One thousand one hundred fifty-eight

Sheep have the sense to stay out of the hot sun.  Wikipedia.org.uk photo

  The title?  Oh, well, that's how many times I've written this thing in the middle of the night.
  The weather?  Hotter in July than it is in the city, my old friend Ralph used to say.  It's been hot here and that's not unique.  It's been hot everywhere in the USA I think, and dry too.  It's almost August, another hot month, but this stuff can't last for ever.  At least I hope not.  Walking, even in the early morning can be hot (for me), of course I complain at sixty-three degrees.
  The next project?  Shown below, I'll try that one, if it doesn't work out, I have another floral to work on.
  The Red Sox?  They won last night, the rain delay must have gotten to somebody.  I don't expect they'll win tonight, 8PM on ESPN,  no way they will take two of three in NYC.  The Sox remain in last place all by themselves (other teams win too), and they may very well end the season right there.

The next project, the photo to work from.  Linda Grant photo

It all ends up in a pile

Recycling workers take a look.  Bangor Daily News photo - click

  Finally the bricks are coming apart.  The "Tannery" in Howland is being torn down.  The building has stood empty, or nearly empty for over 30 years.
  The project will create an open space but the main reason for removal is the process to build a fish ladder in one of the two dams nearby, and removal of the other dam.
  Back in history the buildings housed a tannery, preparing hides for the shoe industry.  It began life as a woolen mill before turning to leather.  The textile industry fled Maine for the promise of low taxes in the 1950's and the shoe industry found workers in Asia that would work for a fraction of the wages paid to American workers.  That brings up a good point; have the prices of shoes gone down?
  So here it is, a set of buildings that once provided income and employment to many people going down to make a fish ladders some folks hope a fish will use.  There are others worried that the wrong species of fish will end up further inland and damage the sport fishery.

Pick up the pieces.  Bangor Daily News photo.

You never know

Gooches Beach, Kennebunk Maine  www.wunderground.com click to enlarge

  Sometimes looking through photos can be interesting and fun.  wunderground.com and usatoday.com/weather both have extensive photo collections sent in be people all over the place.  Scenic and weather conditions of all kinds, shapes and sizes.  The Nevada photo (below) caught my eye first, it's just a tiny bit different than some others.
  One morning this week there was a rainbow in Bangor, right over the airport it looked like.  I thought it was a bit unusual because the sun rise wasn't yet complete.  Maybe maybe now.
  I worked on the painting yesterday, but it doesn't look much different than before, I plan to do more today, tear myself away from the "games on TV", and work on it.

Nipton Road, Searchlight Nevada 07-13-12.  www.nbcnews.com click to enlarge, really.

How much

Such as it is, there's still some work to do - click to enlarge

  There went an average day, summer style.  Between watching the end of the Tour de France, watching a couple of games of the NBA Summer League and some highlights of the MLB All-Star game and working on the project up there....well, I got tired.
  I was dozing on and off most of the afternoon and evening I think, there was one nap of about 30 minutes too.  And I walked a couple of miles less too; but my weekly average is about 6.5 miles a day.
  I will be back on my regular walking schedule today, need to have to car home at 8am, so will be prompt about things.  A couple of errands to do as well but those are the easy ones.
  Well, back to the grind ;P

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.

A new direction

After looking a the "numbers", or the amount of traffic my blog generates I have decided to go in a new direction.
  Each day readers of the blog have number 2, 3, or 4 except the one about The All American Red Heads which had a 15.  That let's me know that I am boring people so much that they won't read my blog.  So we need a new direction.
  The blog "series" that got the most attention were the ones about the National Parks, but I can't keep doing that because I've already done it.
  I'll research the next couple of day all of my postings to see what kind of stuff people want.
  We'll see.  Thanks for reading, I'll keep you "posted".

A long day?

Yesterday started out early, 1:30AM, well not really THAT early; normal is 2:00AM.  That's an improvement over the midnight stuff of past years.  That was my benefit for spending a winter with pneumonia - a later wake up time. 
  Anyway, after a couple of hours milling around the house, coffee and cereal, you know stuff like reading the news, writing the blog, reading more news - all of a sudden it's time to hit the road.  I start out about 4:00AM every morning to walk a mile, have coffee and newspaper, meet friends at coffee and walk a mile.  So.....that's what I did.  I came home at 7:30 and hung out here for a while, shower, shave and all that "look presentable" stuff, drive back into town and take a family friend to an appointment.  I told her on the way over I was going to run, get into the waiting area before she did and say "Damn it, I told you to wait in the car!", she got a good laugh.  I waited for her, read a magazine and saw how many farm animals we have in Maine.  Of course I don't carry a pen, or paper!  Why on earth would I want to do that?  Oh, because it's helpful to take notes, so I took a photo with my phone, I'll you know if I can read the fine print.  And, of course (again), I still don't know how to download photos from phone to computer - and it's been, let's say, four to six years.
  When Flo was done with her appointment, I took her back to Brewer and went for lunch, it was 11:00 - so a late lunch for me, I eat at 10:00.  I had an appointment at 1:45PM so I just stayed in Bangor/Brewer for that.
  My appointment was with "the lung quack", and that office is in a building attached to the hospital.  At 1:00 I was hanging out in one of the many lobbies, more lobbies than rooms almost.  I was sitting on a bench looking out at the river, fell asleep and dreamed I was in either Iceland or Norway.  Some "doctors?" were looking at me asking for my genius (you know genius, species, kingdom, order, phylum) but my answer was "genius isn't a species - it's a lifestyle".  I guess me telling my wife that I'm a genius, doesn't affect her, but now I believe it:).
  I made my appointment, and a nurse called "Lawrence" so I went with her.  She had me on the scale (209 - now you know), and we went over for a breathing test.  The nurse put the name into a computer to see if I was in the system, yes Torrie M. was in there.  I asked if that was her name, she said yes, I let her know my name; she said you're not Torrie M.  She led me back to the waiting room and got Torrie.  WELL - I was sitting in the back row, there was a newspaper there, and I swear she said Lawrence.  It just shows, hearing aids magnify sound, they don't actually improve my hearing!
  After the really wanted me in there I waited in a exam room for 20 minutes, spent five more minutes with the doctor, and went back out front; they sent me for a blood sample and a couple of x-rays (normal stuff).  Of course for the hospital to do those things I have to pre-register, the girl in the lab intake was more than happy to do both of those at once for an old geezer.  After the lab work was done I went next door and up three floors for the x-ray, that didn't take long either.
  Those digital machines are impressive.  I was sitting in the room where the machine is (x-ray) while the woman checked if they came out.  After she gets a "picture" she dumps it in a slot in one machine and the "picture" shows up on her computer screen, it takes about 40 seconds - they looked good to me.  They sent me on my way.
  I got home about 3:30, it really was a long day.