Extra day was handy for projects

Are long weekends as hard on you as they are on me? I mean I’ve been off stride all week! Tuesday I thought it was Monday, which would have been fine and dandy, except for the fact that I got up at the usual 6:15 a.m. and reported for work for the day shift only to find out I was supposed to be working the night shift.

I’ve been out of sync since.

The three-day weekend provided ample time for me to get several volunteer projects behind me, and the timing and location of each worked out so I managed to miss the rainfall for everything except for the several hours Monday when I got to paddle my kayak.

Saturday I dropped in at the Abnaki Council’s Girl Scout Camp Natarswi in the shadow of Mount Katahdin. For most of the day the snow-capped magnificence was there to behold as some 110 volunteers spruced up the facility in anticipation of the camping season. Tents by the dozens were set up, cabins swept, boats moved to the shore of Lower Togue Pond, the waterfront swimming area floats were set in place and 21 dangerous poplar trees cut down. As usual, there was an abundance of great food to keep the help and the black flies happy.

It never ceases to amaze me how much work is done in seeming chaos. And it didn’t rain until suppertime, so the day’s chores were accomplished.

Sunday morning the rain had stopped in Bangor. I was grateful because I had to extract the family pop-up camper from its hiding place in the garage. Actually, it isn’t hidden so much as it’s buried. The semi-annual ritual involves removing six months of accumulated furniture and stuff from around and on it, hitching it to the family jalopy and carefully snaking it into the driveway where it’ll sit for five months or so.

All that stuff that surrounded the camper is then re-inserted into the garage and in six months the reverse procedure will take place. Oh, yes, then there’s the yard sale to make way for more stuff that’ll accumulate over the summer.

Having accomplished the move-the-camper trick once again, I was free to go to Castine to meet up with fellow kayakers Dave Morrill of Orrington and Karen Francoeur to help the latter build a shed for her kayak touring business, Castine Kayak Adventures at Dennett’s Wharf. This year, restaurateur Gary Brouillard kindly cleared a spot for Francoeur to set up a shack to store her paraphernalia – this after six years of sharing the back end of a 40-foot box trailer.

Our trio set to work around 2:30 p.m. and had the project done around 8:30 p.m., shingles and all! (The kit was precut … most of the time was spent trying to interpret the instructions!) There was time left over to clean up a bit and order dinner before calling it a day.

Monday morning, Memorial Day, a few of us who guide for Francoeur gathered at the town dock in Castine to go over the upcoming season. It was a chance for Mark Goff, John Rice, Deb Merrill, and me to look at calendars with Francoeur, review policy, hone up on guiding philosophy, have lunch served as we would on a day tour, finish some detail work on the new shed, take time out to watch Castine’s Memorial Day parade and ceremony … and if there was any time left, go for a paddle.

About the time we settled down for lunch on the dock, it started to rain.

Paddling in the rain actually is fun. It wasn’t a hard rain – it even let up at times. When you’re in a kayak, you’re mostly covered up. A good rain hat and a paddling jacket keep the rain at bay and you’re free to explore.

That we did. We found starfish, urchins, brittle stars, periwinkles, blue mussels, kelp, rock weed, eagles (we think we saw a nesting pair with the female sitting on a new nest), gulls, and a porpoise. Unfortunately we ran out of daylight and time and had to pack it in.

An added benefit to a rainy day of paddling on the ocean, by the way, is that you don’t have much to rinse off when you get back home. Nearly all your gear has been rinsed free of salt residue by the rain!

I’ve got to tell you about a couple of items that have come to my attention this past week. One’s a 52-page booklet “Tales of Sunkhaze,” which is an oral history project of the Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Milford. The nonprofit friends group decided several years ago that, in the words of board member David Spruce, there were a “lot of stories about Sunkhaze. Someone ought to write them down.”

Fern Stearns, secretary of the board, provided me a copy to read in hopes that I’d let you know about the book which the friends are selling for $5 each (Father’s Day is coming).

I’ll admit that I haven’t read every one of the stories, but I have read most of them, and they’re entertaining, to say the least. I think they should be read aloud in your best Tim Sample imitation.

The friends group collected stories from folks who’ve spent time at the reserve. There are excerpts from tapes made of conversations with Lawrence Hurd, Edmund Libby, Jim Martin, Dave Spruce, and Chris Wickett (birthdates between 1911 and 1925) and several short pieces on the history of the area. I especially liked the tale Ed Libby told Dave Spruce about the 1936 Thanksgiving dinner at a camp in what is now the preserve. Libby: “1936, I think, was that bad winter when it snowed too much. It must have been that year when George Martin, first selectman, wanted to come to camp and visit out there. He and his son, Elwin, went out there with Earl MacDonald and his son, Bud, and me Thanksgiving week. It started snowing Wednesday afternoon…”

The rest you’ll have to read, but suffice it to say that it involved a stuck truck and a couple of deer thrown on the back for traction.

Get your copy at Epic Sports, Bangor; The Map Store, Old Town; Alpenglow, Orono, or at the refuge office, 1033 South Main Street, Old Town. Or e-mail Fern and Bill Stearns at STEARNS@MAINE.EDU.

And I’ve been asked to remind you about the Maine Canoe Symposium at Bridgton June 6-8. If you’ve never been and you enjoy canoes, this is the place to be. I’ve been to one and I’d love to go again when I can get the time. This event has been a staple at Winona Camps on Moose Pond since 1986.

Guides and experts in the canoeing world offer a multitude of canoeing and camping skills. You can learn how to make a paddle and then learn the many different ways it can be used. Or you can learn how to pole, sail, build or repair a canoe, and learn about wilderness trips on the Allagash River from Gil Gilpatrick. There will be presentations on camp cooking, self-rescue, reading the river, weather, first aid, and more, according to program organizers.

Cost of the two-day event is $80 for adults and $40 for children 12 and under. Meal and lodging packages are available at an extra fee. Call 647-3721 for more information, or visit the Web site at www.MaineCanoeSymposium.org.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 900-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.