HURRICANES AND LIFE CHANGES

Well, our place in Florida has come through the storms OK so far.
I suppose I could wax philosophic and talk about hurricanes as metaphors for life, but that's kind of trite. OK, I'll do it anyway.
Some of us are lucky enough to go through life with no hurricanes and just a few bad storms, but it seems to me that more and more of us have more and more storms. Modern life is, I suspect, really harder on us than when I was young. We are locked in a world that impinges on us harder and faster and that offers fewer and fewer safe havens.
It seems to me that election politics are a manifestation of this. Bush & co. have for example, screwed up big time in lots of areas (foreign affairs, economy, health, security, etc.) but they are smart enough to take advantage of the voters' uncertainty about the world in general so that more and more of us seem to prefer the "evil we know" and accept their characterizations of Kerry even though there is no truth behind them.
Kerry is in the pecular position of being critized for dwelling on Bush's negatives, of which there are many, while Bush can slander him with impunity, or so the polls seem to show.
The storms seem to hit more and more as we get older and older and senior citizens really do need more of a helping hand in many ways, but life can be catastrophically stormy at any age.
When the storm hits, often the only handy way to react is to take it out on your partner or friends. I suspect many marriages and friendships have been broken through no particular fault of either party, but just because of outside stresses that had no other relief valve.
There are solutions to this kind of social problem, but so far few of us have even recognized the problem, much less looked for alternatives.

WHERE TO RETIRE

For a while we had three places. Maine Summer, Southern Indiana Spring and Fall, South Florida in the Winter. (No we weren't rich, that's just the way it happened.)
It was a pain. Everything you wanted to use was somewhere else

Now we Have Maine July-October, North Florida the rest of the time. You don't want to think Maine winters or North Florida summers. The weather channel and the TV news tend to overplay hurricane damage. Notice they always show the distruction in a mobile home or manufactured house site. Neither are storm proof. In Andrew (one of the worst storms to ever hit the Miami area). The Habitat for Humanity owner- volunteer built houses came through OK; some of the expensive development type homes did not.

HURRICANES AND MAINE

Do we get hurricanes in Maine? It's possible, but mostly by the time they get up here they are fast-moving extra-tropical storms without as much wind and rain. Also since Maine climate is somewhat more extreme than the lower US, the houses are built for storms and just about every rural Mainer has a chain saw and chain in his pickup to clear the mess off the roads after a storm. He will probably use it for next year's firewood.
Right now it is beautiful up here. Cool nights (40's-50's) and clear crisp days with a high in the 70's.
The trees are beginning to turn and the traffic is down, as are prices of everything from motels to gas to lobsters. The leaf-peepers will be arriving in a couple of weeks and some parts of Maine will enjoy a smaller Fall tourist season for a few weeks. By October 15th the leaves will probably all be blown off and Mainers will be out hunting.
Meanwhile, in Florida, lots of retirees are probably wondering why they ever left Dubuque.

FLORIDA AND HURRICANES

I was in my first hurricane when I was six. We were living on Miami Beach and it got brushed. The Bonus Marchers who had been brought down to the Keys as WPA workers weren't so lucky. The train that was to haul then to saftey was blown off the tracks at Matacumbie Key and two or three hundred of them were killed.
Growing up in South florida meant regular hurricanes in those days. The most memorable for me was the one in 1947 (they didn't name them in those days) which hit Ft. Lauderdale head-on. I was a seventeen-year-old member of a Red Cross diaster rescue team and boy did we have a disaster! The storm surge was eight or nine feet after some thirty inches of rain. I remember herding mullet on Hollywood Boulevard (main street of that city) in three feet of salt water over two miles from the ocean. The area of Ft. Lauderdale Beach where the Yankee Clipper Hotel now stands was a bare sand spit with an open channel from the intercoastal waterway to the ocean. It had been almost a half-mile wide island before the storm. As we had a vehicle that could go through several feet of water, we were used to evacuate people in low lying areas (most of the county). I thought it was great fun.
Another memorable storm I was in was in the Pacific when I was a merchant seaman. Standing on the bridge of a large freighter looking up at the wave tops was impressive, and as the storm was going the same way we were, we were in in for four days!
There have been several others, Donna, Cleo, Bonny, and some I've fogotten. By the time Andrew came along I had wised up and was in Indiana. Now we've moved back to Florida (Tallahassee) where hurricanes are seldom felt. Unfortunately seldom doesn't mean never and we are awaiting the arrival of Frances which has just made believers of the rest of Florida.
Fortunately, I'm writing this from Maine

MEN AND WOMEN

Men are not from Mars, Women are not from Venus, they are both from here.
Here's an interesting song I found on another website (would you believe a WarBlog?):
-----------
When I Was A Boy
Dar Williams

I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check.
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other's lives out on the pirate's deck.
And I remember that night
When I'm leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me it's not safe, someone should help me
I need to find a nice man to walk me home.
When I was a boy, I scared the pants off of my mom,
Climbed what I could climb upon
And I don't know how I survived,
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew.
And you can walk me home, but I was a boy, too.

