Blog Hog Ben

Ben in no way resembles a Penn State cheerleader, but I put him in the blog anyway.

Breasthook is Fitted

I was real happy at the way the Breasthook fitting went. This is a central focal point of the boat.
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Now I can plane and sand it flush with the gunwales and the stem, and the interior should start to set up, although this won't happen until next weekend when I return from the West Coast. Work keeps getting in the way of the important stuff.

Rock Climbing

Sunday was another awesome morning. Joanne and I had brunch at the Hale's Location hotel which is situated below Cathedral and White Horse Ledges.

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You can't see it by this photo, but there are some people climbing half way up Cathedral Ledge. I guess I can understand the adrenalin rush that people get by technical rock climbing, but I definitely prefer fishing.

Politics - the Massachusetts Governor's Race

If you read the bios of Patrick and Healey, they are both engaging individuals. The tendency for each to downgrade the other is debilitating.

There should be a rule in American politics that each candidate could only refer to their own background and ideas for policy and leadership. I don't want to choose a leader based upon his characterization of the other guy.

Cramming It In

Sunday shapes up to be a little busy.
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Get up in No. Conway - take a walk around the neighborhood with Joanne, then maybe break a sweat with a run through the woods behind the hospital afterward.
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Joanne is going to stay until Mon. Morn., but I have an 8:00 AM flight to Atlanta so I'll be heading out by 11:00 or noon to Marblehead. That gets me home by 2:30PM - plenty of time to organize the packing for next week. Darwinians will be in Atlanta, then SF, Phoenix and San Diego, returning Fri.
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The Herreshoff is falling behind. If I can get the breasthook installed tomorrow and glue the spacer blocks onto the interior gunwale rails, then it would be a semblance of progress. Today's sojourn along the Androscoggin and to Umbagog Lake gave me a lot ideas about trailering the finished Herreshoff and trolling around the White Mountain rivers and ponds next year.
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Problem is that a great day fishing here up north is a great day fishing around Marblehead. It's hard to choose.
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Probably no moose sightings tomorrow.

Football Fan

Penn State V. Michigan.
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Mike is fired up at the tailgate with Nathaniel and Ben after a long ride to Pennsylvania.
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110,007 fans packed Beaver Stadium for the primetime game between the Nittany Lions and Wolverines – the second-largest crowd in stadium history - but Penn State fell short, 17-10
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What is a Nittany Lion anyway? And why name a football team after one?

Moose and Margaritas

We cut short our trip to Pittsburg and went to Umbagog Lake in Errol, NH on the Maine Border in the Northern Forest.
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It was a frosty twenty eight degree morning when we left at 8:15 and the mountain views were as crisp as an HDTV plasma flat screen in a Circuit City showroom.
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Following the Androscoggin River on Route 16 past Berlin, we had to stop for a moose in the middle of the road. It casually lumbered into the woods and immediately seemed to be transparent in the background. It is still hard to imagine that something so big thrives in the woodland up here. Look at the right of the picture and you can see it before it vanished into the forest.
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Stopped at LL Cote in Errol and I bought a small Okuma spinning rig and some lures to wet a line at the Lake, while Joanne was in another part of the store. When we met up to leave the store, I told her that I bought the rod and reel for her as an early Christmas present, but I couldn't pull the story off.
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Joanne thought she was being set up, and felt that I had planned this trip solely to go fishing, so I promised her that I would only make three casts.
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After my tenth, I started to feel guilty, but the rig, set up with a small Kastmaster jig, was so much fun to cast.
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So I cast a couple more.
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When I felt I was pressing my luck, I got back into the truck and we went through the Grafton Notch Sate Park in Maine over to Bethel. I obligingly went into a couple of gift shops, then we deadheaded to Margaritaville in Glen for lunch.
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Two margaritas and one pulled pork chimichanga later, it definitely qualified as a Saturday morning to remember.

Philosophical Approach to Wilderness Trips

While Joanne and I are in Northern NH this weekend, we should in no way be compared to the Fortier Family. Dave's version of hiking (see left) and mine are diabolically at odds.

Connecticut Lakes - NH

Heading up to Pittsburg, NH tomorrow to check out the Connecticut Lakes.

Beyond Horror

Police discover body believed to be missing UVM student

The body believed to be that of missing University of Vermont student Michelle Gardner-Quinn has been found near a winding country road in Richmond.

I will never second guess my parental emotions again.

FYYFF

Saw this spelled out on a t-shirt in New Orleans a few years ago. Pretty funny. My mother-in-law, Mary LeBlanc, figured it out, so you should also be able to.
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DiMatteo had it monogrammed on some Baseball hats and gave them to the clique when he retired from GD four years ago. Chandler saw me walking out of the building with mine and asked me what the letters stood for. I told him. He was not amused... probably thought that the sentiment was aimed at him. I didn't think it was then, but I do now.

Epistle of John to the Darwinians

Got to get into Darwin and knock out the Backlog and Outlook numbers. Publish the weekly epistle and try not to get crucified upside down.

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Have I mentioned that we are kicking ass? The ship is raising sails and moving out of the harbor. It will be interesting to see how we weather a stiff wind and a moderate chop. I imagine some will get seasick.