Category Archives: mars hill

Sunday 8th September 2019 – MY PHANTOM READER …

… is back again today (having had a day off yesterday) and at the time of writing has read just over 100 pages – that is, 1500 blog entries.

My hat goes off to you, sir or madam. That shows perseverence and determination that not even I, the author, possess. I wish that you would introduce yourself.

I was right about last night. 04:30 and the party was still going on. They had come in from the pool and were continuing in the basement, keeping us all awake. I managed to drift off into a very intermittent sleep but it wasn’t until the last body crashed out round about 08:00 that I finally went into a deep sleep.

In the meantime, for some reason that I don’t understand, I had been urging myself to rise up from my bed and take photos of the breaking dawn. It was certainly a persistent impulse and I’ve no idea what was going on there.

The noise started up again at about 10:00 as Amber’s friends made ready to leave. And once they had gone, I felt it safe to venture out into the open.

Everyone was getting ready to leave and we hopped into various vehicles and headed for the US border.

Of course, I had already had a valid temporary visa but it had been withdrawn when I left for Greenland, so I had to go through the process yet again. And as regular readers of this rubbish might recall, it was shift change time, all of the electrical equipment was down and they couldn’t find the key for the cash desk All in all, it took us well over 30 minutes for me to be processed.

The border guard gave me a lecture about “surrendering the card unnecessarily” but I didn’t want to prolong the matter by telling him about Greenland otherwise we would still be there now. Instead I replied rather meekly “yes, thanks, I’ll remember” and he let me go.

But it’s a shame when one is on the receiving end of a lecture for having obeyed quite rigorously the letter of the law.

And to my amazement, I noticed that my temporary visa is dated
2nd September 2019, not 8th September as it ought to be.

At the Oriental Pearl in Presque Ile everyone else was straining at the leash to get at the buffet and were quite relieved when we finally arrived. There’s very little on the buffet that I can eat so they made me steamed veg and boiled rice.

I picked up the bill at the end – it’s the least that I can do for being housed so hospitably and then we all went to Mardens for a browse, where I found some gelatine-free licorice.

Darren and the three younger girls went home afterwards but Zoe, Rachel and I went for a coffee. Then we attacked Walmart and then down to Mars Hill for the IGA supermarket, where the vegan ice cream and sorbet were sold out.

Crossing back into Canada was rather painless (I had half-expected the phantom reader to have found enough in what he or she has read already in the blog to have me incarcerated) and we came back. In the IGA I’d found some almond milk with real banana so I gave it a try. And delicious it was too.

Now it’s bed time. I have an early start. Due to various considerations it looks as if I’ve drawn the short straw and am doing the school run tomorrow. I need to be on form.

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Tuesday 30th September 2014 – I’VE BEEN SHOPPING TODAY

I was planning just to chill out a little today but then Rachel asked me what I was doing. And so, a few minutes later, I was on my way to the bank. But a bank with a difference, to whit, a bank in the USA. Darren is of course quite often on his travels to tractor-pulling events in the USA and so needs USA cash for expenses, but then his prize money (because he almost always wins something) is paid in cheques likewise. Consequently, it makes sense to have a USA bank account.

I was once again nailed at the border by a very unfriendly USA border guard and I’m beginning to hate that country with an undisguised passion. I’m absolutely convinced that they must comb the ranks of the USA civil service for the most unpleasant and arrogant officers that they can find and then dress them up in border guard uniforms and stand them at the frontier. As you know, it’s long been my contention that the USA doesn’t have any enemies at all except those that it has created for itself, and this is where the border guards have contributed enormously.

And don’t forget that I’m white and English-speaking too. Whatever must it be like to be a brown-skinned foreigner?

And this reminds me. In all of the years that I have been crossing the border in and out of the USA at all kinds of different border posts I haven’t seen any USA border control person other than a white-skinned one.

So abandoning yet another good rant for the time being, off I went to the bank at Mars Hill to pay in a couple of cheques.

Over the road from the bank at Mars Hill is an IGA supermarket and Rachel had given me shopping list of things that she needed; so I duly obliged.

coconut milk ice cream IGA supermarket mars hill maine USA september 2014And that’s not the best of it either. If you remember from a few weeks ago I found an IGA supermarket in Quebec that sold some ice cream made with almond milk.

Here in this one, there was ice cream made with coconut milk. Four different types too, and who could resist the chocolate version, even though the temperature was a mere 7°C? And delicious it was too. I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Make no mistake – I’ll be back there again.

