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...

Augusta

is the capital of Maine and we finally went for a visit, making this the 7th State House.

This one is plain and simple, much like its people.

There are no bullet holes, no scandal, no opulence...totally utilitarian.

The building has been remodeled and enlarged, but the original front of the building was preserved.

As you can see, there is work being done on the dome, but "Lady of Wisdom," standing 15' made of copper and overlaid with gold, shines brightly. She holds a pine bough in the form of a torch in her right hand and a pine cone in her left.

Our tour guide, Dan, gave us a private tour starting out in the rotunda.  The bust is of Percival P. Baxter who was a governor and the man responsible for Baxter State Park...he donated the land with the stipulation it would forever stay wild.

The dome rises to a height of 185'.

The building was designed by Charles Bulfinch of Boston who also designed the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

The building stands on 34 acres which was deeded to the state for ten dollars.

There are four stories.

This caught my eye. The floor of the rotunda has these tiny one inch tiles that were individually placed on the floor. I forget how long it took to lay those. By the way, David and Marianne, the marble and limestone came from Vermont, the black limestone also contained fossils.

Taking a peek out one of the windows produced this view...of course I had to go sit and admire the view from the rocking chair for a while. Do you see the chair in the photo to the right?

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CHAMBER

SENATE CHAMBER

This portrait of a standing Abraham Lincoln is one of three painted by Albion Bicknell. The second one is in the State House in Massachusetts. They don't know where the third one is...where might that one be?  Ah, maybe there is a little mystery here.

And that concludes our visit.

Until next time...

HURRICANE ARTHUR

caused a terrific storm with 6" of rain and wind gusts to 60 mph as he swirled up the East Coast.

As I was fretting over the need to move our rig forward out of the tree line (Wallace pooh poohed that idea) down came this Aspen tree top.  Sorry about the reflection...I'm so glad it landed in the yard!!!

We woke Saturday morning to no power.  It was not until Monday when it was finally restored.  That meant no electricity and no water...which makes for a miserable time.

Monday we were treated to a whale watching trip with the YCC kids. Our boat left out of Eastport where this Navy ship was docked. They come every 4th of July and give tours. We did not see any whales, but we had a good time.

This past week, we found a lost dog...she is now back home with her owner. Wallace found a diamond ring and found the owner...here we come to save the day!!!

We are again taking water readings at the impoundments, and doing a wildlife survey at the Edmunds Division.

Mowing and weedeating has been keeping us busy as well.

Got the okay from our biologist to remove these neglected bird boxes.  They really were an eyesore.

Wallace has been routing more signs to replace the old wooden ones.


I will be filling in at the office this week since Peggy is on vacation.
We have a list of things we see that need to be done.  We don't run out of things to do.

Until next time...

Moving In

All hands on deck Monday...we are finally moving into the new office building here at Moosehorn NWR.

Our work days are Tuesday-Thursday, but we are here today to help with the move.

Peggy was first to move in.  She had been fretting for some time, but we all helped her make her nest and she just told me she is very happy with her new office, especially after she got her wall hangings in place.

Brent, federal officer, was proud of this new glass case to display some of the seized items.  He asked for my help and we had fun arranging the goodies.

The red material, with a value of $5000.00, is made from Tibetan antelope.

The briefcase is made from elephant hide. The carvings are ivory.

This is the reception desk and you can imagine what it looked like during the move. Things were piled high as it seemed to be the catch all!!  I could not wait to get that cleared off and tidied up.



The picture collage on the wall is one of two Bill asked me to put together several years ago and they wanted it placed there.

Monday was the hardest of the moving days. Pizzas were brought in for lunch...this is the conference room.

There were boxes of kitchen stuff dropped on the table which I quickly put away.  No picture of the kitchen though.

This brochure rack is just opposite the reception desk, and now it is getting filled.

As everyone was taking care of their own office, I arranged all the office supplies and organized them in this storage closet.  All the items were in boxes lined up in the hall next to the closet and it seemed a little daunting at first, but little by little the job got done.  Wallace helped Mike get the shelving in.