I was a kid that you would like, just a small boy on her bike
Riding topless, yeah, I never cared who saw.
My neighbor come outside to say, "Get your shirt,"
I said "No way, it's the last time I'm not breaking any law."
And now I'm in a clothing store, and the sign says less is more
More that's tight means more to see, more for them, not more for me
That can't help me climb a tree in ten seconds flat

When I was a boy, see that picture? That was me
Grass-stained shirt and dusty knees
And I know things have gotta change,
They got pills to sell, they've got implants to put in, they've got implants to
remove
But I am not forgetting
That I was a boy too

And like the woods where I would creep, it's a secret I can keep
Except when I'm tired, except when I'm being caught off guard
I've had a lonesome awful day, the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard.
And I tell the man I'm with about the other life I lived
And I say now you're top gun, I have lost and you have won
And he says, "Oh no, no, can't you see
When I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked.
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too.
And you were just like me, and I was just like you.
-------------
Any comments?

ARE YOU TERRORIZED?

A terrorist is defined in my dictionary as "One who applies terror politically", and terror is defined as an intense state of fear,fright, or dread.
The tools of the terrorist are essentially psychological in that the terrorist uses some act to cause fear in his victim and thus cause the victim to do the terrorist's work e.g. disrupt the victim's life, society, country, etc. If the victim doesn't respond with fear and disrupt his life, than the terrorist has failed.
Looked at from this perspective, our government has given Osama just what he wanted.
The "War on Terror" with all its concomitant laws, rules, bureaucracy, and expense has disrupted our government probably far beyond Osama's wildest expectations.
It seems to me that the way to defeat terror is not to be terrorized by the terrorist's actions. I think most Americans sort of instinctively realize this, are not terrorized, and are impatient with a government that seems to be.
America has spent billions of dollars and over as thousand of our soldier's lives in a terrorized reaction without, in my opinion, thinking though the result. Either that or the government has rather cynically used the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to get the backing of Americans for some other agenda. It is certainly using the Nominating Convention to call attention to American voters of just how terrorized we are supposed to be and how our government is "protecting" us.
Understand: The government is protecting us from attack (It's supposed to do that, though it sometimes fails). It is not protecting us from terror, in fact it is encouraging terror and to the degree that it succeeds, Osama has won.
This weekend, in an interview with, I think NBC, the president rather casually mentioned that he didn't think the "War on Terror" was winnable. Be sure to re-elect him.

MAINE AS A WORK OF ART

I'm sitting looking out the window as I type this. The sun is making the lake sparkle with innumerable glints of eye-squinting flashes. As the wind is from the South, right off the Gulf of Maine, it's cool and bringing with it a haze which makes the islands and the far shore misty. A hummer just flashed by on his way to defend the feeder from other hummers and marauding bees.
This late in the summer, Maine's wild and ragged look has become lush and full. I spent some time this morning brushcutting pine and moosewood saplings that were coming up out of the thigh-high cinnamon ferns under our maple trees. Now I will have to haul them down and burn them; I use our outdoor fireplace for that to decrease the danger of wildfire. It takes longer but it's safer.
In a few weeks the ferns will be cinnamon- color (and begin to smell sort of cinnamony). By then the birches and maples will have begun to do their thing followed by the red oaks. As we have had a cool, wet summer the fall foliage should be at its best. A lot of the shoreline of our lake is lined with spruce, pine, and hemlock but there is enough hardwood to make the colors pretty spectacular. I'll keep you posted.
I'll have to cut this short as our next door neighbor (whose family owns all the land in back of us as well as one of the islands in front), has asked us over for wine & cheese. We'll spend a comfortable hour or so admiring the lake her viewpoint (100 yard difference, but furthur back from the shore - not an nice as ours )

LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE VIEWPOINTS

Did you see the news item about the well-buried report on the effectiveness of Charter Schools (a major feature of Bush's No child left Behind act)? Turns out despite one-on-one, fairly expensive, ego stroking of the poor little darlings, they don't test as well as those left in our ugly old public schools. Also as outfit that owns 60 of them in CA has been accused of "fiscal wrongdoing" and is closed down. Some of the poor students now have no place to go as they are either 1. over 18, or 2. have been permanently expelled by their district schools. As with many of these "privatized" programs, greed was the major motivation in setting the system up. Grabbing some of that tax money looked pretty good.
I guess that's my major bitch with the modern so-called conservatives; if you look closely, they mostly seem terribly selfish and unconcerned with the general welfare except to make sure that its problems impinge on them as little as possible.
Incidentally, I always though the definitions of Conservative and Liberal were thought of in terms of how they approached change and their attitude toward other's viewpoints. Conservatives satisfied with the status quo and fairly complacent about their opinions as being "Those that were tried, true, and right" while Liberals tend to see the situation as "improvable" and wanting to try improving it as well as being more tolerant toward opposing viewpoints.
In modern times (since Reagan) the Conservatives seem to have become a good deal more intolerant and reactionary. This has left us poor rationalists and liberals at a disadvantage as we for a long time thought we were playing the game under the old, more polite, rules. Also if you respect the other guy's viewpoint, it's kind of hard to attack it viciously.
Modern philosophers and social thinkers are now calling this period the "Post-modern" or "Post-rational" era and the old rules don't seem to apply any more. I find observing it fascinating, but I'm sure glad I'm not trying to make my way in the world.

