Here it is:

Probably not that helpful, but I like it anyway.

Well it was just about perfect. No real wind, not too cool, not too hot, sunny, no bugs! Zach, if you're reading this 20 years from now, I'm sorry you were born one step away from being an albino, and that you have skin cancer from all your sunburns, but we had fun, right?

First Canoe Trip of the Year!

2008-04-12T10:32:00.011-05:00

We were supposed to go last weekend, but I was hovering near death, and didn't get out of bed. Its too bad in a way, because last week it was sunny and dry, but a little cold.

Well today we woke up to rain, but in Maine it rains, but we are essentially waterproof, so after laying on a little guilt trip on the girls, and threatening them with Cinderella-grade drudgery if they stayed home, they decided to go canoeing instead.

It took a little time to get everything dug out of winter storage, loaded in the Yukon, unloaded from the truck, loaded into the canoe, but eventually we were off.

Eleanor could not be persuaded to go, but here is Zach, Emily and Zoe.

The river was HIGH. The highest I've ever seen. We canoed right over beaver dams that were 3 feet out of the water last fall.

I thought it was very pretty. I like the clouds and the water.

We saw dozens of ducks, but didn't get too close to any of them.

The hope was to go fishing, but I don't have any freshwater fishing rods that are in working order. I did try to fish with some line wrapped around an old plastic coke bottle, which has worked in the past, but by the time I got the bottle rigged up, the rain was coming down in sheets. The water was frothy from the rain. (click on the picture to capture the full drama of the moment, and see the flock of ducks flying in the distance.)

The kids huddled under the emergency blanket and ate beef jerky.

At the height of the rain, water was pouring off my hat, onto legs and running down and filling my boots.

After some futile attempts to catch a fish, we pulled anchor and started back. Of course about that time it stopped raining.

I took some video of Zoe paddling. She is very good. I was in the back of the canoe (not paddling) and she was paddling up a noticeable current, but making good progress none the less.

Anyway, it was a short trip but fun. Zach stayed totally dry, and everybody stayed fairly warm. Not bad for the first trip of the season.

How to make pancakes without a mix:

2008-03-30T17:51:00.003-05:00

We were wondering what to eat for dinner tonight, so I found a recipe for pancakes, and after changing some stuff around to match what we had in the house, this is what we came up with:

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 7 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoon salt
* 4 tablespoons white sugar
* 2 1/2 cups milk
* 1 egg
* 6 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons of vanilla

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and oil; mix until smooth adding warm water till its the right consistency.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

They turned out reasonably well, and weren't too hard to make. The kids seem to prefer them to regular Krust-Eze mix. That name cracks me up.

Saturdoom

2008-03-29T20:32:00.003-05:00

This has been kind of a discouraging day. I was planning on watching the kids today while Joey attended a day long cub scout training in Belfast. I know she didn't really want to go, but felt like someone in the Primary should learn about cubs, and it seemed unlikely that the Primary President would be going, so that left Joey. This morning she got up on time, but said that her stomach was upset. She tried eating some breakfast, that didn't work out too well so she took a shower, which didn't seem to help either, so she went back to bed and pretty much stayed there till about 6:00 pm. I don't think she ate anything at all today.

I have learned that the kids do well if you have a plan. If there is no plan, they just snack and fight and make messes all day long, so this morning, after everyone had eaten and gotten dressed, we set up a schedule as follows:

8:00-8:45 Dishes * Zoe and Emily
8:45-9:00 Clean the House * Everbody
9:00-11:00 Free Time * Kids
9:00-11:00 Dump Trip * Dad
11:00-11:30 Clean the House * Everyone
11:30-12:15 Lunch * Everyone
12:15-1:00 Free Time * Everyone
1:00-2:00 Make Choc. Chip Cookies * Everyone
2:00-2:30 Clean up * Everyone
2:30-3:00 Computer time * Zachary
3:00-3:30 Computer time * Emily
3:30-4:30 Make corn bread for dinner * Emily and Dad
3:30-4:00 Computer time * Eleanor
4:00-4:30 Computer time * Zoe
4:30-5:00 Dinner * Everyone
5:00-5:10 Bath * Kate
5:10-5:20 Bath * Zachary
5:20-5:30 Bath * Eleanor
5:00-5:30 Clean Kitchen Floor * Zoe and Emily
5:30-5:40 Bath * Emily
5:40-5:50 Bath * Zoe
5:50-6:00 Scriptures & Prayer * Everybody
6:00-7:30 Movie * Everybody

Wow. We have a lot of kids. By and large the kids stuck with the schedule. The cookies turned out good. The cornbread was tollerated by about everybody except Eleanor (thank goodness). Everybody got half a cookie for desert.

Joey came out to watch the Movie. It is Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. It was fine, much better than the previews would lead you to believe, but that is not saying much I guess.

Of course the kids were excited to see Joey. She has been gone Tuesday to Parent Teacher Conference, Wednesday to Stake Leadership Training, Thursday to Parent Teacher Conference, and Friday to Relief Society.

After the kids and Joey went to sleep Eleanor woke up crying, so I went in to see what was going on. She was sitting up on her bed looking around.

"Squeezie," I said, "what's the matter?"

"I am throwing up all over everything!" she replied, sounding puzzled.

Sure enough, she was throwing up all over everything. She mostly got Zach's camo fleece blanket, doused his pillow, and hit the floor. Her mattress only suffered a few minor insults, and remarkably, either her blankets were unscathed or its just too dark to notice. Her hair was drenched in vomit, so into the bath she went, even though that was not on the schedule, and the bedding went into the laundry, except for Zach's pillow, which I washed in the kitchen sink, and then tossed in the dryer.

While I have been typing this the unbalanced load alarm has gone off 4 times, and Squeezie has thrown up once (in the toilet, Hurray!) and she woke up again, but didn't throw up. I am glad she didn't eat much dinner.

I remember one year working at Windridge we had a little outbreak of everybody puking all over everything. I was in a cabin with Steve Dreher and we had the 10 year old kids, probably 10 or 12 of them. Thats when I overcame my sympathetic vomiting reflex. Well, its 11:05 and Eleanor just threw up again. I don't suppose any of us will be in church tomorrow at this rate.

Boat Fever!

2008-03-14T18:22:00.011-05:00

I think perhaps the reason Zoe threw up last night was because she suffers from Boat Fever.

Boat Fever has been going around a lot lately.

I went with some friends to the Maine Boatbuilder's Show in Portland today. It was, as usual, awesome.

If a penny saved is a penny earned, I could have earned about $13,000 today by buying this boat, since it was on sale at $130,000, down from $143,000.

Here is an iteresting boat. It is a Coquina designed by a famous (maybe the most famous) boat designer named Nathaniel Herreshoff in 1890. Nat Herreshoff is to boats as John M. Browning is to guns.

