Finito!

Ah, life is good again. We finished the bathroom remodel on Tuesday, what a relief. We are both quite pleased with the results, in fact we are starting to wonder if the room really even fits into our century old home, it is way too nice.(check out the old bathroom here, not so nice) Although I was the instigator and designer of the new pooper room, Ben was the one that made it happen, way to go Mr. Anderson. Take a gander at the photos, there are a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears in this 6' by 10' room.



We are pumped that the bathroom is done but bummed to find out Woof has Lymes. Although he may never show any signs of the disease he is on preventive antiobiotics which means 8 giant horsepills a day. He doesn't mind though, he eats poo so pills are no problemo.

Now getting him to drink water, that is a whole different story. Woof doesn't drink water unless it is in the white bowl in the house, the bowl in his kennel goes untouched even if we leave him all day. I am attempting to break him of this habit but am having little luck. Monday he ran errands with me and it got real hot, real fast and he was panting like crazy in the back of the wagon. I rushed home to get him to his water and the sucker would not drink a drop. I decided to show him and locked him in his kennel until he drank. Well he showed me and dug a giant hole and didn't touch his water. At this point it was about 90 and he was breathing like a dragon. I showed him who is boss by putting him on a leash and spraying him off with the hose. He HATES the hose but he just stood there like a statue and would not look at me. It is on Woof, you better watch your back!

Mechanically Challenged

Ben has a way with machines. First it was our lawn tractor which doesn't run long enough to mow our yard or blow the driveway. Ben brought it in to a small engine place and $200 later was told there was really nothing that could be done for it, it is 35 years old and needs a new motor. It does still run and here I just rode it all the way around the yard and it never overheated once. Nice huh?

Then Ben transferred his awesome luck onto to the Camry. That too works when it wants to but is not really reliable. Last Saturday I was at a conference for school and Ben called for a ride. He was in the turn lane to go to Home Depot in the the pouring rain when it quit. Later that day it started right up and we drove it home. We haven't tried to get it fixed because what do you say when you bring it in, "it runs perfect and then it just quits?" We will wait until it never works and in the meantime Ben rides his bike to work and we get by with one vehicle.

Speaking of riding their bike to work, I picked Ben up from work last Tuesday to go to our softball game. We threw the bike up on the car, went to our game and drove home together. When we got home Woof's kennel door was open and Ben was a little preoccupied with the missing dog and drove right into the garage. We heard a horrific crunch and both knew instantly what had happened. We jumped out of the car and all we could see was the bike hanging off the driver side of the car by a cable. After surveying the damage the only serious problem we could find was the bike shock which was seperated into 2 pieces. No scratches, no broken roof rack, nothing!

Until his bike is fixed Ben is riding my bike to work. Please be careful MAN, I really like me bike!

And now the curse of death has hit our push mower. The thing starts but will not run, last night Ben finished a portion of the lawn with the weed whipper. Cripes...

Huh, What?

So, how's the bathroom remodel coming?? That good huh...

Seems a little hard to believe that we have already been living in Maine for a year. We are still finding new things to do and having a lots of fun. Last week we dined on fiddleheads for the first time, they were pretty awesome. I guess you can get good things out of the back of some dude's truck.

Another Memorial day here and passed! Ben and I both had a 4 day weekend so we drug out the camping gear and got outside. We chose a canoe-in campsite which is not problem if it isn't too windy and Woof sits still. He was a champ except for all the leaning but it wasn't windy and there were no dumps, no wet sleeping bags, no crabby pants. Woof even went out with us fishing and aside from becoming utterly bored to death he did great. Oh and the views were pretty sweet too.

In the past few months I have been learning to quilt with some ladies at church. It is alot of fun plus the quilts we make all go to Lutheran Social Services for mothers at risk. I even got brave and made a baby quilt all by myself for my new nephew Jackson (I have 5 nephews and 4 nieces!). Here is Jackson Five and his new quilt. Looks good on ya little man, I can't wait to meet cha.

