I'm on the 45th parallel - 1/2 between the North Pole and the Equator. It will be feeling like it's a lot closer to the NP over the next4 months, I predict.

basement. Been burning off and on for 2 weeks. My oil heat is set to 60.

then have to flip to heat in the wee hours and morning. That’s life in the 🌵 🏜 desert.

As a semi-retiree. I'm loving sleeping in without the early sunshine, and enjoying the sunsets at 6PM. I suspect that, in 8 weeks, the sun will be setting at 5....but I am OK with that! It's been misearable here for alost a week. Heavy cloud/rain/fog....but it has been comfortable warm (low 60s). Today it cleared out and the temps dropped 20 degrees...sunny and a lot cooler. Oh Well.....downtime starts soon.

That's the link (you're second one) that I posted, but no pic shows up...I wonder why?

in sending form to my dentist!

The view must give you a sense of peace, OAITW.

Thank you for sharing.

I get to see the sun set from shortest day (Dec.21st) to longest (June 21st). Well, I will see longest next year when I take down a bunch of fir/white pine to open that up to the horizon. A full 280-220 horizontal sweep..

Last edited Fri Oct 28, 2022, 09:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Nope...that left 25 years ago. I worked at another compamy that made industrial machine tools. (drill presses. surface grinders, and gear hobbers). Employed 500 people. That's gone too....albeit for different operational reasons.

gone a long time. Hoped that some survived.

When I moved to Dexter, Dexter Shoe employed about 1200 people. Then Harold Alfond move his money to China. Spent a lot on local philanthropy on his way out, though.

then Jaffrey. I passed my grandfather's tack hammer to my son not long ago. I wore Dexter's growing up.
Appreciate your Maine life.

We could decide that investment in China and RU are "not in our best interests" and move the jobs to friendlies or back to the States.

Saco-Lowell made machine tools that made manufacturing textiles/leather, water power free...

After WW2 a bunch of hot shit dudes made Saco and Lowell (in Saco) a engineering company that could take an idea and make it into a manufacturing reality in 20 weeks. New England was an incredibly great region for manufacturing.

Eventually, they became Maremont Corp.....a defense/automotive company. Made M-60 machine guns. and automotive transfer torque spiders, and shock absorbers for the after-market automotive industry (Gabriel Shocks). Worked that Gabriel line. We could build scrap at the rate of 20,000 shocks/shift. By the time quality found the problem, we had made, typically, 30 to 40 thousand scrap units.

The lesson? Quality never kept up with manufacturing capabilities to make scrap, really quick.

I didn't work on the M-60 production line, but I can tell you this. It was a feared and reliable weapon in the US armory for 40 years....I did work one summer on the firing range at Maremont in 1972 - doing endurance tests on the M-60. 3ea. Frame M-60's / 3 barrels per frame / run to barrel failure. Pretty goddam reliable. Over 1MM live rounds -> cycle 100 rounds shorts / 100 rounds open - 7.62mm bullets into the range....good bye. Sand pulverized to cement dust and wood converted to organic material. Multiple range rebuilds. And a complete hosing of the range, because gunpowder.

We did a wedding in Berkshires after a trip from Tennessee to The Soo to Toronto. Friends and family beckon.
Sold the manse in Fla before Ian and bought condo to keep close to family and docs here.
Considering half the time near Saco area. Been traveling in 1970 Airstream that is a bit too small. Probably sell soon and buy a similar one a bit longer and have it redone in upstate NY.
We are into our 70's and not as spry. Been told I have to write a book. We'll see.
I am a New Englander who has brought New England, good and bad, to wherever I go.
Miss the humor that is home.
But, you can't go home, again.
My accent, while it has shades of originality, is now from away.

The sunsets out west are so vivid

West over Abraham Mtn..through Lincoln Gap..through VT..to Ft. Ticonderoga...

Now, I promised a pic a while back..you were talking about your little critter -



I named him Mr. Handsome..taken on hike near Dartmouth College late seventies..

With the falling leaves..or bare trees..Winter is coming..

Pretty fearless little creatures. Don't piss them off!

Here's an idea,...

Go over to Mnt. Washington and put a big huge enormous pumpkin right on top of the peak of the mountain. Then light a candle in the pumpkin.

Then go home and see if you can spot the pumpkin from your back deck at your place.

You might need to hunt down one of those 5,000lb pumpkins that win the country fair ribbon prize to see the pumpkin from that distance..

Take a photo with the huge pumpkin with the burning candle on Mnt.Washington and post it to DU.

.... be on your deck two hours after sunset tomorrow. I will light the pumpkin candle over at the peak of Mnt. Washington. You quickly snap a few photos.

We can do the team work approach.

In the event of rain or cloudiness we will cancel tomorrow and reschedule the following night.

Let me check my Calendar - nope, nothing planned. I'll be on the back deck from 4:30 to 7:00PM. Will have the telescope with the attachment for my camera. Light drinking expected. Will be filming this event on FB Live for the entire world to watch.

Or, barring that, an inflatable Kool-Aid mascot. Keeping it inflated during the 140-mph mountaintop winds could be a challenge, though!

It's his/her fantasy. LOL

and BOOM there it is, 120 miles away! I remember that as a kid growing up in central Maine. You're very lucky to have a view of it from your home.

Out here in southern Arizona, when I'm up near the top of the Santa Catalina mountain range northeast of Tucson, on a clear day I can see the much less-steeply-sloped silhouette of Mt. Baldy about 125 miles away near the New Mexico border to the northeast in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. It's just a slightly higher, slightly darker and greener-tinted place on a distant horizon broken by some closer peaks. But every time I see it I remember the feeling of wanderlust that would come over me when I'd see distant Mt. Washington. I think it's the steepness of the mountain that makes it look so arresting. Mt. Katahdin would affect me similarly, though it had its own very different mystique to me.

completely obscured by my location, land-wise.

Make sure that the link you select ends with '.jpg'.

Also, beautiful photo.

Looks better than I remember.

Weary, dismal. soaking, gray are the right words. Today was totally different. Happy to experience it.