I wondered, when I saw it, if it that this is the same boat I saw at Benjamin River in the late summer of 2004. We were visiting Robert and Jodee Baird and went for a ride on the water. Bob showed us the boat that Wooden Boat was photographing for an upcoming issue. So, imagine my surprise when today I get done looking at this boat and then turn around and see Robert Baird walk in the door. I live two hours away from the boat show, he lives 2000 miles away from the boat show, and yet we bump into each other in a crowd of a several thousand during the course of a 3 day event. Weird.

Here is another Herreshoff design called a Herreshoff 12 1/2. On my first ever trip to Maine, I got to sail in a Herreshoff 12 1/2 called the Chick-a-Dee in Pulpit Harbor on North Haven Island.

We ate at Norm's, then on the way home stopped to look at a boat my friend Perry is interested in. It is a 31' Ronald Rich wooden motor boat. Boat Fever Strikes Again!

We'll see if he winds up buying it. The seller and the potential buyer are far apart on the price, but when boat fever hits, sometimes that doesn't matter.

Science versus Science Fiction

2008-03-13T20:32:00.007-05:00

Here is a picture of Pluto taken by NASA:

LAME!

Here is the surface of a model of Pluto produced by Zoe:

Clearly Zoe kicks NASA's butt.

Obstacle of the Day?

2008-03-03T07:44:00.006-05:00

Well, the day is still young . . .

In my continuing effort to disappoint as many people as possible, as often as possible, this morning instead of being in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, for the sentencing of my client, I am instead here at home.

As I pulled out of the driveway after the bus this morning I heard an awful clunking and pulled over in the next driveway, suspecting a flat tire. It turned out to be a little more drastic than that.

I backed out of that driveway, and tried to drive up the hill, but it wouldn't go, so I put it into 4 wheel drive, and it still wouldn't go because the transfer case wouldn't lock in, so I let it roll back down the hill a little, and then the 4WD locked in and I was able to drive it back home.

Looking at the snow, I can see that the tire was flat before I ever left this morning, and when I turned the corner at the end of the driveway, I pulled the tire off the rim.

You can see (maybe) that the flat tire leaves ripples, or little hills. Here are two tracks, one is from driving the Yukon onto the flatbed, the other is from earlier this morning on the way to work.

The good news is that Scott, my tow truck operator (are you on a first name basis with your tow truck operator?) came over, so I am counting that as a home teaching visit for March.

Meanwhile, my client's wife is driving down from Canada only to find that the case has been continued to later in the week. You can't disappoint people much worse than that!

Same song as the Surf Boat, but on wheels . . .

2008-02-23T13:15:00.003-05:00

Maybe someone should make a video of dusting the living room with this song. Perhaps it would look just as exciting.

Not quite surf boats, but pretty cool

2008-02-21T09:47:00.002-05:00

Kamaz Trucks:

I'm still a fan of the Tatra Trucks though.

You can buy a Tatra at Vermont Unimog. They would make a nice base for an ANFO mixing truck.

Mitt Romney pulls almost 20% in Washington State

2008-02-20T12:39:00.002-05:00

The bad news is that he got beat by Huckabee. Of course Romney dropped out a couple of weeks ago, and Huckabee is still in it, but it bugs me anyway.

Washington State Primary Results

Zach's favorite video

2008-02-18T11:26:00.002-05:00

When I was watching the kids on Saturday, we found this video. Zach kept demanding I replay it. I like the music, and it's nice to see sunshine on a day like today, plus I want to see if I can post a video.

One for the Engineers:

2008-02-15T10:39:00.001-05:00

A group of managers were given the assignment to measure the height of a flagpole. So they go out to the flagpole with ladders and tape measures, and they're falling off the ladders, dropping the tape measures--the whole thing is just a mess. An engineer comes along and sees what they're trying to do, walks over, pulls the flagpole out of the ground, lays it flat, measures it from end to end, gives the measurement to one of the managers and walks away.

After the engineer has gone, one manager turns to another and laughs. "Isn't that just like an engineer? We're looking for the height and he gives us the length."

Courtesy of Jester 4.0

Happy Birthday Baby Kate!

2008-02-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, its been a while since I posted, but Happy Birthday Baby Kate!

We had a great time. Last night was actually her Birthday, but I was gone so I prevailed upon Joey to postpone for one day so I could be here. I am glad we did. It was very fun. Kate's Grammie brought over cake and sandwtches,and presents etc. and we had a great time. My mom sent some fun presents, including shoes that squeak when you walk in them.

Wacky Internet Stuff.

2007-07-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

So...

I was at opensecrets.org and ran a bunch of searches to see who gave how much to Mitt Romney in the 1st quarter. It only lists people who gave $200 or more. One of the searches I ran was to see who, in zip code 84014, gave to Mitt. What do I see? Sharlene Hawkes gave $300.00, and listed her employer as Story Rock. I seem to remember that name . . .

I next google Sharlene Hawkes Storyrock and see a link for linkedin, click on that, see a business listing with a link to my company, click on that, see a link to about us and then our management team, click and there she is, Sharlene Hawkes, Miss America 1985, former ESPN sportscaster, and the chick my roommate Gavin Washburn went on a date with in about 1987 back at Utah State, home of the mighty Aggies.

I don't remember that much about it really. I know Sharlene Wells was speaking at some convocation, and Gavin said we should go and maybe he would ask her on a date, seeing as she was Miss America and stuff, even though as a BYU grad she was a little bit beneath us, and a little to old. He tried to talk me into asking her out, but it seemed a little far fetched to me, not to mention if I had asked her out and she had accepted, then what? no money, no car, no confidence.

I do remember getting there and the place was pretty full, and I don't know if there was some delay or something, but I remember we got up to the podium and said some retarded things, maybe like "Paging Mr. Minh, Mr. H.C. Minh, please return to lingerie" or things like that. Some people laughed at us most ignored us, but we thought it was funny.

Finally she got there gave her speech, and then left. Gavin said he was going back stage, but I had no faith in his crazy scheme so I left, probably for home. He went back stage, met her, asked her on a date and she accepted, and a couple of days later they played tennis together. Now I find she claims Centerville as her home.

The internet is wacky. What did people do without it.

Please write to Orrin Hatch and John Ensign of Nevada

2007-06-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

If it bothers you that, soon, illegal aliens will be getting social security, medicare, and unemployment benefits, then take a moment and please write to your senator.

If you want to understand the issue better, I would recommend NRO and Steve Sailer. Here is a key graph from Steve's new column, though its worth reading the whole thing:

For instance, it’s of some relevance to crafting immigration policy to know that 5 billion people live in countries with lower average per capita GDPs than Mexico. About a fifth of the 135 million people in the world of Mexican descent now reside in America, and another 40 million Mexicans tell pollsters they’d like to immigrate here.

Sailer posted an email from a reader:

According to Krikorian and Kaus, these are the 12 Senators on the fence (there may be more). Perhaps you could post this list with the following directions. It took me all of 10 minutes to do this.

