from Bangor Daily News

A while back (January 18) I wrote a quick post about how Mainers were saddled with an accidental Governor; one who was elected with 38% of the vote, and how he was beginning to embarrass Mainers with his rude behavior and speech.  Now it seems to be a national story, and it looks like my prediction that, “Sooner or later he’ll go too far, insult too many people, lose his temper and become a laughing stock.”  Is becoming a reality. Sad.

Now there is a petition campaign to change the laws in Maine to allow a recall of this governor, something this old state has never had to do. I signed this petition, it can be seen at http://signon.org/sign/maine-needs-a-citizen. The goal of 15,000 signers will be met in a day or so. [It was met about noon on April 6. The new goal is 20,000]. It’s fun to look at the totals pile up. All you have to do is hit refresh/reload and several more people will have signed, many with thoughtful comments like:

From his offensive remarks to the NAACP and the President of the United States, his ignorant derision of the effects of toxic chemicals in consumer goods, to his removal of a mural depicting laborers in the State Department of Labor, Governor LePage has managed to offend most of the citizens of Maine and made a national laughing stock of our state. And we are only 3 months into his reign- er- term. The state can ill afford another 45 months of this.

LePage is also a horrible representation of Maine. We should be making national news for the good we do not for our bullying, ignorant governor.

This can’t happen soon enough. In a state that has elected the likes of George McGovern, Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, Margaret Chase Smith, and Bill Cohen — how did we end up with Paul LePage when nearly two out of three of us didn’t vote for him? Never again. Let’s hope Maine can survive the next 4 years of an ignorant-acting despot.

Until now Maine has been free of the type of corrupt, self serving, truth-bending and extreme politics seen in other states. Now it looks like we can’t escape any more. Let’s just get this over as quickly as possible.

A nice, fresh blanket of snow. It’s enough to make you….tear your hair out! Enough already! It’s April!

April 2, 2011. No April fooling

Lou McNally, now living in Florida!

I have often said that the coast of Maine does not fit into the image of Maine as a place of arctic whiteness, but with this winter’s six months of the stuff I have to eat my words. Lou McNally, longtime Maine weatherguy and former host of MPBN TV’s Made in Maine spoke recently on the subject. He  holds a PHD in meteorology and when asked what effect global warming will have in Maine, said that we will probably have more storms and abrupt season changes. No mention of higher temperatures or less precipitation. Maine is known for having the most winter sunshine, second on the East coast only to Florida, as moist clouds get wringed out by mountains or the coast further south.  We may end up with Boston winters, lots of wet show and little sun. Another few winters like this and I’ll be a believer. Lou is now a professor of meteorology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University…..in Florida!

Crocuses in the snow, 4/2/11

Lamoine, Maine is not exactly the center of the universe for the electric boat movement. I am being optimistic when I announce the existence  of my boat. I don’t even know if it will float, and it’s hardly built. But given my usual lack of social awareness (lack of embarrassment), I am pressing on. I guess I reason that if I invest the money in materials and the project is moving along, what the heck!

Regular readers will have noticed that I haven’t been writing as much lately; I’ve been devoting my computer time to finding out more about the weird world of electric boating.  What kind of motor, what shaft speed, propeller diameter and pitch, motor controller, batteries, switches, throttles….the list is endless…and expensive. Ultimately electric boating can offer a day’s cruising for about a dollar, but getting there involves a few thousand.

Starting with the design, an electric boat needs a “displacement hull”. This is a hull designed to have a speed no more than that defined by it’s waterline length. If you push a boat with ever increasing power, it will either plane like a speedboat or squat into the water and make a big wave (a displacement hull). A sailboat is a displacement hull and has a maximum speed related to the square of the waterline length.  So a 28 foot sailboat will have a maximum speed of 7 knots, no matter how big of an outboard you put on it or how much wind you blow.  To push it faster you need a hull which has a flat bottom and a square transom (rear end). Try to push a boat designed for planing with an electric motor and efficiency will suffer.  Eleccentricity is a hull design like a sailboat, with an oval waterline. It will have a top speed of 5.4 knots (6 MPH).  I am hoping this speed can be achieved at about 2500 watts, allowing me a round trip to Bar Harbor, 8 miles away on a full charge.

