A creative solution for muddy socks

We went hiking on Douglas Mountain with a friend yesterday and had ourselves quite an adventure on another gorgeous spring day.

The Eagle Scouts have developed a section of trail at the new trailhead off Douglas Hill Road. We usually take the Woods Trail to the top of the mountain but decided to check out the new trail instead. That was a bit of a mistake at this time of year.

We were hiking through a particularly muddy area (actually that trail was mostly mud) and L. lost her shoe without realizing it and took a couple of steps in her socks. Let's just say that it was quite a messy affair.

I found a little stream and cleaned off her shoes and washed out the socks. The shoes were fairly new and a bit stiff and she really wanted another pair of socks. I didn't have any in my backpack (I have lots of other random things but socks weren't one of them) so I jokingly suggested she wear the knit gloves I had. She thought that was a great idea and put them on. She's special, that kid.

I tied her wet socks to the back of her sister's pack in hopes of them drying. The socks never did fully dry during the hike but the kids were amused by it all.

At some point I realized that the Eagle Scout's trail was leading us all the way around the mountain instead of to the stone tower at the top. I may have missed a trail marker leading off to the other trails but my guess is that maybe they haven't posted all the markers yet.

So since we had some bushwhacking experience under our belts this spring - and the ticks aren't out in full-force yet - I turned on the GPS and we made our way up the side of the mountain.

The woods weren't thick but the incline was steep so I bribed the kids with jelly beans. It was hard work and it seemed to me that they needed some incentive to keep going. Even Flat Rover got a treat during one of our many water/candy breaks.

We were all breathing hard and had bright red faces by the time we reached the stone tower about a half hour later.

What cracked me up was that after our picnic lunch the kids suggested playing Tag.

"Are you serious," I asked. "After all that hiking (almost 2 miles, with 1/2 mile being a very steep elevation gain) you want to play Tag?"

"Yeah mom. Tag is fun and we're not tired anymore," said L.

And here I was feeling badly because it was tougher hike through the woods than I had planned. And I plied them with all those jelly beans and words of encouragement just to get them to the top of the mountain. And then they wanted to play Tag? Go figure.

We chose to take the short way down the mountain on the Woods Trail. It's only 1/4 mile to the old trail head and a short walk down the road to where we parked our car. Except for the couple of patches of ice we found, it was much easier than our hike up.

We've been spoiled this week by all the warm, sunny weather. It's going to be rough when the rain and cooler temperatures return.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers in the morning then showers likely with isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 50s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent. Sunday Through Monday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 50s. Lows in the mid 30s.

Where's Bunny #13

Yesterday we went for a hike with Bunny (and Goddard the Travel Bug, who we dropped off in a nearby geocache after our picnic) because it was another awesome day.

Do you know which mountain top Bunny is on?

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a new MaineToday.com frisbee. Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

Beautiful day for a round of disc golf

For those that didn't know what Bunny was doing in my last blog entry, he was playing a round of disc golf with us.

It was such a beautiful day on Tuesday that we had to do something outdoors. After some discussion the kids and I decided we were in the mood for a round of disc golf at Bennett's course in Gorham. And just for the record, walking the course was a lot easier than cross country skiing on it while playing the game.

We just got our very own discs and the kids thought they were more accurate than the ones we have rented previously. Of course, they get better with every round of the game we play too so I don't think it was just the discs.

The disc golf "holes" through the woods were a lot tricker but we managed to make those holes in 3-4 par, which was really good for us. Of course we didn't realize how muddy it would be in the woods. I guess I spoke too soon about Maine's mud season not being too bad this year.

The kids and I didn't quite make par on all the holes but we showed a great improvement over previous games. The kids did a little celebration dance on the last of the 9-holes we played (although the course is 18-holes, we only had time for 9).

Where's Bunny #12

It was a beautiful day and we had to get out and enjoy it. Bunny and his robot friend, Goddard the geocaching Travel Bug, came along too. They are "best robot friends" according to L.

Can you guess what we were doing today? Here's a hint, we weren't geocaching (Goddard was just along for the ride on this one) but I've written about this activity in my monthly column more than once.

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a "really cool glitter pen" from MaineToday.com (a direct quote from L.). Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

Where's Bunny? #11

The kids were happy to have Bunny pose with this statue. They stop to admire it every time we go to this particular place.

You need to name the building where this statue is located.