Having done the chores, I then went off on my own little adventures around the shops. The most exciting find was in Presque Ile where in the Graves supermarket next to Mardens, I discovered not only a pile of vegetarian and vegan food products but about 6 different types of hummus. Yes, despite all of the USA-bashing that goes on all over the place … "as if…" – ed … it’s specialist-diet ranges are light years ahead of whatever mainland Europe can offer and it’s the place to be for products such as this. France, take note.

two way ratchet half inch drive 3 8 drive tractor supply company presque ile maine USAThere’s a new chain of shops opened up in the area too, called The Tractor Supply Company or something like that. It’s mainly for farmers (as indeed you might expect with a name like that) and Darren recommended that I go for a nosey around in there.

He was right too.

As you know, I’ve been buying a few odds and ends of sockets and that sort of thing while I’ve been over here, and in here they had a , well, agricultural-quality reversible ratchet that had a half-inch socket end on one side and a three-eights socket end on the other. And all for $9:99 too. Being designed for farmers, it’s huge and well-nigh indestructible, just the thing for me. It’ll go nicely with my 25-inch power bar.

So that was everything that I did today (apart from the obligatory refuelling of course) and then it was time to confront the border guards again.

Just for a change, there was a human being at the border control on the Canadian side and after what can be best described as “a brief exchange of pleasantries”, I was on my way.

If only every border crossing person could be as friendly as this, it would be a very agreeable way of spending the time, going back and too across the border, instead of having to quite literally run the gauntlet of the nasty and aggressive people whom one usually finds in places like this. They must really have some unfortunate control issues with their spouses at home that they have to vent their spleen and demonstrate their authority to the poor and wretched passers-by who have come to invest a little money to prop up their crumbling economy.

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Wednesday 21st September 2011 – I’VE BEEN …

… in the USA today. But it was not without difficulty.

At Smugglers Road or whatever it’s called, they don’t issue entry permits, so I had to come all the way back to Centreville – so much for the shortcut.

And at Centreville, a tiny border guard had a real panic attack when I followed him into his office – accusing me on “invading his personal space” which is great coming from someone who earns his living searching people’s luggage. And the credit card machine to pay for my permit, so I had to leave my passport and credit card as hostage until I came back.

wind turbine bridgewater maine usaFirst stop was at the petrol station on the corner of US 1 at Bridgewater, Maine. And this looks quite impressive, doesn’t it? A lovely big wind turbine right by the convenience store here.

And as for fuel, it’s $3:89 per gallon, not all that much cheaper than that place near Fredericton – Keswick or some such name

mars hill windfarm maine usaThis is my next-door neighbour – the Mars Hill Windfarm. There are 28 wind turbines here, built by one of my former employers, and each one has a theoretical capability of producing 1.5 megawatts.

Totally impressive beasts they are, and I am proud to have them as my neighbours. But to find them from the USA side of the border wasn’t all that easy, surprise as it might seem. They had me running around a bit.

From here, I went into Presque Ile and the Lowe’s D-i-Y shop. And this is where I made a sad discovery. Ryobi tools are only sold by Home Depot, and the nearest Home Depot is 3 hours away in Bangor.

cooks florists presque ile maine usaOn the way out of Presque Ile, I noticed this sign outside the local florists, and so I had to stop to take a photograph of it. Sad as it might be to see this sign, I’m relieved that at least it’s not just the UK that is suffering from a lack of basic literacy skills.

Still, I don’t suppose that I should be too catty about their sign should I?

double eagle II transatlantic balloon flight launch site presque ile maine usaThis was one of the things that I had come over to the USA to see. It’s the site of the take-off of Double Eagle II, the balloon that made the first successful transatlantic balloon crossing (the fourteenth official attempt), and the site is only a short drive from Presque Ile.

It left here on August 11 1978 with a crew of 3 and crossed the Irish coast on the evening of 16th August, and finally came to earth in northern France the next day

mg midget bridgewater maine usaFrom here I went back to the border but I ended up being sidetracked once again.

This old MG is sitting on someone’s lawn on the back road to the border and so I was obliged to take a photo of it, poor thing. I can’t think why anyone would leave it here like this, given the value that a car likie this would have either as a restoration project or as parts.

But if it stays here much longer, there won’t be any of it left to do anything with.

Finally back at the border, I picked up my passport and credit card so I could then go back to Rachel’s. But that wasn’t easy either as the guy on the Canadian side of the border was also really grouchy and grumpy.

I just don’t know where they dig these people up.

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Thursday 8th September 2011 – WATERFALL

mars hill wind farm turbine maine usaI had another excellent night’s sleep and yet another really vivid dream. As a result I wake up fully refreshed at … errr … 08:30, which, after going to bed at 10:00, is something of a record for North America.

We’re still in wet and clammy weather after yesterday of course but slowly the morning brightens up, and not before time either.

