Jason Raven

Scout Cam Update 10/4/2009

The weekend got off to a rocking start, with Joe and Ritchie coming over for some The Beatles: Rock Band on Friday evening. Joe, Angela and I played around with the new harmony thing using 3 mics and I realized that it would be PERFECT for letting the kids play along with us. As long as ONE of the 3 people hit the notes, the band gets credit.

Saturday morning, we got up and at 'em and headed to the Cumberland Fair. The rain kept nearly everyone else away, which was pretty nice. The girls (and Angela) saw their first pig and calf scrambles. We stayed inside the various structures and out of the weather as much as we could, ending our trip with some baked beans served up by the North Yarmouth FD.

We would have spent more time there if the girls didn't need to get dried off (and cleaned up) to see a performance at Maine State Ballet later that afternoon. While the girls took in The Magic Toybox, I took off for Thorndike to check the scout camera. 5 minutes down the road... I realized that archery season had started 2 days prior, so I went back and grabbed my bow, too.

As you'll see below... the new spot didn't have great quantity of deer, but the quality of the videos was excellent. I was hoping for antlers, but no dice. The conditions Saturday afternoon were my favorite for hunting - overcast and damp, but that didn't pan out, either. Once it got dark, I headed back home.

We didn't do much on Sunday besides run a few errands. A starts working this week, so I'm going to miss basketball this Wednesday. I would hope that missing just one of my rare exercise sessions would be no big deal, but when I hopped on the scale before playing tonight... I was UP to 211! I definitely feel better when I play, but the wait is not exactly melting off. It may be time to step it up and actually start making some dietary changes; at least for this week. When A is out, I'm in complete charge of supper so our venison in-take will go up considerably.

Scout Cam Update 9/27/2009

I finally got a chance to head upcountry to tend to my camera this weekend. After a battery change, I was able to get the remote control to work so I could fix the date/time. Please disregard the timestamps on the following clips. Next time, they'll have the proper numbers. I had many videos of turkeys and a couple of does (and a skunk... and a cat...), but I'm only going to show the four buck videos. You've got to look quickly on a couple of them - you can really see a difference between the does and bucks in how much they'll tolerate the camera's red light. The bucks are much cagier.

If you look closely, you can see the remains of the summer velvet hanging from the buck in the first and fourth videos. No huge racks there - hopefully they'll make it another year to develop some nice big antlers.

I moved the camera to a completely new spot, which I really second guessed after seeing all the bucks that have passed by the usual spot. To help ensure some action, though, I put out a few different attractants. I'm curious to see which one proves most popular.

Lastly, I forgot to weigh myself BEFORE basketball tonight, but got on the scale once I got home and the number was... 209. The weight isn't exactly melting away, but after just two weeks of playing, I noticed that I had a LOT more stamina tonight.

On an island in the sun

This weekend was dominated by my friend Richard's wedding. Although the ceremony was yesterday on Chebeague Island and we got home late on Saturday night, it really did have a major impact on my Sunday. I'd like to thank my wife for driving us home.

Before all that, though, I took my four year-old to her first and last soccer clinic. She was really excited to play and get a soccer t-shirt, but burst into tears after the second drill and said she hated soccer and wanted to go home. Knowing we had a ferry to catch, I gladly obliged her. She says she'll try again when she's 5.

The wedding was great. It was a nice ceremony with some very funny moments, which pretty much sums up any experience that anyone shares with Richard. The open bar was taken advantage of and the fireplace provided some fine ambience. I saw some old classmates that I rarely get to talk to, got to know some of Richard's college friends, and we all had a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful, albeit a little windy, but overall it was an amazing day. 

As I stood and watched the ceremony, this was the view to my left:

When I awoke this morning, I thought that my plan to weigh-in and play hoops was going to fall apart in what would have been just week #2. With a lot of gatorade, a little nap and great lack of judgement, I managed to pull it off. Unfortunately, my weight was only down from 213 to 212, but I had been at 210 mid-week. I actually didn't play too poorly, but I still blame the Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale.