UTOPIA, A BRIEF MENTION

When Thomas More wrote his book a few centuries ago, he was one of a long line of dreamers. The idea of a perfect society has plagued mankind (and womankind) ever since they realized that the world wasn't always to their liking and could be improved. To some of us a perfect society is one where we can do just as we please without restraint, to others it is one of complete religious harmony - their religion!
Others imagine a world with no social ills and unhappiness. The famous story of the saint given a single wish whose wish was "Without changing my present state, I wish to be the most miserable person in the world" is a comfortable example.
What's your idea of Utopia?

VIEWPOINTS

As I understand it, occasional moderately raised blood pressure is good for you, but being continually in that state is undesirable.
The Libertarian viewpoint envisioning a severely limited government is a nice dream for those who feel that the government (local, state, national, wherever) somehow impinges on them and denies them the right to LL&POH. In most cases the Libertarians seem to feel this has to do with the denial of right to use or confiscation of their property or treasure (or part of it).
As far as I can see that viewpoint rests on some shaky assumptions:
1. That all persons are, or start off, equal in their abilities and do not need protection from each other.
2. That, given the libertarian millenium, all persons will act for their personal good and will see that as including not impinging on one another.
3. That, in such a world, necessary cooperation such as exchange of services, importation of necessities, will proceed according to classic economic theory and no member will have the desire or opportunity to exploit another.
These Utopian dreams have been part of mankind's wishes for as long as we've been around and despite the imaginings of the Enlightenment philosophers have never, so far as I can see, been a reality.
I used to set my very bright HS seniors the task of creating their idea of a model utopia, giving them all the references that were readily available. Some of their ideas were fascinating and I'm sure some of them still hold some of their dreams. Given that most adolescents feel constrained and restricted, many of their utopias were "basic Libertarian". I always saw my job as encouraging their cognitive development while at the same time pointing out historic practicality. I think most of them thought I was too idealistic.
I probably was, but I was (and am) not so idealistic as to think that modern society in a country of a very diverse 270M+doesn't need a pretty complex set of controls to keep it from general collapse and breakdown. Even Heaven has (presumably) an all-powerful ruler who, despite some evidence to the contrary, is beneficent; and the U.S. ain't heaven.
In short, the reason we have an intruding government, is because we feel we need one. What we argue over is the nature of the intrusion. Stem cell research and abortion should be eliminated;or controlling the predations of the rich and avaricious on the poor and helpless. You take your choice.
Incidentally, concerning universal health care: In every and all countries with it, there has never been any popular uprising demanding that it be eliminated, quite the contrary, the government that tried would probably fail. The same is true of Social Security.
As far as the relationship of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to our present social situation:
The constitution is just that, a very successful, pretty general framework for the governing of a country. the fact that with only 25 virtual amendments (two cancel each other) a framework written for a small agrarian collection of communities still works in one of the largest and certainly the most powerful country in the world speaks for its excellence.
The Declaration of Independence is a remarkable clear, concise statement of our fundamental moral basic values and has been the inspiration for many similar documents throughout the world for the past 228 years.
That's enough of a rant for today. Maybe I'll post this on my website.

MORE ON THE OLYMPICS

In modern times (1894), a French aristocrat decided to restart the games. He had some strange ideas, amateurism being among the strangest. This seems to have been a sort of social class thing and was borrowed from the Social Darwinism ideas of the time (racial superiority, White Man's burden, Nietzsche, etc.). The first modern Olympic games were held in Greece in 1896 and for the next several decades were held in Europe and America. The most spectacular pre-World War II games were, of course the games held in Germany in 1936. Hitler/Goebbles/Reichfenstall (well Hitler is spelled right) pulled out all the stops to set the stage for the nationalistic shows we have today. The Russians had already made a mockery of the concept of amateurism with their state-supported athletic training programs but most other countries hung in there until the early 1980s with at least the pretense of demanding amateur status of the performers.
The Games began as a religious celebration and in modern times they have regained some of that status. Those countries who compete seriously certainly regard their sports with religious fervor. Here in the U.S. athletes are even sometimes excused rape and murder and I suspect more citizens focus their Sundays on football than on church.
I think the games started as an expression of the Greeks' worship of the human body and its possibilities and in modern times, with some modifications, has returned to that worship. That being the case, I'm surprised that there isn't more of a religious backlash. After all, the games are in direct competition with organized religion. Come to think of it, they are pretty organized also: Structure, priesthood, dogma, commandments, the whole bit. I wonder what pagans and those dusty gods up on Olympus think of all this?
Hey, I haven't even touched the homosexual aspect, both ancient and modern

