September 21, 2005 - Bedford, MA

This is a wonderful story.  Harrison Historical Society is the HHS part of the name, and for the life of me I can't remember Mary's last name, but she was a real person and very involved in the history of Harrison, ME.  This flat-bottomed boat is a half-scale model of the canal boats that used to haul freight and passengers through the canals and locks linking Long Lake and several others downstream.

Gerry Smith built her with some help from some other volunteers, just to celebrate the bicentennial of Harrison. Gerry is a terrific guy, and a real history buff, particularly as it relates to transportation in this area.  Has an engineering background, and is instrumental in restoring some of the old railroad cars as well.

The original boats were 65 feet long and about 10 feet wide.  They had about a 18 inch draft.  They were poled through the rivers, towed through the canals & locks, and sailed through the lakes.  Had big dagger boards and no keels.  Sort of an interesting boat.  Gerry's boat is pretty close to exactly 1/2 the size of the originals.  And then Barb got "artistic" on us with a shot of the portholes.  Cute, eh?  No, no, I'm talking about the picture, not her.  Even if it is true.

There's a different perspective on the portholes.  Having built several boats and worked on many more, I was astounded by what Gerry had done here.  He had no plans to work from.  Only some old pictures and some comments regarding the dimensions of these boats.  He'd never built a boat in his life before the Mary C.  His volunteers had never built any boats either, although one couple had some sailing experience and helped him with the fastening points for the sheets and halyards for the gaff rigged sails.

I had a lot of questions for Gerry about how and why he'd done things the way he had, particularly since he had no plans or experience to draw from.  The answers were amazing, and a real testimony to "Yankee ingenuity."  For instance, that bow in the picture on the right.  He didn't have time to build a frame and then put plywood over it, so he just fastened 2X6 planks together with overlapping to make the bow the shape to match the pictures.  See how the boards are overlapped further toward the bow?  Well, that was because he was afraid after going as far as he had that the angle wouldn't work quite right and he was running out of time, so he just moved the planks in further!  And it worked beautifully!  That boat could sail into a pier and break the pier!  Talk about stout, that bow is stout.  I've never seen anything quite like it.  If I didn't know better, I'd think Gerry enjoyed telling us about it almost as much as we liked learning about it.

Looking aft into the cabin were the stove, a table, and some chairs along with a sink were in the originals.  See how those uprights are cut?  When I asked him why they were cut that way, he grinned and said that it was during the winter and he couldn't go outside for much work, and he thought they'd look better this way.  Is that clever or what?  You can see one of the two dagger boards lying there.  When the sails are up, you need them to keep from going sideways, but while being poled or pulled, they're just laying there.  The mast and booms were harvested off some local land, and the Historical Society gave him some money for supplies and the Long Lake Owners Association (or whatever it's called) also pitched in some money.  Really a community project.

Some more of those clever simple little things that caught my eye.  Like the protective device to keep from loosing parts of your skin as you walk by some angle iron supports.  That's a piece of rubber hose that was laying around, and it sure works well, eh?  And then that hook that the boat is towed by going through the canal came from a tow hook that wasn't needed on some pickup a friend had.  And to keep the rope from slipping off, this little bolt with a spring on it was installed.

Lift up on the bolt, compressing the spring, and the loop in the rope could be taken off easily.  Of course it wasn't needed sitting on the trailer, but that clevis pin would be removed when the boat is in the water.  Somebody even found this old traditional anchor in a mini-size for the boat in some antique shop or something.

A shot of Gerry telling Don and me how he managed to get the boat backed in here with his truck, and Gerry's wife entertaining  sister Jennie.  This couple had so much information about this area, we could have spent several days with them enjoying every minute.

Another place for some rubber hose was on the mast support (can't remember its nautical name) and you can see one of the "store-bought" cleats for the halyard.  And this is a piece of work that Gerry's grandson has welded, and is the beginning of a home-made anchor to replicate the anchors on the original boats.

Gerry and his wife were some of the main resources for this two volume history of Harrison.  Yeah, it says "Bicentennial" and shows only 100 years--that's because the first book was the Centennial History and chronicled the first 100 years.  Their sign hangs on an old wagon wheel rim, that sort of summarizes our experience with them.  A very well done modern sign, and the ancient wheel rim along with a good dose of patriotism.  We're sure glad Don and Jennie were willing to introduce us to Gerry and his wife, and to take the time for me to ask questions about the boat.