1) open up each link in a new tab in Firefox
2) prepare a message in a text editor, such as the following:

"Dear Senator,

Please vote AGAINST cloture on the upcoming immigration bill. It is a disaster and would be ruinous for this country if passed. Thank you.

Sincerely,

XXX

[Signature with affiliations, etc. may also be useful to include]"

3) paste it into each text field, update the contact info, and hit send. It's ok if you're out of state, the Senate in particular is a national organ.

-------------

Bond (R-Mo.)
http://bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm

Bingaman (D-N.M.)
senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov

Burr (R-N.C.)
http://burr.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

Boxer (D-Calif.)
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm

Cochran (R-Miss.)
http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm

Conrad (D-N.D.)
http://conrad.senate.gov/webform.html

Ensign (R-Nev.)
http://ensign.senate.gov/forms/email_form.cfm

Levin (D-Mich.)
http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Gregg (R-N.H.)
http://gregg.senate.gov/sitepages/contact.cfm

Nelson (D-Neb.)
http://bennelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Hatch (R-Utah)
http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Offices.Contact

Webb (D-Va.).
http://webb.senate.gov/contact/

I decided to do my part, though some of the links did not work for me. Here is my email I sent:

First of all, in the subject I had to select immigration, rather than AMNESTY. I am heartily in favor of increased immigration, provided that it is legal immigration.

I am opposed to amnesty for those who have violated our laws, snuck into the country, and show up in our emergency rooms without insurance, drive without licenses, and drive down our wages.

A vote for cloture is a vote for amnesty, and amnesty will further burden our country with people who, according to the heritage foundation, cost $3 for every dollar they contribute.

Please vote against cloture.

I know some of you guys are in Nevada and Utah, It would be important between now and Tuesday to call or write your senators.

Just tell them to keep it real, or better yet, NO WAY, Jose!

Thats what I call art.

2007-06-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

The guy, the girl and the Paddle are real, the raft, the waterfall and the aligator are painted on a flat plaza.

In this one, the guy is standing on a plaza, not a diving board.

Read more about it here and here.

From a different perspective:

Look how little the gator head is, not much bigger than the rattle can next to it.

OK, its been a while.

2007-06-19T17:46:00.000-05:00

Since my last post I have become unemployed. You would think, (probably from watching Sanford and Son) that as an unemployed person I would have plenty of time on my hands to be loafing around, railing against "THE MAN" and fomenting revolution. You would be wrong. The Revolution will not be televised.

Anyway, to make up for it, here's a little election analysis from a guy who I think used to drive Mitt around back in Boston, now blogs with Hugh Hewitt.

And for Joey, a video about how family councils are supposed to look. You have to wait to the end of the video, but I really thought the video was worth watching. I kind of agreed with Tagg's comments at the end. His Dad has been lucky, and sometimes I wonder if there is more to it than that.

You may wonder what it is like to be famous.

2007-05-13T20:20:00.000-05:00

Let me tell you, its not all fun and games. The groupies can be tedious, to say the least. When people ask me if I happened to read the paper, I used to say "I only read the paper when I'm in it." Now I don't even read the paper when I'm in it. This past week I was in the Bangor Daily News not once but twice, and my face is plastered all over the phone book, inside and out.

(This is pretty handy if you are trying to cash a check and you don't have I.D.)

I've been quoted on Oxycontin abuse in the Boston Globe and the L.A. times, but until today, I never really felt famous. You know, like Paris Hilton famous.

What changed? Check it out. Do you know what this means? K-Lo reads EFM. Hugh Hewitt reads EFM. It would not surprise me if Willard Mitt Romney his own self occasionally checks out EFM. All I can say is I would make a freakin' awesome U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine. This is the best Mother's Day I could have hoped for. I'm going to go lay down now.

We'll see . . .

2007-05-12T19:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome EFM readers, be sure to check out the follow-up to this post.

DaveG at www.race42008.com says Romney can't possibly win.

Poll Alert: McCain Ahead in South Carolina; Romney Falls Behind Two Non-Candidates

So says the latest poll out of South Carolina:

GOP Primary

John McCain: 25%
Rudy Giuliani: 20%
Fred Thompson: 16%
Newt Gingrich: 12%
Mitt Romney: 8%

Other findings of note: in a head-to-head matchup, McCain beats Rudy by a single point, while the Arizona senator defeats Thompson by 14 points. Polls like this, along with Rudy’s flirtation with the idea of abandoning the early states, make me wonder whether or not Team McCain has already taken the first few primaries off the table for the other candidates. If McCain wins the trio of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, he will be a very difficult juggernaut to stop. And at that point, it will be a McCain/Rudy race due to the supposed Giuliani “firewall” on February 5th, with Republicans from lots of Rudy-friendly states coming to the polls. At this point, I’d have to say that Rudy and McCain are far more likely than anyone else in the field to get the nod. That includes Fred Thompson, who I once had high hopes for. Both Fred and Newt are mistaken if they think they can stay out of this thing until the fall and experience some sort of overnight groundswell of support. GOP presidential campaigns don’t work that way. Though it should be noted that the two non-candidates still trounce Mitt Romney, despite the former Bay State governor’s own efforts in South Carolina. Well, Romney can always be Secretary of Commerce or something.
by DaveG @ 6:34 pm. Filed under Poll Watch

I am saving this because I think he's wrong. He would think I am wrong if he knew of my existence. I am basing my opinion on the fact that I first saw Mitt Romney in October of 1994, when I stayed in my hotel room at the prosecutor's conference in Bar Harbor so I could watch a debate between Teddy Kennedy and some guy with a weird name who supposedly had been a bishop or something. I've watched him make the impossible look easy. Am I the only person who remembers him beating Shannon O'Brien? Check out this story from the January 31, 2002 Boston Phoenix:

HERE’S AN IMPROBABLE news story that would get the mouths of Republican stalwarts watering.

MARCH 1, 2002, SALT LAKE CITY — Fresh on the heels of a triumphant Winter Olympics, Republican multimillionaire Mitt Romney declared yesterday his candidacy for the governorship of Massachusetts.

Right now, the idea that Romney would get back into Massachusetts politics this year is still fanciful. Romney, who ran against Senator Ted Kennedy in 1994 (and gave Massachusetts’s senior senator perhaps the toughest fight of his career), is fully engaged in his role as president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics. And while Romney would likely commit millions of his own dollars to a gubernatorial run, he would start at a serious financial disadvantage compared to his opponents. The Democrat who has raised the most money so far, Senate president Tom Birmingham, has a war chest of $2.9 million. Governor Jane Swift herself has raised $1.7 million. Besides, the pragmatic Romney would be unlikely to break Republican Party discipline and challenge Swift.

If you want to know about Mitt and his ability to succeed where others fail, read the whole thing.

The story hints that he has the money, the looks, and the organization to make a run, but points out that it is a long shot. It was, of course, a long shot. He won anyway. Will he win again? I don't know, but what I do know is that only a fool would count him out at this point.