The batteries will be housed in a hollow keel. This is a wacky idea, but if it works it will make a great deal of stability for the boat, since most of the weight (402 lbs) will be as low as possible. I will need a robust bilge pump at the lowest spot to prevent the batteries from getting flooded, which would be bad. The Yahoo group “electric boats” is filled with eccentric but helpful electric pioneers who have offered me help.  Stay tuned!

Affordableacadia’s oceanside suite, SeaCat’s Rest is now officially compliant with the State of Maine’s Environmental Leader in Hospitality program with a score of 172. One hundred points were required for approval, so we’ve managed to exceed this requirement by a wide margin. We can now proudly display the logo:

The truth is, I didn’t know this program existed otherwise I would have applied long ago. The qualification process was straightforward if somewhat comical in that so many areas clearly didn’t apply–like whether my “exit” signs were lit with LEDs. I have no exit signs, swimming pools, employee uniforms, or employees for that matter; drycleaning facility or insecticide application program. I would have gotten extra points if my pool were heated by solar energy or if my employee’s uniforms were cleaned with biodegradable detergent. Instead I had to make due with the 5 points I got for having no pool, rather than the 38 points I would have gotten for having a “green” pool. (Also no credit for the ocean or the swimming pond up the road).  I scored big on my solar water heating system, and if this green certification can result in an extra booking or two then it will be more than worth it.

I wrote an extra bit at the end in the “extra credit” section since when I built the house I had radical attitudes about building green. The exterior walls are doubled, the insulation was state of the art and the window placement and southern orientation are optimized.

The process was worthwhile because it shined a light on what I can do next to earn extra points and be even greener. Part of that involves my guests, you will now be invited to come up with ideas about how we can save that extra kilowatt. It’s not about doing without, it’s about being smart about how we use energy. It’s about Maine: The way life should be!

We all get those emails from the African widow who needs our help to move $5.7 million out of her country. In the lodgings business we get a variation on that. Someone books a stay, sends a cashier’s check and then discovers they sent too much, like $3,000 by mistake, and could you please send me back the difference by Western Union? I was the victim of one of these back in 2008, but I knew it was bogus from the start and I decided to play along. The exchange of emails was lengthy and entertaining and can be read here. In the end, I refused delivery of the bogus check even though I really wanted to see the artwork. I got a call from Nigeria and was heaped with verbal abuse.

Now it seems that what I did back in ’08 is becoming a popular internet pastime and it has a name: 419 baiting. These scams are named after section 419 of the Nigerian penal code which deals with this type of scam, and the baiting is done by recipients who often go to elaborate means to lead the scammers on a merry chase.

One baiter has created a site called http://www.419baiter.com and has done a wonderful job of both baiting and site building. I highly recommend a visit. What makes this site so great is the lengths our baiter goes to to occupy, humiliate and reveal the stupidity of the scammer. He (or she) uses ridiculous names like Billy Clubb, Pete Moss, Potty LaTrine, Patti Kake and Ann Teaks. He goes to great lengths to give them all their own email accounts, websites, phone numbers fake I.D.s and phony addresses (usually the street address is 419 something) just to have everything in place to play the game. Apparently he’s figured out ways to do this all for free or almost free. And the most important part: no attempt is made to lure them in, he just waits for a 419 email. He never has to wait for long.

His first contact is usually something like, “I wish I could help you but I have no interest in handling your money. I manage a modeling agency and am on the lookout for underwear models.” Before you know it, the scammer is sending photos of people in their skivvies. Before long the scammer is asking for money, always sent by Western Union because this prevents the Feds from investigating (mail fraud). Our baiter makes up a phony money transfer service and creates bogus documentation showing that he sent the money. The scammer runs all over Nigeria trying to find a bank which will cash it. Amazingly, the scammer never seems to catch on and keeps coming back for more, sometimes for years. Other humorous things happen. The baiter returns calls in the middle of the night. The scammer drives to a distant city to meet the baiter’s character at the airport.  The victim falls prey to yet another scam and the first scammer tries to clue him in on the dangers of 419 scammers. Other characters come in, all with silly names and the scammers scramble to keep them all straight. Great fun.

from http://www.419baiter.com/scambaiting_resources.html

This is a dangerous sport and there are lots of warnings on the resources page. These are real criminals and they often have accomplices in the US. You never reveal your true identity. I’m just glad there are baiters out there with enough guts to go after these creeps and glad they have chosen to share their humorous stories with the rest of us!

boatbuilding at thewoodenboatschool.com

Maine is one of the few places where wooden boats are considered a cool thing. I’ve always loved them so now that I need a boat I decided to build it. Not only am I crazy enough to take on this task, I’ve decided to design it as well. Why would anyone want to risk all that time and effort on a design when there are so many professional ones to choose from? Just crazy I guess.

