Trip #11:  March 23, 2025 – March 27, 2025 

Saturday night, 3/22/25 / Sunday Morning 3/23/25

I worked casually through the day to prepare the truck for travel–the usual things, like fueling, checking the oil, filling the DEF tank–then packed what we were bringing this time, which was a pretty small load.  We’d accumulated a couple tote bags full of random items during the winter, and also had 14 mini blinds for the windows, which I’d hoped to order and install last fall, but the material we wanted was backordered at the time.  Beyond this, all we brought was the usual collection of chainsaws and tools that travel with us wherever we go, and a small cooler with the dregs of the fridge.

We departed at 1209 on a clear and breezy night, with the temperature dropping as we continued south.  Sunday morning is a good time to travel, almost certainly the quietest conditions these roads would ever display.  While we frequently drive back north on an early Sunday morning, this was the first time we’d headed south with this timing, and while driving overnight always gives us generally good travel conditions, the reduction in traffic was noticeable–at least after about 0200, as there was a surprising amount of late-Saturday-night traffic, partiers and so forth heading home or whatever.

We took our usual stop at Charlton off the Mass pike, just a quickie for human needs, and continued onwards.  Just outside Hartford, we went by a bad traffic accident, with scattered car parts in the road, several vehicles pulled to the side, and one car that obviously had taken the brunt of whatever had happened facing the wrong way near the shoulder, and terribly battered.  What was really off-putting was how I’d not really been able to understand what was happening as we approached, even till we go there.  We were in the left or middle-left lane (out of 4, I think), so well-removed from the drama, but as we approached I saw brakelights to the right, and only when we got right there was the accident apparent.  It couldn’t have happened long before, as there were no emergency vehicles to be seen–just four or five other cars, whether bystanders, looky-loos, good samaritans, or otherwise involved in the accident itself I didn’t know.

We continued on, and eventually stopped again at the Gandolfini rest stop in NJ–a happy occurrence, as this convenient stop had been closed for renovations for over a year, forcing us to make alternate arrangements.  At almost exactly halfway, this stop is easy and convenient for fuel, bathroom, and dog needs.  The renovated bathrooms were much better than before, but we had a negative experience at the fuel pumps when the attendant (oh NJ…) couldn’t make the diesel pump work, so after several frustrating minutes we decided to carry on and seek fuel elsewhere.  We stopped at the next rest stop–Connie Chung–and got our diesel.

From there, it was a straight shot to the Lodge, stopping only for a breakfast sandwich at the Choptank river in MD, and another quick stop at an easy park-and-ride lot off the Ocean Gateway an hour or so later for the dogs, as Moxie had grown restless with her tiny bladder.

Arriving at the Lodge at 1030, we found everything in good order–just the usual collection of small stuff that had fallen off the trees (and a couple larger, but not too large, dead branches), and the house itself was in great shape, just as we left it.  No signs of mice (I’d been a little worried as we had quite a few back in the fall), and everything else was looking good.  Now, when we first open the door, we’re greeted with the smells of paint and hardwood, rather than the indefinable–but highly specific–”lodge smell” that we’d gotten used to before the renovations last year.

We took our time unloading and unpacking, as there was no hurry, interspersed with enjoying the outdoors, walking the property to pick up and pile the various deadfall for later collection and disposal, and rescuing Heidi’s chair, which had apparently blown off the patio at some point and was down the bank near the creek.  Undamaged, fortunately, and with the cover still in place.  The weather was clear and sunny, with little wind, and comfortable 50s.  Later, I unpacked the tools to the shed for now, leaving further work out there for another day.

Over the winder, perusing photo albums from the past, I came across the snapshot of daymarker #9–complete with osprey nest–that I remembered being stuck in the edge of the #9 painting when it was at N&Bs back in the day, so I took a careful photo of the photo and had it reproduced into a new print, which I now tucked into the corner of the frame now hung in the Lodge.

After an early (5PM) run to El Maguey for take-out burritos, we had an early night, gratefully hitting the sack around 1930.

Monday, March 24, 2025

After a great and needed sleep, the day started as usual.  I like to get up early, usually between 5 and 530, to enjoy coffee with the gradual lightening of the day (here, at this time of the year, it doesn’t really get light till almost 7).  I always feel like I have the planet to myself during these moments, and it’s my favorite time of the day.

Around 1000, we got our act together and headed out to the grocery store for the week’s basic needs–just Food Lion in Exmore.  While there, the sun came out and it felt downright warm, in the high 60s.  Back home, after unpacking, we did some work outside.  Heidi worked on trimming some dead branches off a shrub on our fenceline; the bush had been damaged last year when a tree from next door fell and landed on it.  We’d cleared away “our half” of the tree back then, and let the remainder of the season determine the bush’s fate.  Now, it was clear the blackened leaves and branches needed to be trimmed off.

