"The Cheddahville Traffic Report"

When we first moved up here in 2003 there were a few things that seemed rather weird. One of the main things was that there was not any traffic in town. None at all. You can ride for miles and not encounter another car in either direction. Some of the roads are even made of dirt and are traveled on as much as main roads in town. Most of the roads are covered in pot holes, especially in the Spring after the big thaw. So travel for the most part-no matter what time of year is brutal and hard on the alignment.

One day, a few weeks after our big move to the Maine woods I was in the car with my daughter Alex. She was in the eighth grade at the time and hated me for bringing her to a place where the closest mall was two hours away from our new home. I was trying to cheer her up and asked her, "Hey Alex, what is missing from up here?" She responded with eyes downcast in her completely eighth grade somber tone, "I dunno- a mall... decent shopping..." And I smiled and asked again, "Besides that. What is missing?" She smiled and laughed.... "traffic....".

Then I smiled and yahooed, "yep, that would be what I am thinking about.....no traffic." Before moving up here almost each time we left the house and especially before work I was glued to the morning news and listened intently for the "Eye in the Sky" traffic report that would predict the latest bottlenecks and jams in the Boston area. " I have an idea...." And that was when I created the "Cheddaville Traffic Report". I told her the child version and thought I'd add a little more now that I have been here a few years.

"Ayuh, Eye in the Sky-reporter Earl live at ya from the top of ol' Grady's bahn reportin' the latest in Cheddaville traffic. Today, mostly snow, visability at nothin' but ten feet. Ayuh! Ova at the Cheddaville Mall, two cah pile up waitin for local moose to cross to the ol' mill site-that just don torn dawn abut tweny fie year en past. Up at fahma Ted' by the cornah of Don's junkyahd is a five cah pile up for the two fo' one gun sale ready fo' huntin. Yep, get yer guns now before they are written in the bible-Uncle Henry's. Up ova theah on Ned Bailey's is an ol' broke trailah jus'sittin down in the rud waitin' fo' repair ifn eva Ned gits his arse out theah and outta the beeh. Two skiddah's are jammed ova at Stew Rooney's bahn blockin fouh mules that dun broke outta the pen waitin ta be let in. Maple syrup's a runnin and the jugs are being filled waitin on anothah bottleneck of Mass---- jus' waitin fo' theah share! Ayuh! Meltin' snow and mud are what it is all bout' here in Cheddaville this time a yeah. A cah of the rud near where the Jestly mill used ta be is waitin for a tow. Up ahead a copta in the sky tippin's its ol' wings. Nope, not a criminal escape-just lookin' out for the local hahvest of that skunk smellin' stuff! Anyhow, aint nothin else much going on here but that. Ayuh, cept' Im'm outta beef jerky...gotta jet on down ta the mall-the Cheddahville Mall that is!"

Survival

Well another day another 50 cents... Due to this economy, that it just what it seems lately. However, I feel that I have spent most of my adult life in just surviving the next road block. I would certainly consider myself quite proficient at it almost, especially lately.

My childhood was quite normal in fact. Life was very predictable and dinner was almost always on the table at 5:30p. Life in Plainville was safe and happy. My parents wonderful people who provided a solid foundation for which I had many times to rely upon. We speak daily and it is a nice connection. In the summer they are right outside my window across my field of sheep here as my neighbor and in the winter, they are far away in Florida (connected by a telephone wire). I thank them a million times over for giving me a childhood which I have spent my whole adult life trying to simulate the best I can to my three daughters. My solid childhood was filled with an almost dreamlike predictability that seems almost foreign in my adult life. My parents are of the generation where one could get a job out of college and plan on staying there until retirement. They retired from long standing comfortable positions. My father in insurance as the vice president of claims to Quincy Mutual and my mother as the Art teacher for the elementary schools of Foster Rhode Island. They each commuted forty five minutes to work each day. My mother working on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays and home always for us on Thursdays and Fridays. I used to think of my life as boring and how I pray for even a fraction of that which I found dull as a child for my adult life. I had piano lessons, art lesson and tennis at the local tennis club (Tennis 95 in Foxboro-now no longer there). We would have a vacation once a year and summer camp at the Hockamock YMCA in North Attleboro. We had a dog and two cats and a pool to swim in during the summer.

