More Tower Stories...

    One of the first posts I did when I started this blog was called "I'm surrounded by TV Towers!"  Since then, last October, there has been action around them.   I never did hear an update on what actually happened to the man that fell off.  

      A couple of months later, all the lights went off on the same tower. So at night, you could barely see it. Theoretically, if you were flying low, you may crash into it.  Not sure what the story was, but it was three full days before the lights came back on. I think some of them were replaced, and some of them seemed to be in a new place.  This was only November, and the top light has already been blown out again. I have never seen them change that bulb, it's at the tippy top. It sure doesn't seem safe being 1200 feet up.

      There was yet another story about this tower that made the local news on June 11th. I had just arrived in Maine for my vacation.  Was bringing some stuff into the room, and turned on the 5:00 news from my local station channel five (that's the best part about "modern" technology- I can watch the Red Sox and the Boston news stations while I am away.  The first time we went to Old Orchard Beach in the early 1990's, we didn't have that luxury, or even cable TV. Only three channels, just like it was the 1970's!)

     Getting back to my story, the top story was about two dare devils from New Hampshire who climbed half-way up "my" tower, and were going to film themselves jumping off! They had parachutes, of course.  Their plans were thwarted when someone spotted them, and called police. The cops told them to come down, and I guess they went peacefully, but were arrested for trespassing and malicious destruction of property.  I wonder why there isn't at least security cameras or alarms to go off. Maybe because nobody in their right mind would do something like that.  

    A couple of years ago our next door neighbor came running home and saw us outside and excitedly told us how he saw somebody with a parachute land in the middle of the playground, get up off the ground, look around and run away.  We wanted to believe him, but didn't think it was possible for someone to jump off the tower and get far enough out not to get tangled up in the wires, or even to be able to "fly" at all, even with a stiff wind.  We thought our neighbor may have had an overactive imagination. I guess I owe him an apology! 

    We wondered what was going on that night, because we saw several police cars, a fire engine, and the street was blocked off. This was at nine o'clock on a Sunday night, and I was getting ready for my trip. I thought it was pretty cool that while I was far away from home, I could see a story that happened right across the street from my house.  I will try to upload the news clips at the end of this post. 

      One of the other towers nearby had work done recently, and naturally, I was fascinated and spellbound, so I took some pictures. (see above). I think that they may have extended it's length, but I'm not sure.  There is actually a crane that was coming out of the top, and I think the long red thing hanging off the side is the piece that belongs on the top.  

      Here is the clip about the tower climbers! Enjoy! I need to find a new obsession.....after watching this video, you'll understand why these things gave me nightmares!

I NEED A VACATION AFTER TAKING MY VACATION!

     I just returned to work this weekend after being off for a week. I must say a few things about my time off.

     1. Going away is almost more trouble than it's worth. I made a conscious effort to pack lighter than I have in the past, since I end up bringing lots of things I never need, but pack "just in case". When you're going to coastal Maine, the weather can go either way, so you need one set of warm duds and one set of cooler ones. 

     I try to avoid spending too much money, so I try to pack food that I know I might need, and that includes spices, beverages, condiments, etc. I usually leave most of this stuff in the car, kind of like a pantry on wheels. Only trouble is, if I don't plan ahead, I'll have to go down all those stairs to fetch it.  The food is very reasonably priced in Maine, and the meat is higher quality and better tasting too. So I do a lot of cooking in the three days I'm there. I bought some nice pork chops, a super rib-eye, and a good T-bone ($5.99 a lb).

     2. While on the subject of money, I should add that I don't like to part with it! And it seems like this year, prices went sky high.  It really irks me. Deep fried scallops last year were $13.99 for a pint, this year they were $16.99, so we only bought them once. I didn't even bother with the deep fried Oreo I planned on indulging on myself! Those were $1.00, a deep fried Twinkie, $3.00, which is too much.

     Quality fudge is worth the money, even at $11.99 a pound. They had a special on two flavors: praline, and chocolate/sea salt caramel. Buy one lb, get one free! So we did "stock up" on fudge. MMMM.