Greetings from Camp Bravo!

2007-05-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

I know that probably a lot of people who might be interested in what I have to say would be the same kind of people who have trouble reading, yet I haven't posted any pictures lately. Well, thats about to change.

Two weeks ago in an effort to get out of the house I took 80% of our children to an undisclosed location less than a day's walk away, and we began to set up a secure area to ride out TEOTWAWKI, you know, just in case. The location is completely invisible to multi spectral radar and satellite surveillance, thanks to the triple canopy jungle. My goal over the summer is to set up a base from which to launch black ops against "THE MAN". To that end we will be stocking food, NBC gear, and of course, lots and lots of ammo.

Here's some pictures of our adventures on the first trip.

Boomer, armed with the M-6, on sentry duty:

The proto-mess hall. The horizontal bar was from an old lean to I had set up in the past. Yes, Sqeezie is wearing a dress. Yes, it is pink.

There was a lot of branches on the ground, and a couple of inches of pine needles to rake up.

Here's what is looks like a week later:

Here is the mess hall after being cleaned up:

Here is the kitchen:

And the kids setting up the tent. They needed some help, but are getting the hang of it:

My dad had an extra tent. I have also inherited the gene that makes it nearly impossible to buy just one of anything. My heart tells me that if it worth buying, I might as well get a bunch. Dad saw a deal on tents, and bought two, even though he probably didn't even need one. He sent it out last fall, and so this was our first chance to learn how to set it up. Pretty Sweet!

Here's the view inside. Its plenty big for us five, and seems like it would hold the whole family.

Anyway, another fun day at Camp Bravo.

A vote for Mitt is a vote for Satan

2007-05-12T12:43:00.000-05:00

I don't think Mitt can count on this guy in the primaries. Maybe the general election, but even that is not a sure bet.

If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for satan! This message today is not about Mitt Romney. Romney is an unashamed and proud member of the Mormon cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith nearly 200 years ago. The teachings of the Mormon cult are doctrinally and theologically in complete opposition to the Absolute Truth of God's Word. There is no common ground. If Mormonism is true, then the Christian faith is a complete lie. There has never been any question from the moment Smith's cult began that it was a work of satan and those who follow their false teachings will die and spend eternity in hell.

He's not alone. People in South Carolina, an important early primary state, are receiving helpful pamphlets explaining that Mormons are evil, and really no different from Muslims because both religions espouse war or something. Yeah, and its a hoax and stuff.

McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform has some effect on all this. The law seeks to limit candidates ability to respond to attacks like this as the election gets closer. I happen to believe that way to counter hate speech is with more speech, not trying to shut everybody up. John McCain feels differently.

RUDY GIULIANI PUSHES OXYCONTIN ON LITTLE KIDS!

2007-05-11T12:09:00.000-05:00

Game over for Rudy? First of all he thinks all people everywhere should have abortions all the time, and now its revealed that he personally lied about Oxycontin, telling doctors it is no more addictive than carrots, when in fact it's deadly poison.

O.K., some of this post may be a slight exageration. Slight.

What now?

2007-05-10T19:38:00.000-05:00

Also: Be sure to watch 60 Minutes on Mother's Day. That is, if you watch T.V. on the Sabbath, which we don't. So, be sure to Tivo 60 Minutes on Sunday, that is, if you have Tivo, which we don't. So, plan on checking out YouTube on Monday.

Romney takes lead in Michigan.

2007-05-09T13:11:00.000-05:00

New poll out in Michigan. Wow. Romney leads with 36% of likely voters, McCain within the margin of error at 31%, and Giuliani at 9%. Polls mean next to nothing this early, but how is it possible that someone as well known at Rudy Giuliani gets 9%? I expected that Romney would do well in his native state, the place where his father was a popular governor (he announced his candidacy there too) but this is pretty astounding.

The Destruction of the Earth.

2007-05-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

I have recently posted a new feature on my blog. It is a little button that shows whether or not the earth has been destroyed. It is a service of the International Earth-Destruction Advisory Board. I find it very helpful, especially with Al Gore in the news so much recently. In the event the earth is destroyed, you'll be able to tell that because the little green thing will turn red.

How could the earth be destroyed? Check here.

I personally favor being sucked into a microscopic black hole.

You will need: a microscopic black hole.

Note that black holes are not eternal, they evaporate due to Hawking radiation. For your average black hole this takes an unimaginable amount of time, but for really small ones it could happen almost instantaneously, as evaporation time is dependent on mass. Therefore your microscopic black hole must have greater than a certain threshold mass, roughly equal to the mass of Mount Everest.

Creating a microscopic black hole is tricky, since one needs a reasonable amount of neutronium, but may possibly be achievable by jamming large numbers of atomic nuclei together until they stick. This is left as an exercise to the reader.

Method: simply place your black hole on the surface of the Earth and wait. Black holes are of such high density that they pass through ordinary matter like a stone through the air. The black hole will plummet through the ground, eating its way to the centre of the Earth and all the way through to the other side: then, it'll oscillate back, over and over like a matter-absorbing pendulum. Eventually it will come to rest at the core, having absorbed enough matter to slow it down. Then you just need to wait, while it sits and consumes matter until the whole Earth is gone.

Earth's final resting place: a singularity with a radius of about nine millimetres, which will then proceed to happily orbit the Sun as normal.

Feasibility rating: 3/10. Highly, highly unlikely. But not impossible.

Really fun and informative.

Romney continues to carry out his plan.

2007-05-08T08:11:00.000-05:00

On the heels of his debate performance, Mitt is starting to move up in the polls in the early states. His plan has been to: 1. Raise money, not that he needs it, because he could and would spend $100,000,000 of his own money. Rather because its a way to gain attention. 2. Establish an organization. McCain has been working on his organization since 2000, but Romney's organization and endorsements are at least equal to McCain's and Superior to everyone else. 3. Be in the game, as opposed to Mike Huckabee, or Duncan Hunter who have no chance of winning the nomination. Obviously he did this when he won the governor's race in Mass. Leno shows he is still in it. 4. Win or place 2nd in Iowa. To do this he needs a huge organization (see 2 above) and shake a lot of hands, and have a message that resonates. 5. Win or place 2nd in New Hampshire, which by law will always be the first primary in the nation. New Hampshire's secretary of state selects whatever day he wants, as long as it is a week before anybody else's primary. A recent poll shows him leading in New Hamshire.

If Romney pulls this off, he will be as well known as Giuliani or McCain, and he will seem invincible because of his money and his organization and his momentum. The week following the N.H. primary will determine who gets the nomination. Running in all those primaries will require organization, and momentum, and I think Romney may have both.

More on the New Hampshire Poll

MoMittum

2007-05-04T08:58:00.000-05:00

Check out:

Video of his appearance with Jay Lenno.

Answers to lame Chris Matthews questions at the debate.

