Fryeburg, Outlets, and the Kancamagus.

In a phenomenal feat of piss poor planning, I drove four hours to the Fryeburg Fair dressed for drizzle with the occasional shower in the upper 50s, and found it was steady to heavy rain and 40 degrees. If I stopped moving, say to sit and watch the oxen pull (which are indoors at Fryeburg) I would start to get chilled, so I made it all of three hours before retreating.

God I soooooo want these for new kitchen counters:


It's hard to explain to folks who haven't been there how much larger than other fairs (except maybe the Big E, and the Big E is a different kind of fair) Fryeburg is:



Nice Maine forest fire service box:



The *small* Grandstand...is it still a grandtand if it isn't the grandest on the grounds?



Wood Pellet furnaces, with bulk delivery!

Couldn't justify buying a couple, but I really loved these hand-made rice bowls. I did buy a nice wooden cutting board and a frenh rolling pin.




So after retreating, looking like a drowned muskrat, I headed over to North Conway looking for a new Columbia jacket (which I did find at a good price...think it was $80 off the original list) and I saw a "Labonville" outlet...as in the chaps folks? Yep -- the folks who make chaps! I never knew they were headquartered in Gorham, NH on the other side of the White Mountains from Conway. I do think the equipment was more for decoration here, which was a 80% Carhartt and 20% other stuff place. I'm guessing their Gorham store is more into the chainsaw stuff. I did buy a nice wool jacket made by them though!

Came home the scenic way -- crossing the White Mountains via the Kancamagus Highway -- if I recall correctly, it's 37 miles from the time you enter to the next gas station (or pretty much anything other than some campgrounds and recreation sites).

October Photo Dump

Guess I've been busy doing :D
Repaired the front step with a layer of Trex:

Took in the umbrella for the season :(



Pulled into my driveway after work and...wow.

Picking a peck of peppers before the first frost.





I will remember one day that we get heavy frosts this time of year and the car needs to be warmed up before I want to leave for work..

One new jacket (bought the day of the short Fryeburg Fair visit) and a messy bedroom...

Unless I've been brain-dead, I swear these bloomed AFTER a hard frost! (And we had no light frosts -- first frost it dropped to 27 degrees.

Chili Time :D

Started putting in stepping stones


Lost a lot of work I had done on a script, but the next morning found I had most of it in my recycling bin in the office, where I had thrown a ripped-up print out from the day before :D

They are re-numbering I-395, and for a week this has amused me that we have Exit 91E to go Providence, and 37B to Brooklyn:

That's all the flat stones I have for now. I'll keep putting them aside, I'm thinking I can flare this so it's wide as it reaches the driveway.

Replacing the Septic Pipe...

When I had the tank pumped, the septic guy said the dry well was clean, too clean. He said to call if the tank backed up, that there might be roots in the pipe. I figured being 50+ year old Orangeburg pipe I might as well replace it while the tank wasn't full yet (and since I only send ~15 gallons a day into it I had a few weeks to do the work). Figured out pretty quick it was faster to dig with the front end loader than to use the backhoe :D But then I can back in with the backhoe first for some of the "fine" work.



Then we had 5" of rain before I finished up the other leg...

But I remembered how we get the Ladder truck at Mortlake out when it gets stuck in the mud :D















It's all backfilled now...but I have to finish the final grading, and seeding will need to wait to spring I guess.