I have spent my whole life trying to give even a fraction of that blissful normalcy to my three daughters. Never mind my own personal road blocks along the way. I had always been determined.

I was destined to become an art teacher like my mother, I had always loved art. I secretly wanted to also be a writer and an Egyptologist. I should have listened to them. They knew security and how to reach it. They had both lost their parents young and secured a wonderful life for us and knew the hard ships out there that they wanted to protect us from.

Not me, I jumped right into life and ran for it. I was a rebellious artist and lived with my heart. My parents had sent me to college at Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass in Dartmouth, MA) where I quickly fell into the party scene. Enjoying all too much the freedom which I never had and never saw the reality and the dangers of it all. I wanted to live a Bohemian life and eventually dropped out of that school and then went to pursue my life as an artist. How young was I, and naive. I stayed at their condo in Wells, Maine and worked at an art gallery and saved my money for a trip to Europe. I worked 18 hour days and lived off Ramon Noodles and Mac and Cheese boxes, diligently saving all of my money for a trip to Europe. I wanted to backpack and bike all around on my own schedule to my parents horror. We worked out a deal that if I saved up enough money-they would find a tour. I did and gave them the money for the tour. Before this ! had met and thought I fell in love with a local and had decided to be a mature adult and go on birth control. Well, needless to say, the pill did not work and while in Europe I discovered that I was pregnant!

Upon my return I had to face the parents. The father of my child, when I told him replied, "How do you know its mine" In utter shock, since he was definitely the only one-I cried and woke up to real life. The drama life had ended and so had my dreams of being a writer-Egyptologist and artist. I had to think about raising this child (She is now almost the same age as I was when all of this happened!). I promptly moved into my parents house and signed back into school. I first went to school to receive and Early Childhood Growth and Development Certificate since I had attained a job as an assistant teacher at a Day Care Center in Wrentham. I had also gotten a job at the Emerald Square mall at a Jewelery Store and realized that retail nor daycare was ever going to pay the bills for a single mother who ever had plans of moving our of her parents house! I then went to School for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality at the Sawyer School in Pawtuckett Rhode Island.

While going to school there I had met my first husband Jim. We were engaged in April of 1991 and then married in September of that year. He was going to School at Johnson & Wales in Providence Rhode Island. We had saved up enough money to get an apartment in North Attleboro. This was also when I realized that I still needed a career which would better enable me to provide for my daughter-Alex- the way that I wanted to.

This marriage was a roller-coaster to say the very least about it. I feel like I have been a single mother the whole time. Jim, after graduation had attained a job at the Sheritan as a chef and had fallen into partying and long hours. This caused a huge strain on our marriage. I had paid most if not all of the bills and even for the rent, etc... My father had found a job for him as a claims adjuster-which he excelled at for more of an income. He even purchased a car for Jim. Jim never paid it off or even tried it seemed and very rarely contributed to the household. I had also, during this time become pregnant with my second daughter, Jacqui. I had decided also, to go back to school and went to Fisher College for my degree in Paralegal Studies. I had also attained a job at a law firm in Brockton and earned a more stable income. By the time Jacqui was born I had graduated with honors-like the other schools and had started my own business working as an independent paralegal.

I am glad that I had that business for it gave me the freedom that I needed to survive a tumultuous marriage. For not only had he not contributed a dime toward the household, but he would take off for weeks on end and sometimes even empty out the bank account to do this leaving us all alone and hungry. Sometimes without any food in the house. I had a friend, James Chauncy who had witnessed this one time and had filled my empty kitchen one day before I returned home from work. He knew the situation and had never admitted that he had done this. He is now gone from this earth and I hope he truly knows how much he had saved us that day. For I had too much pride to tell my parents about this and tried to save everything on my own. I had even taken my own husband to court to ask for support. I had won on this even before Jacqui was born. Her current child support order was based on this amount dated from the order of 1992-she was born in 1993! I had to also take him to court for his stealing of my business funds in the total amount of $5000. I had to go to courts in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (where he had taken out the money) to pursue him in this matter) I won-back in 1993 and still have not seen one penny of this judgment! Yet, I survived and fought on to give my children the life I had as a child! I never once took into consideration that I had two very active parents and my daughters only had me in every way. I just kept fighting to give them all that I could.

