My Three Cents Worth

Once again  find myself Down East, in Hartland. Pleanty of wide open spaces.  The best thing about it, though, is the $3 movie theater next door showing first run movies.  And the popcorn comes with real butter!

Dawn said she wanted to get a real wreath for her fireplace, a huge brick chimney in her great room, where the tree goes, and where, I am told, there is little room to walk when all the presents are under the tree.

Wreaths are really expensive, the size that would fit her fireplace. So after a few apricot sours I said I would make her one on my own.  Kids, let this be a lesson to you….

Near where I was working there was a large landing with a bunch of trees that had been cut down and stacked about three stories high.  Amongst the trees were a multitude of pine trees, including several species of spruce trees. There was a pine with really long thick needles and a spruce with typical short needles.  So, while Maddie chased squirrels around the field I cut a ton of boughs and loaded them into the spy van.

Just outside of town was a farmers market that sold loops and thin green wire for make-it-yourself wreaths.  They tempt you with their already-made-wreaths, but they look too perfect and manufactured for my tastes.

The largest loop was 16″ across, which would have made a wreath that looked like a Dunkin Munchkin on her fireplace. I bought two loops with the intention of making one big loop.

Using my trusty dikes, I cut the loops and intertwined them together, making a loop about 2′6″ across. Back at the hotel, with Hits of the 90’s going on my Sirius-XM, I got to fabricating.

Lesson one: wear gloves or don’t, but make a choice.  There is nothing worse than sticking your pitch-covered hands into lined leather gloves, then trying to pull them out, and turning the lining inside-out.  I am now afraid to stick my hands back in the gloves; yuck!

Lesson two: Have a crane handy.  A nearly three foot wreath weighs a ton!

Lesson three: spread out a tarp in your van.  I am going to be vacuuming pine needles from my car for the next three months.

What I ended up with is the world’s largest car freshener; I have to keep it in the car for two days ’til I get back to the B&B, and it smells good.

When I get it mounted on the chimney I will be able to trim it up and make it look pretty.  I am also spying those red berry bushes on the side of the road to add a little color. And a bow will make it complete.

So, Innkeeper, make up some hot chocolate and get the stepladder out of the garage. Wreath-zilla is coming.

By the way, I had to wash my hands for 20 minutes to get the gunk off of them. And, never, ever, ever, pat your furry dog until you do.

I am always pleasantly surprised by those interesting twists and turns in life, where you really learn what a small world it is.

I recently had the pleasure and privilege of meeting a new fellow employee, Charlie McClafferty of Vermont. He is a retired big city cop and now he is looking for a little part-time work to keep busy. Charlie is also a real estate agent in northwest VT, so if your looking for property, you should look him up, But, now you can understand why he could use a little spice in his life, the housing market being what it is today.

He spent Monday and Tuesday with me after having spent an entire week in Raleigh, NC in training with our company. He joked that he will have to provide three forms of photo ID before his wife will let him back in the house, he has been away so long.

The first day he rode with me I left Waltzing Matilda at home, not knowing what his feelings were about spy dogs, or dogs in general.

Charlie assured me that he had two dogs himself, a Westie and a Scottish Terrier.  They are both rescued dogs. The Westie is named Simon. And, of all things, the Scottie is named Matilda. Maddie took to Charlie immediately, licking Charlie’s face in a move usually reserved for Boston the Weimeraner.

Wait, it doesn’t stop there! Charlie’s wife, Lisa, wrote a children’s story called Matilda Private Eye - The Case of the Missing Socks. You can click on the aforementioned title to see the Amazon.com listing for the book and read the amazing reviews.

Maddie also fancies herself a Private Eye. Check out her video HERE.

Charlie has promised to send me a copy of the book (hopefully I can get it with a paw-o-graph.)  For my  part, I sent Charlie and his wife my blog address so they can enjoy MY writing . And if Rage N Age ever records an album, I can send him that. Lisa and Charlie have a gift shop up in Wallingford called Simply Simon and they also sell the book, as well as lots of other cool stuff.  I particularly like the Victorian Dog crates.

Meantime, based on the reviews of the book, I might even be motivated to have another kid just so I will have someone to read it to.

Not.

