Sometime toward the end of last summer (that would be in 2004), I prodded myself into power-washing the back deck. It was in need of staining, and I wasn’t about to sand it. I’d already done that once and what a pain that was. That ol’ drum sander would hit a nail head and, poof, there went another belt.

And then there was the back-straining pain involved in running the edger around the benches and next to the house. Nope, this time I’d do the job standing up, thank you.

I got all fired up, really into this project – went out and rented a gas-powered washer, got out the rubber boots, the whole nine yards. If you’re into power tools, you probably know, Tim, what happened next – did the deck, did the lattice work, did the garage door, did the front of the garage, did the siding on the house, did the driveway, did the front steps, did the front porch including the trim. I went crazy – nearly took out the asphalt on the driveway with the narrow, high-pressure nozzle. As long as there was gas in the machine, I was a power-washing fool.

Then, a week or so after the rainbow had faded and the place dried up, I set about staining the deck, which was what I needed to do in the first place. The project turned out fine and the deck glistened. The front porch deck glistened. The front steps glistened.

It was time to paint the trim on the porch – the posts, railings, etc. The weather cooperated for a while, but time didn’t. I painted the balusters and the railing and managed to get up to just below the upper baluster trim. The fascia board and the peak over the door missed out on their new coats when time and the cooperative weather ran out.

And so they sat. The fascia boards were the tell-tales. By the end of this summer they had taken on a darkened hue, in contrast to the gleaming white just below them. Come last Saturday I couldn’t let it go any longer. I attacked the spider webs, shooing away half a dozen of those pesky critters in the process. (Are there more of them this year than last?) Out came the ladder and a footstool and in a couple of hours, maybe longer, I had the project finished with still a couple of hours of daylight left to go paddling. The place looked good and I didn’t have that project hanging over my head any longer. I could paddle guilt-free!

The afternoon on and off a ladder and the fussy painting took their tool on my paddling ambitions, but I got in a few miles and enjoyed another great sunset – keep those warm days coming! A muskrat towing his dinner provided the only live entertainment for the evening.

On Sunday afternoon my wife and I wanted to check out the foliage and stop by Treworgy Family Farm in Levant to pick up a pumpkin and some gourds for Halloween decorations. We decided afterward that we’d head over to Corinna, then go up Route 7 to Dexter and Dover-Foxcroft and then on to Peaks-Kenny State Park.

The visit to the farm turned out to be a bit like Old Home Week. We each saw several people we know.

Our drive turned out to be fun. In all the years I’ve lived and worked here, I’d never done that circuit. The foliage was OK – not prime. I don’t think the colors this year are very brilliant, do you? They look a little more brilliant in the wet or swampy areas, but elsewhere the colors are muted.

Ours was one of only four cars in the parking lot at the state park. The glassy surface of Sebec Lake beckoned, but I didn’t have a boat. I settled on watching a couple paddle their recreational kayaks to shore. Neither of them was wearing a lifejacket, and I groused about it but resisted the urge to walk over and say something to them.

We hiked a short loop on the shore of South Cove by the beach then sat at one of the picnic tables near the beach and heated some water for instant soup for a quick snack. We had about an hour before the park was scheduled to close at sunset, so we walked up into the campground to check it out. Only one or two of the sites had campers on them. There may have been more, but we didn’t check out all 56 sites. The park actually is closed for the season, but the gates are open for day use. There is a two-mile hiking loop around the western end of the park, but we settled on simply scouting out the trail’s lakeside section, saving for another time the rest of the loop.

As sunset approached we bade farewell to three loons just off shore and headed home.

Support set for Question 6

The folks at Maine Audubon, the University of Maine, and Orono Land Trust are going to hold an open-air press conference to announce support for Question 6 on the Nov. 8 ballot, the $12 million bond for Land for Maine’s Future. It’s scheduled to take place at one of my frequent hangouts, Gould Landing, Pushaw Lake, at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Gould’s Landing is across the lake from Caribou Bog, which is part of an ambitious conservation project involving up to 6,500 acres in five towns, including two lakes, a stream that is a significant tributary to the Penobscot River, and a very important marsh that is threatened by development, these supporters say.

The recent purchase of a 909-acre parcel in this area, which is now owned and managed by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, was made possible by the Land for Maine’s Future Program. The area helps protect a corridor for wildlife habitat and public recreation that, supporters hope, will one day stretch from the Bangor Mall to the North Woods.

Judy Markowsky, Maine Audubon; Malcolm Hunter, University of Maine; and Gail White, Orono Land Trust, are planning to be on hand to make the announcement at the lakeside parking area at the end of Essex Street.

Jeff Strout’s column on outdoor recreation is published each Saturday. He can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.