The Weight

I know that I just posted a blog entry last week, but I've come up with a compelling reason to do so even if it breaks my comfortable routine of waiting longer and longer between updates. No, it has nothing to do with North Yarmouth Fun Day, which went off pretty well yesterday. We had beautiful weather in the morning and it never really started raining hard until we had everything put away. The drizzle forced us to shut down the bounce house much earlier than we wanted, and the rest of the game area somewhat early, but I think that we still did ok. We seem to have blown through the prizes much quicker than last year, so that's all I'm going by. The numbers haven't been tallied yet.

Coach Soule (of the Class B state champion Greely Rangers, which also happens to be the team with the best website in Maine: http://www.greelybaseball.com) and his radar gun was a big hit. Almost TOO big, because we really underestimated how well kids would be able to guess their speeds when we were coming up with the rules and payouts. Some of the kids were walking away with big wads of Fun Day Dollars. We'll put him in a more prominent spot next year, and we'll also try to come up with some other athletic games. We really need to draw the attention of the older kids away from the somewhat-fragile arcade games that are targeted towards the single-digit demographic.

My second Fun Day was definitely easier and less stressful than the first. We had more committee members, but it didn't feel like we had as many volunteers as we should have. MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO VOLUNTEERED - we could not do it without you. I've already got a LOT of ideas about the next one.

Today was supposed to be another "fun day", with a post-Fun Day canoe/kayak regatta on the Royal River. Unfortunately, my father's canoe was damaged beyond quick repair, so we planned to go just as spectators and enjoy some cider and donuts. Recently, the girls told me that they've got Angela and I figured out and that we never follow through on our threats to punish them. Well, we made it to the regatta finish line just fine, but big sister was feeling a little defiant (maybe being the cover girl for The Notes this week had gone to her head...) and refusing to listen to us when we told her to get out of the way of the boaters as they were coming in to shore. Angela picked her up to pull her back and then all hell broke loose and she threw a fit. Her second public screaming episode in two days - the other being when we were standing outside the fire barn before the bean supper the night before. This time, there was no hesitation - I grabbed her and put her into the car seat and we were out of there with no donuts and no cider. After much lecturing in the car about acting her age (with little sister occasionally dashing some salt in her wounds), she cooled off.  

I decided to run a bunch of errands in the afternoon, and feeling guilty about leaving the kids with Angela, offered to take them with me. The little one had helped me set up Fun Day for FOUR hours on Friday and was an ANGEL almost the whole time. She was also pretty much fit-free on Saturday (as far as I know, but I was busy) so I had no qualms about bringing her. Naturally, that bit me in the butt when she had a screaming fit of her own in Hannaford because we didn't get a "car cart". Luckily, I was still in the produce section and had only bagged up 4 apples. I stuck the bagged up apples in the corner of the shelf, threw her under my arm and headed out to the car. I dropped her off at home and headed back with just the older one. My apples were still there. By the time we got home, the little one was bouncing all over the house and exuberantly cleaning the table when asked. Lessons learned? I doubt it.

Fun Day and unfun day aside, the real reason for the blog entry is that 30-and-over basketball started tonight and... I weighed myself for the first time in a long time. My suspicions were confirmed, and I'm GROSSLY out of shape - quite possibly at my all time heaviest. So, I have decided to weigh in each Sunday before basketball and publicly post my weight. If this doesn't motivate me, nothing will. The thing that worries me a little is that I think I'm actually eating pretty well, overall. It's just been a complete lack of exercise this summer (I think). I'm not planning on making any radical dietary changes, so we'll see if just adding some semi-regular exercise can make a big enough difference.

Week 1: 213 lbs

August and Everything After

Here we are one week into September already, and I'm a week late making the weeks late post that I had promised myself. I guess my September recap will be just be that much shorter.

On August 8th, we hosted our first non-birthday party in years. It wasn't quite the same as our old Fourth of July parties, being lighter on adult beverages and heavier on pre-adults. There was a lot of Rock Band, some kids running under sprinklers, a tremendous mess in the playroom and overall - a good time for all. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it, but it was as close as we had come to having the whole old gang back together in probably four years.