     Ice Cream is another matter. Since when did you need to take out a bank loan to buy an ice cream? I'm not joking- I wanted to try a place that had 45 homemade flavors, but I didn't stop that day. When I went back the next day, I was out of luck. A little bit of rain, and half of the shops were closed! Dairy Queen, too! I was disappointed. So I went to the same place I bought the fudge. A three scoop cone was something like $4.35, but was still a better value than a small (and I'm a piggy-poo when it comes to ice cream).  So I ordered one scoop of chocolate, one scoop of butter pecan , and one scoop of coconut. Then I had to decide on type of cone, and the cone costs extra!! The plain one I chose was 75 cents. Long story short, he rung it up, and it came to SIX DOLLARS AND FORTY ONE CENTS!! I really didn't enjoy it much, paying that much for it. 

   I will be back soon with more  stories from my vacation! And pictures, too.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

      

     

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRAMMY!

     It seems like I'm always celebrating an anniversary or birthday on this blog. I hope you don't mind. Today I am wishing a posthumous happy birthday to my grandmother, Edna Fernald Porter.  She was an amazing lady. Those of you reading this who knew her will testify to that.  I have never met a nicer person in my life.  She was born on June 3, 1918 (or June 2, depending on which records you believe.) I go with what she told me, and that was June 3rd. 

     My grandmother lived a long life, but not an easy one. She was a private person, so I won't go into too many details. I'll just focus on my time with her, and what it meant to me.  Grammy was easygoing, sweet, generous and a great cook.  She was patient, tolerant of the bad times,and always made the best of things, looking on the bright side. I like to think I get my patience from her.

     I have many happy memories of my grandmother, too many to include here.  The best times were when we visited and were alone with her in the kitchen, eating lunch she made for us (when we were little) or lunch we made for her (when we were older) The "we" here is my sister. We took the bus to her house in the summer, and stayed all day. It was nice, even despite the bad soap opera she watched at 1:00.

     When she was younger, we all walked to Star Market, where she did a little food shopping. I think we must have stopped at Cottage Donuts too, I have a vague memory of eating a blueberry filled donut. Grammy loved her desserts! We were always having cake, cookies or pie when we were over her house.

     After the soap opera, we would go sit outside. We would walk up the street with her cocker spaniel. She had a weakness for cocker spaniels, too. She was also a cat lover, and several cats during her lifetime. Because of the money she donated to the various animal charities, she was set for life with calendars and address labels and note cards!

     I never go into the neighborhood where she used to live since she passed away. There's no longer a reason to go there.  Last year I did drive past her house on the way to a supermarket we rarely go to. It was strange seeing the house knowing different people live there. I wanted to knock, and go look inside to see if it was at all the same. That house had a certain smell to it, a feel to it.  Where they did renovations, I wonder if that is gone. I wonder if it left when she did.

     Not that it really matters. What does matter is that the people she left behind never forget her. And I guarantee you that will never happen! I will always remember her laugh and her smile, the tone of her voice and the way she said "hello?" when she answered the telephone. 

     Grammy was incredibly thoughtful. One of the earliest memories I have of her thoughtfulness was how when it was my sister's birthday, she had to bring a present for me, too. It seems I was a big crybaby, and got jealous of my sister when she got a present. OK, I was only three years old, but that's beside the point.  

     Another thing that made my grandmother special was how supportive she was, and how she always believed in me, even when I felt like a loser.  Just before she died, I had to take a demotion at work. It was devastating, and I wanted to tell her about it, but I was afraid of worrying her while she was sick. She was in and out of nursing homes and the hospital, and I didn't want her worrying about me. I was also trying to find another job, and hoped to have good news to tell her, and tell her the whole story then. 

     As it turned out, she passed away before I could tell her. I'm assuming she found out about it later, ("up there"). Grammy, I hope you understand. But I wish I had told you when it happened.  

     I don't have a lot of pictures of my Grammy. She was shy about that. I wish I had more of us together. I think there are only a couple-one when I was very young, and one at my sister's wedding.  So I'll just post the one you may have already seen. It's a good one.

Happy Birthday, Grammy! I hope they have cake and ice cream in Heaven!

Love,

Karin