My business grew and soon I had regular clients in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. One time Jim had taken off and was gone for a month and by the time he had returned I had purchased my first house with my father as co-signer. I had paid off my college loans by then and for the attorney who went after the father of my first daughter, Alex. There is so much more to all of this that I am writing-I am giving a very short version of events to lead to the present.

My first house was in Attleboro and I absolutely loved it, though was planning for my house in the suburbs to raise them. I had to start wisely and purchase the house in Attleboro to get there. By this time in 1997, I finally was divorced from Jim and had met Bill. Bill had swept me off my feet and offered protection and the life that I had wanted from the start that I had never gotten from Jim. He offered stability and a peaceful life. I grabbed it and prayed. He started off by being nice and probably had full intentions of it. However, by the time of our honeymoon, after our church and country club wedding (that I proudly paid for on my own-hint!)-I discovered how wrong I was. Our honeymoon was in Egypt and on the Nile no less, for there I saw his true personality. He started out with emotional abuse, which then escalated to verbal and then the dreaded physical abuse. He was an alcoholic and I quickly became drawn into a cycle of the abused woman and lived in denial and and had hoped that it would not last. I was still running my business and even hired some people to help me and masked it all behind a facade of smiles and confidence. I was too ashamed to let people see the ugly truth. I had begged for a divorce and he threatened that he would have the children taken away from me (by this time I had my youngest from him-Tiffany) and the house and that he would make sure that I was locked up. He told me that he would convince everyone that I was crazy. It was horrible. But, being a paralegal-I kept my mouth shut and saved all of the evidence that I could for the divorce anyways. I worked hard for the house and had even upgraded to another house in Norton-I finally bought my house in the suburbs and had made sure that his name was not on it. Again, here I was paying all of the bills, cooking all of the meals, bringing and paying for the daycare of my children and the older girls sports and lessons-Jacqui was now in ballet and Alex was in cheer leading. I had also hired another housekeeper and had them for years so that I could run the business and the household and have time for the girls. I also bought all of their clothes and co-leaded the youth group at my church in Attleboro at Murray Unitarian Universalist Church with Heidi Hasselbaum-Ferreira. Our youth group was strong then and was in the renaissance with over twenty members and more arriving because we made it fun with lots of activities and events and a full curriculum-which we both created. I had also started an earth centered spirituality group for adults at the church with Nancy Fuller-Boucher. This group was also very successful. I led a very active life and played the perfect soccer-mom complete with mini-van (Alex was also in soccer). I hid it all behind this very busy exterior. However, I knew that this would all not last based upon the financial strain that it had built up. I was pretty much the only stable financial support of my children and my household. By then Jim was in constant arrears in child-support (still wondering what the total amount of arrearages is to this present date!) and I had kicked out Bill-who had never paid one dime in child support. Steve the father of my oldest daughter was very sporadic on his own and had only just become reliable and the order updated to his current pay only as recently in 2001.

Though I was married twice-I was always the single mother. However, I constantly had to fight for my daughters to lead even a semblance of the normal life that I had as a child. Both husbands had stolen from me. Bill had even written checks to his own brothers forging my signature from my personal account.

Through all of this, I made sure that my daughters never suffered one bit for what I had to endure behind closed doors with their fathers. I was there holding them when their fathers promised to visit and never showed. I was there whenever they fell or cried for some reason or another. I made sure they had clothes for school and play and toys and bedrooms to play in and sports, etc... I made sure they had a roof over their heads and food on the table and I made sure their homework was done. I took them on vacations to Quebec and Florida and made sure they went to summer camp. This was very hard to do and sometimes I had to rely on my parents to make sure that this was never broken. My stable, wonderful parents would make sure that things would not fall for all of us-considering all of the hidden battles that I have had to fight.

I have cried and sometimes that I have thought myself a failure in not providing any stability for my daughters. At, least nothing compared to what I had as a child. Though I have had to stop that train of thought and realize that despite everything that I have been through with both vicious marriages and even more bitter divorces-I had kept all of the ugly from my little girls. They saw a Mom who has always been there for them and has provided them with good food and lessons and wonderful homes-to the present farm in Maine.