THE OLYMPICS AS RELIGION

PBS had an interesting two-parter on the other night. A sort of history and visual reconstruction of the Olympic games. They complained that in our time, the athletes on camera could not be filmed as they actually participated (nude), but had to be filmed in jocks. The reconstructed contests were interesting but the comments of the various college prof/experts were even, to me at least, more interesting.
The Olympic games were religious ceremonies which were performed every four years for about 1200 years. Classic Greek calendar dates were by the Olympiad.
The basic idea seems to have been to strive to become as god-like as humanly possible. Since the Greeks formed their gods in their own images (as most of us do) and since they admired courage, guile, physical beauty and strength; and saw their gods as the epitome of these attributes, athletic training and contests were central to their culture, or at least the male part of it. Women were forbidden, on pain of death, to even watch the games, much less participate.
In the contests themselves, just about anything was legal except biting and eye gouging. One boxer actually disemboweled his opponent and deaths in the contests were apparently frequent. Winning was the only recognized end; all the other contestants were more or less disgraced.
The idea of amateurism would have confused the Greeks, there was no such thing in their world. Anyone could compete and it was expected that the athlete himself or his city-state would support the long training any one of the contests would take. The most famous races, the chariot, were mostly driven by slaves, though there was one famous race where the emperor Nero drove his own. He fell off but was declared winner anyway. After his demise, his winning was reversed.

THE ELECTION AND THE TERRORISTS

The latest flap seems to be the heightened alert the NY financial institutions were put on Monday. By Tuesday (after a day of roadblocks ,delays, and frustration) it was revealed that most of the info used to institute the alert was two or three years old. When accused of playing politics with terror, Bush became very annoyed and defensive as did Tom Ridge (head terrormeister). they were insulted that anyone would think they would use 9/11, terrorists, security threats, etc. for political purposes. I have news for you: EVERYTHING those people do is political and rather carefully planned, even though sometimes it seems the left and right hands aren't on the same page.
An example of this occured yesterday: While Homeland Security was insisting that the threats to symbolic sites like the Stock Exchange were real, they re-opened the Statue of Liberty to visitors for the first time since 9/11.

JOHN KERRY

I watched Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention last night and I was impressed. The speech was well written and well delivered. Kerry is obviously not the speaker Clinton or Reagan was, He's more on the order of a Truman or Eisenhower type.
I think what the candidate does is a lot more important that how he sounds, but the electorate seems to be overwhelmingly impressed with appearence rather than substance. I suppose Reagan and TV are the reasons for that.
Kerry strikes me as a thoughtful competent person who can act decisivly and has a strong moral sense. The Bushites have criticized him for what they call a lackluster senate career. A closer look is more likely to show a thoughtful person willing to work hard at the thankless jobs ( e.g Senate intelligance committee) and shy away from the self-aggrandizing spotlights. I'm not sure introducing a lot of expensive pay-off bills is any plus for a congressman.
His management of the convention is certainly different from the Demo conventions I have watched for the last 50 years (actually I think 52, wasn't the '52 convention the first televised?). Much more unity and much less rankor. I don't remember any past convention where ALL the opposing candidates for the nomination appeared with the nominee after his acceptance speech. His speech was good enough to satisfy my wife who was very doubtful about him.
Besides, Washington needs a president who has given CPR to a hamster

MORE VARMINT STORIES

Years ago, here in Maine, we had a great horned owl that used to raid the family of shrews that lived in the spring just in front of our camp (Mainesh for cabin). We would sit in the dark and he would fly in and roost on a branch only a few feet from us. Never a sound of wings and he was a big bird!
Our weirdest varmint collection is the group of bats that spend the day behind our shutters. As the're great bug eaters, I don't bother them but boy do they grumble in the Fall when I close up.
A couple of years ago, a young fox showed up in the early afternoon. It was late in the season and he probably was looking for a handout as he hung around all day even though we were out photographing him. He jumped up on our picnic table and posed nicely. He snooped around the cabin and finally grabbed one of my wading sandals and started off with it. I yelled at him, he turned around,dropped the sandal and peed on it, presumably marking it as HIS sandal. I was laughing so hard I didn't get a photo. We had some friends over and this performance took place in front of about six people in the early afternoon.
He appeared to be a young red fox, good coat, nice tail, alert, not sick or exhibiting any distemper or rabies symptoms. He eventually gave up and wandered off into the woods, I assume looking for a softer touch.

ANIMALS vs PETS

My wife and I are wild animal people. We have lived in several places where critters abound and greatly enjoy watching and casual encounters. As used to travel a lot, we decided early on that pets weren't for us.
Yesterday morning we had a deer in front of the camp, We have continual hummingbird presence at our window boxes. Hummers are fearless - I left the screen up once and one came in making a bee-line (no, HB-line) for a vase of flowers. He realized he didn't belong inside so flew back to the nearest window - a closed one. I caught him in my hand and chucked him out the open window. He buzzed off and I thought we'd seen the last of him; not so. He was back within a few minutes.
Here we've had friendly: otters (tried to come in the camp) mink, foxes, raccoons, chippies, red & gery squirrels, porcupines (knawed one of my boat trailer tires), moose, even a fisher (he ate the porcupines). Oh yes, we have an occasional bear and had a brace of coyotes denning up in our rocks a few years ago.
Except for the birds, we do not feed or encourage the wildlife but they seem to feel unthreatened so we see plenty. If we had a dog, we wouldn't.
I did use to feed the deer in the winter in Indiana. We had one badly crippled buck that waited for the daily handout - he bedded down right next to the feeder and to see him erupt out of the snow was something else. I never could get him to come closer than about five feet when I had the feed (cracked corn) bucket. He was around for three years so I guess he did OK, even with only three usable legs.
The deer there used to follow us around when we were working in the woods. There we also had a flock of resident wild turkeys. We did not allow hunting, which upset our Hoosier neighbors.

