Spring

When the calendar turns to March, I begin to think spring.  Golf can't be far away; same for spending time at the cabin.

Recently found this picture Sue took last fall during one of the final days of fishing for the year.  Cablebox looks really good on the water, doesn't she?

Changes

Not to be outdone by brother Dave's kitchen remodeling project, we have done some remodeling as well. 

For those who have been in our house, you may recall the window in the dining room--a large center panel with two double-hung windows on the sides.  Big and drafty, it was also beginning to deteriorate.

As we considered options for replacing the window, the idea of installing a bay window came up.  The more we thought about it, the more we liked the idea--it would allow us to remove the shelf that we had under the old window, which would give us much more usable space in the dining room.   The new window was installed just before Christmas.  Not inexpensive, but it's triple-pane with a Low-E film that helps retain the heat.  Much, much more energy efficient!  We love it.

That also meant re-painting the wall around the new window, so we took the opportunity to paint all the walls and the ceiling in the dining room (not an easy task--the ceiling is very high!).  And, we had one of the walls done as a color accent--the same light green we used on the fireplace wall in the living room.  Really ties everything together.  We are very pleased with how the project turned out!

a message for deeda

Tower Heist

Went to see this movie on Saturday night--Brian did the ADR editing.  He worked on it for several months, including the "25th Cabin Anniversary" week this summer in Maine.  Thanks to Amanda, we have a picture of Brian's name in the credits.  It's a lot of fun to see his name on the big screen!

MORE Snow in October!

Round two arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday and, by Sunday morning, we had upwards of two feet of new snow! 

Of course, the tractor wasn't ready for anything like this--the front loader and the lawn mower were still in place.  Plus, when I got the snowblower mounted and turned it on, the drive belt immediately snapped.  Yikes!  Fortunately, I had kept an old belt.  But that meant taking the snowblower off, installing the new belt, and re-mounting the snowblower.  Long story short, it took three hours to get the tractor ready and another two hours to do the driveway.

In the meantime, Sue, bless her heart, had shoveled the porch and sidewalk--not an easy task with two feet of snow.

Oh, did I mention that we lost power on Saturday night?  Happy Halloween!

 Just a little snow on the roof of the playhouse.

And, this pile of snow on the railing (about 12") came

after we had dealt with a similar amount the night before.

Snow in October!

A day of rain followed by wet snow made for a very pretty morning.  Bright blue skies and a forecast for temps in the mid 40s means it won't last.  But, still, October?

 Our resident eagle.  Note the playhouse in the background.

 This is the Corkscrew Willow we planted last summer.  

Fortunately, Willows are very flexible!

And, yes, we left the fountain running.

What's Missing?

Yes, the shed by the dock is gone--tore it down last weekend.  Actually, it was an old ice fishing shanty.  And, although it stored a lot of stuff, it was always an eyesore.  Glad it's gone.  In its place, I plan to build a small deck--should be a good location in the lee of the big rock and facing south toward the sun.

1 more haiku

my dear cablebox
your "channels" come in so clear
can you say "fox news?"

Cablebox Reunion (Update)

These two Haiku tell the story:

The maiden voyage

Of Cablebox Reunion:

Mooselookmeguntic!

July 1, 2011

Beautiful old boat

Floating, happy, at the dock.

At home on Mooselook.

July 2, 2011

Cablebox Reunion

Although I bought it about a year ago and have talked about it with many people, both family and non-family, I realized I had never posted anything about our "new" boat.

Bought it on eBay for a surprisingly low cost.  Not sure of the exact age, but probably about 50 years old.  However, in the 80s, a father-son team re-built it and registered it in Massachusetts as a handmade boat.  So, when I registered it in Maine, the title shows 1984 as the year it was built.

Since it was too late last year to use it in Maine, it lived in Sharon while I did some upgrades--changed out the steering and controls, added a bilge pump, etc.  Now, it's ready to go to its new home on Mooselookmeguntic.

A couple of interesting stories.

First, everyone groans when I say I bought a wooden boat.  Will it leak?  Well, the time-honored way to deal with wooden boats is to put about six inches of water in them until the wood swells and (hopefully) seals all the joints.  When I first put the water in it leaked like a sieve--all the water poured out in about two hours.  But a day or two later, amazingly, just an occasional drip.  Hooray!

Next, the question of what to name it?  Boats, especially wooden ones must have a name.  And, once named, it is very bad luck to change it.  I could find no evidence that it had ever been named, so I came up with a few traditional ideas and ran them by my family.  Okay, they thought, but Lauren decided to ask Max what he thought.  As she tells the story, Max immediately said "Cablebox Reunion."  What it means, and where it came from, only he knows.  However, that's what it is.

Cablebox is beautiful, isn't she?