I have survived having my husbands steal from me, and hurt me and even lie to me and kept it all from the girls. I have kept my chin up when all of the money in the bank accounts had been stolen by either husband. Nothing missed a beat in front of the girls. They really never knew what went on. I smiled and bought them to wonderful places and gave them a huge farm in Maine to play in with glorious sheep out in the field to look out at every day and fresh eggs from chickens-when we had them. They have seen kittens born and have went out to the coop to find fresh eggs. They have even seen some of those eggs hatch into chicks (some of them who had died) and then two that had grown into roosters-who then died as well from some yard predator). They learned about birth, life and death on this farm and have grown strong because of it.

I never let anyone speak ill of their fathers in front of the girls and hope they never have to see that side of them nor witness it from any other man they may meet some day when they are grown. I feel that through my experiences that I have learned has enabled me to better teach them about the world. I have learned wisdom of this world as an adult and wish to learn so much more. I have encouraged them to learn as well and take pride in how wonderful they are growing up. The fresh air in Maine has allowed me to heal and to breathe freely.

I had arrived to write my novels that I had stored in my mind forever. I did that and have started my third. Maybe someday they will be published. But, I wrote them and for that I am proud of myself. I had read all of the required reading for the Brown University Undergrad and Grad programs in that program (Egyptology) and had used it in my first two novels as well as other research that I had done in Massachusetts and Maine. I had learned to create my own studies in research since I could no longer afford the official education required nor have time away from home and my children. I had learned to find the reading lists at the Universities and to purchase and read the second hand books from the book stores and to read them at night and when waiting for doctor's appointments, etc... My father had taught me that you can learn anything from a book-and you can-you just do not get any formal credit for it. It is, though stored forever in your mind for your use. In my case it was for the novels that I have written and those I plan to write that I have researched and outlined. I have even traveled for the research for my novels written and that which I am working on. I have been to France, England, Egypt and Quebec for further research on them.

I have started a farm and raise Icelandic Sheep and have learned to work with the wool in order to make extra money for the household. I had gone out and earned my brokers license in insurance sales for my employment (you have to work to support a farm). I have earned almost two years experience in Sales for High Point Insurance based out of New Jersey. My income, as always it seems, is the main one for the support of my children and farm. I had long ago learned not to count on any financial or emotional support from the fathers of my children. I had learned the hard way, if you want anything done at all-you must do it yourself.

In this way, I had planned on my farm. I wanted desperately to give security to my children. I own this farm and home outright without mortgage and hope to leave it to them someday. I have very little expenses and need little to live on this farm. I have arranged my life to survive on the very little income offered in the only employment there is up here.

I started work in Wilton in July of 2007. I had been searching for employment for a year and a half. This is rural Western Maine. The only thing that I could find was in Wilton. There I had taken classes and had attained my brokers license. I had taken a huge cut in the pay that I was used to for this chance of employment-as did most of the others in my department. We were thankful to be employed. It is a call center and High Point is merely a vendor, though it was the program that everyone wanted to be on. The sales team had become a family and we had added on to become quite a group. We had succeeded so much in sales that we were given a raise and incentives were added on. Most brokers earn a commission, though here in rural Maine, they take advantage of there being nothing else out here for employment and we are paid only an hourly rate and not even a full 40 hours. No sick time is allowed to us and we do not get paid if we are truly sick-we take the cut in pay ( I earn currently what I used to make back when I was 19 in 1989 in Massachusetts-before college). There has never been one day when the center had shut down due to weather. So, we battled our country roads and snowstorms of a foot or more with ice and arrived to sell insurance bright and cheerful. I work on a phenomenal sales team and love the people that I work with. We had been so successful that they had finally allowed us to crochet and read books in between calls as long as all of our work was in. We had become close and were constantly causing trouble in a fun way. Suddenly our security was shattered when the first lay-off occurred. Soon, enough after months when more people disappeared with the dreaded staples boxes and heads hung low-that we told less jokes and feared laughingly when our badges would no longer work.