THE 9/11 REPORT

The 9/11 commission has issued its final report and I think dispelled a lot of myths about the background and nature of the attacks.
It seems Osama isn't the moneybags we first thought, rather he seems to be the head planner and conduit for a lot of Saudi money. The hi-jackers didn't enter the country taking advantage of our lax laws, rather at least some of them got and stayed in because of sloppy counter-intelligence and enforcement of laws which at least someone knew they had violated. It looks as if there was no contribution or evolvement of Iraq in the attack. Perhaps one of the most interesting findings had to do with the dissimulation about the administrations knowledge of or warnings about the impending attacks; here's a quote from today's New York times:

"In testimony this April to the Sept. 11 commission, before it was made public, Ms. Rice insisted that the report was "historical."

"It did not, in fact, warn of attacks inside the United States," she testified. "It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information.''

But there were gasps in the audience in the hearing room when she disclosed the name of the two-page briefing paper: "Bin Laden Determined to Attack in U.S."

I think that about sums up how effective Bush has been in combating terrorists.
While his heart seems to be in the right place, his decision to use the 9/11 attack as an excuse to attack Iraq is questionable at best. While Saddam was certainly a ruthless dictator and no doubt the world is better off without him in power, there are lots of ruthless dictators around. Those of Saudi Arabia and North Korea come to mind immediately and according to this report, the Saudi's (not necessarily the Saudi govt) had more to do with 9-11 than Iraq did.

REMINISCING - Continued

As I grew up in South Florida, you can imagine the changes I've seen. When I was a kid in the 40's, my town had about 4000 people in it. There were about 12000 people in the county (Broward). I taught at a HS in the 60's (in the same area) with 4800 kids in it! That school system is now the tenth largest in the country. Here in my part of Maine, we have a neat way of stopping development - using the Nature Conservancy as a model- we buy up the land and put it in trust; pass very restrictive development laws and refuse to build roads into wilderness areas.
A drive down the logging roads of Northern Maine is very interesting. There is a chain across the road every so often with a warden who will ask you to fill out a form explaining what you are going to do: Picnic - check there, fish - check there, take photos - check there, camp- check there and see restrictions. It is the most regulated wilderness I've ever heard of. And if you hear a timber truck coming, you'd better get off the road in a hurry!
Another curious fact of modern America is its continuing urbanization. Over many parts of the country small towns are drying up as more people move closer to the urban areas. While New York may have fewer people in the city itself- its outlying suburbs are much larger.
California is the outstanding horrible example of urban sprawl. Despite the messages its fragile environment keeps sending (wildfires, mud slides, earthquakes, smog, etc) people keep coming to the big cities, fortunately leaving much of the state pretty empty and pretty nice. Florida, on the other hand, is running out of room.

REMINISCING
Some of my old (very old) Fraternity Brothers have been chatting about our early lives. We haven't gotten in to how the world has gone to hell since we were boys, but I expect we will.
Actually, considering and discussing how the world has changed in the past 60-70 years is pretty interesting. I used to discuss old people and their attitudes with my students and try to explain how these old farts were living in a world they did not expect and were not very happy about it.
As I'm now one of those OF's I can see that I was correct. The part of my world that has disappeared and left me yearning is mostly the natural part. There just aren't the wide open spaces there were and everything is much more regulated and controlled. Of course, with 270M+ people in a place that had less that half that many when I was born requires that but I think everyone regrets the passing of the freedoms they used to have and the politician who uses this will go far.

TYPICAL MAINE WEATHER

This past week DownEast reminds me of our second summer here at the lake (1972). It drizzled, then it rained, then it drizzled with fog, then it poured then it..... you get the idea.
We were pretty primitive in those days; an outhouse that overflowed in the downpour, kerosene lights and a wood stove, a trudge uphill to get to the car (An early Toyota Landcruiser - a hostile vehicle) wet wood for the stove, cold, wet, etc. etc.
Nowadays, we are somewhat more comfortable and it is kind of nice to look out at the islands coming out of the fog and watch the loons parading by. The heavy cloud cover hasn't even knocked out our satellite.
We have one of only 34 pairs of nesting eagles in Maine raising a chick about a mile or so across the lake. We can't see ther nest from here, but we do see them coming and going - and hear the loons loudly warbling their alarms and complaints. Actually they aren't in much danger from the eagles, the're a large aggressive bird with a wicked beak but apparently they have chicks also and the eagle might get one of those. Most loon chicks are in more danger from their siblings or snapping turtles. The annual loon count is tomorrow, so I suppose they will all hide until it's over.
I took some digital photos of the foggy islands yesterday, I think I'll try to work up some foggy sketches and see if a painting develops

