BS: Friends Moving to Maine

Subject: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 06:47 PM

GOOD friends of ours are moving away from Upper Frackland (Tioga County, PA) to Maine. I"m so bummed (but happy for them that their house sold).

Brian is a Catter under the skin I am sure, and a brilliant Brit. Science background, with both feet on solid ground. We met him when he gave us a superb cat (mouser and lapcat) via Freecycle. Pat, his excellent other half, is a Buddhist USer with vast stores of knowledge of gardening (nontoxic type) and many other things related to environment and health. She would be a Catter under the skin too, if she were not already so much more than most of us here.

I'm not sure which of them I enjoy more. You'll see what I mean if you get a chance to know them.

I invited them to post here. Brian is about to head north to find a house for (I think) an anticipated October move-in.

Hardi and I're heading off any minute on vacay but if Pat or Brian should post, please make them welcome. I can't think of a single person here who would not adore them as much as we do. Oh yes and they love both cats and dogs. :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: kendall
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 07:22 PM

What part of Maine? It's kinda large you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 07:56 PM

Well, I do not know yet, but they may choose to move where there are people they *know.* Hopefully they will enlighten us all.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 08:00 PM

Tell them to steer wll clear of S Portland - they are ALL Nutters there !!! but you probably know that already

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 08:59 PM

There's a lot of square mileage in Maine -- you can fit most of the other New England states in there and have a lot of trees and some good sized mountains left over. You can drive half the day from Kittery to Bangor (not to mention Eastport...) and some places ya just can't get to from here.

Let us (well, I live thirty miles into New Hampshire) know when they've figured on a spot to light and hope it's not too far into the woods.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: gnu
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 09:05 PM

I have often found, the further you go "back", the nicer people are. But, there is a balance between nice and needs.

When I was a young man, I wanted to be three miles in back of beyond. These days, I like being able to walk to the shops and the hospital. Although, I don't care to walk to the hospital at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 09:09 PM

Well, we'll just have to keep this thread warm until they post.

However, the real estate dollar stretches further in Richmond, Maine!

And I'll treat them to an initial round at the Old Goat.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 12:59 AM

do they have musical interests?
Do any of our Maine (coon) cats
know of houses for sale? Perhaps
these folks will live near where
they find work...

write when you find work!!

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 08:18 AM

Coastal lots are still quite pricey but if you are willing to commute 20 minutes to the coast you can find some very good deals. There's also the question of whether you want to buy an old run-down house and fix it up or build something that is energy efficient; the latter makes more sense but the former provides many more jobs for local folks.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: kendall
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 08:42 AM

Many people move here wanting to get back to the land, but one long winter and one black fly season and they realize that the land don't want them back!

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 11:54 AM

LOL, Skippuh!! It ain't necessarily mutual, eh? That's why their forebears moved to Augusta, Bahston, and New Yawk in the fust place!



A

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 12:28 PM

Thanks, folks.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: brian_m
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 08:14 AM

Didn't realise I was supposed to post here (I suppose we might not have told Susan which area of Maine, of course!)

Anyway, we're heading for the extreme north of Maine, the sort of places where the signposts say 'Canada 5 miles' (no, I've not dropped a figure). Aroostook County, almost certainly - the others are too expensive for our budget.

The reason for the move is simple - my wife has severe, and worsening, allergies. The @#$% next door has installed (IMHO) a malfunctioning woodstove, everyone points to the local council as our only recourse, and they will do nothing "as a matter of principle". I guess they think your right to heat your home how you like trumps your right to breathe without chemical assistance.

So, we're basically looking for properties outside of the towns, hopefully where we have a couple of hundred yards between us and the nearest neighbors. No, we don't expect that much land for the money, we just want somewhere which isn't currently too well developed, and hopefully isn't going to be for the duration of Pat's and my lifetimes. My wife likes the idea of the area right at the top end (Fort Kent - Madawaska - Van Buren) I'd like to be a bit nearer the coast, say around Cary or similar.

If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears, as I can't think of anything specific I need to ask at the moment. I will be heading up to Maine to view properties next weekend (Jul 31) and be up there for that following week. Pat finds travelling difficult, so I'll be taking more photos than any sensible person should, and FTPing them back for her to look at each evening.


Brian.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 08:34 AM

Brian-

Thanks for checking in. Our Mudcat buddy Brett Burnham has family in Houlton, Maine, and he might be able to give you some leads. I'll send him a PM on your behalf; he's resident in Guam right now.

