Summer Fun

Summer is in full-swing. Our old bathroom/laundry room addition is gone and construction on the new addition is underway! On the 2nd Grant and Wayne had it decked over. That night Wayne and I “snuck away” for our last “night off” until November. We’ve got a very busy summer ahead of us and with bear and moose hunt bookings nearly filling our schedule already we know it will be non-stop action right through fall. We took the boat up to Three Brooks Cove for some brook trout fishing on the brooks. We watched a summer buck in full velvet graze along the shore. As we were pulling brookies from the stream we watched mother black duck and her ducklings dabbling all around us, uninterested in what we were doing. When the sun started to set we gather firewood, built a fire on the beach, and roasted hotdogs for dinner, relaxing long after darkness fell. It was so peaceful we wished we’d brought sleeping bags to stay the night. Around 11 p.m. we headed home.

On the 3rd Wayne went south to pick up Kaitlyn for her annual summer visit. She looks forward to vacationing with the girls and their families who spend 4th of July week at Fish River Lodge – the Calverts, Devoes, and Chasses. I bought flowers to hang from the cabins and lodge – they add a bright, cheerful touch and greeted our arriving guests. The Calverts were the first in to camp. Trash can turkey and Independence Day celebrating on the 4th and hot weather on the 5th. Our guests swam or sat in chairs IN the lake to keep cool! Eric Vogel, wife Heather and son Hazen arrived on the 6th. Eric was my neighbor when I lived down-state. We reminisced about the many good times we shared with our horses and caught up on what we’d been up to for the past five years. He is the new owner of TW Dicks steel fabrication company in Gardiner, Maine. Torrential rain on the 8th and 9th dumped 3” in a total of 1 ½ hours!

Larry Converse, his wife and granddaughter arrived on the 9th. Remember Larry? He caught the 5 ½ lb. salmon back in May. Work on the addition continued on the 10th. Paula and I helped Grant put plywood sheets up for the roof. It had been raining in my laundry room, filling my washing machine with rain water, try as we might to keep it dry! I was so happy to finally have it closed in!

The week of July 12th-15th we received lots of moose hunt bookings and construction continued on our addition. I went down-state on the 16th to attend my daughter Miranda’s bridal shower. She will be married at the lodge in August. Bridesmaid Becky Sweek organized a fun shower at Lion’s Pride brew pub in Brunswick – 32 taps and a great place to gather with friends! Visits with family and friends, toured “the Islands” and Cundy’s Harbor where I grew up – I’d forgotten how beautiful it is on the coast and realize now how I’d taken it for granted when I lived there.

Wayne and Grant insulated and installed tongue & groove paneling in my office on the 19th – I can’t wait to move in to my “real” office! My “temporary” office is located in the dining room. The Johnston family (Delaware) returned on the 20th for their two-week Maine vacation. They will hike, kayak and explore the region in the coming days.

Finally on the 24th I got to paint our cabins. I scraped and touched up areas that had started peeling. They look so much nicer once I finished. The Johnstons saw moose, deer, coyote, and even a bear on their excursion today. Melissa and Dave Smey and dog Sophie arrived. Ivan and Hope Johnston picked blueberries in front of their cabin on the 25th. By month’s end my office was finished! Jerry and Sandy stayed up until midnight assembling my new desk on the 31st.

We’d enjoyed lovely weather for the most part even through we had a few days of rain. The rain never slowed any of us whether we were working on the addition or our guests were enjoying the outdoors.