Open House

We moved into the new office June 23...next thing to do was open house.  We have been planning it for some time and it finally came to fruition.

Bill Kolodnicki, project leader, gave the welcoming.  In attendance were two state representatives, the mayor of Calais and a rep from Homeland Security.  There were about 40 people for the ribbon cutting that started at 2:00 pm, with others coming and going throughout the evening.  It ended at 7:00 pm.

The refreshments were laid out on the conference room table...the picture was taken before the fruit bowl and punch were put out.

We had a video of the building while it was being built projected on the screen.

I arranged two vases of flowers for the table and reception desk, and prepared my favorite punch of lime sherbet and 7 up (which was a big hit).

With our limited budget, the black-eyed Susans came from the refuge.

The building is geothermal and supported by a solar system, with a back up generator in the event of emergencies.

The cake was delicious.  The photo is actually the back of the office.

Several of us bought or made the desserts.  I baked peanut butter crisscrosses.

Until next time...

Catching Up

Wallace was asked to rout these signs for the entry and this was the design they asked for from the sign committee.

We now have a one way road taking you to the new office building.

It will take a while before people get the hang of it.

Straight on takes you to the visitor cabin.

I filled in at the office while Peg was out on vacation.

The phone system is much better in the new office, but it took a while to get all the bugs worked out.

I arranged and hung the collage and photos on the wall.

I baked these peanut butter crisscrosses for the staff meeting.  I have baked oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip as well.  Chocolate chip has been their favorite.

With blueberry season in full force, we have been enjoying pies too.

It sure is nice to have a man around the house. He has chain saw cert. Anyway, we came across this on our way to monitor wildlife. It did not take long and we were on our way.

We have several of these scattered around to help us keep up with visitation. Look who visited and signed in. Jimmy Houston. He has a fishing show on TV & we have watched his show.  Pretty neat!!!

We monitor water levels once a week giving us the opportunity to be out on the refuge. We let the biologist know what the levels are and let them know when there is beaver activity.

We also note any and all wildlife we see.

This deer with her fawn have been seen regularly around the refuge.

It was nice of them to pose for this photo near the blue goose sign.

This is a picture taken at Acadia National Park...Thunder Hole. For some reason we did not stop here on our previous visit, so, since we had some extra time before our departure for Petit Manan (the tour from our previous blog) we decided to check it out.  It was low tide so it did not THUNDER very loudly.

But, now we can say we have seen all we want to see of Acadia.

Bill had picked up two of these display cases and asked us to put them together...we found only one was complete and in working order.

We hauled those cases to three different places before we found a place high enough to put them up.

Wallace got to take the mower out for the day.

I'm still mowing with the little John Deere.

We were asked to be on the look out for purple loosestrife. We found the first clump that has been on the refuge since we have been coming...7 years.

It has now been eradicated.

While out doing our water readings, we happened upon this northern water snake.

This is me with Bill. The refuge had a booth at the Blueberry Festival again and we helped tend the booth.

We snapped this picture on Charlotte Road as we were returning to the refuge. He was intent on chowing down on some berries and paid us no mind.

The new office building. 

We are getting ready for open house on the 28th...come by and see us!!!

My little blue spotted salamander friend. It lives near our visitor cabin. Be sure your hands are free of anything that could kill things you pick up, including insect repellent.



Until next time...

Bar Harbor, Maine

for another puffin trip to Petit Manaan. The island is one of four owned and managed by US Fish & Wildlife. It is part of the Maine Coastal Islands NWR. 

This photo was taken upon our departure as the sun was setting.

Linda Welch is a biologist who accompanied us out to this island in 2007, where we were privileged to disembark and spend a wonderful experience among the birds they are working so hard to protect. I was so glad to see she is still at it.

Since I was not blogging back then, I thought I would share a little about our first trip.

This was the boat we took in 2007. The dingy took us to the rocky shoreline.

It was already turning out to be a great day of fun.

We managed to make it to shore without a problem.

With me were two other Friends of Moosehorn members.

Now, let's get a close up of some of the birds, and learn about the work that is being done to protect them on this special island.

We also walked to the top of the lighthouse, the second tallest one in Maine. What a view...the birds and their nests scattered all over.

Wallace got to hold a baby puffin while Linda made preparations to weigh it.

Here I am with a precious tern chick. We wonder where these birds are now...maybe among the many we see on this trip.

Gray cheeks...young puffins...with one Razorbill to the left...and a Common Tern flying by in the background. 

These chicks were anywhere and everywhere, but we were very careful to watch our steps.

The islands are closed from April 1 to August 31...nesting season.

And this is the boat we took today...on the left...as we are boarding.

Since there were over 100 people on board and since we did not get on the island, it was not as fun as our first trip there, but we did enjoy the day.









Until next time...