Aroostook Count, or "The County" as we call it, is a remarkably beautiful place. It's about a 5 hours drive from where I live on the Midcoast. Big state!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 10:24 AM

Hi Brian!

(It wasn't that you were "supposed" to post-- just an invitation to read info or post if you wish. You will find Mudcat strangely lacking in "shoulds." :~)


Glad you looked in, as we depart on vacay tomorrow. Glad you joined up; people can send you PMs, so be sure to explore your personal page (link up top) to learn how to use that feature.

Please know that Mudcat is not like any other web community-- not in the software running it, the mind behind it, or the people here. And watch out for the BS section-- the rules about playing nice are a little different there... much like the town council you describe. :~)

Also please know that some of the Mainers are not.... "admirers" of the Susan you and Pat have come to know. The Brett mentioned above was always a good, GOOD friend. A few of those still in the locale however are friends; they will make clear which are which. (If it gets confusing just tell them how you got me to empty so much of your garage, and how you loaded my van one day while I wasn't looking.) But as I indicated-- you can trust them ALL with your life and Pat's-- solid.

See ya's when we get back. I'll call Pat from vacay where there is cell service-- can you please PM your "away" dates?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 12:39 PM

Brain, good job finding the PMs on the personal page! Ah knew he wahr a Mudcatter, at heart.

I've recommended he check with Maeve (as needed of course) on All Things Garden, in Maine.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 01:16 PM

Do you speak French? You get into French territory if I recall correctly not much past Houlton..into Presque Isle for sure. When I was there inthe 80s they taught schools in French. I think it is Fort Kent that has the branch college of UM taught in French. It is definitely a French-speaking part of the state. Don't call them French Canadians I was told..they prefer Franco-American...great place though. It can get cold of course...the coast in the northern area was still pretty cheap long ago..not sure what it has done lately. Great people. I asked why there were so many German names since I had not heard of Germans settling there and they said a number of POWs remained in the area after WWII. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: gnu
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 02:49 PM

mg... "Do you speak French?"

Dans le République du Madawaska, acorss the border, US citizens do not have to speak French. They have USD to do the talking.

Now, there were places 30 years ago where, if you had CDN and you could't speak French, you were given the cold shoulder. I doubt that is the case now. I certainly doubt it is the case in the US.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 05:06 PM

No..this was in the 1980s. No law said you had to speak French, but supposedly it was a bilingual state, along with at least one other...it was predominantly French-speaking. Not the whole state, just the northern part.   I hae no idea what CDN is. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 05:41 PM

http://web2.adfl.org/adfl/bulletin/v11n4/114017.htm

I had a radio in Aroostook County that would only play French music. I was in southern Aroostook County and not much farther north in mid 1980s they really started to be French-speaking and eventually almost predominantly French-speaking. They tried to gt me to return to Maine and work in a French-speaking school where they had shortages of school counselors and I said but I don't speak French, and frankly I don't have an ear for languages although I can learn the written languages fairly easily.

And I worked on a research project in Lewiston, which was heavily Franco-American and it was a blind study so I never knew exactly what it was about but it had to do with Franco-American education. This was through the University of Maine.

Maine was part of Acadia and also attracted a lot of French Canadians to its lumber woods and its mills. I think it is really important for people to know the history and migration patterns of places. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: brian_m
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 06:10 PM

Do you speak French? You get into French territory if I recall correctly not much past Houlton..into Presque Isle for sure.


In common with most English schoolkids, French was the foreign language I had to take at school. It's been a long time, but I reckon I could still make a passable attempt at reading or writing it, given occasional use of a French <-> English dictionary. All the tenses would no doubt be wrong, but I think I'd be understandable. I have no worries about getting my spoken French back up to standard in reasonably short order, if that's what it takes.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 07:00 PM

That was me up there.

http://web2.adfl.org/adfl/bulletin/v11n4/114017.htm

Here is something from 1980..60% of Lewiston had French as primary language then..I had no idea...

And it appears there are two strains of Franco-Americans in Maine..the Acadians and the immigrants from Quebec and probably New Brunswick. I have no idea at all if there was direct immigration from France. I think there are therefore two language strains. The Lewiston area would probably have been people, often single women, coming to work in the textile mills. They said often three generations of one family stood at one loom over the years..wouldn't that be a great song?

