Finally, the day has come.  What day?  Hang in there and I’ll explain.  Have I said before that the weather is weird up here, well if I haven’t, it is.  Yesterday the temperatures could not get above 60 degrees and today it is right around 90 degrees.  And in another day or so they are predicting it will not go above the mid 50 degree mark.  Just when you believe it is time to put away the electric heater – surprise!

Anyway, it has been a gorgeous day, warm temperatures, a cool westerly breeze, some sun and some clouds.  This is the kind of day I could really get used to real quick.  Only one problem for both us, we both awoke this morning with a real bad case of cabin fever.  We just knew we had to get out, it didn’t matter where we went, we just had to get up and go.  So go we did.

First off we went to the post office.  Remember, it is the local market here in Hermon.  I mean, why waste a perfectly good building when you can have it serve two functions instead of just one, post office and deli.  Makes perfect sense to me.  Then, oh yea, then. . .

Finally the day had come, no more getting around it.  It was time for my much awaited – drum roll please – lobster dinner (actually a late lunch)! Yes, indeed, no more putting it off.  So off we went to the

Anglers Restaurant, a local place recommended by the owner, Carol, at Pumpkin Patch.  I couldn’t wait to get inside since I already knew what I was going to have.  There was a representation of it, larger than life on the wall – lobster.

However, I was given a copy of the menu, just in case I changed my mind.  Slim chance of that happening I can tell you that.

Yes, for me there was no turning back I was going to have the Maine Shore Dinner.  It began with a cup of lobster stew with real, big, meaty chunks of lobster meat.  It was delicious and only whetted my appetite for even more lobster.

On to the main course and here it is, 1 pound of claims, 1 pound of mussels, and a 1 pound lobster.  It was fantastic, it tasted as if it had just come off the boat it was that good.  So I settled back, took my time and enjoyed every last bite of this yummy meal.

Oh, you want to know what Barbara had?  She had pot roast and said it, too, was delicious.  She also enjoyed each and every bite of her meal from start to finish.  And what made it even better was our waitress, Ann, who is another of God’s beautiful people.  She provided first class service from start to finish.  Even better because things were slow mid afternoon so we had an opportunity to spend some time talking with her,

getting to know one another and sharing stories and experiences.  Come to find out she too was from the same area on Long Island that Barbara and I came from before we moved to New Jersey.  We talked a bit about our kids, the twists and turns of life, and the goodness of God in both our lives.  It was a wonderful time spent with a truly wonderful person.  This to us is what it is all about and what makes life really worth living and that is being able to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends.  

So we’ve tamed the cabin fever monster at least for a day or two and by the next time it raises its head it will be time for us to move on to our new home.  As for now, the sun is slowly going down now but night is still an hour and some away.  It was a great day for us in every way possible.  Hey, I got my lobster and it doesn’t get much better than that.  As always we spent the day together, hand in hand, traveling along, singing our song.  We trust you also had a great day and were able to enjoy it to the fullest.  Now I want to leave you with this closing thought as we all begin this Memorial Day weekend:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

Today was long and a bit frustrating but lessons have been learned.  Let’s begin, though, with this morning’s alarm clock at 5:30 am.  Trust me, it wasn’t my alarm clock.  For a fact, it was not even a regular alarm clock.  What was it then?  From the beginning.

The sun is up and shining in the bedroom window at around 5 am every morning, no different this morning.  It’s bright enough to wake me up.  This time, though, I was tired enough to get back to sleep, almost.

Come 5:30 am and the Air National Guard decided to practice touch and go landings which brings the fighter jets over the park, it brings them really low over the park!  Trust me when they come over they are really, really loud!  No sleeping through it.  Ah well, the flip side of this is we know at least they are on the job helping to preserve the freedoms we all enjoy and often take for granted.

We had another one today, that is we had a backwards day.  I started the day off with home-made lasagna and, of course, a cup of coffee.  And I finished the day off with steak and eggs.  Isn’t life grand.  Everyone should have one of these once and awhile.  By doing so, you are also entitled to have ice cream for breakfast.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have any in the freezer or I sure would have had some.

Today was long and a bit frustrating regarding WordPress but lessons have been learned.  It took hours of digging, a lot of searching the internet, posting questions to different internet forums but this is what I discovered:

• when I began posting the blog I was using my phone to take pictures
• about a month ago I started using an actual camera
• what happened in essence was the pictures from the camera were of a small size and took up hardly any space.  The pictures from the camera were all HD and some of them were up to 5 mb in size
• uploading the pictures from the camera to the media library at WordPress quickly depleted the available storage space
• so I’ve had to back up (learned how to do this) past blogs, then deleted the old pictures from the media library at WordPress and the actual blogs to free up space
• I’ve also found a free program that will resize all my files going forward before uploading them so they don’t take up as much storage space
• I’m not sure exactly how the pictures will look going forward but time will tell in the next several days
• for now, though, I don’t have to pay anything to WordPress for additional storage space, I’m sure that day will come but for now I’m OK

That’s it for now.  Believe it or not, all this research and backup took up the better part of the day.  With time out, of course, for a much-needed nap.  Hey, searching the internet can really be exhausting!

