Safe Haven for Beavers

The poor little beavers work their flat tails to the bone making dams and houses only to have them washed away in the mighty Nezinscot River. Well, some of them got smart and decided to move into an area that Tom calls his pond. It really is a healthy bog that has water most of the time. Yesterday we were tooting around in our Kawasaki Mule and I braved the wilderness to explore what the beavers were doing in that area. Tom sat in the Mule nursing his hurt back until I came back with glowing reports of the dam's success. Not only have they dammed up the water to make a real lake, but it makes the path to the northeast part of our property accessable without treading water.

Tom couldn't resist and followed me down the path to the new dam. Hopefully I can get my picture to go where I want it to go. Otherwise, you'll just have to look at it where ever it ends up on the page.

Well, thanks to my sweet husband the picture got where I wanted it. Now I want to put in a picture of the cabin. Let's see how that goes.

How about that? I guess the sky's the limit now.

Enjoy

More Fall Foliage

The hurricane brought rain but little else. Most of the trees kept their pretty leaves because there was little or no rain. This picture was such an awesome sight, that I had to take it from several directions. Tom is very good about backing up, stopping, backing up one more time or let's get a picture from the opposite direction. I saw this tree on Friday, but had no camera with me. We went back on Friday morning to get it and more. The stone pillar on the right is an entrance marker to someone's camp on Pleasant Pond.

The other picture is our own Labrador Pond. This pond is only a mile from the house and each time we pass, there is a more beautiful view.

As you can see from the hills in the pond picture, the leaves are not all turned by any means. The hills will get more colorful every day, so stay tuned for more.

Fall is Here

Trying to drive and look at the same time is almost impossible. Tom and I drove out this morning before the rain came and took some awesome pictures.

I'm afraid you will be treated or otherwise to lots of this kind of picture over the next few weeks.

We have never seen the reds so brilliant and so early. Someone said that the sweeter the maple trees were, the more brilliant the red color. Whatever the reason, it is spring all over again with each leaf being a beautiful flower.

I spent considerable time cleaning up the cabin today, so our family who will be visiting from Chili in a week can enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and toast some marshmellows over the campfire. I'm standing on the deck. Husband missed out on the cleaning. I don't know how long he is going to milk this cow!!

After taking the morning pictures, we went to town (Auburn is the closest town thirty miles away) to do some errands. I didn't take a camera as it was raining. Big MISTAKE!!! The colors were so intense even in the rain that I could hardly drive, that means "stay on the road."

The next picture I put on the blog, whereever it ends up, will show just a limb of my favorite leaves of the fall. Each leaf is a collage of different colors and I think they are very special.

That's all for this time.

Dump Shopping

The nicest thing about going to the dump is visiting the Swap Shop where numerous items are attractively displayed for free shopping. You don't often see me sitting and reading anymore.

In September of 2007 the town gave us the small orange container in which to put a Swap Shop. Yours truly never realized what she was getting into when she offered to set up a committee to make a place where people could bring their good disposable items instead of dumping them in the waste stream which costs us taxpayers money.

The original container was the orange one you see on the right. We started out with nothing but two tables inside which husband had made from old doors.

It didn't take long for people to realize what was happening and soon we were overrun with books, clothing, dishes, small appliances and such.

A resident saw the need for bookshelves and literally tore some old wooden ones out of his basement and brought them into the shop.

The gentleman pictured outside the container offered to get donated materials and make shelves. The rest of equiping the shop is history.

This spring the forty foot green container was added to our fleet and it is now filled with furniture, clothing and most anything you could imagine.

It didn't take long for people to see this was a good thing for the community and volunteers

stepped forward. Some claim a certain time to come every week and some are on a call list. Others sign up on a calendar in the shop.

These volunteers spend endless hours sorting clothing into boxes labeled with the proper sizes of clothing displayed on our shelves. Keeping this constant flood of donations sorted is sometimes overwhelming and we do have to toss things that should have gone into the waste stream to start with. However, most people are good about bringing good used items.

I know several people who have outfitted their camps with dishes, furniture and what not. I also see regular people coming to get clothing for themselves or their grandchildren.

Books come and go and we have an excellent library of adult and children's books. I'm amazed how fast cooking books fly out of the shop.

On Saturday, I saw a set of golf clubs enter the shop and go with the next customer. It's fun to see something started to get unloaded and someone else say, "Just load that on my truck."

Not only is the shop getting tons of items out of the waste stream, but people are being helped. I hear people say they tell their neighbors to vist the dump Swallmarts.

Incidently, we moved two and a half tons of items out of the shop in August. We average a ton a month, summer or winter.

Now if you think you need something ELSE to do in retirement, organize a Swap Shop.

Ocean Botanical Gardens

After a heavy frost in the morning, a clear blue sky emerged and we took off for Boothbay to visit the Ocean Botanical Gardens for the second time.
Our friends from Massachusetts were visiting and we wanted them to see the gardens.
Tom, still unable to walk, stayed in the visitor center and napped on a couch while we took the shuttle to the Rhododendrum gardens pictured with the waterfall and also our friends reflected in the pool.

I can't wait until spring when the plants are all in bloom. We walked through these gardens and then down to the ocean trail. Along the way we passed through a wet land where several species of ferns were growing in an experimental garden. They have been sent by various growers to see how the different species react to a Maine winter. The nice part about these gardens is that everything is labeled.