Also, I imagine a very few French-sounding names could have come from Ireland..I have a French-named ancestry and my niece married an Irishman also with French history. Wonder where all those Fitzgeralds and Fitzmaurice etc. came from?   mg

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: gnu
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 07:01 PM

I doubt there is any need brian. But I am a New Brunswicker so... ???

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: maeve
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 08:10 PM

Perhaps, after all, Brian will want to take his look around and see which areas appeal in the flesh. Then he can ask whatever questions occur to him.

Welcome, Brian. Let us know what you need.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 09:30 PM

Perhaps this will not be his first visit to Maine. It certainly is not his first time relocating the household. They're purdy good at it.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: brian_m
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 05:35 AM

Oh, it's the first time I've been to Maine, for sure. Nearest I've been is Concord NH via Boston (3 weeks when working for the British arm of Northern Telecom). Pat and I are working through all the houses that meet our criteria at the moment, and while Aroostook County still looks the most likely, there do seem to be a few places around Dover-Foxcroft too. I actually like the look of one near Lubec, but then I was 26 before I lived more than five miles from the sea. No chance of persuading my wife to that one, apart from the fact that the property taxes are way high compared to some of the others.


Brian.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 06:08 PM

Something else, though, that you need to be aware of -- your neighbors will probably be heating with a woodstove, whether for primary heat or backup heat. And that might put you right back in the same boat you started out in. I don't know how sensitive your wife is to wood smoke, and check out other allergans that might be in that neck of the woods, too.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Becca72
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 12:36 PM

Even if Brian does speak French it won't really help as they speak a strange English-French Canadian hybrid. But not exclusively. My eldest nephew was born in Ft. Kent in 1984 and I spent a lot of time up there. I took Spanish in school and got along just fine. (you will hear phrases such as "Trow me down da stairs my purse, eh?")
The only thing I will say about Aroostook County is you better like being waaaaaay far out into no-man's-land and I hope you don't need to look for work; there are few jobs up there.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 08:57 AM

You don't sweep the kitchen, you "pass the broom"...and "side by each too close apart".

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 07:39 PM

I would sure find out where the medical facilities are and how much you like to drive in the winter, especially with health conditions already...I know Bangor has good facilities..not sure about Presque Isle, Houlton etc., although I am sure they have some..just not sure how specialized.

How about Machias area? Is there a Calais there? Seems there was a good either technical school or branch campus of UM. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 08:02 PM

You might check out Bailey's Mistake, a little coastal village south of Lubec in Washington County. I've just revived my old thread (above in the music section) in which I added my song that explains how this cove got its curious name.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: Becca72
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 09:53 AM

MG - from Ft. Kent it takes 5 hours to get to Machias and 4 hours to get to Bangor... Northern Maine Medical Center is located in Ft. Kent but I cannot speak to the quality of care. I refer to Ft. Kent because, sadly, that is one of the most populated towns in Aroostook County. There are still parts of the county that get snowbound in winter (think The Shining).

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: brian_m
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 08:34 PM

We'd already checked out some of the populations in Aroostook - Fort Kent is just under 2,000 population, Presque Isle about five times that, Houlton just over half the size of Presque Isle.

http://www.city-data.com

My wife and I have worked our way through a slew of realtor.com pages and at the moment, a house just south of Houlton looks favourite. I'm off up there on Saturday to take a look.

Brian.

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 09:24 PM

i am a Maine realtor so was going to offer to help but you are going waaaaay too far north for me.......good luck!

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 07:47 PM

Hi Brian, have had a chance to talk to Pat once and have an email from her that looks like things may be coming together-- still holding a good thought for you both and will call Pat over the next 2-3 days.

~Susan

Subject: Katy's Vakation
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 10:27 AM

Hi Brian and Pat,

With great trepidation (but also great trust in how well she had been doing), Katy was left with the rest of the cats (and one of our dogs) for over 3 weeks in home-care here thanks to a friend of ours she had never met, who agreed to come in and fed the critters daily or every other day as his schedule permitted. This friend, Bud, was warned :~) that if there was mayhem of any sort, he should take Katy home with him.

We returned and found all in good order, with Katy having had the run of the downstairs for the first time since she came here. Food and affection had indeed been delivered daily, Bud said, and there was not a thing wrong here except excessive cathair.

Katy, the one cat she had met thru gates, and the one she had never met, had all chosen separate hangouts (as cathair deposits testified). Katy herself had chosen my personal clean laundry basket left in the bathroom from which to rule their comings and goings.