 

Meanwhile, I got the tractors going.  Last fall, I’d disconnected the batteries in both machines and left them in place, which I started to do with our tractors in PEI a few years back (instead of bringing the batteries home), and while I’d had good luck with this helping to maintain a start-able charge, this time both batteries were flat.  My jump pack always travels with us.  Once connected to the jumper, the indefatigable old 755 started without issue despite the battery being so flat that there was no sign of life initially, but the little lawn tractor required sucking some juice out of the jump pack for a while before I could resurrect it. I had to get that tractor out of the blue shed so we could get in and get around.

With the 755 back in operation, I picked up all the little piles of deadfall from yesterday, which amounted to a surprising amount–4 bucket loads (or overloads), and a half-trailer full when all was said and done.

With a heavy line of rain looming–part of the same front that was bringing 1-6” of snow to Maine at the same time–we headed back indoors around 1400.  I started hanging some of the new blinds, only to run into a confounding issue with the living room blind–I just could not get it to snap into the brackets correctly.  It made no sense, and was frustrating.  After several minor adjustments and continued failure, I finally gave up for now.  But later on, Heidi had a look at the window frame and noticed that the upper trim had a bow in the center, so the center clip was lower than the two near the edges.  This bow was part of the original window bucks, and during construction I’d not been able to correct it, so the trim followed it to some extent.  (It’s not structural.)  Fortunately, the hardware package included shims, apparently for this purpose, so I planned to correct the problem tomorrow.

Chicken and rice for dinner and bed at the usual time.

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Nothing eventful during much of the morning. A beautiful day.  I finally succeeded in installing the west living room blind that I’d struggled with, adding some of the supplied shims to the two outer mounts (three shims per mount), which worked.  Then, I installed the blind in the office, and the two in the pantry.  I’m just showing one here for illustration.

I went out with the dogs to walk the property and look at a dead and badly rotting loblolly pine down the driveway.  We’d been aware of the tree for a while, and the top was all fallen away long ago, but now the bark was falling off in sheets.  It’s very tall, with no branches left, but not that large in diameter.  The real problem is it’s close to the wires running in from the street, and quite a bit taller than the wires, so damage to the wires is a real danger when bringing this tree down.  It does lean away from the wires naturally, but after further assessment I decided I wasn’t comfortable cutting it down myself, much as I’d hoped to:  just too many obstacles to a clean fall (nearby trees and branches), and the ever-present threat from the overhead wires.  The tree is quite rotted, with numerous woodpecker holes, and therefore probably weak, risking breakage when cutting it down.  In short:  it seemed too dangerous in this location for me to contemplate.  We’d have to hire someone, unfortunately.

This promoted a further inspection of the property to identify any other trees we might want to have professionally removed at the same time.  I think the only one is the poor tortured (and completely or mostly dead) tree out by the street on the north side, though there’s a big tree in by the sheds that might or might not be dead–hard to tell right now since the trees aren’t leafed out.  This one has no sign of life, but we both remembered learning by surprise last year (we think) that actually it was not dead.  So we’ll have to wait a while and see what happens with it first.

We went to the taco truck for lunch:  gorditas, the best. 

Afterwards, we discussed new shed locations and sizing.  We’re thinking it might be nice along the fence line in what is currently the “turnaround”, to act as a privacy shield for the neighbors, and something around 14 x 20.  It could also work just further out, where the old metal shed was, if we take down a leaning tree that we don’t much like.  If we take the turnaround, I’d have to implement my idea for creating a circular driveway around the big trees to allow a way to turn vehicles and trailers around.

After that, Heidi got to work with a scraper to remove the pine needles and sap that had end up on the new dock beneath one of the cut limbs, which had dripped sap for quite a while last fall.  And I installed 12 new solar lights on the pilings–I made a little jig for the screw holes out of the cardboard box, and measured down 4” from the top of the piling to lay out the lights, leaving room for pile caps if we want them.  Mark, drill, screw, install.  These lights had good reviews and weren’t prohibitively expensive, $46/12 lights.  7 color settings, plus adaptive/switching colors.  Went with warm white, though.

A beautiful and warm afternoon.  Heidi dropped a putty knife over the side and eventually we got Moxie down there to pick it up.  Tilley swam a couple times, then both dogs played in the mud at low tide, getting absolutely black from undercarriage down.  Rinsed them off.