This was my survival job and now, even this was not working. For today, we heard the news we feared- that our program would be ending April 3rd. I had a brief glimpse of the security that I had longed for and had almost accepted it. I hated the drop in pay-though the people that I have worked beside made it all worth it. All of us in sales are licensed brokers and most of us have degrees besides and have known employment as professionals and salaries, like myself. (I had also worked at Quincy Mutual as claims examiner and at a law firm in Taunton Mass as the head paralegal of the Torts department at a Plaintiff firm.) We had known stability. Though we had all grown close to each other and have felt the bond of a sort of family. I had felt accepted there and had made a lot of friends and have shared alot with them. I was starting to adjust to this new life and love the stability that it slowly gave me. I grew used to the new level of pay and had managed my life around it. I was proud that I had a job to provide for my daughters in this economy.

Today, it was all ripped away from us. We were all thankful to be employed in this day and age and now-we join the rest. For me, it is just another road block. I have fought through many before and I will fight again. I just have to be a lot more creative in that my girls are older and it is not that easy to hide it any more behind smiles nad baked cookies. I have taught them about life the way it really is along the way so they are not so naive as I was and I know and hope they will be more armed than I ever was as a result of this. I honestly feel that my experiences have perhaps armed them for the world that they have to face.

I suppose if worse comes to worse- I do have my farm and the land. I could always learn to live as my ancestors had hundreds of years before-off the land. Maybe that is the real reason that I had purchased this large piece of Cheddahville-as a place to fall down on and to help us live. Will we have to resort to this in this time of economic harship. Is this our lesson in that we had become too materialistic and perhaps had to lose this all to realize how lucky we all truly are? As an adult I have had no choice but to fight and to survive on the remnants left. I have had to hide it from my children thinking that it was all wrong for them to see harship. Perhaps that is why I have fallen so hard. I have learned over the most recent years to be more realistic in raising my children and have slowly let them in. I have used the hardships as lessons on teaching them about teamwork and of us helping each other and others around us. I have been showing them life with all of the good and bad, gradually waking them up to the life around them. I have made sure they witnessed and helped in the birthing of the lambs on the farm and have shown them the natural cycle of death and life on a farm. I have learned right beside them holding their hands, rejoicing and crying beside them holding them close. I am proud to have witnessed all around us with them. We have gone without luxuries; TV, cable, phone (long-distance) etc... and have learned what is most important. Family, peace, food and warmth. This, they have never lacked. I have gone without eating during the day to make sure my children eat good and healthy foods and have worked hard at night on the wool for extra money and to be at home for this, the second job-for the clothes, sports, lessons, etc... We have learned that a family is strong when it works together. We are a team and we all stand strong when we help one another. Every chore-no matter how small is important to the well-being of this family and farm. I am proud of what my daughters have grown to be and smile at all that they have potential to be. The farm has given them the team skills, and leadership skills that they need for the world and the food upon the table. I have cut out a lot of luxuries along the way, learning to become more and more humble- and I will cut some more-never losing grip on what is most important in life.

I have learned to be a very active person and would not have achieved half of all that I have had I ever been lazy or cried when the going got tough-which has been quite often. Though, sometime that I have learned that a good cry-will certainly clear the mind well enough to get to business- the business of survival.

I am owed a lot of money in child support in just Maine alone ( I long ago gave up in ever seeing a penny of money owed while I was living in Massachusetts). In Maine I had agreed for child support to stop with Alex's father, because he had finally stepped up to plate and he is helping her with her college. She is a freshman at the University of Maine and had graduated high school with honors. I am very proud of her! I am owed four years and over ten thousand dollars from Bill and probably close to that amount from Jim to this date. I have been the sole support of my children and home for so long-I would not honestly know what to do if I actually had someone other than my parents help us. They have had to help when I would break down and call for money for oil and snow tires for my car-I hate to ask anyone for help. They have also helped with alot more-thanks to them I have been able to hold this home together for my daughters! I have long ago stopped crying over not having the life of my parents or the blessed stability they have always had throughout my life at least. I have had to protect my children and I against the people who should have protected us. I have survived and will navigate my way thorugh this next obstacle-as I have always done-very carefully.

Another survival skill is in this very blog. I have spent most of my adult life in trying to seek justice for me and my children. Though I have won legally in all of those matters-I still had not received much monetarily. I have managed an amazing lot on my own and continue to do so. This blog provides an outlet that enables me to speak out and hope that maybe somene-somewhere is actually listening! Maybe someday I will actually publish those novels that I have worked so heard to write and possibly even enough of the wool items that I have made to support this home and farm. But I still work and work hard to provide some semblance of security for my children. I know my story now-especially, is one of millions. Though I do not want this to be a story of pity-but one of hope. That a single mother can provide security and stabilty to her children-even when alone and do it well. I have healthy and active little girls and one grown and in college and I am very proud of them and even of myself for getting them there despite all that I have gone through for them. I would do it all again and will never give up. I realize that this is just another step in my master plan for my dream and know I have yet another hill to climb to get there. Here I go....