I eventually go round to the garage and have a good long chin-wag with everyone there, and even help Darren MoT a car. Once I’ve done that I head off to Woodstock to try my luck at the council again.

mars hill wind farm new brunswick canada maine usaI’m at a place that’s probably 9 kilometres south of a place called Lakeville on the brow of a high ridge. I’ve no idea how far that is away from where the wind turbines are but you can see them for miles.

It’s a magnificent view though isn’t it? You can see exactly why they installed the wind turbines up there. There’s nothing around for miles to interrupt the flow of wind.

By the time I got to Woodstock I was half a … &#34yawn;" – ed … and much to my surprise the council offices are open.

The girl there is very helpful – tells me some of what I can and can’t do.

There’s a good place to eat my butty down on the river bank and then wander off to do some shopping (well, not much because apart from gas there isn’t anything much else that I need right now) and then back home (and isn’t it nice to be able to say that here in Canada?)

jacksons falls new brunswick canadaI’ve taken a little deviation to the North Branch Meduxnekeag River (and I hope that I’ve spelt that correctly).

The reason why I’ve come here is that I saw a sign down the road pointing this way that said “Jackson’s Falls” and the name looked interesting.

As for the falls – well, I have to admit that I’ve seen better but they do look quite attractive.

dominion bridge company lachine bridge jacksons falls new brunswick canadaThe bridge might not look like very much but what caught my eye was that it carried a maker’s plate, and that’s not something that you see every day.

It was built by the Dominion Bridge Company in Lachine, which is where the rapids are, just outside Montreal, in 1928. And so it made me wonder how people crossed the river back before then. Did we have a ramshackle timber bridge, or did people have to ford the river as best as they could?

And on that note, I could go back home.

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Friday 29th October 2010 – THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN AROUND HERE FOR A WHILE …

avro lancaster bomber KB882 edmundston new brunswick canada… will know all about this aeroplane as you have seen it all before.

It’s KB882, a Lancaster from World War II and it is one of only three “combat veterans” still in existence. It flew to Edmundston airport under its own steam in 1964 and ever since then it’s been stuck outside in all kinds of weather gradually deteriorating.

I spotted it in 2001 and ever since then I’ve been fighting single-handedly (I do other things with my other hand) to persuade the clowns in whose hands this historic machine has fallen to surrender it up to the Imperial War Museum or some other worthy organisation who can put a stop to this disgraceful neglect and get it back into the air before it falls apart.

avro lancaster bomber KB882 edmundston new brunswick canadaIn 2006 I was told that things might be happening and so being only 150 miles away from it I drove out this afternoon to see what they have done.

And the answer is

  1. they’ve put a better fence around it
  2. they’ve raised it off the ground
  3. … errrr …..
  4. that’s it

What is happening to this machine is nothing short of a national scandal, a total disgrace and the city of Edmundston should be thoroughly ashamed of itself. In the 9 years since I last saw it it has simply rotted away even further.

So having expected that, my blood has been boiling all day and it’ll continue to boil for a while I suppose.


and that’s not all I’ve done. In order to cool off, I retraced my steps from 2001 and retook a few pics of the falls at Grand Sault.

When I was here back then, the falls were all frozen up (mind you, it was midwinter at the time) and so I wanted a few with the water actually unfrozen, as well as a few other photos of interest that I missed when I was up here.

mars hill wind farm maine usaBut I did get sidetracked a little … "no surprises there" – ed.

From Rachel and Darren’s house I could see a pile of wind turbines away in the distance to the north of Centreville and so I wandered off for a closer look. And at one stage I was so close to them that I could almost touch them, and my route towards them led off down a little country lane called Mars Hill Road.

international frontier usa canada maine new brunswick mars hill road upper knoxfordAnd here I came to a dead stop as here on this hill the road also comes to a dead stop.

This is a frontier between the USA and Canada, and an unguarded frontier at that, although I do suspect that the barbed wire, searchlights, man-traps and machine guns are in that forest somewhere and that the purpose of the wind turbines is not to power up the local villages but to power the spy machines lurking in the woods.

abandoned building for sale mars hill road upper knoxford new brunswick canadaThe actual border is that orange fence to the left and this building here, Darren seems to think, might possibly be the old Canadian customs post from when this was a manned … "personned" – ed … crossing back in the distant past.

>And it’s for sale, even though it’s totally derelict. And I have a cunning plan.

Now just suppose I buy it and demolish the property that’s on it. I could erect a huge billboard and use it to display Anti-American slogans and then set up some loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda messages into the USA from here.

If it works for the North Koreans who habitually do this to the South, no reason why I can’t do it from here into the USA.

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