Ok back to the bathroom because that is always on the brain. My mom is coming to visit on June 12th, so we have 2 weeks to finish this beauty up. Here is where we are today and yes the bathtub is functional. I took a bath for the first time since September (we did not have hot enough water upstairs before) and it was great. Oh the do-it-yourself fun I acquired when I married the son of a contractor. Like traveling, remodeling pushes the limits of any marriage. But honestly for the most part it has been pretty darn fun but still, we will be glad when it is done.

Punked

For months we have been cursing the stooopid crows that hang out in our yard and dig up the grass. In fact what was quite a luscious lawn last summer has now turned into this... bummer


Little did we know we were being punked by a freakin skunk. Woof had found a den in the backyard and Ben was planning on trapping whatever was in there. In the meantime we were told we probably had a skunk. Sure enough at sunset, the first night we looked, we spotted the white stripe working through the yard like a roto tiller. Ben tried for a shot but was not even close to quick enough and the stakeout began. We spent 3 nights peering out our bedroom window with a 22 and pair of binoculars. Ben got off one shot but no cigar and eventually we surrendered and went for the trap. Here's the catch of the day and the best part was the sucker didn't spray.

Spilling

Canoeing is not usually a scary sport, but believe me it can be. We took part in the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race last weekend which is a big deal for Bangor. If the conditions are right, as they were this year, there is plenty of whitewater to deal with. Add to the 6 miles of rapids, 10 miles of flat water paddling and you get one exhausting and in our case wet race. We spilled 4 times and ohh that water was brisk. As we live on banks of the Kenduskeag we got to see ice chunks floating downstream just days before the race. Really makes you wanna go swimming huh? Here we are at shopping cart hole, the last challenge of the race. We made it through but had to pull aside to dump the canoe as we took in a boatload of water. BRRRRrrrrrrrrr.

Happy Three-OH Ben Jammin'

And yes I know, I am right behind you.

Purple, purple, purple

Spring cleaning is here and we have been busy sprucing up the house, the dog, and ourselves. We started running again and have started cleaning up the garage and lawn. Woof's teeth are also getting a makeover with a toothbrush and he loves it. Well actually he loves the taste of the toothpaste so I hear no complaints about the brushing. He even has is own orange toothbrush that we were keeping in the tooth brush holder which was a very bad idea. The other night when I was groggy, yep, you can figure out what happened. STUPID, my toothbrush is purple and YUCK, Woof eats poop.

On a more sanitary note the bathroom is coming along nicely especially after last weekend's tile fest. We are not experts but were quite pleased with the end results, in other words everything looks straight and no tiles have fallen down yet!
We also got a good start on the vanity we are making out of an old buffet. Ben loves to measure, saw and admire. See here he is busy admiring. Looks good carpenter man!

Spring has sprung

Or as they like to call it here, mud season. Which is really hard for me to believe because just 2 weeks ago I was here standing in front of the worlds tallest snowman (actually snow woman) in 50 mph winds and frigid conditions. Seasons change fast and now all we have to do is wait for 121 feet of snow to melt. wow.

We survived our first major holiday on our own and it wasn't half bad. The Easter bunny forgot to come to our house. Well not exactly forgot he brought Ben a basket but I didn't get one. I am not sure how that works, something about Easter sneaking up on someone. Hmm, I guess I know who won't be acting the part of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy if we ever need one around here. Even without my basket I was able to put my disappointment aside and help color eggs. Coloring eggs is pretty awesome, look at how awesome it can be. For almost a month now we have been dismantling our upstairs bathroom. We have finally gotten to the point where we are putting it back together which is a relief because it has been quite a mess. I find sawdust and pieces of sheet rock all over the house but I guess that is the price one pays to rid themselves of a bathroom this hideous. Let me introduce you to 1970 all mixed up with 1985. Uffda that is not nice. One should not be asked to start their day in a room this ugly. Slowly but surely we are progressing and although the room looks pretty desolate right now in a short time (hopefully the next month) this bathroom will be too cool. I mean really all we have left to do is lay tile, lay floor, install the sink, move the toilet, sheet rock, paint and install wainscoting. Piece of cake!

Oh go dig in the snow!