This is only half the closet in this picture.

We carried boxes of brochures down to the basement and organized this area...a work in progress.

Many boxes of binders, books, plaques and pictures were dropped in front of the stove, and I put those things away.  The committee needs to finalize where they want pictures and plaques placed.

Steve came up with some ideas of more signs for Wallace to rout and he got right to work on those.

We all gathered on the back porch for a hot dog lunch on Thursday.  

We saw a moose wandering down below.

Prior to this lunch, Bill asked if I would take the YCC kids on a tour of the refuge.  They wanted to see James Pond which is on the far side of the refuge.  Upon turning around, I got the van stuck!!! Fire came to our rescue.  We did see James Pond though.

After four days of moving, everyone seems to be settling in and the place looks great!!!

Until next time...

Fishing Derby 2014

The day started out wet and foggy when 6 staff, 3 volunteers and 2 students met at 8:00 am to caravan to Cobscook Bay State Park where we hold the event. 

Although it is a state park, the land is owned by the refuge...the state just "rents" it.

Wallace and I were given a $500.00 gift certificate to purchase all the food and drink...we planned on 120 people. The friends group did not participate this year, and I might add, we did just fine without them!!!

70 children registered to fish, add parents and grandparents which makes a good crowd. 

The pond was high with water this year, so the kids had to fight the grass.

After rules were given and the fog horn sounded, they cast out and within 5 minutes we had our first fish on.

The kids are real excited and come early to get their favorite spot.

There were some BIG trout this year. This one was almost a pound. The little boy was fun to watch, and he was not afraid to touch the fish.

Wallace grilled the "red" wieners (a Maine thing), chips and cookies are laid out on the table with soft drinks on ice.

People start eating early, and we had plenty for them to eat!!! 

The two Mikes also took turns on the grill.

Maury, biologist, has served for 40 years. He is in charge of weighing the fish. Each child can catch their limit and then they are weighed to determine the winner in each age category.

Maury was recently presented an award for his service to fish and wildlife.

We not only feed everyone, the pond is stocked with the fish and we even supply the earthworms and poles.

Here we are doling out 6 worms per child.

Time is up...people have been fed...prizes are given out as we yell out..."hot dogs, get your hot dogs here".

We had food and drink leftover...we plan on having another picnic on moving day!!!


The fishing derby was a huge success, with everyone pitching in and helping out.

Until next time...

Another Day in Paradise

I awoke at 4:00 am to a Magnolia Warbler singing.  Next a Chipping Sparrow joined in.  Made coffee, then took it outside to listen to the cacophony of songs...the birds started early this morning.  A White-throated Sparrow started singing in the distance, then a Black-throated Green Warbler woke up, joined by an Ovenbird.  It's fun to see how many birds can be identified by song.

We have been seeing bears lately, and evidence of moose on the trails.

A moose was hit by a vehicle and had to be put down! That was close to the refuge.

Nodding Trillium, Lily of the Valley, Clintonia, Canadian Mayflower, Bunchberry, Starflower, and Blue-eyed Grass are all blooming on the Charlotte Trail (my favorite trail). The apple and cherry trees are finished blooming and now putting on fruit for the wildlife.

Wallace was busy working on roads while I purchased barrels and potting soil for the flowers we just purchased. I filled 9 barrels with flowers...4 went to the new office building which has yet to be moved into.

Thursday, we took an ATV over to Bangor to be worked on. We got the approval from Bill to stop next door to pick up a toilet for our rig. We are wondering what's next to break down! This toilet has been an issue with quite a few people, including Mark and Teri. Mark, we bought a Bravura...that is what we had in our other rig and never had a problem. Hopefully, they are made the same. 

We found a fellow who came to the refuge and installed all new equipment to get our dish working again...now we have tv!!!

We were given these moose steaks...not quite a New York strip, but they were tasty.

Until next time...