Nature adventures in Cheddahville!

Well, as you know I cannot write small being a novelist and all... And I will not disappoint you! I decided to write today about the wonderful adventures that we have experienced here in Cheddaville concerning the extreme nature.

As you know Maine has moose and lots of them. I had seen many of them driving through on the way to Canada when we lived in Norton, Mass near Jackman and was waiting patiently for an experience here in our own back yard since we moved up here. Well we did have to wait longer than expected for this to occur. We had been living here almost a whole year when I finally had my first local sighting! Apparently, since we live way out in the middle of nowhere the moose have plenty of places to play and have made less and less appearances to the natives. The neighbors made sure to tell me that they were everywhere and I was feeling upset since they seemed to be hiding from me. I had walked out in my monstrous backyard and have seen the droppings left behind in complete mockery of us-screaming out that they had only just been there but were not ready to reveal themselves yet. Then the day finally arrived. I live on a huge hill called Zion Hill-as if stating the obvious. Anyways, I was traveling up one part of it on my way into town (not the center of Cheddaville-naturally, but Farmington-where they had actual shopping-if you call Wal-Mart the place....). Anyways, I was driving up the hill thinking of what I needed at the store when low and behold there appeared a large animal jauntily skipping out of the side from the woods. At first sight, I mistakenly thought that it was a gigantic horse that had escaped from one of the many local farms. However... it was not. I had seen my first moose! It was a female. Like most Flatlanders-I had simply thought that all moose looked like Bullwinkle-complete with antlers. Well, this one did not, though huge it was and it was crossing the road in my path. It did not even stop to look-understandable knowing that it had the right of way by lethal size alone! I was ecstatic and had called everyone that I knew as soon as I got home later on that day!

It was years later when one finally decided to make its appearance in my own yard. This was during the Spring of 2005. I state Spring very loosely here in Maine-since in March (which was when this occurred) we still had several feet of snow on the ground! That day I had sent out my middle daughter, Jacqui to bring in the dogs. In the Spring we let then run out back for a spell after being cooped up in the house all winter. Well she ran out to get them after watching them run out into the woods jumping in joy. She ran back into the house and told me that Bart (our little sheep dog) was barking frantically and she that she saw something huge near the old farm pond at the bottom of our hill. She ran out and then back in again and was screaming to me that it was a moose! I ran out after her and told her to get inside. No sooner had I yelled this, when out of the woods ran a huge moose with tiny little Bart trailing out after it barking frantically! I was mortified, yet seriously spellbound at the spectacle that I was witnessing! Our little sheep dog was frantically trying and by the looks of it succeeding in herding a huge moose-this one did not have antlers though was way larger than the one I saw crossing the road! It looked like a full grown male-thousands of pounds large. Anyways, the moose had run into my backyard and around the house through several feet of snow and was traveling at breakneck speed along the fence line and the into the front yard. I had followed the scene spellbound and finally grabbed the dog when I gained my wits afraid that it would cause the moose into a suicide dash and hurt itself. I had Jacqui bring Bart into the house. I then followed it with my eyes as it ran into the sheep fields-jumping the fences like it was made of Lincoln Logs with its sheer size. He ran into the back yard and then went out into the field on the other side of my house. In the meantime I had my littlest daughter Tiffany by my side and had yelled to Jacqui to watch the moose, while I ran fast into the house to grab my camera. I know now that it was a typical Flatlander moment, not realizing that I had exposed my own children to a frantic moose (he was way over in the side field, however). I arrived on the side yard with camera in hand and pushed my children behind me-as if I could protect them-had the moose decided to charge us! Anyways, I got the picture! I am still looking for it though and will add it when found. I do have it though (a serous distance shot)!