The following day, Sandy and Everett welcomed our new nephew into the world!

The next day, our own baby turned 4 years old! We had her party at Nana and Grampa's this year, and the theme was Tinker Bell again. She says that the next one will be too, and I wouldn't bet against her!

The following weekend was Raven High Adventure weekend (I blame Angela). It was probably the hottest weekend we've had all year, so what better way to spend Saturday than on a hike?! We decided to make our first family hike an easy one and tackle nearby Bradbury Mountain. There are lots of geocaches scattered amongst the trails. Unfortunately, geocaching has been a VERY negative experience lately. The kids have become extremely competitive and petty about who finds them and even moreso about who gets to open and close them. One of these incidents got us off to a very bad start, and it was quite a chore to motivate them up the mountain. Everything got better as soon as they stepped on to the rocky summit, though. It was a clear day, so we the view was pretty fantastic. Still, unwilling to push my luck with the kids, we opted for the shortest (and steepest) trail back to the parking lot. After a few minutes of playing on the playground, we headed for home.

Sunday, we took the girls on a ferry ride out to Peaks Island. We didn't have much of a plan for when we got there, though, so we mostly just wandered around a couple of the beaches looking for geocaches. We found one, but the other was apparently MIA. I did meet two other geocachers while looking for it, though. The girls had some ice cream and we hopped on the ferry back to Portland. Casco Bay Lines is a fairly cheap way to kill some time and cool off on a hot day.

The following week, the girls finished up their swim lessons. They both made BIG progress this session - it must have been the goggles. Big girl went from barely being able to blow bubbles in the water a couple of months earlier to going completely underwater (briefly). Little sister breezed through her preschool class.

The next weekend was the resurrection of the annual camping trip with the boys. This is a family friendly blog, so many details will be spared, but suffice it to say... we were very wet pretty much all weekend as New Hampshire received the edge of a tropical storm. There were tornado watches, a leaky tent, nobody felt like going hiking and we didn't even bother with a campfire. It was probably the worst boys' camping trip that we've ever had, but to a man we all agreed that it was better than being at home (sorry, Ladies...)

The following weekend, Rick and Karrie (inspired by our party 3 weeks earlier) had a party at their house. Lots of Rock Band, lots of dip, lots of laughing and a really slow-moving fantasy football draft were the highlights. Hopefully, we're on a roll and this will become a more regular occurrence. Roger and Michelle were up for the party and spent the night at our house.

The following morning, we took the kids for a surprise trip to Fun Town. Roger and Michelle were kind enough to split up at times and take our kids on some of the rides with them. Angela does not do bumper cars and I wasn't feeling up to doing much of anything after tempting fate on the Tilt-A-Whirl, but I did have a log flume ride in me. Unfortunately, the girls enthusiasm for log rides is waning (and we had zero chance of getting my oldest or Roger and Michelle's son to go on it), so future pictures might be solo, which won't be nearly as funny (to me, at least).

That night, I closed out August much like I started it - with a trip to the Pavilion in Boston to see a show. This one was a nearly-last-minute surprise. Ever since going to see Zappa/Dream Theater with Everett, I wanted to see the August 30th Flaming Lips show, but I had been spoiled by sitting 8th row and didn't really want to drive all that way for bad seats. Unfortunately, the show was basically sold out and there weren't any great seats left. I kept checking every day or two, and occasionally some seats would open up but I was able to resist. On the Friday before the show, I was amazed to see two front row seats available. I only had 10 minutes to make a decision before the seats went back into the pool and I didn't know if Todd, my fellow Flaming Lips fan, was available. I knew it would be tough to get anyone else to go, but I risked it and bought both seats. I excitedly messaged Todd and waited til late on Saturday when thankfully, he told me he could go. You can now print your own tickets, so I just emailed him a PDF and met him down there.

The show was pretty great, as all Lips show are, but I wasn't really up on some of the new tunes. The classics, like Race for the Prize, She Don't Use Jelly and Do You Realize were worth all of the trouble. Being so close, I was able to get some great photos.