Do you know where Bunny is?

I'll offer a hint tomorrow if no guesses are posted today.

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a "really cool glitter pen" from MaineToday.com (a direct quote from L.). Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

A premonition

Yesterday we were driving past Sebago Lake in Standish on our way to a maple sugar house and the kids and I saw an ice boat with its sails full and speeding along on the ice.

We had seen that sailboat on Sebago a few weeks ago but it wasn't moving. I wanted to stop to watch it yesterday but the kids didn't. They were anxious to get to the sugar house for some ice cream and syrup.

"It will probably be the last time we can see the sailboat on the ice this year. Are you sure you don't want to stop? The ice is pretty thin now and will be gone soon," I said.

The kids were single-minded in their desire for some sweets and well, I wanted some maple syrup too so we didn't end up stopping.

Little did I know that the boat, very shortly after we drove by, would crash through the ice.

A really sweet day

Oooh, we love sugaring season and spent the afternoon at a couple of maple sugar farms today.

The kids are hosting some international Flat Stanleys right now so we took the travelers along to learn about sugaring season since only a small portion of the world actually produces the stuff.

The circled area on this globe at Snell's Family Farm indicates the only area in the world that can produce maple syrup.

The kids love the maple cotton candy at Merrifield Farm in Gorham.

The open fire boiling at Merrifield Farm was actually pretty interesting. We had never seen a demonstration like this before.

At Snell's Family Farm in Bar Mills (yes, we did some driving today), the kids tasted the sap before it was boiled (clear liquid on right) and agreed with their assesment last year that it's "not that good (sweet)." Well, 2% sugar content from the tree's sap (how it comes out of the tree) versus the incredibly sweet syrup that is produced after boiling isn't a fair comparison anyway.

And if you were wondering, both kids drank at least a full cup of syrup today.

I bought Light Amber syrup at Merrifield Farms since that was what was available in the size jug I wanted. Then I bought a bottle of Dark Amber from Snell's. We did a little comparison at home and although you can see the slight difference, they both tasted the same. Yummy.

When we got home, L. decided to show our Flat Stanley friends all the treats we like to eat during this season.

My favorite is the maple cream, especially on crackers and toast. G. loves the maple fudge and cotton candy. L. likes the syrup on vanilla ice cream and drinking it directly from a cup. Fino likes the syrup on pancakes but he hasn't got the same kind of sweet tooth as the rest of us. He doesn't get nearly as excited about sugaring season as the females in our household.

I also must make a note here that although I lamented more than once about the lack of snow this winter, it was really nice that the mud was minimal today at the farms. There wasn't any snow to create the mudfest L. enjoyed last year.

That really broke me up.

Silly things you find

After finding that not-so-fun geocache last weekend, we chose not to give up. We had set out to find at least three geocaches that day so after a snack break we decided to try again.

We looked through the print-outs of caches I had in the car and chose one we thought looked fairly easy to find. That decision was based on the level of detail about the trail and the "hints." It turned out that the Percheron cache was a great choice for us.

The trail was in fact easy and we found the cache without a problem. And this find had a great suprise -- goofy glasses. They were a big hit with the kids -- and the adults.

The disposable camera was full but that didn't stop us from taking our own photos...

While hiking on the short trail, L. decided to make some hand shadows. She told me what the shadows were but I forgot what she said the last one was.

Any guesses?

 A turkey

A bunny

???

Where's Bunny? #10

It's a Bunny bonanza today with another chance for you to win one of those spectacular, wonderful, "very cool" MaineToday.com glitter pens.

Do you know where Bunny is?



Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a "really cool glitter pen" from MaineToday.com (a direct quote from L.). Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

Where's Bunny? #9

Bunny really gets around and he - and the rest of the family - really enjoyed this stop to "see the world." Do you know where Bunny is?

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a "really cool glitter pen" from MaineToday.com (a direct quote from L.). Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

On the hunt in Augusta

Yesterday we were back in Augusta at the State House. G. was serving as a page in the House with some other 4-Hers. L. wasn't old enough so she and I decided to do some geocaching in the area while G. was busy.


As we were wondering around inside the State House with more time to spare, we found this really interesting brochure produced by the Secretary of the Senate about fossils. Apparently there are marine invertebrate fossils in the dark stones of the building and the brochure had a map and description of each fossil type.