Reaction from talking heads.

A couple of months ago the people that follow presidential politics were talking about how McCain was invincible and noone could touch him. Then Giuliani got in, and suddenly was competing with McCain. McCain's support seemed to collapse. By the end of March, smart money was on Guiliani, and people were saying that McCain could never catch up, that he was over. Guiliani was invincible. Then Fred Thompson's name started coming up. After Giuliani's performance last night, he's being written off, and Fred Thompson will definitely get in, and despite having no money and no organization in place, he can be the republican nominee.

This is crazyness. The Iowa Caucus is months, (MONTHS!)away. Most people don't even know there was a debate last night. In the 2000 election, McCain didn't get serious about running until after the Iowa Caucus, and he was a realatively unknown senator from a small state in the desert southwest. He was certainly competive, for a Loser.

Romney has the money, the organization, the looks, and the vision. He will be around to the bitter end. People who write him off at this stage are engaging in wishful thinking.

Update:

From the Romney campaign, via Hugh Hewitt:

The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan: "If we view the proceedings in vulgar and reductive Who Won, Who Lost terms, and let's, Mitt Romney won…" (Peggy Noonan, "An Incomplete Field," The Wall Street Journal," 5/4/07)

· Noonan: "The statuesque Mr. Romney had a certain good-natured command, a presidential voice, and a surprising wiliness. He seemed happy to be there, and in the mysterious way that some people seem to dominate, he dominated." (Peggy Noonan, "An Incomplete Field," The Wall Street Journal," 5/4/07)

· Noonan: "He did some light-handed and audience-pleasing Clinton bashing, and was confident on stem-cell research." (Peggy Noonan, "An Incomplete Field," The Wall Street Journal," 5/4/07)

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "Former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) stood out with clear and crisp answers – showing flashes of humor and an ease with the important issues. He sounded authoritative when he talked about Iraq (not an easy task for a one-term governor of Massachusetts) and effectively cast himself – a Mormon – as part of the broad faith community in America." (Chris Cillizza, "Debate Wrap Up," The Washington Post's The Fix, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/, Posted 5/3/07)

Newsweek's Howard Fineman: "I think Mitt Romney came off looking presidential…" (MSNBC's "Post Debate Analysis," 5/3/07)

National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "Romney showed himself to be a smart, articulate, optimistic, serious leader. If it was a first impression for anyone watching, as I imagine it might have been for anyone flipping away from The Office for a few minutes, it was a good start." (National Review Website, www.nationalreview.com, Accessed 5/4/07)

Mullings' Rich Galen: "Overall I thought Romney did the best. He had command of his positions and articulated them well." (Mullings Website, www.mullings.com/, Accessed 5/4/07)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: "Governor Romney was very good in talking about health care, where he knows a great deal." (Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes," 5/3/07)

New York Daily News' Michael Goodwin: "Romney was very good at turning every answer into a statement of lofty, conservative principle. He spoke of family and marriage and faith and turned a question about 'what don't you like about America?' into a poetic ode to our nation. He came across as sharp and jaunty." (Michael Goodwin, "Giuliani Is Not-So-Artful Dodger," New York Daily News, 5/4/07)

The Politico's Roger Simon: "It would be terribly irresponsible to pick a winner of Thursday night's Republican debate. So I will. I think Mitt Romney won." (Roger Simon, "Call Me Irresponsible: I Say Romney Won," The Politico, 5/3/07)

· Simon: "…Mitt Romney achieved almost everything he wanted to achieve. He looked and sounded presidential. He hit his talking points. And voters who knew nothing about him before the debate except that he was a Mormon, came away knowing a lot more." (Roger Simon, "Call Me Irresponsible: I Say Romney Won," The Politico, 5/3/07)

· Simon: "Romney was a man with a plan. He knew what points he wanted to make and he made them." (Roger Simon, "Call Me Irresponsible: I Say Romney Won," The Politico, 5/3/07)

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer: "I thought Mitt Romney came off as looking very presidential." (MSNBC's "Tucker Carlson Live," 5/4/07)

The Politico's Michael Cornfield And Alan Kelly: "Best playmaker: Mitt Romney. A fluid pace in a frenetic setting. Executive-in-charge. Avoided 'his' religion but talked about faith." (Michael Cornfield and Alan Kelly, "GOP Playmaker's Wrap-up – Our Best And Worst Awards," The Politico, 5/3/07)

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "I'll tell you what, it looked like Mitt Romney really had a strong introduction to the Republican Party tonight." (MSNBC's "Post Debate Analysis," 5/3/07)

· Scarborough: "I'll tell you what, I got a lot of e-mails throughout this debate from Republicans, conservative Republicans across the country, they were telling me they thought Mitt Romney was the clear winner and I got to tell you Keith, that's the view from a lot of people inside of here right now." (MSNBC's "Post Debate Analysis," 5/3/07)

· Scarborough: "And this really looked like his format. … Some people like Ronald Reagan pop at these type of debate settings. It looked like Mitt Romney pops in these type of settings." (MSNBC's "Post-Debate Analysis," 5/3/07)

· Scarborough: "You're going to find out over the next couple of days that Mitt Romney is the guy that exceeded expectations, and John McCain was a guy that didn't quite meet expectations. A lot of the Republican base may start moving to Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani just was a little more flat that people expected, didn't show the type of leadership that people expected him tonight. Of course this is just a debate but certain people pop in the debate, certain people don't. Tonight it was Mitt Romney who seemed to break out of the pack." (MSNBC's "Post-Debate Analysis," 3/3/07)

National Review's Jim Geraghty: "Romney had some strong answers, good humor. I'd be surprised if he didn't help himself tonight. Maybe the audience will see what attracted his fans. Clearly, this was a format he seemed at home in." (Jim Geraghty, "Jim's Summary and Wrap-Up," The Hillary Spot On National Review Online, www.nationalreview.com, Posted 5/3/07)

National Journal's Marc Ambinder: "Mitt Romney is great with first impressions… He certainly seemed presidential. He flubbed no question. His knowledge was evident." (Marc Ambinder, "The Debate: Post-Spin Analysis," National Journal's On Call, http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/05/the_debate_post.html, Posted 5/4/07)

The Politico's Jonathan Martin: "Mitt Romney's aides and advisers were buoyant after the forum. And for some good reason. The former Massachusetts governor, ever handsome and articulate, was poised and smooth for most of the evening. For the thousands (millions?) watching at home who were getting their first taste of Mitt, they had to come away impressed." (Jonathan Martin, "My Take," The Politico, 5/3/07)

· Martin: "When even his opponents acknowledge that he performed well, you know Romney had a pretty good night." (Jonathan Martin, "My Take," The Politico, 5/3/07)