There is one last story about moose that I will add, simply because it involved my oldest daughter Alex. I felt sad that she was not a witness to the other events mentioned-though am finally glad to add hers finally to our family life in Maine. She told me of a day when she and two of her friends were out in the Maine woods north of Wilton-near one of the no-named towns. there are a lot of areas just north of here that are too sparsely populated to be named towns and are still uncharted. Well, she and her friends were in one of those areas not far from here one day way out in the middle of the woods. I had been afraid to ask what they were doing there-perhaps that it was reason why she never mentioned this! (I was a teenager once too-how they forget!) Anyways, they were out there to enjoy nature (yea right!) and her friend (I think it was Ashley-probably wrong on this)-her friend motioned for all of them to look to where she was pointing-all of them looked. She had stated to their amazed ears, "I wonder why there is a horse way out here in the the middle of the woods! (she must be a Flatlander too!)" They all laughed and then walked out slowly when they realized that it was a huge moose-again without antlers. I was told (not sure if this is true or not) that in the winter, male moose shed their antlers. Anyways, they all slowly walked out of the woods.

Alex told me of another time when she and her friends-again wandering out in the woods -had been hiding-apparently they were playing manhunt and it was nearing dusk-great time for nature out here in the Great White North! She had wandered away from the rest and was hiding when she heard a growl. She looked up to see a large ferret like animal growling at her. She stated that it was the size of our smaller dog and had stood up on its hind legs baring large pointy teeth and sharp claws and that it was long like a ferret-though much larger. It was rearing for attack! She screamed in pure fear and ran. She ran and had climbed a wall and had escaped whatever it was. She was terrified. I found out later from my description that it was a Fisher cat that she had encountered. They are large ferret-like animals that have been known to attack unprovoked and could have done serious damage to her! I have heard that if your family cats are missing-a Fisher is in the area! They are probably what had attacked and left carcasses of chickens in my yard. I had a chicken coop once until I got sick of finding dead chickens scattered all around my yard-I gave the survivors away to someone who had a much safer coop.

There was also the time when I first moved in around 2004 in late summer when I decided to cross my huge side field. At the time, my divorce had been final and I was dating my neighbor's son, Tom. He lived across the field. We had worn a path traveling back and forth on visits and one evening, I decided to visit him to watch a movie. It was near dusk and I had ventured out alone for this. No sooner had I reached the halfway point of my huge field separating the properties when I heard a growl. It was then followed by a howl and then several more joined in. It sounded like a horror movie and that I was literally being packed in by wild wolves. I stood rooted on the spot when my Tom had heard the commotion and went out to investigate. He and his brother Jacob motioned for me to not go any further and he headed out toward me while Jacob ran back into the house and came out with a space flashlight that could light up any mall parking lot to perfection from LL Bean and shown it on the field. This way, I was finally able to cross over the field before I was attacked by wild wolves, or Coyote, or Coy dogs or whatever it was . I'm sure they saw that light all of the way over at Wal-Mart!

Later on that very year I was was to learn about the horrible mutated field spiders! They grow to long scary space aged lengths and are yellow and black and look like they would rip off a dog's head. These I did not even notice while I crossed over that late at night. We later had fun mowing them down a week later. There are also the huge ginormous barn spiders-well, that is another story! They are so huge, being brown and fat-unlike the stream-lined field spiders, you could have them as pets, were you not afraid they would eat your children! Anyways, thankfully none of the spiders or snakes are poisonous at all-so all the Mainers claim anyways!

There are the mosquitoes, which should be outlawed and then there is the much dreaded and now known about-black flies! These are fine-provided you are well armed and swimming in Deet-and behind screened porches. I was so organic and against Deet-until I moved to Maine and then threw that stupid notion out the window (before fast slamming back the screens in place in protection)!