L. and I couldn't resist looking and we found all of them. L. went a little camera-happy taking photos of the fossils.

 Maclurite

We found a bunch of these all over the place.

 Prasopora

Yeah, L. took this picture between some man's shoes as he was standing there. I wished she wouldn't have done that (I didn't realize what she was going to do until it was too late) but the guy didn't seem to notice her. Typical L.

 Stromatocerium

L. had to show Flat Annie from Scotland the fossils too.

Crinoid Stalk

"Goddard" the Travel Bug we picked up in Brunswick also checked things out.

Flat Stanley went to war

A friend of ours had a sister serving in Iraq. We asked if she might be willing to host our family's Flat Stanley and she agreed. She's a former 4-Her and was happy to help out some young 4-Hers.

We sent the soldier our Flat Stanley and a disposable camera several months ago. The soldier came back to the states recently and gave the camera to our friend. The camera just landed in our hands the other day and we had the photos developed yesterday.

WOW.

 

The kids loved the tire swing and thought it was "cool" that "big people" played on swings there.

Flat Stanley visited during Christmas.

The kids certainly have some perspective on our soldier's lives in Iraq now. And I hope that our goofy Flat Stanley was an enjoyable distraction in an otherwise serious and scary situation.

A not-so-fun geocache find

After some searching on geocaching.com yesterday, I found there were a bunch of geocaches in Brunswick. We had been talking about seeing how many geocaches we could find in an afternoon so I downloaded a bunch of coordinates in that area to find out.

The first geocache we chose to find turned out to be -- well not being able to offer more colorful language I'll say -- not fun.

The directions to park for this geocache said, "woodsy trail near parking lot" which we assumed was on Pleasant Hill Road based on our GPS map. We found a turn-off on the road that indicated the cache was 1/2 mile from that location. We thought we were in the correct place because we saw a trail leading into the woods.

The GPS pointed us to a trail that quickly turned into a bush-wack. That's not so unusual for geocaching but this bushwhacking went on and on and on.

Not a good time.

But we stuck with it because we were only a few tenths of a mile from the cache.

We climbed up hills. We slid down hills.

We ducked under trees. We jumped over trees.

We jumped over the winding stream; leaped over wider parts of the stream. And when we were lucky, walked over fallen logs across other parts.

Of course we could have given up the search. But by the time we realized that trying to find this cache was a mistake, we were already in the thick of the woods and closer to the cache based on our GPS reading than we were to the car.

We finally picked up a small trail again and ended up finding the geocache.

We took a snack break and by a unanimous vote, decided we were NOT going back the way we came.

We followed a small trail with sink holes and erosion (which we still thought better than the way we had come but hardly ideal) from the geocache to an open field and hiked along the edge of the woods for quite a while. We eventually picked up another trail that lead us back to the car.

We have never run across a geocache like this before. I'm careful to choose caches listed with 1, 2 or 3 stars (1 easiest - 5 hardest) for both terrain and difficulty. This cache rating was rated 3 stars for difficulty and 2 stars for terrain.

I think that was misleading.

But, if I had read all the "reviews" for the cache I would have realized that the name of the cache contained a clue as to where to park ("Dragons" was part of the cache's name which apparently is Brunswick High School's mascot, something a non-local wouldn't necessarily know). Other geocachers who knew this parked behind the school and took a trail that lead directly to the cache.

My mistake.

G. summed it up best, "That was the worst hike EVER!"

After a short respite, we did continue on to find two other caches that afternoon. They were both really fun, clever finds but more on those later...

Where's Bunny? #8 - Answer

Well, I think that was the fastest guess on the Where's Bunny contest yet. DWB guess correctly. Bunny is on a moose crossing sign.

And just so everyone realizes, after someone posts the correct answer on a contest blog entry, I confirm the answer with a post of my own (on that same entry in the comments portion of the page). So if you didn't know the answers to some of the Where's Bunny photos, just check back on those previous entries and you'll find out.

Thanks to everyone for playing. At the end of the month all the winners will be placed in a drawing to win a "wicked cool" (my own quote because they really are nice) MaineToday.com beach towel!

I'll be posting another Where's Bunny photo soon so check back later.

Where's Bunny? #8

The kids chose another road sign Bunny photo since the snowmobiling one received several posts. They are really enjoying this game.

So... can you name the road sign Bunny is on?

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a "really cool glitter pen" from MaineToday.com (a direct quote from L.). Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.