Now we're back at Don and Jennie's summer home on the lake.  We'd enjoyed a cruise of the lake with them pointing out the different homes and giving us some history of their own.  We saw Joan London's home right next to her husband's summer camp for rich city kids, and then we stopped at the "sand bar" along with several other boats, dropped anchor, and went for a "walk" on the sandbar.  The water was about 3-4 feet deep here, and quite warm (according to them!).  To keep the boat from getting all dinged up by the pier at home, Don has installed an anchor with a buoy a bit offshore.  To retrieve the boat so we can take a ride ( or return it to the buoy), he paddles the dingy out and brings the boat back in.  Or vice versa.

I'm standing on the pier waiting to see if Don misses his step and takes a swim out there while he's messing with the boat, Barb's in the wading pool, and Jennie is showing us that in spite of her very conservative exterior, she's really a swinger.  Or is it really a glider?  They call it a swing, but it really just goes back and forth on wheels, so it must be a glider.  So much for me picking on a sister-in-law.  And tell me something.  If you had a home like that, would you call it a "cabin"?  Just because it's not your "main" home but rather your "Maine" home?  I'll never understand these New Englanders I guess.

Well, so far so good.  The boat has its cover back on and Don's on his way to shore.  Now all he's got to do is maintain the delicate balance while getting from the boat to the platform.

Well, he obviously knows what he's doing.  Total success.  And we had a wonderful time with them while we were there.  Spent part of the time watching hurricane Katrina build up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Our next adventure was to visit one of the local fairs.  Barb and I love going to fairs.  Our all time favorite has to be the Puyallup Fair in Western Washington.  Their timing is such that there are almost always some baby pigs less than a week old.  There are so many food vendors that I'm happy for days afterward.  We sort of know our way around the fairgrounds, and where our favorite exhibits are so that makes the day efficient.  And on opening day, if you appear early you get in for free.  Free is good, even if it is before 9 AM.  And since they don't throw us out until about 11 PM, we can make a very full day of it.  But now that we're on the road, we've found local smaller fairs to have a charm of their own, and we usually see something we've never seen before.  And in Hopkinton, NH, we saw several things we'd never seen before.  Like these garden tractors doing a "Tractor Pull" like the monster tractors do on TV.  Some pretty serious competition, too.  A bunch of out-of-town guys put on a good show along with the local boys.  Never did figure out the scoring system or who won, but it was fun to watch anyway.

We'd only seen kids on bicycles (in their 20's they're still kids to us) do these kind of tricks on TV, so it was special to see them in person.  There were three of them, and they took turns with the microphone.  Lots of practice and more than a few broken bones got them to the point where they can sell T-shirts with their names on them.  And baby pigs were there, even if they were more than just a few days old.

The "Rock Fountain Carving Show" consisted of a guy from New York with his grinders, some air chisels, and some rock that sure didn't come from around here.  New Hampshire is known as the Granite State, and it's not for no reason that it's call that.  Rocks around here are hard.  Real hard.  And they don't take kindly to grinders and chisels which is why there are so many granite curbs, mailbox posts, and the like.  They can withstand the blows of the snow plows for years on end.  Anyway, we hung around for a while, and then wandered off deciding to come back after he was done to see what it was he was carving. 

Walking through the dairy barn, we saw that a bunch of the cows were taking naps.  And among them was this young lady about to fall asleep on one of them herself.

The flash from the camera resulted in us getting a wonderful smile.  The cow was totally contented, and so were its neighbors.  The girl's grandfather was sitting in the aisle and introduced himself to us, but it's been long enough that I'm afraid I don't remember his name.  While I don't understand a lot about New Englanders, I do find them to be universally gracious.  And the poster sure is a "keeper" in our opinion.

Most animals have a much better sense of smell than we do, and since I like cows better than horses, I try to introduce myself given the opportunity.  The goat was more interested in my hat than in me, but we found her quite interesting.  No horns, no ears, but a very long neck.  Seems they grow that way.  That dark blue thing is my sling.  After having a bone spur removed and some smoothing up of an arthritic shoulder joint, I was suppose to wear it for a week.  Big nuisance, but I knew it would be worthwhile, and it was.  Did the exercises like a good boy, even if it did make my eyes leak once in a while, and was rewarded by the doctor letting me continue on my own without having the expense and inconvenience of physical therapy.  Final visit scheduled for Tuesday the 27th and then we head south.  But more on that later.

Not every day I can get a shot of a giraffe that is shorter than Barb, but at a fair I can.  That fancy piece of jewelry around her neck is really her visor.  She just lets it hang around her neck when she doesn't need it.  That way it won't get lost.  And this little guy and his daddy are really what fairs are all about.  Reminded us of a few months ago when our grandson Huck was riding on my shoulders..... and licking the sweat from the top of my head!

I took a break (found a bench by the duck pond) and Barb wandered a bit by herself.  She found a bunch of artwork using plants, which included this wonderfully proportional pinecone airplane, and then the "Alien" made from squash, corn, beans, and who knows what.