New York Sun's Ryan Sager: "If anyone stood out from the other candidates, in terms of looking polished and poised, it was clearly Mr. Romney. He got off some of the best lines of the night… But any casual observer of the debate (were there any non-junkies watching?) would probably have to view him as head-and-shoulders above the others." (Ryan Sager, "Who Won? Who Lost?" New York Sun Politics Blog, www.nysunpolitics.com/blog/2007/05/who-won-who-lost.html, 5/3/07)

Dan Riehl: "Romney may be the guy who pulled it out tonight." (Dan Riehl, "McCain Can't Catch A Break," Riehl World View, www.riehlworldview.com/, Posted 5/3/07)

John Hinderaker: "If you didn't already know how good Romney is, you would be really impressed by his performance tonight." (John Hinderaker, "Liveblogging The GOP Debate," Power Line Forum, www.plnewsforum.com, Posted 5/3/07)

Columnist Kathleen Parker: "And the winner is: Mitt the Good, the Perfect, the Gosh-Darned Smartest of Them All. He was substantive, concise, and humorous, if somewhat over-educated for those who haven't yet read the Cliff Notes on altered nuclear stem cells. His answer on stem-cell research showed that he has delved deeply into the issue…" (National Review Website, www.nationalreview.com, Accessed 5/4/07)

Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey: "Who won? – Mitt Romney won this debate. He looked relaxed, answered clearly, showed real warmth and a sense of humor, and actually answered the questions asked of him – even the stupid ones, to which I'll return shortly." (Ed Morrissey, "Debate Analysis: Romney Wins," Captain's Quarters Blog, www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/009874.php, Posted 5/3/07)

Townhall's Dean Barnett: "Mitt Romney – Romney was clearly the class of the field. I know, I'm biased, blah, blah, blah. But if you saw the debate, believe your own eyes. Romney has a command of the facts and an effective delivery that must be the envy of the field. As America gets to know him in forums like this (not that I'm hoping there will be other forums precisely like this hideous one – perish that thought), the country will come to understand why Romney has generated such excitement among insiders and people who know him." (Dean Barnett, "A Quickie Debate Recap," Hugh Hewitt, hughhewitt.townhall.com , Posted 5/3/07)

CBN's David Brody: "The debate is over and I thought Mitt Romney really came across well. He was comfortable, funny and somewhat free wheeling." (CBN Website, www.cbn.com/CBNnews/151174.aspx, Accessed 5/4/07)

National Review's Mark Hemmingway: "It's obvious now that in the first major Republican presidential debate Mitt Romney put in a very strong performance." (Mark Hemingway, "Mitt Romney Can Do Whatever The Heck He Wants," National Review, 5/4/07)

The downside of a wood and canvas canoe.

2007-05-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

I have had canoe fever lately. The rivers are high and fast, the bugs aren't quite out yet, and the ice was off most local ponds by last week. Instead of going canoeing, we had a bunch of child-raising, home-teaching, and branch activity stuff going on. So instead I live vicariously through others who are getting out.

I did a google search for wood canvas canoes and found this guy's photo account of a trip he took in a beautiful wood and canvas canoe.

Here is the before picture:

Here is the after pictures:

It really shows the power of the water in even a small stream. I would not hesitate to run that stream in a wood and canvas canoe, and undoubtably the same thing would have happened. He just left the canoe, but according to Bill Mason in his book Song of the Paddle, the canoe may be salvagable enough to continue on the trip. In the old days they would have winched the canoe off the rock with a rope and some improvised pulleys, split some new gunnels out of a sapling with an axe, and screwed another sapling to the bottom to straighten that out, and paddled on the way. Not to mention the great conversation piece it would make hanging in your living room.

When I think about what kind of house I want to live in, I imagine it having a wrecked wood and canvas canoe hanging from the ceiling in the living room.

I can't say I blame the guy for being so devastated that he had to walk away. He wins in the end though, because he is building a new canoe.

I still want a wood and canvas canoe. Maybe I will restrict it to lake use only though.

In Praise of Lard

2007-03-13T21:22:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I bought some lard. In part because it was there, in part because of Rob Cockerham's pioneering work with lard, and in part because of the now famous 10 point austerity plan, which lacked lard in the original version. I was toying with making pemmican, Rutstrum style, to augment our diet of squirrel.

Lard is rendered pig fat, and back in the old days was perhaps nearly as common as flour and salt. I don't know if they had corn oil, or Crisco, but they did have pigs, and pigs have lard. Lard is still regarded as the best fat with which to make flaky pie crusts and fry donuts.

Before I tried making pemmican, I thought I would try Indian Fry Bread, which, thank goodness, is not called Native American Fry Bread. Yet.

First I got the lard melted and hot. Wait, let me back up. First I waited until Joey was out of the house for the evening. She and her Mom went to enrichment meeting. Then I melted the lard and got it hot while I mixed up the flour, water, salt and baking powder.

It was about this time when I congratulated myself on waiting for Joey to leave. For a while on my mission I was in San Antonio, Texas, in America, and we taught a family that lived near a dog food processing plant. The smell was something else. The lard does not smell like that. Have you ever smelled a wet dog? The lard didn't smell like that either. In some towns people bring law suits against pig farms because of the reek of pig manure. No one, to my knowledge, has ever sued lard for stinking. And yet, as I melted that pound of lard on the stove I was reminded of all these smells. They seemed to combine in a particularly hellish way, made more maddening because the odor was simultaneously faint, yet inescapable. It stuck to everything. I had started down the path to my very own episode of Steve, don't eat it!

I had no choice, I had to follow through. Strangely, the frybread looked good, and smelled good, without the wet-dog, rendering-plant, burning-hair, pig-crap smell that the lard had. I put on a little honey, and bit in to it. It tasted good. Really good. Granted, it sat in my stomach like a 16 pound shot, but it was filling.

When Joey got home, she walked in the door and I started counting: one one-thousand, two one-thousand, etc. 16 seconds later she stopped, sniffed loudly, and looked around with a startled look on her face. But this is what is so cool. She didn't say anything. She didn't mock me, or accuse me of boiling a rat, or anything like that. She just moved on, and about a half hour later casually asked me what I had been cooking, but in a totally pleasant way. She is awesome, and so was the frybread, despite the iron stench that clung to the condemned trailer for the next three days.

Our Gaby

2007-03-09T22:53:00.000-05:00

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Flashzach:

Tinkerzach:

Finally, Zach White:

This week has been weak.

2007-03-08T20:24:00.000-05:00

This week has been on the lame side. I have not been looking forward to it as it loomed on the horizon like a funnel cloud for the past few months. But when it arrived it became much more complicated.

I was looking towards a huge criminal trial list on Tuesday the 6th, with only very vague ideas of what my clients wanted me to try to accomplish, and I had a civil trial scheduled for today which perplexed me in that there seemed to be no dispute about the facts, and I was sure I was missing some critical piece of knowledge that would explain why we were rolling the dice on a trial rather than settling.