The park is slowly beginning to fill up.  Met a gentleman, Conrad, today who lives about 4 hours north of here but always comes down here to spend the summer.  This is his fourth summer at Pumpkin Patch and, of course, he knows all about the low flying planes from the Air National Guard.  He told me that the planes for Bangor International Airport go one way, and the planes for the Air National Guard have no choice but to come this way.  Of course.

Met another gentleman, Rod, who owns and operates RV Yankee Tours.  He proudly told me he is now 82 years young and started the company 32 years ago when he got laid off.  On June 3rd, he and his wife are leading an excursion for 30 rigs leaving on a 30 day Canadian Maritimes tour.  He also said that they had to hire 4 ferries for one leg of the trip.  After this trip, he said they are going to be leading a 38-Day Northwest Expedition.  I asked him need any help?  He replied only if you are a certified RV tech.  Shucks.  At least I tried.

Then I met a wonderful lady, whose name I did not get, who, with her husband, are up here for the summer because they have family and grandchildren in this area.  She said we love to travel but not full-time.  I asked why and she replied “my husband spent 38 years in the military and all we did was move.  I like going back now to a permanent home”.  I wonder how many other wonderful people I will get to meet this weekend.

Before I end this blog I have one thing I do want to share with you.  Does anyone see anything strange about the next two pictures?  Picture one, consider what it is in the cup, picture two, look closely at the writing on the cup.

I guess I should be lucky that all my ice cream didn’t melt away!

Our day is now done.  It was a bit cool and windy, but sunny so no complaints.  Night is now here and the stars are again out in full force.  Though we haven’t gone anywhere, and probably will not until we move again, we enjoyed the day.  Once again we were together, traveling along, hand in hand, singing our song.  That alone is enough to make the day a hit in our book.   We trust you had just as great a day.  In ending, I have this thought for all, but more so for those who are retired, and it is:

Since I’m now retired “on time” means whenever I get there

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and finally some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

Back in business at least for the time being.  So I’ve found an answer of sorts, more a work around that gives me some time to figure out what is the actual, official solution.  It’s going to take time to sort things out, but come on now I’m retired and the one thing I have in abundance is time!

So let’s get started.  We’re going to call this the odds and ends blog meaning a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Nothing really that important here instead some funny, some odd, and some of everything else.

Let’s begin with breakfast.  The other morning guess who crawled up on the dinette seat

to join me for breakfast?  My eggs he wanted, but he turned down a cup of coffee.  Fussy.

Where have we been?  What states have we been in?  This is our little map which I’m sure is no where as full as others but we’re getting there.  By the way, we only put the states we’ve actually had an overnight stop in for at least one day or more on the map.  Counting our home state of New Jersey that gives us a total of 10 states.  And to think prior to this in the past twenty years we’ve for all intents and purposes never gone anywhere!  Yup, as our motto says we’re out to explore as many new states as possible.

Now if you think that the map is empty take a look at this, this is Pumpkin Patch today.

 It will be interesting as to what happens this Memorial Day weekend given that the weather is not supposed to be all that great.  Time will tell if we will have neighbors again.

Now let me introduce you to a giant of a figure that you see as you enter the town of Bangor.  This is the one and only woodsman known as Paul Bunyan.

 

Bangor claims to be both the birthplace of the lumber industry and the birthplace of Paul Bunyan.  A larger than life statue in the city reminds residents of their connection to this legendary character.

Bangor’s Paul Bunyan, “Reputed to be the largest statue of Paul Bunyan in the world,” according to its sign, stands on a stone pedestal in front of the Bangor Civic Center in Bass Park. The statue is 31 feet high and weighs 3,700 pounds, not including its double-sided ax and lumber spike pole. Paul Bunyan’s fiberglass-over-metal frame is hurricane-proofed to withstand 110 mph winds.

The statue was donated to Bangor in 1959, on Bangor’s 125th anniversary, by New York-based builders Messmoor & Damon. It was designed by local artist J. Norman Martin, who was reportedly paid $137 for his efforts.

Now, Mr. Martin wants to add the giant lumberjack of American folklore’s trusty friend, Babe the Blue Ox, to the site.   “When you talk about Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, they’re together,” he said. “It’s a pair, so it’s natural to have Babe the Blue Ox.”  If constructed, Babe would measure approximately 20 feet in length, according to Martin.  To date the City Council has not approved the oxen’s construction.