Somebody get a cold towel for Dawn’s forehead.

Guess I will just have to read it to Danny when I tuck him in at night.

I was traveling northbound on Interstate 93 Wednesday, doing about 65 mph just as the afternoon rush was getting underway.

This green Taurus passed me and I was amazed at what the guy was up to.  It might be hard to see but he was reading a book! It appeared to be a thick novel of some sort.

I have heard of shaving, applying makeup, eating and even texting, but this has to be the height of ridiculousness. He passed me on the right as he was reading.

Scares me to think, sometimes, about the people I am sharing the road with.

Of course, here I am using my camera phone while driving….

I have this program called Microsoft Picture It.  It wasn’t too expensive and allows me to do software editing of the photos I have taken.  It doesn’t do as much as, say Photoshop or Lightroom, but I am not married to a teacher like Ben is, so I have to go with the affordable programs.

One of the annoying things about taking a bunch of senior class pictures (235!!) of Kaeleigh and her friend Amanda was having to rush through them due to time, sunlight, cold wind (and teenagers who insist on wearing tee shirts) and batteries that are dying.  It doesn’t give you much time to compose a good picture as you might have in a studio.

On the other hand, I have taken all of my children’s pictures for the yearbook outside and they have been treasures for me. Ben was outside with his sports equipment. Danny was also outside leaning on the trellis he helped me build.  Interestingly, they were both wearing jackets because it was chilly out. Kaeleigh is my final high schooler (sniff!) and I hope we come up with a photo she likes.

After looking them over I wished I had composed the pictures better, getting rid of leaves and sunspots.  Then I remembered the “Clone Brush” feature of Picture It. Basically, it allows you to paint in bits of the picture from somewhere else in the photo to anywhere on the picture.  There were two annoyances on the photo in this post.  First was the points of the leaves sticking into her scalp from above, and then the bright sunspot on her neck.

Using the clone brush I painted over the leaves with her hair, and darkened the sunspot with flesh tone from another part of her neck. It worked cool.

Next up: Cloning Brad Pitts’ face onto my neck in all of the pictures I have!

This is a very annoying thing to have to witness.

When I arrived at a case in upstate Maine on Tuesday, at 6:00 AM, gas was $2.87. At 9:00 AM a woman came out with her big suction cup stick and changed the price to $284.  Too bad for all the early morning commuters, I thought, but good for those who waited.

Then at 1:00 PM a guy came out and changed the price once again.  This time to $2.77.  A ten cent change in little over 6 hours. How is this possible?  What kind of games are being played by the oil companies?

I remember hearing all the rumors about how the gas prices were going to plummet as the election neared, so that all of the politicos could take credit.  I never put much stock in such conspiracy theories, but, here it is?

Unfortunately, the stock market crash took the edge off of those good feelings.

Adding to my fun was realizing that I had put nearly $1600 into my 401-k and got my quarterly notice that I was still 10%  less than last quarter. Most expensive roller coaster I have ever been on….

Maddie has a new boyfriend.

This is Boston, a purebred Weimaraner. Boston is about 12 years old and when he first met Waltzing Matilda he was pretty portly. He kind of gullumped around the house and in the yard.  The most excitement he had was to quickly finish his own dog food and hurry into the kitchen in order to steal the last morsels of dog food from his roomie, Moose, the Chihuahua.

Along came Spazzy Maddie and the chase was on.  Maddie, as anyone who has ever met her knows, is a bundle of energy when she is around people and pets. She quickly became fast friends with Boston, running circles around him in the backyard, rolling over on her back in a signal of submission, and standing on her hind legs to kiss his face.

Moose had his shot at Maddie, but I think he played too hard to get for too long and Boston got the nod, and the butt sniff,  in the end.

Maddie and Boston laze away the afternoons on the couch together. They sound the alarm whenever anyone comes into the yard.They also like to go to the back yard for exercise and nature’s call.

There has been a transformation in Boston over the last three months.  He has lost a bunch of weight, there is a sparkle in his eye, and he has taken to loping around the back yard doing his version of a jog. More evidence that the affections of a female does wonders for a male.

