Goodbye Portland, Hello Yarmouth.

We are moving Labor Day Weekend.  Our new place will be in Yarmouth (15 mins north of Portland).  We are really excited.  Here are some pictures of our place (for 6 more days).  I will miss many things about this apartment.  

some updates.

Lots of things have been happening over here, and I have been meaning to update....but have neglected.  So here are some updates.

• We had our first mouse, ugh.  I don't mind a mouse (when outside camping, etc).  But this one (Mickey) just happened to run behind my sink as I was attempting to make the morning cups of coffee.  I ran to get Joe (who did not really believe me) and then who yelled to me that yes I was correct-it WAS a mouse.  After hearing lots of clanking and what appeared to be dicing.  Joe reported back to me "that I was really close."  I responded with close is not good enough with a mouse in my house situation.  Also let me add that while Joe was attempting to scoop Mickey from the counter to the trash-Mickey bounced off his stomach and ran under the stove.  Joe let me know that he was still alive, apparently when a mouse touches you-you won't die.  I am not convinced.  So Joe set some traps and for 24 hours we caught NOTHING!  It was a tense day in this house.  I kept imagining a little guy just nibbling at my toes.  After 24 hours, our landlord offered us the cutest cat, Clovis.  Clovis wore Mickey out so much that Mickey was just laying on our kitchen floor.  Mickey was still alive and released free (far away from my home and he better not remember the way).  But why I felt so much panic was because I am a detective-I went to wikipedia and found out that its usually one male mouse with a few females AND the offspring.  And that it takes 19 days for the babies to come and somewhere between 4-13 in a liter.  So now, I have been putting the idea of a kitten on the table.

• We ate our first veggies from our garden.  They were great.  Just cut up with some spice on them!  The tomatoes are very red and the cucumbers are so fat.  I will have to show off some pictures soon.  

• My brother came for a visit.  We had a ton of fun.  It was much better than his last visit, which was Dec. 31st and in the middle of a snowstorm driving 100 miles to the airport. 

• I ate my first lobster on July 5th.  What an experience.  It was such a "Maine" thing to be doing.  The day before I ate it, we were at a lobster bake with an abundance of lobsters (sorry to make everyone back home jealous) and I did not eat one.  I waited until the next day when I had one caught by my own lobsterman.

• I also ate my first Red Hot.  A red hot is basically a hot dog with a red outer part.  Its a Maine thing and while I don't eat meat, I am always tempted by a hotdog and this was good.  I sure like my Fenway Franks and Red Hots.  Oh temptation station. 

another day on the water.

This is my first bald eagle in the wild (at least where I really remember and saw the "bald head."

And more nature.  Yes, it does look like I am trying to capture grainy images of a Loch Ness monster type creature, but actually its a seal.  

I was getting nervous that I might be bad luck for my lobsterman.  He has not caught a keeper while I was on the boat with him-until today.  He pulled up these traps and I just saw those claws and knew this guy was here to stay.  Which then made me a little sad, because he is so cute and fun to watch.  About 2 mins after catching him/her, Joe advised me that I should not be around when cooking time comes.  I agree and I now have convinced myself that the pictures you have been seeing are not the same lobsters that I might try for my very first time.  Do you see the claws?!?!??!

This is the lobster getting banded.  That helps him from eating his other friends that he is hanging out with in the tote.  

And yay!  My first video post.  This is of the lobsterman pulling his trap.  

another day at the ocean.

Since I have even thought of moving to Maine, my thoughts were lobster and moose.  And I thought it would be much less effort to see a moose than it actually ended up being (but well worth it).  So back to the lobster, I thought I would just try it at a restaurant.  Rewind to my first day here and meeting the man that is now my boyfriend (A.K.A. the non-commercial Lobsterman).  Well how perfect, my first lobster to be eaten will be caught by him.  I have been really excited about this.  And then I took this picture

My previous association had been something cooked on my plate.  Not something that I have actually pet (and maybe blown kisses to).  The feeling of actually seeing them was weird.  The lobster meal is not scheduled for another 2 weeks.  But this container they are in is called the "tote."  It has a lid on it and actually floats next to the dock where Hotdog is kept.  The things that look like centipedes in the tote are actually the bait fish.  Gross.

This is the view of Joe in Hotdog.  Behind me is where the water opens up to the ocean.

This is the view behind me from where I took the above picture.  This day I know looks horrible and really foggy, but still lots of fun.

The glob in here that looks like something from outer space is actually a jellyfish, he got pulled up in the trap.  It was pretty cool to see, this guy got free and is now back in the ocean.

* The sun burned the fog and it turned out to be a beautiful day, I of course did not remember to take pictures.  

lobstering.

Joe has his five-trap-non-commercial lobster liscense.  This is my first time riding in the boat, while he lobsters.  It was so exciting!  The weather was not bright and sunny, BUT we were the only boat on the water and that was priceless.

The lobster buoy.  Each lobsterer(?) identifies his lobster traps by his own buoy, and he also has one to identify his boat.

Pulling the trap, which has been sitting on the ocean floor.

The trap.  

This part is so exciting, because I am trying to see if there are any lobster and if so-are they big enough to keep?

The trap again.

Measuring the lobster.

The underneath.  You have to make sure it is not a female with eggs.

The lobster.  

Too small to keep, maybe next year.

I could not believe how many jellyfish that we saw.  I mean schools of them.  And they look so cool, that I wanted to touch.  But of course, I did not.

Memorial Day weekend.

This first picture is from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

When I was here I just kept repeating, "I can't wait to come back here."  I think you can see why.

Check that off my list.

woo-hoo.  I have finally seen a moose.  Make that 4.