Getting our paint on

Lauren came over to help me throw some paint down on her future residence. We managed to get one of the ship bed rooms pretty well done. We had a good time for sure, and after a couple beers, and some good food, it came out alright. I have some real trouble choosing paint colors but finally had to throw caution to the wind and pick something. No pictures of the finished product but they will come once I get the trim completely done.

Nina visits

Nina came up to visit from NYC, as always we had a crazy good time. We went tubing up at the snow bowl, rocked out in Rockland, made and ate some real good food. I had the pleasure of eating at her Aunts house on Valentines day, her husband is an amazing chef and made some of the best food I have had in a long while.  She didn't need to be coaxed into the fur coat, it looked as though she had been wearing it around NYC for years. 

Carpenter's boat shop

I have been real interested in building wooden boats for a while now. I have really wanted to improve my carpentry skills and learn the trade. A jumper I work with in Alaska worked as an apprentice at the boat shop in the 80's and spoke very highly of it. It is located in Bristol, Maine. They basically have a completely free program in which they teach wooden boat building, furniture building, while living communally eating local food and actively participating in helping the community. It is really an amazing place, I spent three days there working with them immersed in the community in order to apply for the fall of 09'. Hopefully I will get accepted and I will be living in Bristol, coming home on the weekends to work on the house. If anyone is looking to donate money or help an organization, I think this is a wonderful place to do so.  www.carpentersboatshop.org

Mom comes to visit

Mom came up to visit with her friend Lauri (hopefully spelled correctly)  though they only came up for one night, they were able to hit up the Farnsworth museum, eat some good local fish, and even wear the fur coat. 

Shaemus

Shaemus is adjusting to the new house just fine. He likes to be upstairs in my room on his bed when were home, unless he senses me leaving in which point he will come part way down the stairs, and take a look to see if it is worth coming all the way down or not. It is borderline crazy because he thinks I'm leaving all to often. Oh I'm going to miss that crazy dog this summer.......

Some house pictures

Mom came up to visit and man was that a blessing. I can't emphasize enough what she helped me accomplish. Before she showed up I was chilling on Shaemus's dog bed eating cereal and reading at night. She came to my Rescue and together we transformed an empty space into a great chill house. I couldn't be happier, thanks Mom! Here are a few pics from the house. We also went to see a jazz concert that was great, new orleans style jazz, "The New Black Eagle Jazz Band" We had a great time and still didn't get to the Farnsworth museum...... Sorry :) (Ill go next time I really want to)

Tim comes to visit

Tim, and his nice girlfriend Ellen were able to come up from NH and see the new house, and experience Rockland. We had a good time venturing out on some of the amazing coastline that the area has to offer. We lucked out and had a warm weekend. Tim did some birding and Ellen and I did some relaxing, and Shaemus completely lost his mind which is always entertaining. 

Now that's what I call service!

Dad's truck died right next to the shack in a puddle of water. With temperatures plummeting and the day waning, anyone would be getting nervous maybe even a little panicky. Not Dad, cool as a cucumber, he called his trusty mechanics wife, and placed an order to have him come down. Within the hour Robert was out on the ice in the middle of the lake, hard at work on the truck in the driving wind. In no time he had it going and the problem was no longer. He is an animal, really talented, and impervious to the cold, working bare handed the entire time. I think Dad paid him with the nice fish he caught.. Crazy, only in Danforth......

Watch out for that hole!

With the bite on, one barely has the time to drink a beer, or cook a hot dog, never mind remember the 4 inch deep water gushing out of a miss-drilled hole just outside the shack. This was truly a mess but what can you do? I have drilled many holes next to a shack with no problem so there was no reason this one would be different. Well, this one was an exception,  it created a semi frozen pond the width of a road and it would not freeze due to the constant flow of water coming out of the hole.  It was almost forgotten all together until one man returned from his trap's to the shack. In a blink of an eye, a leg was completely submerged and a boot full of water and Matt was trying not to turn into a pencil and disappear under the ice forever, or at least until spring thaw.  It was a small dark spot on what was to be great fishing, a new boot and some razzing we were all having a good time. Here is a look at those treacherous holes, and the aftermath. Looking back Sheehan, that wasn't so bad right?

Ice Fishing

Before I closed on the house, I was lucky enough to have Matt, his buddy travis come up for a weekend of fishing out on East Grand. The all mighty JL made his presence felt, coming up for the weekend pulling up some nice fish, and entertaining us all. Dad even got a chance to get away and put a few traps in the water. Good thing he did, look at that laker! It was quite a weekend, We had some cold weather and endured a gigantic pool of water that nearly surrounded the shack, making for a treacherous passage to and from the shack. Despite everyone being heads up throughout the day,the hole managed to take a prisoner........

So here is the house, it is an 1850's style farm house with a two story barn and half an acre of land . Putting the pictures up will most likely jinx this all somehow but what the hell, everything happens for a reason, so if It falls through at the last minute, ill walk away knowing that.

Didn't see it coming....

