No planning for this trip

Mount Battie and part of Camden Harbor - click to enlarge

  It's a Hollie day, I'll be taking her to Rockland via Belfast and Camden.  It will be a short trip; snack, Wal-mart, laminate at Staples, walk-around, lunch and home.  Oh, not always in that order but we'll keep it close to that.  I fully expect to enjoy the trip, and maybe, just maybe, there will be a new photo for tomorrow.
  On the baseball side of things Baltimore and Washington both lost.  So, Detroit Tigers vs. New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants.  I couldn't care less about the American League series now, but I'll guess the same old, same old Yankees will win.  On the National League side I'll root for San Francisco but those two teams are fairly even so who knows the outcome, not me.

Baseball and some other stuff too

Whaleback on the Airline (Maine Route 9)
Aurora, Maine  - click to enlarge

  I was able to watch two baseball games yesterday.  What a treat!  After this series I doubt that there will be any day games and that will end my ability to see any of them.  My bedtime is 7:30PM.
  With an early bedtime you don't see night games and I have no idea what people are talking about when they watch some of the other "night time shows".  I don't know if that's my loss or gain.
  I was up at 12:30AM for the second day in a row, I did nap in the afternoon, probably the nap was too late in the day.  I do know that I need to find a system that works to keep me on a little later schedule than that!  2AM would be an ideal time to wake up, 1:30 would be even better - I'd settle for either one.

The angry mattress pad

  Tuesday my wife and I decided that maybe I'd use the heated mattress pad I have instead of blankets.  Good idea!  I have had a heated pad for a number of years, and used it with good results.
  Tuesday night I went to bed, it was warm enough not to need anything but the sheet and spread.  Later on in the night it cooled down quite a bit and I turned the mattress pad on.  I used the very lowest selection there is for heat; barely warm.
  I have been having joint pain for quite a while, in fact when I went to bed my left hip and right knee were in tender condition.
  The pad warmed up a bit and I went to sleep.  Soon every pain I had was worse, maybe five times worse; I turned to heat off.  Going back to sleep I dreamed that the "brand" of pad I had was Manservant.  Like in the Ten Commandments, manservant, do not 'want your neighbors wife, nor.......manservant'.  See what I mean?
  Earlier in the day I had listened to a discussion on the radio of the new book "Slavery, a Blessing in Disguise" written by a State Legislator in Arkansas.  Slavery was never a blessing in my book, it was de-humanizing for all involved.  This country fought a war based, in part, on slavery or slave ownership.
  In my dream I went to Congress, the Maine Legislature and anyone else who might hear my message of how horrible slavery was; and all the while the pain from the "angry mattress pad" grew worse.
  I said the heck with it and got up!  What else would I do?  Later, during the day on Wednesday, while taking my pills at 2:00PM, guess what I discovered?  Yes, it was the pills I should have taken a bed time the night before, some of which help me sleep!
  Maybe there's a lesson there.

Questions, questions

The World at berth in Australia in 2006 - click to enlarge
www.wikipedia.org photo

  The "Worlds largest yacht" The World arrived in Eastport, Maine yesterday, she is scheduled to visit Bar Harbor today, then Rockland and Portland.
  Not a cruise ship the co-operatively owned vessel is home to 130 families and their guests.  The families own condominiums ranging from Efficiency units ($750,000) to six bedroom, 3 story condos that sell for $10,000,000) plus maintenance fees of over a quarter million dollars per year.  The ship named "The World" travels in a continuous loop around the globe.  This is all well and good, but I have questions.
  The families hail from 16 different countries, do they owe any taxes anywhere?  Is this really just a way to avoid taxes?  How much do they donate to charity, if at all?  How do they get their mail? or, are they so much not like the rest of us that none of this matters?
  Just a thought.

A stern look. - click to enlarge
www.wikipedia.org photo
 

More information is available from www.wikipedia.org, or your local library.  Ask a Librarian

The Bog walk in fall

On the way in - click to enlarge

  My wife took time to visit the Orono Bog Walk/Bangor City Forest the other day to see how it looked at this time of year.  As luck would have it shoe brought some photos home on the camera, just for me to use here.  Very nice of her, don't you think?
  The leaves are falling fast, almost gone now are the beautiful autumn vistas, and all of the red, yellow and gold with them.  I have always thought it would be nice to have each season actually, really, really to last three months.  Of course farmers and people with common sense wouldn't be too happy about it.  Oh, well.  It's only an idea whose time has not come.
  New subject tomorrow.

The Boardwalk has a new carpet, leaves. - click to enlarge

Nice color, little shaky

A short Sunday drive

Looking at the western mountains from Corinna - click to enlarge

  We took a short drive yesterday through Levant, Exeter, Corinna and Saint Albans - a lot of farm land with some silage corn cut and other fields waiting to be chopped up.  A lot of potato fields were plowed and planted with oats or other grains for the winter.
  We traveled about 80 miles, I guess, and it was an enjoyable ride except for the bright sun on the way home - we should have stayed out longer perhaps.  But, there's work to do right here at home.
  It's Monday morning, light rain blah, blah, blah.  The rain will stop about 4:00AM and I'm in great hopes of getting a little walking in.

We went down this road to St. Albans - click to enlarge

It's not always the same

Liberty, Maine  2011
Photo by Linda Grant

  Yesterday was okay when I went out the door, but after coffee it was raining, raining, and more raining.  We have had a number of rainy days, good, there's water in the well before the ground freezes.  But, no walking.
  This morning it's about 10-15 degrees cooler and clearish.  It'll be good walking, hopefully.  On the baseball front Oakland and San Francisco both lost, that means Detroit and Cincinnati both won.  Let's see I lived in Oakland a couple of years, and Cincinnati too - even three years of high school in that area - but we moved back to Maine. Hmmm, hard to pick a favorite here isn't it? 
  Now that the weather has cleared, for however briefly, and if there are leaves left on the trees, maybe we'll get out for some fresh photos to share too.
  Have a great day!  Baseball is on a noon on MLB-TV, maybe I'll see some, maybe not.
Gone walkin'

Dixmont, Maine 2011
Photo by Linda Grant