I couldn’t wait for dusk to see the lights, and they exceeded my expectations:  nice and bright, but warm, and not pollution-bright.  Just great pools of light on the dock in a semi-circular pattern that met perfectly at the center.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

At 0515, dock lights were still on, all of them, but clearly dimmer than at first.  Still, that’s impressive.  They were still on at 0630+ too, just before it started to really get light.  This was only after having them exposed to the sun since about 1500 yesterday, so no complaints.  Still have a box of 12 to use on the stairs (two on every other stair).  I’m thinking of getting another box just to have spares.

Dilly-dallied around all morning–edited video, played with dogs, etc., till 1000 when we departed to head to VA beach and Ray Johnson’s fireplace store.  Beautiful day, cooler in the morning, and windy from NW.    Fireplace was an education.  The guy there, Heath, took a while to warm up, but had good information.  Eventually we think we decided on a vent-free Peterson G-10 model, which will go in existing firebox.  Need to find an installer; do we need chimney dealt with at all?  Have to measure the fire box, which means getting the stove insert out.  Maybe in April when we come.  Will also need screen to cover.  IP remote and on-demand pilot light as well, which makes sense since we’re not here all the time.

The first three photos show the existing wood stove insert we have, and which needs to be removed.

Our time there was efficient.  Grocery stores in the area:  Wegman’s, Harris Teeter, Fresh Market, Lidl.  Also a Kroger up at Shore Drive, closest.  On the way home, we detoured to the Kiptopete State Park.  Nice, at least this time of year.  Weird barges/derelict ships offshore as breakwaters, I guess.  There was a launch ramp (must be fun on a summer weekend), fishing pier and lawns, and a couple beaches.  We took the dogs to the “inner” beach, which was of course deserted now.  A nice break for them.  Then, we drove in “Peaceful Way” and Hidden Coves near our place.  Not much to see in either case.  

I thought I might rearrange things in the temporary shed–I want to put both tractors in there and stop using the ramps into the blue shed–but I didn’t charge the jump pack after use the other day, and the 755 battery was low and not enough juice in the jump pack.  So I brought that in to charge and will move stuff around tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I hung the rest of the blinds:  the east LR (I made end shims from ¼” cherry plywood, and two plastic shims in the center), and the two small kitchen windows.  Done.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Another beautiful day, still nice/cool.  Last night we decided that this would be our last day, as the forecast for Maine over the weekend had snow or ice every day through Monday, so if we didn’t leave tonight, we’d not be able to safely and comfortably go till Monday night or Tuesday.  This wouldn’t have been the end of the world, but on the other hand there was no great reason to stay either, and it would be better for me to get back and get my work done so next time we came down I’d be unfettered.

We played dock throw with the dogs, and afterwards rinsed them off and hung out on the patio while they air-dried a bit.  We looked at Heidi’s chair, which hadn’t been reclining properly and was growing annoying; it looked like something was preventing the left side of the seat from sliding properly, as the right side slid forward further, causing an angle and binding.  Heidi called H&H to file a warranty claim…pending as of this writing.

I had hoped to do some tractor work, but even with my jump pack supposedly charged overnight, I could get barely a slow turn out of the tractor–funny since I had it running the other day.  My multimeter was dead too, so I couldn’t test the battery.  I decided to pull the battery and bring it home for replacement, so I’d have it ready to go next time.  I’d wanted to move some stuff out of the HF shed and put the two tractors inside, but since I couldn’t start the 755 that was that.  

On and off through the day, I worked on collecting stuff and packing, and just enjoying the nice day.  There was no hurry.

In the afternoon, we went to Shore Deli to get subs for dinner; they close at 3, so it was early.  Boy, are they slow there!  It’s a great place, but the service is deathly slow.  I swear we were in there for 45 minutes waiting for two subs, with only one other customer, whose order was underway when we arrived.  The lady is so nice (though today she seemed tired), but it sure does take a long time.  The chicken cheese steak is really good.  Better than a real cheese steak.  I don’t know what it is about it.

Back home, we ate our “dinner” around 1530, then took showers and finished up various prep.  Bed at 5…crazy.  But better with new blinds, and the rest is needed before our late-night departure.  With an alarm set for 2300, I got up at 1035, and after final stuff in the house we departed at 2302.  Home in Maine around 1045.  Definitely busier overall given that it was Friday morning, not a weekend, but our timing worked out pretty well.  Entire length of truck section of NJTP was closed in both directions for some reason, but not a big problem.  Went around Hartford via 691/91 (around 0645-0700), even went through Worcester, which was OK around 0730.  One traffic tie-up on 495–accident with a truck in a drainage ditch under a bridge.  This cost us about 10 minutes right around the rt 2 intersection.  Also passed a “just happened” accident on GSP just north of Gandolfini, with one lane open but a car catty-corner on the left lane, a couple cars on the right shoulder, and, just beyond, a crotch rocket in the ditch.  No sign of the operator.  A scary scene.