One of the biggest bodies of water on the east coast besides the Atlantic is Moosehead Lake. Ben's employer has a camp on Moosehead that we took my father in-law and his brother up to for a long weekend. Here are me and my boys getting ready to make the trek into camp. We fished 17 traps for 2 days straight and only caught 5 fish, 4 cusk and a landlocked salmon. Oh well at least we had fun even without fish action. I was lucky enough to pull the biggest fish out of the lake. Check out the slimey eel like cusk, yuck they are almost a snake and ewwwww that is gross.

Woof loved the trip as he got to sleep inside and some of our guests have been known to feed him from the table. One afternoon we were getting ready to have lunch and Woof was doing some serious begging, I opened the door, pointed outside and told him to go dig in the snow, I may never live that one down. Oh Woof life is rough huh, especially when your mom's mean and it is so windy out you look like the flying nun.

Having guests is a great excuse to get out and do stuff. Pretty hard to believe that this view is just 2 hours north of our home. Awesome huh?
This past weekend the University of Minnesota Morris touring choir passed through Bangor. We were lucky enough to be a host family for 4 boys from our home state. The boys were as nerdy as you can imagine choir boys would be. They agreed the only reason they were in choir was to meet girls and I was thinking uhm, yes you are all going to need all the help you can get, especially you shirt and tie guy with the horrible gas problem.

Killer Bunnies

The tourists are here, the tourists are here. We have had company the last couple of weeks and it has been pretty nice. Last week my sister and her husband were here. We ate alot, too much really, played a bunch of games and hit New York City.

Saturday morning we caught the train outta the home of Yale University, New Haven Connecticut. I did not see any billboards up of President Bush, apparently he is not their most notable graduate. Unbeknowest to me the last 3 Presidents graduated from Yale as did Hilary Clinton. Looks like that streak is going to be broken! The train was a pretty quick, cheap and easy way to get to Manhattan. My brother in-law Jason had never ridden a train and both him and Ben had never been to NYC, what a day for them.

While in New York we did what New Yorkers do. NO really we didn't. We hit all the official tourist spots including Times Square, The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty, the WTC remains and Central Park. We also spent alot of time staring into the sky just like all the other million tourists in town. But hey it was fun. Maybe next time I go I can get a real New York bagel with smear and see a celebrity or two.

We made it out of the Big Apple without harm after 2 short days. Some people had to get home to play more Killer Bunnies. Oh yeah and I had class on Monday. We just started playing Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot, it is a pretty goofy game but with the right mix of people it can be quite entertaining. And yes that is a look of disgust on my face as once again I lost.

I am not quite sure how many times we got asked over the course of a week whether or not Kari's glasses looked funny. I don't know if they look funny, look at the picture below, do you think they look funny?

Ice Climbing 101

For those of you who have done any rock climbing you know how tiring it is. Last weekend we went ice climbing for many reasons, one reason being we thought it was easier than rock climbing (which we are not very good at). As we were setting up our gear to start our first climb we were told ice climbing actually takes more strength and is more tiring than rock climbing. Oh that is not what we wanted to hear. Combine that revelation with our lack of belaying experience and the cold temps and my day was looking pretty bleak. But on to the climbing, here I am making it up climb #1, a relatively easy climb.

And here is Ben doing the same climb, yes we both had shaking arms and numb hands when we finished.

Hey that guy at the top is Ben! He made the peak with only a couple of minor infractions. I was also able to climb this monster wall but took some breaks and was wiped and freaked out when I got to the top.

All in all it ended up being a pretty cool day. I surprised myself and stayed warm the whole time, from 9 to 5. Turns out there is some climbable ice right down the stream from our house in Bangor. Now if we only had our own gear!

Snow Day

Ugh no actually make that a rain day. Everything school related was canceled today as we were blessed with 6 inches of beautiful fluff early this morning. But the snow was not the issue, it was the predicted rain. We have had about a half an inch of rain with nowhere for it to go so we are in a flood advisory in FEBRUARY! Hmm this sucks. Ben loves it though, check him out pushing the water out of the garage into the moat he made down the hill to the river. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon cleaning snow off the driveway and then Ben put his hours in with the rain. Pfft I would have rather gone to school then have this crappy rain day.

Sunday we had some fun checking out the The U.S. National Toboggan Championships at the Camden Snow Bowl. The turnout was awesome, there were a couple hundred teams and people were just hanging out around campfires eating chili and chowda. We are definitely in for next year and have big plans to build our own sled. BTW Camden Snow Bowl is the only resort in the world where you can ski with a view of the ocean. Neat huh?


