Just another day

  I live in a State that could be the laughing stock (is that one word or two?) of the country.  We don't do too much up here in the williwags to capture attention of that sort anyway.  But we have a Governor who is certainly trying.
  His latest effort, on be half of ALEC, is to say State Employees are corrupt and morally defective, he should know. 
  Are there any corrupt state officials or employees, maybe.  Are there any officials or employees that are morally defective, I'm sure there's at least one; a Legislator who was dating another Legislator until they broke up, is being investigated by the State Police for harassment and threatening.
  I am convinced that most, if not all, State Employees are honest, everyday people.  They go to work, do their job (quite well, actually) and go home to their families or friends and start again the next day.  As for the Legislator who is harassing the lady; he stated that he would use his military training to make her life miserable.  His military training must be much different than mine is all I can say, I couldn't get grain from a wheat field.
  Have a great weekend, if you're a State Employee I hope yours is extra special.

The day after

Looking ahead

  I must admit that my knees hurt yesterday, this morning they're okay.  In the photo above the trail is the kind of dark stripe in the middle.
  If you read this blog you know that I'm a walker, but walking for me is usually done on pavement like a sidewalk or parking area.  I also tend to walk, now in my 70's, on flat terrain.  All of that said the trails we were on yesterday were at least on "flat" terrain; level-NO.
  There must be a lesson here, you know like don't climb Mount Katahdin, something like that.

  On a different subject, I have a problem with the phrase "hand baked".  I am led to believe that the phrase means "home made" - which presents another problem.
  Finagle-a-bagel is a maker of bagels in the Boston area.  The company ads stress "hand baked", is a commercial bakery product "home made"?  Maybe and to be honest I don't know where this particular product is made, I suspect it's not in someones' home.
  Help me out here!

Hirundo Wildlife Refuge

Beginning of the trails we took - click

  Well yesterday I finally made it to Hirundo, I had a family friend Flo with me.  I was a little concerned that Flo at age 80 (shhh! don't tell her I said this) but she did fine.
  The trails aren't what I expected them to be - they are a whole lot more "rustic" or wild than I had expected.  As a result we worked our way through in about an hour and twenty for a mile and a half.
It was just beautiful, but wet, there must be one hundred varieties of moss in those woods.
  The road into the Refuge that we were on is dirt, a tad bumpy, and maybe a mile long with a good surface for this time of year.  The road is lined with bird houses and hundreds of swallows are said to make their summer home here, we didn't see many birds at all, a disappointment.
  At the end of the grass strip in the top photo (it's really an earthen dam) is where me, the intrepid explorer, made the mistake; I turned right instead of left which would have been an easier trail.
  The trail quickly turned in to tree roots, rocks and wet places in which pallets had been laid down, the further we went the rougher it got, or so it seemed.  We started on the Pond Trail which had yellow markings, the yellow ended so we turned right again and followed the White Pine Trail with gray markings and got back to the entrance road.
  I should have printed out the map and took it with me, I have a fairly poor sense of direction at times and this was one of those times.
  All in all we had an enjoyable walk, disappointed with the lack of birds, and were kind of happy to get out of the woods.
  I would recommend these trails to most people who can be prepared for uneven surfaces.

I should have followed Pushaw, but Pond looks nice at this point.

Even this turned out to be an easy part, very near the end.

Photos taken by this blogger, feel free to use them.

But I can explain!

A Piscataquis County, Maine Bog - click to enlarge

  That what I expected to see yesterday, well not exactly that but something like it.  That's what I told all of you in yesterdays blog.  Here's the story.
  I had quite a list of errands and a meeting to attend, so here is a brief list.
3:34AM  Leave home and walk in Bangor 2.25 miles before 5:00AM
5:00 - 6:00AM Coffee with my buddies - we had a good time
6:00 - 7:00AM Walking in Brewer, another 2.5 miles
7:15 - 8:30AM  Back to Bangor for a meeting at Hope House
8:30AM Take donated food to The Salvation Army
9:00AM Go to Target (the store) to apply for a Target Debit Card - use in store get 5% off.
9:15AM See Hollie in the store, she's going to a meeting about moving - from Winterport to Brewer.
               Looks like she took the news very well, even excited.
9:30AM RAIN!!! Damn, Damn, damn!