 

The next couple of days weren't so great... skipping the awful details, one of my cats had to be put down on Tuesday. RIP Billy Kitten.

On Wednesday, big sister started 2nd grade! The first three days seem to have gone well and she's still very enthusiastic about school. If she could just master tying her shoes...

This past weekend, I took the kids up to camp for a night. I was mostly looking to bring home the old canoe for next weekend's Fun Day canoe regatta. Unfortunately, one of the gunwales was a little rotten and we decided it probably wouldn't stand up to the trip. My grandmother and her husband, Roger, came down to play cards on Saturday afternoon and they brought my uncle Ken and his wife, Bonnie. I hadn't seen Ken and Bonnie in probably 4 years, so it was great seeing them.

We took a trip to our favorite book store in Belfast, where I was feeling generous. Little sister chose 3 workbooks and big sister got three chapter books, which she had finished by the time we got home the next day. I wish the library had more complete collections of the many series that she is into! Aunt Minnie sent her home with a couple of boxes of REALLY old chapter books. I'm a little nervous about letting her handle them, but she's a pretty conscientious kid. Little sister is doing very well with learning to read. I'm not letting her near those old books for a few years, though!

The trail camera is back up and working - I got some videos this weekend, but nothing great. Stay tuned for some antlers soon (I hope).

Farm Share 2009 – Week 9

Blurry image of red onions, basil, beets

summer squash/zucchini, 2 lbs red potatoes, cucumbers

2 heads lettuce

tomatoes, purple and green peppers, purple and yellow beans

Farm Share 2009 – Week 8

cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 lbs red potatoes

2 heads of lettuce, 2 bunches Swiss chard

baby leeks, fennel

bok choy, basil, hakurei turnips

Farm Share 2009 – Week 7

cucumbers, summer squash/zucchini, kohlrabi

Swiss chard, red scallions

green and purple beans, hakurei turnips

2 heads of lettuce and a bag of greens

2 heads of cabbage (Napa and Green), 2 lbs red potatoes

A Ghost(writer) is Born

You may not have noticed, but I haven't actually posted an update for the last 6 weeks or so. I refuse to post the farmshare updates this year, so Angela has taken over that part of the blog. So... I've got a whole July+ of updates to try and deliver from my foggy memory.

I visited Gramps on a Sunday morning on the last Sunday in June and spent an hour or so interviewing him about the war. I borrowed his photo album, scanned them all in and put them on disc. I need to go back and tape him narrating the slideshow before I edit it all together.

We spent Fourth of July weekend at camp and that it was the first time that Angela had gone up with us in the past couple of years. Karen and Ritchie were there, too, so we had a full house. The weather wasn't great (unless you're like me and hate the sun/heat), so there was no swimming. The parade was the highlight of the weekend, I guess.

The following week, big sister had a solid week of basketball. She picked up right where she had left off in the winter and has really come a long way from last year. She's probably better at dribbling than I was at that age. I had the edge at shooting, though!

My old buddy Todd was back in town that week. He and Judy came out to the house one night and had their introduction to Rock Band. We spent a beautiful day at the lake that weekend. Sebago was chillier than usual, but we still had fun swimming and going on a couple of boat rides with the kids. We had some excellent views of a couple of bald eagles.

The following night, we took the kids to see TWO juggle at the Westcustogo Hall up the road. We had seen them last year, too. I'm glad to report that the little one did NOT want to leave halfway through the show this time, but I was much better prepared for that this year, having brought two cars. She was very much into it this time, sitting in the front row, clapping and laughing throughout.

The following Friday, I went to the Wilco show at the Maine State Pier. I had never been to a show there, but it was pretty nice. If they could put a tent over it, it would be amazing. As it was, we got lucky and were never subjected to more than a light sprinkle. Seeing the band and looking to my immediate right at the big wooden yachts docked 15 feet away or at the Casco Bay ferries loading and unloading a hundred yards beyond it was pretty surreal. The band took the ferry airhorn blasts and stride and waved to the "freeloaders" as they chugged off to their islands. I think that band leader Jeff Tweedy called the sea "the world's greatest fog machine", or something to that effect. The acoustics couldn't match the show I'd seen at the Camden Opera House, but I have to give it an A for ambience.

