What happened to you today that let you know Maine is "Home" (Lincoln: for sale, to rent)

[Elcarim]

Awww!! That picture of the girls together is one they will cherish for a lifetime!

[Maine Writer]

Wow! Such wonderful stories. Reading "open sternum" gave me goosebumps.

[treeluvr]

Genmonto5--What absolutely gorgeous girls! So happy your daughter is well again.

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by futurecruiser

It was actually last week...not today but....it was a crystal clear day and I flew back "home" into Portland, ME. It was so absolutely beautiful looking over casco bay, the lighthouses, the coast, the water, the mountains to the north. I actually got choked up. I knew I was "home". We've only owned our house there 5 weeks!

Welcome to the boards.. I know what you mean.. my first visit to Eastport over 4 years ago was like coming home.

[dramamama6685]

Gen what a truly moving photo of your girls!!!

[deerislesmile]

I was just on the way to the post office and got about a mile from my house when my car just stalled. By chance, I was exactly at the parking lot of a garage, so I stopped there. They aren't open on Saturdays, but there were some guys in there working (on their own stuff, I imagine). I went in to ask if I could use the phone, and when I couldn't get Mr.DIS on the phone, one of the guys asked me if I needed a ride. So he drove me to the mail, so I could mail my package, and then to the parts supply store on the other side of the island to buy dry gas, and back to the garage. And then he convinced the owner of the garage that he should let me roll my car into his garage bay and let it warm up (likely frozen gas line to blame) for a few hours. Then he drove me to the grocery store, and finally home. Even told me that if I needed a ride back down to the garage later, to call him.

Things like that let me know Maine is my home.

[elston]

Thank you for sharing your story. Its like a Maine version of the parable of the Good Samaritan and serves as a reminder of the power of living the Golden Rule. Again, Thank You!

[7th generation]

Gen,what precious children. You are blessed.

[mainewannabe]

I would LOVE to compare that to my day in Tampa. LOL !! But it's too sad and mean. To her credit: Tampa was not always this way. Tampa used to be a very cool and wonderful place where you could smile at strangers and talk to friendly LEOs and know that they were not ... corrupt.
The PTB had to work very hard and fast to change tampa into this unfriendly place.
Treasure and save all of that for me !!! (and mine) ....
Sometimes I look around at these folks and want to cry. They just walk around with these grim expressions. We drive across the bridge and see the beauty we are going to miss and here's the delightful thing: NOW there is a 'car-wide' habit (jeep-wide LOL) of saying: BUT, that's okay .. in Maine we will see the sky all by itself with no wires in some places and no cell-towers everywhere you look and unbroken vistas of beauty.
Yes, my family does really talk this way, now.

IF we didn't have pets we would one day just get in the car and not stop driving. Find a place to park. Rent a home. Look for a permanent home and never ever look back. I'll always love Tampa. I think she just needs a break until the speculators go home or her growing pains are over.

Thanks for this, mollysmiles.
Incidentally, I'm ... slow. I looked all through user controls and can't figure out rep but I am mighty suspicious that I have been goosed AND moosed. OR just the good part. LOL

I can't imagine a policeman with nothing else to do but block the road for a parade and toss a little boy about. Wow. I don't think they touch anyone here unless you count the ones who .. never mind. It's a very grim story. City settled for millions of dollars: permanent vegetative state for a diabetic man with bp issues found wandering ....

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

Tonight I went to the town Christmas parade....we went 15 minutes before it was supposed to start. A good friend of ours was at the corner, in full police garb, ready to block the road when it was time. Jake pounded him with a couple of snowballs and he promptly turned Jake upside down over his shoulder. A man walked past with a golden retriever puppy that his family got in late fall. The puppy came from somewhere in Newport and they've had the best time with him. He loved the snow on Monday, and the man said that the puppy rolled and rolled in it, then shoved his whole face under it. Then he asked if I'd seen a particular person yet, I hadn't, neither had the policeman...and he walked on. I have no idea who he is....but we had fun with the puppy! Jake and his friend who is spending the night had a snowball fight while waiting for the parade, another man came by with his retriever, we know him....asked us if we saw the man with the puppy, and filled us in with more information about the puppy, he didn't know the man either! A person came and stood beside me while the parade was going by (all 7 minutes of it! )....and we talked the entire time, I have no idea who it was! Her son was playing in the snow with mine. While the parade went by a few people in it yelled to me by name.....Amy went by in the band float, I yelled her name--she stopped playing and waved Took supper over to the 16 year old son who is working at the gym and 4 people were in there working out. We all said hi, but I don't know them, and the adult asked if it was still snowing and we chatted about Monday and Tuesday's storm. Turns out it was the coach and a few of the guys from the wrestling team in the next town over.

[mainewannabe]

Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you for giving him a good life while you could. That displays your kindness.
I love all creatures. Even the ones others think are ugly. There are no strays in my neighborhood. They all live in my yard. Don't care what anyone thinks. That's where I got my nickname: "snowwhite of the toads". Even a poisonous toad lives here quite happily with all of our critters. People always use these toads as threats to pets ... (dang newspapers) but this guy has been around here for years and so has everyone else. LOL !!
I'm sorry about the little guy.
I did not get the snowwhite costume, either. Dang it.

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

'Today'?

Maine is great, but I got off on a bad footing today.

We had this cute little buck that KAF gave us, he has been full of life and energy all fall.

He was a runt, born in late spring and just never managed to catch up in size. He had skin problems and was not prospering at KAF's.

I would bring him in each day so that he could eat some grain separately without the herd knocking him away. They ram and beat each other up whenever one of the goats is not aggressive.

With some daily grain he had energy and was playful, he ran in the forest and ate lots of grass and bark, his belly became so big everyday that if anything he had issues jumping and playing as his belly was often too full. In our entire herd his voice has been the loudest. KAF expected that we would slaughter him and have a BBQ. But once his skin cleared up and he began putting on weight, I just kept putting it off.

I have not fed him separately for at least a month now. He has been able to stand up for himself and get his mouthful of grain while the herd is feeding together each day.

Yesterday I saw the other goats had knocked him down in a snow bank and he had a hard time standing up again. He had no cough, his nose was not runny, he was loud calling to me and seemed to just need help standing back up once his feet had sunk into the deep snow. I was planning on bringing him inside this morning and feeding him grain separately.

When I let the herd out this morning, he was missing. I found him, laying in the goat's shed, he died last night.