This weekend Maine was a big deal in the Democratic Caucuses. Both Obama and Clinton were in town and I was lucky enough to get within 25 feet of the man I think will be the next president. We waited in a line a half mile long for about an hour only to get denied entry into the audiotorium. The cool thing was Barack's team recognized the number of people who did not get in and he gave a little 5 minute speech on the lawn. He does have quite a presence and is incredibly intelligent which gives him 2 up on the current prez with no effort

Hibernating is not for us

Who says winter is no fun? We have been having lots of fun, our only complaint, the warm weather. It has been in the 30's and melting all our snow :( Who'd have thought we would move to an arctic climate and complain about the mild winters? In the past 3 weeks we have been out ice fishing twice and caught an assortment of fish that are not in season. We did bag one nice togue (trout for you midwesterners) which was delicious. Woof loves to ice fish mostly because we go and bring him with. He loves to go to the vet too, that is how smart he is. Last week he made himself useful and pulled a sled full gear back to the car, good dog Woof.

Another fun winter activity is hauling and burning wood. Wow that is so much fun, I never would have imagined. I am being sarcastic, thank goodness Ben takes care of most everything to do with the wood and pellet stoves. I do enjoy sitting right in front of the wood stove, that is awesome. Also it is a fun treat to roast some dogs and marshmallows in the comfort of your own kitchen.

By far the coolest thing we have tried to do this winter is ice climb. We signed up for a beginnners course last weekend and were super excited to try it out but the weather had other plans. All the ice on the island (Mount Desert Island) that is climbable for beginners had running water on or below it. We were disappointed but still took some photos and had a good time hiking through the woods of Acadia. Seriously someone please send some cold out here. Thank you and peace out.

Stoved Up

Accidents happen and even when they aren't your fault they are still a drag. Friday driving home from the office a dude pulled out in front of Ben and the Camry. Luckily bad driver had insurance and was gracious enough to admit it was totally his fault. The first thing bad driver asked Ben after getting out of his vehicle was "How stoved up is your car" Oh Maine slang, too funny. The car is stoved up but drivable, fixable, and no one was injured, phew.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day, if you didn't know that you probably had to work. I didn't have school so I celebrated MLK day at Sunday River Ski Resort. It was quite cold so we pretty much had the slopes to ourselves which was way sweet. I have now used my season pass 2 times which is just not enough. Seriously more snowboarding, less studying and working Mindi! I am totally kidding, I know I am pretty darn lucky to be able to get out as much as I do, thanks Ben!

In other awesome news, I got copies of all the pictures everyone took during our Baxter State Park trip. The ease of digital photography sometimes makes for alot of repetitive and dumb photos. For example there were 5 people on our trip that was only 5 days long and we had 3 cameras. How in the world did we end up 323 pictures? Most of them were crap but I did find this diamond in the rough, between the guy acting as the messiah and the butt on the right side of the picture there is alot to look at. Timer shots, they can be awesome!

Giddy Up

Yo, I am back in the saddle and ready for another grueling semester. I have class 11-12 and 4-6:30, Monday and Wednesday, and that is all baby. Ben is jealous, heck I am jealous.

Ben and I spent 10 days in MN shuffling between families and exhausting our selves over the holidays. We also celebrated our best new years eve ever, ringing 2008 in on the tarmac in a plane headed for Boston. With the poor weather it took us 24 hours to get home, in that time we could have driven but hey we made it safe. While we were gone most of our snow here had melted and was replaced by about 4 feet of fresh stuff, which was great expect for the half of a day it took just to get the car in the driveway.

The snow was perfectly timed as I had an extended cross country ski trip planned over break. 5 supernerds embarked on a journey that would take them halfway up Maine's largest peak through the 200,000 acre Baxter State Park. The snow was awesome but warm temps melted 24 inches of it in 2 days and our progress was impeded by rivers of runoff and slick conditions. Via skis, snowshoes and boots we trudged through 30 miles of park and up and down 2200 feet.When the fog lifted the views were awesome, hard to believe this place is right in our backyard.