  So I just went on two more errands and came home, bummer!  Not that I don't like being home but I was really counting on going to Hirundo to check the place out.
  Today I have walking, coffee, walk with Bill (Wednesday), take Peggy shopping and pick up Flo to go for a ride.

There is no doubt about where we will be riding to.  I'll take photos.

Idle hands and the devils work......

Pushaw Stream, Hirundo Wildlife Refuge  www.hirundomaine.org

  That's a photo of what I expect today when I go to Hirundo for a look-see, of course there won't be any blue sky, it's a cloudy day.
  The title refers to yesterday.  I was in town for a 2.3 mile walk and coffee with the gang, but Linda had the car from about 7:15AM until after noon, or noon, or well.......I don't remember.
  So I went for another walk up the road around the corner on Kenduskeag Road to take a look at Black Stream, which is running high and fast.  On the way home I stopped at the Post Office and took the junk mail home to shred.  I shred anything that has a name, address or other personal information.  There is so much junk mail from credit card and insurance companies that never bothered with me when I was younger, they like old people, especially geezers.
  I took a shower, cut my own hair; with a specially designed hair cutter that is curved and used with one hand; I did a so so job.  I did start a load of laundry and put some of it in the dryer and took some outdoors.  I finally finished a painting that I've been working, or not working, on for a month.  I took another short walk - and wasted some more time.
  I guess if you were to interrogate me you would find that most of my time would be considered wasted any way, that's what geezers do.

Monday, Monday......

..........so good to me, sang the Mamas and the Papas just a few years ago, it seems.
  What I wanted to tell you is about the bird I saw yesterday while walking.  I had been to a store and was headed to the place I park to go walking.  I noticed a large bird sitting in a tree maybe 30 feet from the sidewalk.  After I parked, ate my snack, and walked back, about a quarter mile, the bird was still in the tree.  I looked and watched for maybe five minutes.  It was a very dark brown all over, the breast may have been slightly lighter, or it could have been the light.  When the bird stretched it's wings, the leading edge was the dark brown but the remainder was speckled white.  I continued walking for about two miles and a half miles and continued to the same spot, the bird was still there.
  After I made notes (always have to write things down), and got involved, in my head, with a problem the State has by not calling horticulture agriculture, they're both farms.  One pays sales tax on business purchases the other does not, it's unfair.  Anyway, the bird, when I looked in the Petersons I thought it was either a year old Bald Eagle, or a Red Tail Hawk.  Closer looks at www.allaboutbirds.org that's Cornell University, they do know about birds, a lot!  I have decided I was looking at a year old Bald Eagle.  There are several pairs of those birds in the Brewer area, it was a great treat.
  I saw other birds too, but that one is special based on shear size.  I finished walking with just a bit over seven miles (not all at once).
  It was a nice and good day until I watched the Red Sox followed by watching the start of the Celtics game.  Yikes! Well then it was bedtime for the geezer.

"..on a Sunday morning sidewalk"

That, I believe, is part of one line of an old Johnny Cash song (the title), so that's what I'm about to do.
Friday was a rainy day and I got to walk indoors (yuk), and yesterday was a Hollie day, but I still managed to do a bit over four miles.  Today will be kind of chilly, around 30 or 32 degrees, but the wind is down so it may be okay.  Cold temps I can live with, well not real cold, but the wind can be brutal even though I only face it in one direction or the other.
  I think I'll walk in Brewer, that road is reasonably level and of course it has a sidewalk.  I'll see if the worms and slugs from the rainy day are gone.  I also can do some bird watching over there, it's the time of year when the Warblers pass through or come back.  Very colorful birds, but also very small and hard to catch a glimpse of.
  There is a place I want to walk that's new to me, Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, in a nearby town, but not today because the car is needed for other work.  There are 2400 acres out there, with many trails of varying length.  Some of those trails are over or near water, there should be all kinds of birds out there, we shall see.

Common Yellowthroat.  Photo from Bangor Daily News, 4/28/12