The fern garden led to the ocean where we walked along a quarter of a mile ocean side trail back to the center. The trail is dotted with sculptures and a fairy land garden where children are allowed to use sticks in the area to build their own little fairy houses.

This garden is a must for all of our visitors. Keep that in mind for your next visit.

Signs of Autumn

My hydranga bush has turned a lovely pink from it's normal snow white. This is a sure sign of a seasonal change and one that's sure to bring spectacular viewing of brillant colors before the final dressing of white again, snow that it.

The geese shown flying south give us another clue that fall is on it's way, but one of my favorite scenes is to see the apple trees heavily laden with their red fruit.

This picture shows what has fallen on the ground in our back yard. The interesting thing here is that the deer haven't been to eat the apples. We hear that last year was hard for deer survival and I believe that must be true. We have seen very little wild life this year.

Finished gardens

You may be delighted to know that I will not be sending any, or maybe not many, more pictures of the new garden. It has been planted.

Friday, when I was digging the daylilies out of the seedling bed to move them to the new garden, my neighbor Trudy came by walking her little dog. She walked right over and said, "Mary, you could use some help." She tied up the dog to a nearby shrub and grabbed the shovel. She could dig faster than I could load them into the mule.

After they were all loaded, she said she was taking the dog home but would be right back. Before I could drive the mule over to the waiting beds, she was back with her shovel. In no time we had all the plants in the ground and watered before the rain came.

That afternoon the truckload of mulch arrived and I called my trusty helper Matthew to come on Saturday to move mulch. You see the fruit of his labors before your very eyes.

Planting Has Begun

Today was a very exciting day for me. The seedlings which I grew from seeds over winter of 2006-7 were planted into a seedling bed in the spring of 2007. Most of them bloomed this year and gave us quite a show of excellent new varities.

The purpose of building the beds was to move these seedlings into a larger show bed and have their old bed for next year's seedlings. The water feature was strictly an after thought.
But the result is quite impressive.

I had another helper, Matthew, move the 3 yards of mixed loam into the beds for the planting. He drove the mule down to our sand pit to get the sand for the walkway. We will cover the sand with mulch. The mulch arrives tomorrow. That means I will have to call on one of my helpers to put the mulch on the walkways and I will mulch the plants.

I moved all the daylilies which I had numbered as they bloomed. I photographed them and wrote descriptions in my record book. Tom, who still can't stand to walk because of his back, read me descriptions of the plants from a shady seat. I tried not to have two colors together. I will finish moving the others tomorrow. These will fill the upper bed.

If you notice a rock in the lower bed it is because I couldn't plant there. We had another large rock that couldn't be moved so I decided we would just have a rock feature in the bed.

What to do with the pile of rocks that were taken out of the beds is the next puzzle. The solution may come next spring.

Nothing is ever easy Part 2

My helper Rodney was just going to till up this nice slope so we could line out some beds for my daylily seedlings. Shouldn't be too much trouble and only take a half hour or so??

Two days later, he is still finding bolders in this small area to dig out and around. The rock in the front left is too large for even Rodney to move so we will make it a feature in the top bed.

The bottom bed is ready for the loam, but I have to wait on my helpers as Tom is still barely walking due to his back.

Jewel of the night

Once a year at exactly 10:00 p.m if you are lucky, you get to view a miracle which only God can create in the form of the most beautiful and fragrant flower in the world as I know it. The night blooming cereus is a wonderful creation, but it only last for four hours in the middle of the night. By morning, it is gone forever.

This year, sister and brother in law from Dallas were visiting. As we played cards someone went out to the sunroom to check progress on the flower every 15 minutes or so. I have learned to read the signs 'pretty well' having planned parties in years gone by around the opening of the flower, only to find I was one day too early.

You never know if you missed the night or if the night is tonight. We were lucky this year. I only had one blossom, but what a beauty it was. If you've never had the opportunity to see such a creation, either go buy a plant or find someone who has one and develop a friendship.

nothing is ever easy

Who said nothing was ever easy? They were right. However, I have succeeded in getting a picture into my blog. Praise Be!!

I composed this nice story last night about the cattail in the bog pool of my new water feature but the computer ate it before I was able to post it. I will try to reconstuct it as the original "nothing is ever easy" was meant for this story.

I wanted a cattail for my bog. As I drove around Sumner or anywhere else for that matter, I eyed every cattail I saw. Brother in law Charles said they looked as it you could just pull them right out of the bog where they grew. BIG mistake.

I found just the one I wanted not far from home but husband Tom had to go along to make sure I was not stealing from any one's property. The one I had found was in the right o way of a back road and the mower had already been mowing down the sides preparing for winter and snow storage from plowing. That being said, I knew I was in the clear.

I had Rodney, our yard helper, follow me to the designated spot. Husband agreed that it was fair game, so Rodney got out our small shovel and little pail to put it in. Remember, it was supposed to just pull right out of the ground.

Poor Rodney dug, pulled, dug, pulled and pulled as he struggled with the giant root ball. I'm sure he cussed under his breath that he had ever agreed to work for this woman. The thing finally came up, but it would in no way fit the bucket I had brought. We lay it on plastic in the back of my car until we could get home. I was able to pull the giant root and plant out of the car beside the pool. (I have failed to mention that husband has hurt his back and can only supervise.)

The next day, Rodney planted the cattail into the larger pot which you see in the pond. It may not be easy, but if you try hard enough, you will succeed.

Cool August