The new ads in the yellow pages seem to be generating a lot of calls, and that makes things hectic, and I picked up, somewhat by accident, a new federal client who is charged with a very serious crime and who speaks no English or Spanish. This added a half day with an interpreter on Wednesday and then I took a 50 minute trip to Dover to visit a client in jail, then back to Bangor to prep my client for the civil case, then came home to see if Joey needed a ride to Ellsworth for a church meeting since I had her car. (My truck has shed its mortal coil spring and so we are down to one vehicle). Then got to Ellsworth around 6:15 p.m.

I got done at church at about 10:00, back home by 11:00 and up at 4:00 to finish getting ready for the trial.

The trial went smooth. I still don't know why we bothered to do it.

A dear sister in our branch passed away earlier this week, so I have been trying to offer some assistance to the family in planning the funeral. That has taken some juggling, but Joey has been trooper and not complained about being a single mom, and my office has been very understanding about rescheduling things that weren't critical.

All this has been acompanied by -30 wind chill in a month I still think of as a "spring" month.

Tomorrow will be another busy day and night, and the funeral is set for Saturday. Sunday, my two counselors will be out of town and Monday I'm picking a jury in an Aggravated Trafficking Cocaine case, so not too much let up, though I am glad to have the civil trial behind me. Its always much easier being the defendant than the prosecutor or plaintiff too, because its perfectly acceptable to sit there with your client and criticize the other side's lack of planning or execution, seeing as they have the burden of proof and have to do all the heavy lifting.

If you are interested in a sweet 1994 Ford F-150 4WD pick-up truck with under 176,000 miles, please drop me a line. It has a current inspection sticker, and I can help you arrange shipping.

Peace, Out.

Zoe and Dentures

2007-02-13T15:54:00.000-05:00

I'm home early after picking Emily from after-school basketball practice. Usually Joey does this, but she is at the dentist's with Zoe who broke off her tooth today. The picture came out a little blurry.

If its not one thing, its another. She was playing tag at gym and one of the boys in her class pushed her down and she bounced her face off the floor.

Update: Here's the aftermath. Its glued back together and should last for a little while while the tooth keeps growing. Then they can see what needs to be done re: cap, crown etc.

Kate Mackenzie Erickson.

2007-02-06T18:31:00.000-05:00

Better late than never.

She is 8 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches long.

Born at 11:06 am, eastern standard time at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.

Joey dealt with things much better than I did. I was o.k. until the baby was born, but after that I had a headache and just wanted to sleep. Meanwhile, Joey was bubly and cheerful and inviting people over to visit. All I could think about was how nice it would be to lay down.

Joey is a trooper.

Baby Update.

2007-02-05T18:04:00.000-05:00

Joey is pulling the contraction stunt again. We'll see if she can stay awake this time.

Still. No. Baby.

2007-02-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

You realize that this means I have to go to work in the morning.

Joey is not keeping it real.

Baby Pictures

2007-02-04T07:12:00.000-05:00

I will post pictures of the baby when she is born. But that will be some time in the future because Joey dashed my hopes last night and went to bed instead of the hospital.

The wait continues.

Baby Update??

2007-02-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

So . . . I am sick of waiting for Joey to have the baby.

Tonight I made my delicious black bean and rice festival of deliciousness as follows:

Cook a cup and a half of white rice in the rice cooker.

Brown 1 lb. of extra hot Italian sausage in a large sauce pan with a diced onion.

After the sausage and onion are browned, add one or two cans of Goya black bean soup and a diced bell pepper. Simmer about 20 minutes.

Mix the soup with rice and let sit for about 15 minutes. Eat it with lots of salt.

Fabulous!

Joey usually won't eat my cooking, but I promised her that if she tried eating the black beans and rice that the baby would bail out in no time. She is willing to try anything, so she did partake of the savory beans and rice.

Lo and behold, about 20 minutes later the baby starts freaking out, and 45 minutes later I asked Joey if she was having any contractions yet. She said "I don't know", which is a big change from the last week, when the answer has always been "No". So she can't tell if they are real contractions, or false labor, which she had a bit last time she was pregnant.

Now she is sleeping, so who knows?

BABY UPDATE!

2007-02-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

Still no baby!

Baby Update:

2007-02-02T09:39:00.001-05:00

Still no baby.

Baby Update

2007-01-31T13:50:00.000-05:00

Update: No baby yet.

Joey went to the Dr. yesterday and he did another ultra-sound and a stress test. The ultrasound showed that there is a baby in there, beyond that, not too helpful.

This Christmas, in addition to flying my entire family out to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, my parents gave me some money. I spent most of it on wool pants, mukluks and snowshoes.

I bought some lampwick for bindings and tried out the snowshoes on Saturday, (after thawing pipes, fixing furnace going to the dump etc. The bindings are simple, field expedient and light. You can remove the snowshoes without untying the bindings, but it is not particulary quick or graceful, at least with the military mukluks, but with real mukluks it might be doable. That could be a nusiance, or it could be really helpful if you plunge through some thin ice and need to kick free in a hurry. I wasn't really able to put the snowshoes on without tugging them on with my hands. The snowshoes seemed to stay on fine, although you can move your foot about 45 degrees to the side before feeling any resistance from the showshoe. They are floppy in other words. When walking on the shoes, at least in sub-zero weather on less than 3" of snow, the shoes track perfectly and the bindings are very comfortable. I had no trouble with my foot moving to far forward, and there was no squeezing feeling around the foot or the ankle.

I like the set up. The mukluks are great, but I still would like to sew some traditional mukluks up some time. Before I take that on I need to finish my Duluth style pack.

New, 10 Point Austerity Plan.

2007-01-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was payday, and so when I got home I was a little surprised that after Joey had paid bills she still needed another $30.00 for something out of my gasoline/ammo/crack money. The trouble is that my gasoline/ammo/crack budget is about $90.00 each week, and my gasoline expenditures average about $70.00 and my credit card bill takes about another $35.00 per week. If I want to get my hair cut or something, that comes out of the $90.00 also. All in all, its rare for me to have any money for ammo, and unheard of for me to have money for crack.

That is about to change.

I am announcing the new Erickson family 10 point austerity plan:

1. From now on, except as provided for in paragraph 6, we only eat what we can kill.

2. Yukon: out. Yugo: in.

3. Medical experiments aren't just for research, they also pay money.

4. Our condemned trailer is surrounded by woods. Lets try burning some of them. With a little Yankee ingenuity and some duct work, I believe I can convert our electric stove to wood burning, and thats what's right for America. As an added bonus,it supports Global Warming. On a day like today, I think we all agree we could sure use a little global warming.

5. Cold showers, 'nuff said.

6. I am no longer turning up my nose at the idea of roadkill. When I moved to Maine 15 years ago and people told me about how they had scored some awesome deer that was hit by a car, I felt pity. Now, I feel envy. Just this month two families in our Branch have gotten moose that were struck by cars. As Napoleon said at Kips wedding, "Jel-ousss".