There is one last nature adventure I will mention. I chose these particular adventures due to the time of year. There have been many more and I will mentioned them accordingly. This one happened just last year. Almost a year ago in fact. There was still a lot of snow from the winter and it probably read Spring on any other calendar, though not here. On this day I had kept Jacqui home for an appointment. I was getting ready inside when I casually asked her to bring in the dogs. Only in the Spring do we let them run out in the huge back yard without their leashes to get the winter out of their systems. The snow is still high, though they love to run through it down the hill and back up several times. This was what they were doing. I sent Jacqui outside to get them. I looked at the clock and noticed that ten minutes had passed by then and promptly went outside to tell her to hurry up. After no response- then I yelled. Both my dogs Bart and Loki arrived at the door and no Jacqui. This was highly unusual. I waited for Jacqui. Then I put the dogs in the house and cautiously went outside. Scary frightened Mom thoughts went through my mind and I pushed them away and went out the the top of my hill in the back yard to get a good look for her. I saw no sign at all of her blue jacket and calmly told myself not to panic. I yelled out to her and after several times waited for some type of response. Finally I heard it. It was the howling of several dogs. My heart raced recalling my own experience years ago in crossing the field that was to my left. I feared the worst. What if she had fallen down through ice and some wild dogs or wolves were surrounding her! What if she had injured herself and the animals had picked up the scent of her blood. My mind panicked in horror and of the thought of my unprotected child alone in the woods! I called out and still-I heard the dogs howling in response. I frantically ran inside and called 911. After telling the operator who had answered the phone the story and my fears I knew she was trying to calm me though feared the same as I after I called and held the phone up to the howls-she heard too and affirmed it! She was contacting people on the other line to gather people for a search party. She had told me to stay where I was so that I would not ruin any trail and mentioned that they could get some dogs to search for her. It took all of my mom strength not to run out to try to find her. I struggled but knew the reality of her pleas in doing so. I get helplessly discombobulated in the woods and have gotten lost in my own backyard on many occasions!-I saw the sense in them not having to send out a search party for two people. This had gone on for about a half and hour and the search party was almost organized by this point when I kept vigil on the top of the hill waiting for any sign of my daughter. Finally I saw it-I saw a form coming out of the tree-line. I called out and it was her. I wept with joy at this and told the operator and had begged the operator to still send out a sheriff to the house anyways to explain to my Flatlander child the real dangers of the Maine woods! Jacqui called up to me as if nothing was wrong and wondered whey I was so worried! I ran down to her and hugged her. When the sheriff arrived I had him tell her of the dangers of the woods out there. He did and also mentioned that he grew up here and that when he was young they had free reign of the woods and were called in to the house by the sound of the car horn. I naturally never thought of this and thought it was a brilliant idea. I grew up to having to be inside by the street lights coming on at night! Naturally, I was at a loss of how to call my children in since the three street lights in the whole town were nowhere near here! I realized how futile even before that day of just yelling out to them. In summers past my children love to yell from the swing set and hear each other's echoes as they bounce around the local mountains. They have called out to the neighbors down the hill a half a mile down and can hear them loud and clear in response on a clear summer day. sound bounces all around up here and I felt helpless. The sheriff's idea was wonderful and I promptly had a discussion with the girls after he left and Tiffany came home from school.


I had asked Jacqui to tell me her story of what happened. As she told me this I realized that sound does not travel down the back hill at all. She heard me perfectly, though was a little lost herself initially. She had told me that she had gone out to get the dogs and had heard what she thought were ours and pursued the barking dogs. It turned out to be the hunting dogs of a hunter who had somehow wandered onto our property. He was rabbit hunting. I cringed and told her that she could have been shot by a stray bullet. She shrugged and told me that the hunter was nice and let her use his cell phone for her to call home. He must have been from out of state because the local service from Unicell only had very rare available spots in our yard and house. I have found available patches near the front door of the house (very cold in winter) and by the side of the barn (extra cold in winter). I figured that he must have Verizon since they were able to reach the house from way out in the woods. However, due to my older daughter running up the phone service-I no longer carried call-waiting and it gave them a continuous busy signal (I was on the phone to 911 the whole time-organizing the search party!) She had then proceeded back up the hill to find me calling to her. I could not hear her at all when she heard me the whole time. That was why she was trying to call me on the hunter's cell phone. I thank you kind hunter for not shoting my precious daughter and for trying to call her home with her on the cell. Thank you!!! Soon after that I cancelled that appintment whatever it was for and drove straight to Wal-Mart to purchase "Walkie-Talkies!" This has proved wonderful in just reaching her upstairs in our farmhouse for her to do the chores (She tries as any teenager to bury herself in the world of television). That is until one day when it was interrupted by a trucker traveling by. He informed me that he was on the nearby road and that his name was "Trouble". I thanked him and requested that he continue on and that we had enough "Trouble" here without inviting any more!

Ayuh, life in Maine.