A QUIET DAY AT THE LAKE
Someone remarked that this is a rather plain site. That's true, one reason is that in the summer I have to shift down from broadband to 56K modem, which this far out in the woods, is lucky to get up to 28k. I get frustrated with download times and the more frills you add to your site, the slower it gets for everyone accessing it. I'll occasionally add a photo or two if the spirit moves me.
This site is mostly for personal pique and rants, so you are liable to get anything from travelogue to politics.
Here's a little modern micro-economic geography: Downeast Maine is currently in full swing. the roads have about four times as many cars on them as they can hold (at least those south and west of Bar Harbor) and the "summer complaint", of which I'm one, is arriving by the thousands every day. The problem is for Mainers to make it, the roads have to have five or six times as many cars as they can hold and we should be arriving by the ten thousands. Over the fourth, there were only two no vacancy signs in Bar Harbor. The weather has been chilly and foggy, the strawberries, lobsters and blueberries are or will be late and scant. I could actually buy live lobsters at Albertson's in Florida cheaper than I can here right now. As the season only lasts until Labor Day, they have to make their living in less than 90 days if they cater to tourists. Maine is the poorest New England state.
Many years ago we moved up here for our summers from Southern Maine (Kittery & Boothbay) because of how crowded it was getting. Of course we'd like it to be just like it was just before we arrived but now among other idiocies, we have a street sign at the end of our fire road and an assigned street address. The road is impassible except by a SUV but we do have that sign. I guess it's part of the 911 emergency setup.
Anyhow, today was beautiful. Heat on in the morning but it got up to the mid seventies with lots of sun.
Our resident eagle has been harrassing the resident loons (it's chick time for both and eagle chicks eat a lot!). I almost ran over a doe and her fawn when we came back late the other night. thank heavens it wasn't a moose. The Deer will get out of the way, moose won't.

POLITICS

I've been bombarded by some of my old fraternity brothers, many of whom seem to be to the right of Genghis Khan. The latest is a letter signed "Mary Jo Kopechne" blasting Kerry for associating himself with Ted Kennedy.
The NewRadicalRepublicans seem to have forgotten how much voters are turned off by negative campaigning. Their message seems to be almost exclusively ad hominem attacks on Kerry and Edwards with an occasional "trust us- you're safer now". Yeah, sure we are...
I'm really surprised at how many people seem to like Bush's sneer and swagger. He seems to me to exude the same sort of bravado as the insecure gang members I once taught. As I understand it, he is actually more on top of things then he seems, and that really scares me.
IMHO, this administration has made more serious irrevocable blunders than any other in US history and they now seem to be coming home to roost. I hate to think that they did it all on purpose.

FOURTH AT THE LAKE

This is our thirtysomethingth Fourth of July here at the lake. When we first came (summer of 1970), we had a quarter-mile crawl over a deer path after parking our 4WD at the end of the fire road. The place was a tar-paper shack and the mosquitoes didn't even slow down on their way through the walls. Now power within a few miles and we bathed in the lake (burrrrr). We did get a gas refrigerator and stove as well as an antique wood stove (a Glenwood seven, if you're in to such things). We had to lug the gas bottles as well as the refrig and stove down over the rocks.
Our light was two Aladdin Lamps. If you've ever been on safari or in the wild outback, you know them. They are a bit of 19th century technology that's disappeared from modern America. they are basically kerosene lamps with an incandescent mantle. they give about as bright a light as a 100 W bulb with no hissing and pumping. We electrified them a few years ago and they are still our main cabin lights. If the power fails, they can be converted back to kerosene in a few minutes. You occasionally see them in antique stores at absurd prices.
We spent the next twelve summers, including a sabbatical where we stayed until November, without electricity but we gradually added running water (pump it up, trickle down) and a septic system (no more flies!). It was fun, but I'm not about to repeat it.
We spent that first summer shingling the cabin and putting in windows. This year we plan on spending a lot of time just sitting watching the eagles, loons, mergansers, deer, moose, bear, coyotes, foxes, beavers, otters, and other critters which sometimes get a little too close.
There is actually less boating activity on our end of the lake than there was thirty years ago.

GOING DOWN EAST

We're leaving for Maine on Monday morning and we are in our usual dither. We will be gone for the next three months but we've been doing this for the past thirty four years, so we have things pretty well organized.
No, we're not rich, we were teachers and back then we would fly up when classes ended and fly back the day before they began. Our camp had no power so the change was pretty much a shock. We had an old VW bug we kept in a barn and it always made it down the fire road OK.
Now, since we retired, we have lights, water,phone, even a satellite; so the computer goes too. Unfortunately high speed internet access is too much to ask, but the modem does work (verry slowleeey).