After looking at a number of places and exploring the Camden/Rockland/Rockport area I was really into the area but not very enthusiastic about what we were finding for property. In this terrible market it IS a good time to buy, especially for a first time home buyer. We were leaving after a couple days of looking with no luck. We went to one last place before heading out and what we found was pretty sweet. So now The house is under contract and I close on the 28th of this month. I know, what the hell am I doing?? To answer the common questions: Yes, I am still heading to Alaska to jump, Yes I am going to rent it out, Yes, I will be returning in the fall to live in Rockland, (or base out of there anyway), no I won't be driving to Alaska, ill fly, Yes I have all of my belongings in Bend (they will be retrieved in the fall), yes Ill be living in Rockland until April, and yes I am doing it myself. I am impulsive for sure, but I have found that when I want to do something I go try to made it happen, it has worked out so far so hopefully this will be the same. It is a good investment, a good place for me to put my money instead of paying someone Else's mortgage.   Well see, it is all part of the "ride" I feel real good about moving to Rockland, I love the coast, I love the edgy seaside fishing town. It is one of the few areas of the coast where the mountains meet the sea. It truly beautiful, and not being there in the summer will allow me to enjoy it in the spring, fall and winter without the tourist crowd. Oh and Camden Snow bowl is in town so I can hit the slopes, calm the craving and and work on those tele-turns, looking out at the island's and the sea. Not bad. 

Changes......

So as most of you know, I was slated to head back out to Bend, Oregon come the first of the year......  I thought for sure that was happening, I bought a truck and gathered my gear and at the last minute decided to wait until after new years to leave. I went to visit my Mom and Grandparents in Western Mass for Christmas. I had a very nice low key time for the holiday, just what was needed before crossing the country again.  I have been looking into property and houses for sale in Mid-coast Maine for a while now, not sure how serious I was, but frequently looking for the last couple of years. My mom thought it to be a great idea that we head up to the mid-coast and just "look" at some property. The "discovery phase" I think it was called.  We headed to Maine for a few days and stayed at the Lord Camden Inn, in downtown Camden.  After we were done, I would head back to my Dad's and hit the road for Oregon, via Florida and the southern route. 

Cross country ski-jouring

Fortunately I was able to follow Dad's lead and go score a nice new pair of cross country ski's, boots, and poles from a lodge that is not doing so well. Shaemus and I now have the complete setup and can hit the lake for some ski-jouring. If you are not sure what the heck that means, it is Shaemus, a one dog sled team pulling me as I ski behind him. He doesn't do all the work though, I need to constantly remind him that it is OK to be pulling hard, as I herd him along the trail.  After we ran so much together with the setup he could only run me so fast, so he is hesitant to break out. That in combination with being out of shape makes for an interesting, but really fun time. We have had a lot going on lately, as a result both our fitness has been struggling. It is time to turn it around, the arduous work season is now on the horizon and getting tough is essential.  

The largest moon of 2009

Last night was the largest moon of 2009, as the sun went down the moon came up and created an awesome scene out on the ice. Here is to the biggest moon of 2009.

8 pounds of Cusk

Dad ran back home for something and wouldn't you know it, I got a flag and caught an eight pound Cusk. It gave a decent fight, almost 20 minutes of sheer "excitement"................ I caught a Cusk, it was the biggest cusk I have ever caught, hey, it's better than nothing, only by a little though.

Ice Fishing

Now that 11 days has expired in the 2009 fishing season I finally was able to get out on the ice to set some traps. It is real hard to get out and ice fish when you live so far from any lake or pond................ Anyway, Dad and I took Saturday and went out to the shack and set some traps down deep and a few on top for Salmon. It was an alright day of fishing, well, better than the last few days of open water in 2008 anyway! The dogs had a great time, Shaemus ate a couple of smelt, and some snow covered with grease. 

One more load!

Under the lights

The time change has made it hard to keep working past 4:30 each day, so I busted out the flood lights and put in a few extra hours to get what I moved stacked. It has been a long few days of playing around with firewood. I am fairly certain that after this is all done I will no longer enjoy working with firewood. It was pretty sweet tonight when I finished picking it all up under the lights of the tractor. I couldn't help but smile as I left the guys driveway where I have spent way to many hours.  

More wood

Back on the lake there is still more to get done before winter puts the hammer down. The dumptruck has been in the shop but luckily was ready yesterday. We have an enormous amount of firewood to move and then stack. With the ice covered ground, the entire road and driveway leading to the house where the wood was needed to be sanded. because the truck was in use I had to shovel it by hand and make trips with the tractor. Coming off a relaxing birthday it was refreshing to get out and accomplish something. I worked till well after dark last night under the lights of the tractor and got a good start. Today is 5 degrees and about a thirty mile an hour wind howling off the lake. It should be pretty raw working but hopefully ill get it all moved today and be able to continue stacking tonight into tomorrow and Wednesday. This is the pile that needs to be moved, and then one of the areas that it will be re-stacked.