The weekend after that was the annual family party at Wendy and Kenny's house to celebrate my grandfather's birthday. The sun wasn't out much, but I still managed to get a really bad sun burn. I rediscovered the fact that a shaved head starts peeling within 2 days of getting burned, pretty much. I've also noticed that the top of my head is becoming freckled like my face as it gets more sun.

It was Cousin Joe's last family function before heading off to college... I'm so jealous...

Later that night, we took the girls to see Audiobody, which is TWO's other act. This show had some really amazing moments, but overall... we all prefer the juggling act. I know the boys are trying to move beyond it and wouldn't want to hear that, though.

The following week, big sister had week 2 of basketball for the summer. Both girls have spent a lot of time at the library this summer. They've been really into the summer reading program and have also attended just about every event offered there this year. I certainly spent a big chunk of my summers there, too, when I was their age. The big one is plowing through 3 or 4 chapter books a week (she particular likes mysteries right now) and the little one is starting to read, too. Tonight at bed time, she read me most of her Step 1 Richard Scarry book by herself while big sister read a Shel Silverstein book to herself.

We didn't actually do much of anything in the last weekend of July, which was a much needed respite. This past week, the girls started swimming lessons. I took Friday off from work because we were going to surprise the kids with a trip to Santa's Village. Tempting fate, I chose to ignore the weather forecast (I'm usually a pretty lucky guy), but by the time we go to Gorham, NH we decided to abort and headed down to North Conway to go school shopping instead.

The next morning, we got up and tried again. This time, the weather was great and we spent the whole day there. It's a longer drive than Story Land, but a much more pleasant trip. There is a fraction of the traffic and the scenery is unbelievable once you get to the mountains. Next year, though, we're definitely going to go on a week day. The lines weren't horrible, but it would have been nice if they'd been shorter.

Yesterday, I made my third long road trip in as many days to go to Boston with my Everett, one of my brother-in-laws. He's a Dream Theater fanatic and they were headling the Progressive Nation show at the Bank of America Pavilion. I had never been there before, but I was VERY impressed. It's laid out really nicely and our 8th row seats were amazing. Before we even got there, though, Ev and I spent an hour plus in line so he could meet-and-greet his rock idol, drummer Mike Portnoy, at Daddy's Junky Music. I played photographer for Ev and his friend Rich. Mike was very affable and easy going despite having to sign a LOT of autographs. DT is VERY popular in Boston and Mike had gone to Berklee right across the street.

I hadn't heard much of Dream Theater, but thought they were pretty good. The crowd was VERY much into it. I was really there to see Zappa Plays Zappa, though. I've been into Frank Zappa since high school, when I first read The Real Frank Zappa Book and listened to Chunga's Revenge. I had seen some clips of ZPZ on YouTube, and wasn't actually expecting much. I was COMPLETELY blown away by them.

The weak point from the clips I had seen was Dweezil's vocals. I think he's probably a better guitarist than Frank was, but he doesn't have the voice. As the band played their opener, Purple Lagoon, this big frat boy-looking guy starts jumping around like a lunatic in front of the stage. He hopped and screamed up and down the aisles before launching himself up on to the stage. Everyone around me was shaking their heads wondering why the heck security wasn't tackling him. Seconds later, as he grabbed the mic and did a perfect vocal on Zombie Woof, it all made sense! The kid was fantastic. Dweezil stayed at center stage and just shredded and smiled. The whole band was incredible and there was an energy that you just don't get from the old Zappa albums. I really wish that I could have seen the Frank play live. 

I got home at 2am, but made it in to work as usual. However, I am probably due to crash here at any minute as I type this. I doubt that anyone besides Jim and Nora will read this anyway!

Farm Share 2009 – Week 6

This week’s farm share is abundant.

broccoli, kohlrabi

beets, zucchini, Swiss chard

Pak choy, bok choi, red bunching onions, heads of lettuce

read and white radishes, bag of spicy lettuce mix, hakurei radishes