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Year round resident and nearest neighbor to rakkity’s refugio, Dennis, walked over to the pond to see us before we left. Here he talks about the mother bear and her cubs who live in the area. Unedited, straight video.

For infrequent readers this (below) used to be the dark matter of the blog. Not dark as in mood, but dark like the stuff which fills most of the universe. Then along came rakkity, Jennifer, smiling dan, pesky godson, Adam, BirdBrain, Matt and Co., and all the other contributors. Their interesting stories bumped out the daily chatter aspect of the blog.

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Diane’s been pleading with me for two years to schedule a vacation. Dan and Linda suggested a weekend at their families place in Boothbay Harbor (they were going to join us until, Paxie, their dog, got run over) and I acquiesced. As if money grows on trees Diane forced me to leave at noon on Friday.

Well, here we are sitting on the deck in Boothbay looking out over the harbor. I’m typing and Diane is reading “A Song I Knew By Heart,” by Bret Lott. She hates it (“I’m not sure I can read this, honey) and wouldn’t finish it if it weren’t for her book club. Most people know that Diane reads a book or more a week, and that our house is full of paperbacks. Would anyone like to come by and take a few?

Anyway, when we arrrived last night, the first thing we did was jump into the ocean. The water was almost too warm.

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This isn’t us but a family from, guessing by their accent, Australia.

Then off we went to the Lobster Coop:

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for, of all things:

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My brother-in-law, Peter Rodd, drove up after work on Friday and stayed until late Saturday.

I love the guy but that doesn’t prevent me from making this short video

The QT, non-pixelated, downloadable version can be found here. (Amusement.mov)

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Adam,veteran from the sophomore camping trip, landed Saturday noon and departed with the stragglers on Sunday.

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My brother-in-law, Peter Rodd, drove up after work on Friday and stayed until late Saturday.

I love the guy but that doesn’t prevent me from making this short video

The QT, non-pixelated, downloadable version can be found here. (Amusement.mov)

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Adam,veteran from the sophomore camping trip, landed Saturday noon and departed with the stragglers on Sunday.

I don’t believe I need to say this, but I’m not connecting dots in this video , However, I did try to sync music with the action.

The song is Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good,” sung by Jack Wild and The Small Town Rockers.

Daryl, Hannah, Hil K, Debbie, Matt, Billy, Kyle, Cory, Drew, Joe, Mary, Martin, Cortney, Chris, Sarah T, Brett, Kathy, Adam, Michael and Rodd all went camping last weekend at rakkity’s place on Grok Hill in Gilsum, NH. The weather was crisp and clear, and because the nights were cool, we outnumbered the mosquitoes.

Youtube Video

photo gallery

(More movies to come)

These two houses bracketed our house in Cincinnati.

This will kill both Diane and Susan, but I bet Jimmy would have watched it.

The photos below should have been linked to rakkity’s Ming Tombs entry. I don’t know how I missed them.

Saturday night Diane and I invited John Lewis to eat with us at The Cracker Barrel restaurant in Tyngesboro (Shirley’s treat). Diane ordered chicken and dumplings, fried okra and turnip greens while John raved about his open-face roast beef sandwich with gravy. We had enough money left from our gift certificate to buy a Cheyenne DVD with three episodes from the long running western. Those were hour long shows and Diane and I watched it for two successive nights. On the way home from the restaurant we listened to country and western music.

Episode 1

The Storm Riders (Feb 7, 1956)

From tv.com:

A rancher named John Dembro gives shelter to Cheyenne who’s been hurt in an “incident” on the adjoining ranch owned by Martin Storm. Both Dembro’s teenaged daughter, Johnny, and her stepmother, Sheila, are anxious to treat Cheyenne’s injuries and they become bitter rivals. Soon Dembro persuades the recovered Cheyenne to help him unite the other small ranchers to oppose Storm who maintains his authority through a hired “gun” named Swallow. Cheyenne kills Swallow in a shootout. Dembro becomes drunk in the ensuing celebration and dies in a fire, though Sheila could have saved him. Now free of her husband, Sheila makes a play for Cheyenne who spurns her. Hurt and angry, the increasingly-deranged Sheila has Cheyenne arrested, claiming he killed her husband. Sheila’s deemed too crazy to give credible testimony so Cheyenne is freed but townspeople, believing Cheyenne’s guilty, form a lynch mob, egged on by Storm. Johnny arrives on the scene and convinces the crowd of Cheyenne’s innocence. Storm now rides off, knocking down Sheila and killing her. The Sheriff then fires at the fleeing Storm and kills him.