All had maintained their weight. On cheap dry catfood, they all had great coats-- not a sign of allergy/irritation on Katy. (WalMart had been out of stock on the better food, when we made a last-minute trip to equip Bud.)

When we returned, and re-opened the upstairs Katy had known as an entirely separate apartment, she chose to go back up to her more usual haunts-- probably hoping for the return of single-cat rule and canned catfood. Oh yes, I HAD cans up there, left from Brian's generosity-- but was too tired from the return trip to comply with her hopes.

After Katy's afternoon's nap with no incursions from the other two cats, she was unceremoniously sent back down to patrol the living room for the night instead of yowling us awake all night. She found this rather insulting-- a gentle toe in her behinder-parts aided her movement thru the last door-- but cooperated, only to find dry food awaiting her downstairs.

I had thought I would restore her to "apartment" living; I hoped her view of the downstairs (and the stairway connecting these parts of the house) would seem like a bad dream. I assumed she would go back to being exclusively upstairs, till I could figure out how to get her into patrol in another separate part of the house that always attracts winter rodentia (sometimes in hordes). But she solved this herself, so I went with it!

So-- thus begins the winter pattern of her life here-- it IS cold at night already, so we know field mice will be visiting via the drafty doorcracks.

Her consumption of canned catfood will resume with the tiniest of tastes in her beloved "Katy Kom Kuick" bowls, tonight-- because I am not sure she will take that toe in the butt again without defending her dignity and he claws are SHARP.

But the more open quarters (with lots of space for all) have worked their magic. Consider her healed of stress-itching.

PS, the dog was left in a gated corner with an open door (24-7) to Dog World. Katy did not avail herself of the several inches below that gate... or the easy jump from a food bin to the top of the gate; she stayed in the house like the good (aging) girl she is.

Just in case, you may be assured, Bud had been briefed on how to get her out of Dog World if she had taken a powder out there. :~) He's a cat man. We think he may avail himself, next time, of the invitation to take one home for a few nights next time we go out of town. He's awful lonely since his wife Helen died and since his cat died, and at least one of those cats likes to travel.


Your news? :~)

~Susan

Subject: Katy Kronicles, Kontinued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:00 AM

Excepts from old emails, for Pat to catch up on news Brian has seen in the past. Roughly in reverse chrono order.

~S~

===

A snip from a descr of Katy's department:

... there are two huge windows in that office. One faces
sunset, over my workstation. The other has much more windowsill space, is over the radiators, and next to my rocking chair/breaktime zone. I'll put away the photos on that sill, and make it easy to access-- maybe feed her there. That's the one the swallows haunt for nesting, which also overlooks an electric line full of noisy spring birdies.

(At night I am sure the local barn rats use that line liberally, like
pirates boarding a ship.)

~S~

===

Yes, she thinks she is in an apartment, because she has never seen the door to the stairway open, nor us go thru it, nor a dog leave thru it. She has also never seen (smelled) our bedroom. She thinks I come home from work and that my home-office is her LR. The nap BR is what she thinks is my BR. She must think Greg is my boyfriend because he feeds her sometimes.

But because she is not going out nor having fulltime doghair, perhaps-- she is also not showing any signs of allergy/itches. She did have ONE skin outbreak when she first came, but before I could get her in to see [vet], it had healed and has totally re-haired.

She just mothers me something awful. One night I went a-napping and failed to open her gate for her to join me-- THAT was Katy Yowling. That is the only time she has seemed the least bit unhappy. She loves it when I occ. bring a dog up to the office, hosts the dog nicely (firmly) and does not look for it afterwards.

She has her own pedestal next to my Bible Study chair, where she provides daily warm, purring fur as commentary while my hand trails thru her fur. She esp. likes it when I can't sleep-- I read Psalms in that same chair at night then, and she approves.

~S~

===

Katy is nowhere near going out into Dog World yet-- even the dogs are not out there yet, for more than a quick pee. We are still working on it...

I think the move here came at a good time for Katy. She does not seem interested in being any more active than her present digs permit. She has a fishing pole I exercise her with-- and that seems plenty for her.

~S~

===

Katy escaped from one room into a hallway yesterday. She has been quite happy-- no worries!!!-- but I had forgotten the daily take-down of one gate, so she jumped over it to land on the metal bin that stores her canned food. She sat there waiting for us. I think it was a hint.

The cutest vignette I can pass along is one day when I was reading in bed. I have not been able, due to vision issues, to read an actual BOOK in about 10 years. There I was, in a bed, HER bed, with book-- and dog. An aging dog, Faulkner had decided to try that "bed thing" again-- he'd never liked it, younger, because it made him too hot, to snuggle on a bed.