Here’s something you don’t see many of any more.  However, my sister told me that there are a few near where she lives in PA.  It is of course the drive in theater.  But do you know the history of them?  Keep reading and I’ll fill you in on how and where they came to be.

On June 6th in 1933, eager motorists parked their automobiles on the grounds of what was then known as a Park-In Theater, the first-ever drive-in movie theater, located on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey.

Park-In Theaters–the term “drive-in” came to be widely used only later–was the brainchild of Richard Hollingshead, a movie fan and a sales manager at his father’s company, Whiz Auto Products, in Camden. Reportedly inspired by his mother’s struggle to sit comfortably in traditional movie theater seats, Hollingshead came up with the idea of an open-air theater where patrons watched movies in the comfort of their own automobiles. He then experimented in the driveway of his own house with different projection and sound techniques, mounting a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car, pinning a screen to some trees, and placing a radio behind the screen for sound. He also tested ways to guard against rain and other inclement weather, and devised the ideal spacing arrangement for a number of cars so that all would have a view of the screen.

The young entrepreneur received a patent for the concept in May of 1933 and opened Park-In Theaters, Inc. less than a month later, with an initial investment of $30,000. Advertising it as entertainment for the whole family, Hollingshead charged 25 cents per car and 25 cents per person, with no group paying more than one dollar. The idea caught on, and after Hollingshead’s patent was overturned in 1949, drive-in theaters began popping up all over the country. One of the largest was the All-Weather Drive-In of Copiague, New York, which featured parking space for 2,500 cars, a kid’s playground and a full service restaurant, all on a 28-acre lot.

The popularity of the drive-in  reached its heyday in the late 1950s to mid-60s, with some 5,000 theaters across the country. Since then, however, the rising price of real estate, especially in suburban areas, combined with many other factors forced them out of business.  Today, fewer than 500 drive-in theaters survive in the United States.  Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania have the most drive-ins still in operation in the U.S., with each state having almost 30 left.

Finally, let me end with this.  This was my first and, hopefully, not my last while we are here in the great state of Maine.  Yes, it was delicious and I enjoyed ever bite I took!

Love lobster? Love it even more already out of the shell, soaked in butter, and on a steaming roll? Eating lobster rolls is a pastime in these parts, and traditional restaurants and road side shacks across the region serve them.   But that was not always the case.

A hundred years ago, nobody had even heard of a lobster roll — not even in Maine. For most of the 20th century, a smattering of New England restaurateurs hawked the dish in relative obscurity.  A Milford, Connecticut restaurant named Perry’s served the first documented lobster roll in 1929. The sandwich quickly became popular along the coast but never spread far beyond the state. Later, in 1965, the lobster salad roll took off in Long Island,  New York, at a restaurant called – you guessed it – The Lobster Roll.

Despite this, the lobster roll’s origin generally traces to Maine – understandable because the state’s coast makes for some pretty fantastic seafood – where lobster meat was served in butter on hot dog buns at various road stands beginning in 1970.

Nowadays, nearly every seafood restaurant in New England serves lobster rolls. While there is no single “founder” of this delicacy, it’s safe to say that a few restaurants caught onto the tasty idea over time, and the love for the sandwich grew from there.

So there you have it.  I’ll continue to publish the blog one way or the other.  I’m sure there is a permanent solution to the issues I face.  I just have to find the right people to talk to.  WordPress?  Sure, one call will cost you about $100!  So I’ll keep searching until I find exactly what I need to do.

So our day is now done.  It’s been a weird one.  We’ve had rain, we’ve had hail, we’ve had wind, we’ve had sun.  As of now, late afternoon, it appears again to be clearing up.  We’re enjoyed the day and it’s challenges.  Just need to remember to go with the flow, to remember the situation is the boss and there is no way you can fight against it.  We hope you had a great day as well.  Let me end with this thought for all of us to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and finally some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

 

OK, no blog tonight since we are in the process of figuring out what to do with our blog as it is.  WordPress will not allow us to upload any more pictures at this point in time.

So the question is, how do we handle this?  Do we export our existing blog material and then delete the posts in order to make more room?  Do we upgrade and in the process lose our current URL?  Do we move to another platform?

If anyone who reads this on a regular basis has any suggestions I would sure appreciate your assistance and ideas.  I’m sure someone out there who has been using WordPress for years has run into this before and knows how to handle it.

So for now I will bid everyone good night.  Hopefully I will find out what to do in the next couple of days.  So don’t go to far, we will continue just as soon as I find an answer.

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and finally some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before