7. Ebay + healthy white baby = insane profits.

8. Henceforth: Birthday presents will consist of one or two unusual rocks; Christmas presents will be ordinary sticks with small brightly colored pieces of yarn tied to one end.

9. To save bandwith, we are dispensing with point 10.

10. See 9. supra.

2007-01-23T20:32:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of Joey. and the new, currently nameless baby, who I will call LaFawnduh for the time being.

LaFawnduh is quiet now, but soon she will be screaming at the top of her lungs.(By all means, you owe it to yourself to click on this photo to see it life size.)

This afternoon I went to the Bangor City Republican Comittee meeting at Husson College. I had never been to anything like that before, and it was a real eye opener. Setting aside Steve Sailer's theory of affordable family formation, which, if true, dooms the BCRC to ineffectual obscurity, I was very disheartened by the tone of the meeting.

When I think of Republicans, I think of conservatism. I read The Corner on NRO, I listen to Rush and Glenn Beck when I get the chance, in my office I have a picture of me shaking hands with John Ashcroft from when he was the Attorney General. Perhaps I learned today is why Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are how they are.

There was a gentleman at the meeting who referred to Susan Collins as a champion, and he was pinning his hopes in 2008 on the champion to electrify the republican voters and carry a bunch of the lower races along on her coat tails. I think the same person opined that somehow "we" needed to reach out to "social conservatives" and make them feel welcome.

I don't know this for a fact, but I got the distinct impression that most of the people in the room were in general agreement, but I didn't have much confidence that any of them relished the idea of rubbing elbows with those peculiar "social conservatives", and I have my suspicions that more than a few of them have NPR programed into their radio.

I have voted for Snowe and Collins every time they have run. I have never written in Mickey Mouse, or abstained, but I always think about. I don't view Susan Collins as a champion, I view her as a liberal, and I suppose I thought that if Republicans really knew how she voted on the important issues of the day, they wouldn't like it. I assumed that she was elected because she was the incumbent, and although seriously flawed, she was undoubtably better than whoever was running against her.

If the meeting I attended was any indication, the lesson Maine republican's learned from the 2006 election was apparently: let's be more like the Democrats. Let's be more moderate, let's distance ourselves from Bush, the Iraq war. Let's embrace wind power, forge a stronger alliance with Europe, and extend a helping hand to those willing to do jobs Americans won't do.

I am begining to understand why so many people in Maine are Democrats. If the Republicans are just beautiful people pretending to be democrat lite, why not vote for a genuine Democrat.

Genealogy Find of the Day

2007-01-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

Here is a copy of a death certificate that I found online at the Utah state archives. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

It seems to match Carl Erickson, my great-great-grandfather. You can find a familseach.org link here and then search for Carl Erickson. The question I have is that the names don't match too well on the parents. Familysearch had his dad's name as Erik Magnus Knutson, the death certificate has Eric Erickson as the dad. The archives site is pretty cool, but I had to look through the names one at a time because I seached for Carl, the archives have him as Karl. Anyway, worth a look if you have ancestors in Utah.

Paddle Primer: Hardwood v. Softwood

2007-01-20T08:50:00.000-05:00

When I learned how to canoe as a scout back in the 1970's, in Utah, a place not well known for traditional canoeing, all the paddles I saw were softwood paddles, often laminated. I think the reason for that may have been the same reasons you still see a lot of these paddles, namely they are light, often pretty, feel good in the hand, and can be had for a reasonable price.

Old Town offers a laminated basswood paddle on their website for $45.00.

With propper care, a laminated softwood paddle will be pleasant to use. In my experience the basswood paddles weigh next to nothing. The downside is that, although all wood paddles can be damaged by abuse more easily than a plastic paddle, the basswood paddles are fairly fragile.

Last year on the Stake canoe trip a couple of youth borrowed a basswood paddle that I had borrowed from one of the brothers in our branch. They had it for about 45 minutes, and by the time I got it back so much of the varnish had been scraped off that I had to buy a new paddle to return to the person I borrowed it from. When I say scraped off, I mean that that there were big long chipped scraped, and the varnish on these paddles is very thick because the wood is so soft that the varnish is the only thing protecting the paddle from dents. Chips in the varnish quickly stain black, and because of the thickness of the varnish (polyurethane?) it is no small matter to try to sand the paddle down and revarnish.

Now I prefer to use a paddle cut from a solid plank of ash, but people to whom I loan my paddle do not share my enthusiasm for them.

The reason people don't like my ash paddles is that they are much heavier. That can be a real consideration at the end of a long day. I think the reason I am willing to overlook the weight is that I bought one when my basswood paddle got banged up, and since it was new and pretty I used it, even though it was heavy. After a while I just got used to the weight, and tend to overlook that aspect. Now I focus on the beauty of the grain, the vastly superior strength and resilience of the paddle in comparison to a softwood paddle, and connection I feel to the old school paddlers when I use an old school paddle. I weigh about 260 pounds, but I can take an ash paddle and lay it across the gunnels like a thwart and sit on it. I would not dare that with a softwood paddle. Shaw and Tenney does not recomend softwood paddles for whitewater, and I can understand that, though in my limited whitewater experience I have never seen a softwood paddle break per se.

Shaw and Tenney offers some interesting paddles (more about shapes and lengths in future posts) in a variety of woods, and after visiting their shop in Orono, I am astounded at the quality. The trade-off is price, with a sassafrass beavertail paddle coming in around $100.00. The owner gave me a tour of the place, and showed me a bunch of paddles. My quick impression on the woods is that cherry is heavy and pretty (for furniture cherry is about my favorite wood, but seemed too dark on paddle), maple is heavier and actually more pretty to me because it is lighter in color, black walnut suprising light in weight, sassafras very light, reportedly very tough and springy, but a little ugly.

A great value, in my opinion, is Porter Woodworking in Millinocket. They make some great ash paddles, though not quite a perfect as Shaw and Tenney in workmanship, I like the patterns at Porter better than the paddles at Shaw and Tenney. If you dinged a paddle from Porter's its no big deal, if you dinged a paddle from S&T, you would feel like you damaged a piece of art or scratched a piece of fine furniture.

In Mitt Romney news, I see that Peter Cianchette is on board the Romney bandwagon. Cool.

Dynamite Road Trip

2007-01-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some sweet pictures from our nice roadtrip to Preston.

This is, of course Nappy's house. It is located outside of town on a dirt road.

My favorite scene here was Uncle Rico talking about how he would have taken State back in '82 if the coach would have just put him in. If only . . . he could be relaxin in his hot tub with his soul mate right now.

Pedro's house is even sweeter in real life than I imagined. My only disappointment was that there was no El Santo Nino de Atocha statue on the front steps.

Here is a picture of Emily and I contemplating Mitt Romney's run for the presidency in 2008 on the steps of PHS. Mitt has some sweet skills. Budget balancing skills, Olympic turnaround skills, traditional marriage skills, plus he's like the only kid in school with a mustache.