Now, on top of Katy's down comforter, it's just about right. Katy agreed and took the other side-- they were already "office" friends but for me this was particularly sweet. Still-life: "Normal Life-- Girl with Book, Dog, and Cat."

~S~

===

The home office includes my craft space. One craft included some cardboard to back long, wide, quilted arrows to convert them into bulletin boards. Katy has been making sure the chosen cardboard met requirements. When Greg brings home the post, there is still enough Katy-tested cardboard to put behind the hanging arrows.

She also had a good time testing my skin the other night. We reached an agreement about what can be tested. :~)

I think HER past skin issues may have been more about frustrated mothering than about allergies, BTW. Her hunting and a number of other behaviors read to me as "momcat."

Work resumed this weekend on the holding kennel, where the dogs live whenever Dog World is under work. That means Dog World will be built next. Right now it's a swamp of past years' winter poop and snow runoff. Katy's intro to it is still weeks off, but the dogs have met her up here in the office, and one cat came up to meet her thru the gate. He is a potential grooming buddy for her-- I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for the "post." I'm half asleep-- my first reaction to your subject line was, "Which forum did Katy join?" LOL-- she does have access to my puder all night....

~S~

===

THANK YOU for the post!!!!!

She's enjoying some cardboard, at present, and my office rug shows it! :~)

... My office used to be a kitchen for a second dwelling here.

~S~

===

Susan,

Katy's scratching post was left outside the side door of the church
(next to the traffic cones) this morning.

That reminds me of one thing I should have warned you about, though.
Do NOT leave Katy alone with any cardboard boxes - at least, none that
have anything in them or that you want to keep! You may have found
this out the hard way by now...

[- B]

===

Katy dismantled her gate last night and broke into my napping room. Silly me. I should have invited her before I lay down. Now she knows how to do it! :~)

~Susan

====

[Those who may feel the need to object to a KatBlog here may appreciate the opportunity to know that Katy is the main link in our friendship with Brian and Pat, who BTW are old hands at internet life. Pat's health concerns will keep her housebound for some time to come as they make their transition northwards, and I know she misses her Katy. So I hope more KKK's will be of interest to her as they keep akkumulating.)

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 12:57 PM

Get ready, Mainers. Got word today they's a-packin' to head your way. (Details will come from them when they come up for air.)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: GUEST,Pat Meadows
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 01:06 PM

WARNING: LONG POST, please feel free to skip!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the answers. I'm Pat Meadows, Brian's wife.

To bring you all up to date, we (contingently) bought a house in Washington County, Maine, about 20 miles west of Calais and the border with Canada. St. Stephen, NB is just a river from Calais.

(The only remaining contingency is that the buyer of our house gets her mortgage.)

We selected this particular house because all the other possibilities in our price range which we had identified (in a few counties) had one 'Fatal Flaw' or another *Fatal Flaw*, such as:

* being in a state of extreme dilapidation such that we could not afford to make necessary repairs
* being near a paper mill (the sole reason that we are moving is to get me away from things which aggravate my serious respiratory allergies and asthma)
* being 20 feet from a major highway
* etc. etc.

One of our requirements was sufficient land to ensure at least a modest degree of separation from the wood stoves of neighbors, and so on. We construed this as a minimum of one acre, which really limited our choices in the price range we can afford.

The house we bought is nice, I think - a five-year old, one story house, which we wanted (I'm 66 years old now, I don't want stairs).   It's small, but large enough for us (and considerably larger than the house we live in now, which is a sweet little house but smaller than a shoebox).

It's not on a major road and in fact is on a dead end street. The house has two acres of land and a large lake is about 1/2 mile away.

The house is entirely pine-paneled inside; that nice warm honey-colored pine (low maintenance). The outside is vinyl, which I wouldn't choose for looks but again it is low maintenance.... etc.

It has an open floor plan - kitchen, dining area, living room - which I like, that's a plus. Kitchen is tiny, I cook rather extensively, and this is a problem; however, I will appropriate part of the living room for kitchen storage. That's OK and will work out.

The property is nice, partly open, partly treed, and there are three large sheds.

Brian, bought and brought up on an island, much preferred Washington County to the more inland areas, very much so in fact. I don't think we will have the extremes of cold which upper Arostook experiences.

