The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, 2002, defines busman’s holiday as: a “vacation during which a person engages in activity that is the same as or similar to his or her usual employment: ‘Our Spanish professor had a busman’s holiday this year; she spent her entire vacation doing research in Spain.'”

I spent my vacation in Maine – some of it on the coast paddling, some of it in Bangor doing small projects around the house. While my coastal time mostly involved guiding half-day trips, I did get a few chances to strike off on my own and explore. I even got my wife to try a short trip with me on Pushaw Lake.

That may not sound like much, but it’s been a year in the making. Last summer we got to the point of her being ready to try a short trip or two when she got into a car accident (someone rear-ended her car) and she was bounced around and shaken up. The resulting stiffness (and lack of a car) put a lid on kayaking for that season.

So it was with fingers crossed last week that we ventured out to Pushaw Lake to visit with our friend Robert Causey who volunteered the use of one of his fleet of boats for Kathy to try. It worked out fine, despite the fact that I forgot to bring my paddle (we borrowed one as well). It would have been a little more pleasant if we’d had a life jacket that fit her better, but that wasn’t Causey’s fault.

Nevertheless we ventured forth with borrowed paddle and boat (Robert’s new Current Designs Sirocco) for a late afternoon tour of the northwest corner of the lake. A muskrat wriggling in the water provided some visual entertainment in lieu of our not seeing our eagle friend. It turned out to be a pleasant evening on the water, and we capped it off with libation and snacks afterward.

Two weekends ago I stopped by Wadsworth Cove in Castine to check out some kayaks assembled for the sea kayak symposium. I highly recommend this type of event if you’re in the market to buy a boat. It’s a great opportunity to check out different models and help narrow your choices. Anytime you can get in a different boat and take it for a spin is great for learning about different designs and different handling characteristics, as well as seat fit and cockpit comfort.

The problem with this type of event, however, is that you start thinking about replacing your “old” boat, and that can run into a chunk of change (to say nothing about hurting your boat’s feelings). I had the opportunity to try out several English-design kayaks, and now I’m thinking about trading up. I tried out boats built by NDK and Romany that really tweaked my curiosity. I got to thinking it would be nice to own one, but not having the necessary $2,700 or more is a disincentive. At least it’ll put a damper on any plans I might have had to trade up any time soon.

One of the challenges of taking a vacation is coming back to work, what with a schedule to keep and work to do. I dread logging on to the e-mail and facing the task of weeding through the plethora of trash that clogs the system.

Snail-mail, on the other hand, isn’t quite as bad. As a matter of fact I received a couple of neat little books that I’d ordered from The Mountainers Books at 1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, Wash., 98134. Both fit in a shirt pocket and both provide information handy to ward off attacks by bugs or animals. “Don’t Get Bitten: The Dangers of Things that Bite or Sting” is written by Buck Tilton, M.S., an award-winning author of 15 books including “Medicine for the Backcountry” as well as 900-plus magazine articles. He is the director of curriculum for the Wilderness Medicine Institute, a National Outdoor Leadership School program in Colorado.

The other little book, “Don’t Get Eaten: The Dangers of Animals that Charge of Attack,” is written by Dave Smith, a naturalist and avid outdoorsman who has worked in Yellowstone, Glacier, Denali and Glacier Bay National Parks. Each book costs $6.95.

I like their straight forward approach to the topic. Chapters begin with a scenario, then tell you about the dangers, how to deal with the dangers and then how to treat the related illnesses. For example, the chapter on spiders in Tilton’s book introduces widows, brown and hobos, the three species harmful to humans in the United States. Then Tilton tells us about widows (five species in this country) and gives us a drawing of each. Signs and symptoms of a bite are described and treatment options are outlined.

There are chapters on dangerous reptiles, scorpions, ticks, mosquitoes, blood feeding anthropods (fleas, flies, lice, chiggers, assassin bugs) stinging arthropods (bees, fire ants) and miscellaneous biters and stingers.

By the way, here’s a little “factoid” I gleaned from this book: ticks are surpassed only by mosquitoes worldwide in transmitting diseases to humans, but ticks pass on a greater variety of diseases and are ahead of mosquitoes in making us sick.

Here are a few hints Tilton offers to avoid tick bites:

. Wear light-colored clothing with long sleeves and pants tucked inside high socks;

. Apply a permethrin-based tick repellent to clothing prior to going out (pay attention to collar, and sleeve and pants cuffs);

. Use a DEET-based repellent to exposed skin;

. Avoid tall grass and brush;

. Do twice-daily, full-body inspections for ticks and remove any you find. If they are embedded, use sharp-tipped tweezers and gently grasp the tick close to the point of attachment and gently pull. Do not squeeze the fluids out of the tick and clean the area carefully with soap and water or povidone-iodine and cover with an adhesive bandage.

Another tip I picked up in the mosquito chapter is that ultrasonic devices and repelling wrist bands do not work on mosquitoes. Nor do drugs. The FDA, Tilton says, has stated “that all claims for products to repel insects if taken orally are either false, misleading or unsupported by scientific data.”

Tilton also lists a New England Journal of Medicine report from last year comparing repellents. A 23 percent DEET formula came out on top, followed by a 20 percent DEET concentration formula. Next in line was a product containing lemon eucalyptus followed by a soybean oil-based product.

In “Don’t Get Eaten: The Dangers of Animals that Charge or Attack” Smith passes along strategies for avoiding confrontations with critters such as black bears, buffalo, cougars, coyotes, grizzly bears, javelinas, moose and wolves. He also advises what measures to take when these strategies fail.

I found this item in my mailbox. Bicyclists of all ages are invited to the County on Aug. 17 for the Tour de La Vallee which features four tour options, at least one of which could appeal to families. The shortest ride is 25 miles along Route 1 from Fort Kent to Frenchville and back. The second one is a 50-miler that continues along Route 1 to Madawaska and then back to Fort Kent. For those with leather legs there is a 62-mile ride from Fort Kent to Lille and back, and for century enthusiasts there’s a 100-mile ride from Fort Kent to Van Buren to Grand Isle. From there they’ll ride to Long Lake on back roads and return to fort Kent on Route 161.

The Fort Kent Rotary Club will treat participants to a barbecue. Northern Maine Medical Center Therapy Services therapists will be on hand to tend to those in need of stretching and massage.

The Tour de La Vallee is a fundraiser for the Edgar J. Paradis Cancer Fund that provides support services for cancer survivors and their families. Contact Nancy Daigle at 728-6439 or Paula Bouchard at 834-3915 for more information.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.