August 14th, 2005

Yes, I am still alive.  Maureen has been after me to find time to pick up where I left off. (I reckon that is in the "wife" job description)  Yesterday I even had a reader of the Journal drive all the way from Maryland to check on me and to tell me to please update the Journal.  All of that said, Here I go!

 The bean-hole-beans did not do me in.  The second batch was even better than the first pot.  I am getting ready to try my favorite, Great Northern beans.   Our guests have been having a very nice time this summer.  The weather for the most part has been so nice.  Once in awhile we have some of the hot humid weather, and other times we have a few rainy days.  For the most part it has been great.  We have spent many nights sitting around the campfire with guests.  This is one of the things that I do instead of coming in and writing in the Journal.  One evening we were sitting with some of our guests and he pointed out something that was the Andromeda  galaxy.  It is so amazing to know that this object in the sky is 2,300,000 light years away.  If you remember from school, light travels at 186,282 miles per second.  In other words, a real long way off.  One would have to pack a lunch if he was going to make a trip that far.  There was also a meteor shower on another night.  It was supposed to really get going at 2:00am, so Maureen and Jed suggested that we all sleep out under the stars and watch for them.  (Explain again why we would go outdoors to sleep under the stars when they are going to be falling??)  Well anyway, out we went to spend the night.  There were plenty of flying cosmos early in the evening, but at the predicted time there was some cloud cover and you could not see as many.  I have talked with so many of our guest that have never seen a "shooting star".  We take it for granted I guess.  I cannot think of any night that I have sat out in the evening that I have not seen one, at least if it was a clear night.  Of course it helps to live some place where the stars are so visible due to the lack of ambient light.  The fishing here at the pond has been pretty good.  We had folks in fishing this weekend and they caught several nice ones along with some smaller fish.  The best time to go fishing is when you have the time.   I will get out for a couple of more trips, I am sure.  I have to take Jed out to try for some White Perch on Chesuncook. We have only had time to make one trip out for them on the lake this year.  School will be starting up for him in a couple of weeks and he really wants to try for them at least once more.  One of our domestic rabbits has moved all the way down to the campsites.  People see it and ask why it is white already.  The domestics do not change color like the varying hares do.  The hares are still all brown and will not start changing until the days get considerably shorter.  (the length of daylight triggers them to change, not the weather)  The blueberries and the raspberries were plentiful this year.  This is good news for all of the wildlife that depend on them as groceries.  Of course they are very tasty for us human folks as well.  Well, I have to get back to some of my summer projects, as summer is coming to an end.  As things slow down I will update on a more frequent basis.
GT     

August 2nd, 2005

Maureen, We did not get a chance to say good-bye when we left on Wed. AM. I wanted to tell you about a few wildlife sightings we had while we were there.  While fishing Monday evening I saw a Merlin along the shore on the point just west of the dock. On Tuesday Kim and I also had a Goshawk calling and soaring around the clearing on the hill along the trail to the perched pond.  We also had Ring-necked Duck in the perched pond.  We had a nice time in a beautiful place. Bill, Kim, Chris & Natty  

Thank you for your kind comments.  The wildlife and wonder of nature surrounds us day and night here.  Yesterday afternoon a rain shower passed followed by a rainbow arched over the mountains behind the campsites, later the sky cleared and the milky way was sashaying through the star glittered sky, I looked up to see two falling stars. ~ Maureen