And we will both be glad to be in day-trip range of the shore - in fact, we will be about 35 miles from the shore. We would have preferred to be somewhat nearer the shore but it was not to be.

The two acres is a big plus for us, also. There's plenty of room for my daughter to buy or build a trailer or yurt or cabin for a vacation home someday. She is VERY enthusiastic about this. She can visit us by driving to the Philly Airport (she lives in NJ), flying non-stop to Bangor, where we can meet her at the airport. Door-to-door her trip to the new house will take her less time than her (car) trip from her home to our old home. She prefers flying to driving (unlike her mother!), so that's fine.

We will be 78 miles from Bangor (major medical stuff, etc.). Calais has a small hospital.

NOW, the disadvantages - the 21 mile drive to a supermarket is a real PITA. There's a smaller store about 15 miles away, and a convenience store and diner about 1/2 mile away.

But basically, we'll have to drive 42 miles round trip for doctor visits, dentist, vet, supermarket, etc. We do have a Subaru with all-wheel drive, which is good in snow, and another car which is a real dog in snow!   We will need to be very organized about grocery lists and so on.

21 miles from a hospital could be a worry, but you know - when we lived in a suburb of Baltimore, we were about 21 miles from a hospital and through heavy traffic much of the time. When we lived in Delaware, we were almost that far from a hospital, again with traffic.... And no one worried about it in those places.

The house has no garage for storage, which is a negative, although the large shed helps in this respect. We can probably manage to build a carport for the cars, at least, to keep the snow off - we can make sides from clear plastic if it has a solid roof. That would be a help.

We are still sweating our buyer getting her mortgage... We have our mortgage commitment. Our Pennsylvania house has been inspected and found to be a 'nice sound little house' by the inspector with no big problems at all. (Phew!).

So that's the story.

We did not want to move, but the natural gas industry is absolutely spoiling this area and (already) making problems for people (like me) with severe allergies -- and they are just getting started on drilling, it is going to be a whole lot worse very quickly. And I really, really NEED to be able to breathe.....

Most of you probably don't have reason to know this, but Bush, Cheney and a cooperative Congress removed all clean air and clean water restrictions on the oil, gas and mineral extraction industries. The Pennsylvania legislature, far from protecting its citizens and constituents, has made the situation even worse.... NY State has put a moratorium on drilling until it can pass regulations protecting its citizens and the environment. Pennsylvania is now frequently described as a 'basket case', and I believe this to be true. (Naturally, before we even considered moving, we did considerable research.)

In fact, it even looks like the PA Legislature is going to pass a law which *forces* homeowners to allow drilling under their land if a majority of their neighbors allow drilling. Wow! I can barely think of anything more contrary to our much hyped 'freedom'. The Land of the What and the Brave?.....

We will be *very* fortunate if we succeed in escaping. Many people here (probably most) are tied to this area either by job, family, or both.

I've spoken to quite a few local people: every single one of them is *absolutely appalled* at what is happening. It doesn't even bring jobs to local residents, because the drilling firms (naturally) bring their experienced workers from Texas and other distant states.

So please keep good thoughts for us that our buyer gets her mortgage and that we can in fact escape.... Thanks!

Cheers,
Pat

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 01:24 PM

Pat, when you have time to explore here, I know you will enjoy the many music resources and other site features. For now of course you will want to use this thread as home-base-Mudcat... but if you join (NO SPAM I promise) you will also get PM features and probably Mainely welcome notes as things move along.

For now, just a *leetle* music: Alan of Oz's Mudcat MIDI Pages

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 08:27 PM

Pat,
Make sure you have or install a generator. Winters here without power are not fun. You are in a beautiful area closer I think to Edmund and Charmion than to the Maine crowd.
Be happy in your new home.
Mary

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Oct 10 - 02:49 PM

Pat and Brian are, I believe, now in transit northwards. Whether they will be closer to the existing Mainers, or Charmion & Edmund-- whoever has a chance to get to know them will be enriched.

They will be missed, but OTOH they invited us to visit, and we had already thought a New England swing might be our next vacay. And TBTG they are experienced onliners, so we just won't get to pet the dogs quite as often. :~)

Bye Sean! Bye Orla! Good doggehs! Enjoy your two acres! Grow nice thick coats, and muscle up ASAP!

Please keep a good thought for their journey, which will be a physical challenge for each of them in very different ways.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Friends Moving to Maine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Nov 10 - 11:15 AM

New-Mainers have landed. Any Catters near Calais pls PM.

~Susan