One of the nice things about Boston’s back yard is that it is very large and completely fenced in. Australian Terriers do not have a stay-at-home gene and are very A.D.D. The slightest thing distracts them and off they go on the chase.  I lost Maddie for a half hour once when she got on the scent of a wild rabbit that she almost caught.

Boston, on the other hand stays pretty close to home, and sometimes feels highly offended when he is relegated to the back yard and forgotten about. A few years back he had scratched at the plastic gate and damaged it enough that he could get through.  Of course, so could Maddie.

I thought that I would be clever and repair the hole with some plywood that could be painted white and look half-way decent from a distance.

Here is the fruits of my efforts.  Less than 24 hours later Boston reminded us of the powerful jaws and determination of his breed. Even though he can’t get out, his co-conspirator could, and she ended up on the front steps and reminded everyone that the dogs were in the back yard.

My next step will be 1/2 inch thick steel plating. Hopefully that will keep everyone where they belong.

It’s either that or 110 household current!

I am trying to get this song right.  I am a little happier with this version than I was with previous versions. Gotta keep trying to get it fine tuned just right.

Though it is nice to know that the efforts are appreciated. I got everything I need, Almost.

Listen to it HERE if you haven’t eaten yet. At least you can enjoy the dawn pictures I have been stealing form the ‘net.

I was on my way to a BRT meeting last night with my dear friend, Margaret. We were traveling up Chesterfield Hill near Keene and talking about what good shape her truck was in.  She was so happy that she only had a few more payments and the truck would be all hers.

I was looking down at my appointment book when Mags suddenly slammed on the brakes. I looked up, after peeling my face off the daskboard, and there was a huge black bear running in front of us, not 20 feet in front of the bumper.  The bear jumped the the guardrail and scampered off into the woods.

Margaret saved two lives that afternoon; me and the bear. I am sure that bear was so scared, we all know what he did in the woods.

This appears to be my year of the bear.

Covering songs is all well and good, but a true are-teest wants to have something original. But one must have some sort of inspiration. I have all these hooks running around in my head. I have had this riff bouncing around for a while.

Then I was listening to the Coffee House channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and I heard some songs that gave me direction. Soon, the verse and chorus music was decided, and I was anxious to get home to the piano and figure it out.

So next, I had to come up with the lyric. I have never felt I was a great poet, but I thought I could give it a shot. Way up in Bingham, ME, with nothing but mooses and ATV’s to inspire me, as well as nice relaxing hot tub, I scratched out some words that I thought would syncopate with the music in a pleasant way.

Inspirations abounded (?)

I talk too much sometimes so sometimes I am told to “shhhhh….” I love fresh sheets on a bed, and how they start out cool and warm as the moments go by. Why is a little tweak on the nose or a tiny tug on one’s ear a sign of endearment? Is it a more adult version of the shoulder punch you got in 6th grade for the little girl who liked you and was passing notes about you to her friends?

The next best thing about being in bed is when the sun starts to come up and it sneaks rays in around the curtains and blinds; just enough to let you know it is going to be a beautiful day.

So HERE it is as it is offered to the www. I know how my friend bobby lightfoot feels when he sends one of his songs off to school for the first time.

Of course, I am not satisfied with the vocals, but I do like the instrumentation; nice and simple with guitar, accordion and bongos. It will be a work in progress, to be sure. The people who matter to me seem to like it so far.

My friend Tracy saw me using my new phone and said “Oh, you got a Crackberry”. I didn’t know what she meant at first but now I know.

What did we do, how did we get along, before we had instantaneous access to information? I can now get my work and personal email immediately.  Everyone is into texting these days, and I have found it to be a cool way of communicating. Of course, there is always the  old-fashioned phone call for which the phone was invented, along with voicemail.

I use the phone as an alarm clock on those long days in Maine on the job. There is a built in calendar that I use to keep track of appointments.

The internet is never far away and I can use the Blackberry browser to check stuff online, including voice activated browsing and searching. I can save, download and listen to music with iPod quality.

Adding to my arsenal of equipment to document the claimants, the phone has a high quality camera and camcorder.

I am now on Verizon so I can talk and text all of my family for free and for a long time.

See why it’s like crack!!? If I could only get it to do laundry and and walk Matilda…