POLITICS AND PERSONALITIES

I've been puzzled over the slant national politics has been taking. The administration seems to be pushing the basic idea that if people think they blundered into Iraq because of faulty intelligence or mistaken identity, and that they were a little confused but were so incensed over 9/11 that they had to do something, then since their heart was in the right place and they had the moral high ground, they will be forgiven and re-elected because "they are supporting our troops" .
First, I doubt that these people were either stupid, ill-informed, or confused. They had/have a political agenda which they are still pursuing and as of now, are not willing to admit has any fundimental problems.
Second, They have placed the US and our forces in Iraq in an intolerable situation with most of the world apparently seeing us as the bad guys.
Surprisingly enough, most Iraqis seem to be still fairly supportive of our troops, at least according to most of the numerous warblogs I've scanned. The problem seems to be more one of basic political leadership and strategic planning, not of tactics on the ground. I suspect the idiots at Abu Ghraib actually thought they were doing what they were supposed to be doing and they probably were; I doubt they were supposed to make a photo record though.
Personally, I think the whole "War of Terrorism" idea has gotten us very confused. As I understand it, the Supreme court will eventually have to define "war" in this context. Is the war a real war against an identified enemy state, or is it war in the sense of making an effort to change a perceived undesirable situation like "War on Poverty" or "War on Drug Abuse" ? Personally, I think it's more of the latter, after all, the terrorists are a pretty loosely connected bunch with no real home base. None of the 9/11 terrorists were from Iraq, for example; most were from Saudi Arabia or Egypt, countries we have good relations with. If this is true, we are wasting our time in Iraq and in fact encouraging more terrorist recruiting. We should keep our eye on the ball and track down terrorist funding and leadership.
Since the present administration shows little interest in either our international stature, or the welfare of American citizens, I don't think we should give them any more rope. they've hung themselves (and us) high enough already.

PAINTING AND MAINE
Maine is a Mecca for artists. All those lobster pots, cute little boats, rocks and waves are under visual attack all summer. Interestingly enough, the further downeast you go, the fewer artists. Around Kittery, Kennebunkport, and Bailey's Island there are actually rather carefully arranged scenes just right for the tourist photographer or painter. At some of them (Nubble Light comes to mind) you actually have to stand in line to get your shot.
In my part of Maine, East of Bar Harbor and North of Bangor, painters are rather fewer, as are bars and people. If you paint coastal or marine scenes, this is one of the best areas in the world. If you are in to woods and wildlife, western ME and NH are your ticket. I don't even have to leave my porch to pretty much get both. I have found that the digital camera is great for capturing a location but not much for getting the light right. You have to have a sketch pad or a good memory for that.
I'm a watercolor painter. I started with oils but found watercolors more of a challange, more fun, and a good deal more portable. I've found ME woodland scenes a challange, especially the colors. Neil Welliver, an important painter of this genre, apparently has the same problem. I think his stuff looks muddy. He would probably think mine was to garish. On the other hand, his sells.
I do some painting here in Florida, but summers in ME are where I do most.

NEW YORK, NEW ENGLAND, MAINE
When you enter southern NY on your way to New England, the best bet is to stay as far up the Hudson as you can. I-84 crosses the Hudson at Newburg, well away from the worst of the big city traffic. If you continue on I-84 for about 15 miles, you come to the Taconic Parkway. This divided four narrow lane road was one of the first parkways ever built (back in the thirties) and is still one of NY's better driving experiences. No trucks allowed, limited access, nice landscaping (watch for the wild turkeys and deer), two state parks for picnicking. A nice two hour drive. It connects with the Mass Pike (I-90) just south of Albany. This Toll-way will take you as far into Southern New England as you want to go; to Boston or Cape cod, if you like crowds and traffic.
Boston is a neat place to get lost driving. I spent a few summers there at Harvard and got a chance to enjoy most of what it has to offer. It is, in my opinion, more cultural than NY, and certainly more historic. The traffic, traffic patterns, and drivers are the worst in the US (not excepting LA). When the city fathers decide to straighten things out, first they re-name the streets, next they change the one way signs, third they spend a few million dollars constructing a new freeway or street. Last, the new roads immediately fill up with cars creating traffic jams at 60 mph. Let's save Boston for a special trip.
We're going to Maine. Get off the Mass Pike at Springfield and take I-91 north to Vermont. It's a short drive, only about 35-40 miles and you can stop on the way at Big Y Liquors (Now Table & Vine) in North Hampton and pick up the summer's supply of fine wines. This place is nationally known, has wines you've read about but did'nt think really existed, and no sales tax (those Boston Irishmen wouldn't dream of it). It's the size of a large supermarket, laid out something like one and kept pretty cold.
We drive up I-91 to Brattleboro and take NH 9 across to Concord and Northwood. there we turn up Rochester NH and drive over to Sanford ME. From there we drive east to the Maine Pike, up that to Portland and follow I-95 from Portland to Bangor. The Maine Pike swings to the west and the coastal route is nicer. This far north, traffic isn't a problem, except maybe around Freeport (LL Bean and the world's quaintest outlet town open 24/7/365). Traffic on I-95 north of Portland is sparse, rest stops are nice, watch for moose. At Bangor, we turn downeast toward the coast. Our place is on a lake about midway between Bangor and Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island (pronounced dessert, not desert).
I will be in a hurry to get there but some of the alternative ways to go in Maine are more interesting.
The drive up the Maine coast from Kittery on the NH border is worth taking. US 1 is the main route but as ME has lots and lots of pennsulias sticking out into the Atlantic, side trips are worth while.
Much of the coast of southern Maine was settled long before the Pilgrims arrived, probably even before Columbus. Fishermen from Portuguel and England had discovered the Grand Banks cod fishery in the 15th century and used the coastal Maine islands (Matinicus for sure, maybe Monhegan) and the area around Pemaquid to salt and dry their fish. One reason the pilgrims hired the Mayflower was because of her captain's local knowledge. apparently the Mayflower had been used to haul fish back to england and there is some evidence that she had had a fire and been repaired at Freeport a few years before her famous voyage.
The only real problem with driving the coast route is what mainers call the "summer complaint" (us).
These are mostly two lane roads and not meant for even half the traffic they get between the fourth of July and Labor Day. At Ellsworth, everyone turns off to Bar Harbor, so US 1 east of there is very quiet. The northern half of Maine has about one tenth of the population of the state, if that much. It's like stepping back in time and facinating. The lobsters are good too.

THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY
Much of the second day of our usual drive from Florida to Maine is spent driving the curves of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This scenic drive stretches 460+ miles from the Smoky Mountains National Park, through western North Carolina to Virginia where it feeds in to the Shenandoah National Park, another 60+ miles of spectacular mountain driving.
The parkway, which was mostly developed during the CCC era of the late 30's runs along the ridges of the Southern Appalachian mountains at elevations varying from more than 6000 feet to less than 1000 toward the northern end. As Mount Mitchell is only few hundred feet higher (Mt. Mitchell is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi), you spend a lot of time looking down and sometimes you are caught in a cloud. The last part of the parkway opened is the drive across Grandfather Mountain. they had to sort of hang the road on the side of this huge granite cliff.
The scenery for the length of the parkway is, of course, spectacular and I have always found the idea of peace, quiet, and no truck traffic for about a third of our trip north very appealing.
On the third day you're off the parkway and back in the real world. The trick I've found for comfortable driving, is to stay well west of the Washington DC- New York- Boston corridor. there are lots of fascinating back roads in Pennsylvania and even though you must eventually funnel through NY, you don't really have to fight unpleasant traffic there either.
We generally take I-81 up through MD and PA through Harrisburg and up to I-80. This is most of the interstate driving we do but that's because of the way the mountains run in PA, chains running roughly from east to west and the roads run up the valleys. If you're trying to head northeast, you don't have too many choices.
When you get up to the Poconos, you can either go to Stroudsburg and drive up the Delaware Water Gap parkway (Not recommended on weekends!) Or cut up through the Poconos and pick up I-80 just as it enters NY at Port Jarvis.
Next: Surviving NY thruways and Massachusetts drivers.

THINKING ABOUT BEING ON THE ROAD
We will leave for Maine in about two weeks.
The first day's drive is pretty much through Georgia (factiod; the largest state east of the Mississippi) and do about half way on the interstate (I-75) from Valdosta to Macon. This is mostly flat and hot. They grow lots of Cotton and peanuts (Carter country) and on the drive over from Tallahassee to Valdosta we drive mostly on beautiful, well-maintained four laned roads. We may see a dozen cars and two dozen pickups on the whole 90 miles. Crepe myrtle are out and the roads are lined with them in Florida. that and the live oaks make the first couple of hours spectacular.
I-75 is what you might expect, but after the usual confusion at Macon, I'm sure we will find US 129 and head for the hills. Incidentally, at Macon there is a National monument with an Indian pyramid and round house that's really interesting, and seldom visited (Ockmulgee N.M.). These were not primitive savages but a well organized society.
From Macon, we will head almost due north to the beginning of the Smokys, looping around Athens, still on good roads. The first time I did this was during the civil rights era (late 50's-early 60's) then the roads were terrible, and all the rest stops were either closed or smashed up. I saw the occasional KKK billboard and people were still very suspicious of furreners.
After Athens we will continue north on US 441 and about at Cornelia, we will get our first glimpse of the mountains. We will stop for a while at the Tallulah Gorge, drink some coffee, admire the rhodendrons, and head for North Carolina. This is "Deliverence" country, but the people aren't like that. My family has a long association with this part of the country(well over a century) but personally, I like New England better. This North Georgia, North Carolina, Smoky Mountain NP area is a great favorite summer retreat for people from Florida. There is actually a part of Highlands NC named Miami heights.
We will join the Blue ridge Parkway here and I'll continue the travelogue tomorrow.

We will be leaving on our annual trek to Downeast Maine in a few weeks. I'll be commenting on how we go, sort of a travelogue. As we've been doing it since the late '60's, I think I have it down pat.
This route goes through some of the best of America and since I've driven through 49 of the 50 states (haven't gotten to Alaska yet), I think I can offer an informed opinion. Incidentally, I don't think there is a state in the Union that doesn't have some really neat suprise, if you poke around enough.
I remember the look on my wife's face when we pulled over to the side of I-40 just west of Amarillo and I pointed out the six Cadillacs buried nose down beside the road, tailfins in the air. The sculpture(?) had just been done and they looked bright and shiny. I understand that they were allowed to deteriorate but have recently been restored. I don't recommend a special trip either to them or to Wall Drugstore or the Corn Palace (SD), but if you're in the neighborhood.......