For a couple of people with as many differences as Barb and I have, it's amazing how we share the same interests so often.  Like this chicken that needs a haircut and makes me jealous, and this very long-legged chicken.  That long-legged guy must live in the swamps, eh?  And like a sheepdog, that hairy (feathered?) chicken must have a great sense of smell because it sure can't see much of anything!

I suppose there's a certain attraction to the unusual.... and to the babies of the animal world.  In this case a baby burro who was barely awake.

In the petting zoo there was a special sort of corral where the animals could go to get away from the kids with their sticky fingers for a while.  And among the animals taking a break was this grinning goat (see her teeth?).  Not sure what made her happy, but she grinned the whole time we were watching. 

Ever taste maple syrup?  How 'bout maple syrup cotton candy?  Another first for us.  Had to get some to take home for the sisters to test.

On the way out, we checked out the rock carver, and discovered an interesting out of proportion fountain chicken.  Well, he was from New York, after all.  It appeared the water would come down those "steps" behind him, but since the rock carver was no where to be found we never did get the whole story.

Barb uses this board for cutting fabric when she's making things, and she'd left it out on the table.  When I went out after dark to retrieve it, I discovered this nice stick bug on it.  Those numbers are inches (how handy is that!!), but Barb's finger is another way to get perspective on the size of this bug--she wanted me to hurry up to take the picture for some reason!  Imagine that.  Anyway, it may well have a better name than "stick bug" but that'll get the idea across.

And at home the chipmunk was checking out the hummingbird feeder.  We never caught it actually down at the feeder. 

If you thought canning raspberry freezer wasn't fun, you've never heard these two at it.  Sister Carol and Barb usually enjoy each other, but they were really yucking it up while this project was going on.  Carol managed to get plenty on her blouse (that regretfully didn't show up in the picture) and Barb was just lucky it was only her apron that got messed up.  We've not had any yet, but I'm sure looking forward to it.

Church.  A good news bad news thing for us.  Traveling around like we do, it's tough to get to know any of the people from the different places we go, and sometimes we wonder why we bothered to go in the first place, and sometimes we wish we were going to be going there for the foreseeable future.  New Life Christian Church in Goffstown, NH, was one of the latter.  On the right is Pastor Kenny and his wife Vicky.  Found the church on the internet.  They became involved with the church about the same time we got to town.  Because we visited around a bit, we didn't find them until it was almost time to go.  I think we  attended about three weeks before we left.  But in that brief time, we got to know some of the members of that tiny church a bit because Pastor Kenny started a men's breakfast on Tuesday mornings and I showed up.  It was a blessing to me to be able to "hang out" with these guys, and Pastor Kenny in particular.  New Life is one of those churches that fell on hard times, and is now in the process of rebuilding.  Kenny and Vicky were brought in as church builders, having had that experience in Fallon, NV, and in Hawaii.  It was great fun for me to be able to drive around with Pastor Kenny looking at some possible meeting places other than the Radisson Hotel where they're currently meeting.  We had them over for dinner one night (Barb's a great chili builder, you know) to get to know them better, and we're going to miss them a lot.  Both of them have been through some personal challenges in the past, and it was real easy for us to relate to them.  We also met Michael and Susan on our second Sunday.  They were interested in our lifestyle, and rather than spend the day standing there talking, we invited them over to see our Road Abode.  Michael offered to bring the meat, but they showed up with the whole dinner!  Michael bar-b-q'd some great meat.  The evening was nice so we ate outside, something we don't do very often.  Wonderful people, and with some similarities in our backgrounds we felt blessed that we'd been able to spend some time together.  It's so encouraging to meet people like these two couples.  Wish I'd remembered to take a picture of Michael and Susan.  Maybe next time.

Carol and Guy were kind enough to let us use their home as a "base" when we were running errands.  They let us use their address for our mail, and some packages we had sent as well. They fed us a lot, and we even spent the night at their home one time when they were at their summer place in northern NH.  You've seen pictures of their place before.  They'd come by this day on their way up to their summer home to drop off our mail for us, and I realized I didn't have a picture of them in our home.  We're going to miss Barb's family when we leave a week from today.

When we leave, we're headed to Alva, Florida, where we've accepted an invitation to be camp hosts at the Caloosahatchee Regional Park.  It's a "primitive" campground meaning that there is only tent camping.  There are 27 campsites, one restroom, and 11 miles of trails for mountain bikes and hiking or horse back riding.  Other than that we don't know much.  They wanted us there yesterday, but I've got my final doctor visit for the shoulder on Tuesday of next week, so we'll head that direction on Wed.  Assuming, of course, that Rita or one of the several storms behind her don't change our plans for us.  No point in going down only to turn around and head back north again.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?