My virtual boat

I want a simple, light, tough, easily driven eighteen foot boat for recreational lobstering (5 traps). I want to use it for excursions to Bar Harbor (8 miles away) and I want it to be electric. Think of it as a Nissan Leaf in the water. It will be driven by a six battery 36 volt power supply and a state-of-the-art permanent rare-earth magnet motor capable of around 4 hp. This will have a gas engine equivalent of about 8 horsepower, so I’ve read. The full-blown fantasy includes a roof covered with solar cells capable of generating 400 watts in full sun but we’ll see how that goes.

The hull will resemble a mastless sailboat more than a runabout because it will be a displacement rather than a planing design. That means that the hull will not lift out of the water, the transom will be higher and the boat will have a maximum speed of around 6 miles per hour. I’m going to build it out of marine plywood, and the deep cycle batteries will be housed in a hollow keel; nice and low for stability.

How the heck do you design a boat? Actually, it’s easier than ever with free software available from Carlson Design Corp of Tulsa OK. The program is called Chine Hull Designer and it is made for plywood constructed boats. The software computes the waterline at a given load, stability, a table of offsets and plywood patterns just in case you have access to a zillion dollar plotter/cutter machine.

Imagine cruising silently without fumes, starting with the flip of a switch and recharging for pennies. Electric boat propulsion is growing fast. There are limitations of course, but with weight and speed less of an issue than with autos, it seems like a good fit. The Yahoo electricboats group has over 4000 members, and there are numerous sites on the web where you can learn more. I may be crazy but I’m leaving the virtual phase. The plywood will be delivered in a few days.

Lamoine Beach

The numbers are in for 2010. Maine tourism is on the rise since the dismal 2009 season, with increases in the state of 8% and Acadia National Park of 12 to 13%.  Additionally, the fall season was even better, indicating that the trend is not fading. Both the Maine Office of Tourism and The Maine Tourism Association are bullish on the 2011 season. Maine is within a six hour drive of 26 million people, and if the economy continues to mend, those folks will need a vacation.  We hope they come to Acadia.

Maine shrimp

Now for seafood. The big news on Friday was that the Maine shrimp season is shutting down early, on February 28, six and a half weeks earlier than planned. While this sounds like bad news, it’s not. The early shutdown is simply because biologists have declared that the total catch quota has been reached. The shrimp fishery is healthy and shrimp fishers have reached their limit with less fuel and in shorter time. Although this quota is much less than old record years, the management of the fishery is with an eye toward building up the stocks rather than the boom-and-bust days of old. Soon Maine’s shrimp industry will rival the productivity of our lobster fishery. Read on.

And how did the Maine 2010 lobster season do? Terrific! 81.1 million pounds was the 2010 total, far outstripping any other year since record keeping began. Remember, our lobster are caught in traps, not nets or dragged dredges, so it’s certain that many, many lobster escape to live another year. Follow the link above to discover the details of our sustainable lobster industry. The only possible problem on the horizon is the cost of fuel and bait. Diesel keeps going up, and our method of rejecting under- and over-sized lobster in addition to egg-bearing females means lots of fuel is necessary for each pound harvested. Compared to 1950, and adjusted for inflation, our lobster fishers are receiving less per pound ($2.92 in 2009 VS. $3.12 in 1950) and paying more for fuel ($1.60/gallon VS. $2.50/gallon or more now) and bait ($1.00 per bushel VS. $20-$25 now). We may get to a time when the limit to the lobster industry is not supply, but the price of lobster to the consumer. Thanks to The Ellsworth American for the above numbers.

Atlantic cod

Meanwhile, Maine groundfish, the word used to mean all traditional finned commercial species like cod, halibut and haddock, is  not doing so well. Actually, the fish are doing better than the industry. Some say the industry is on the verge of collapse, with fewer than 70 boats compared to a peak of 350 engaged in commercial groundfish fishing in Maine. There are many reasons why stocks are down but overfishing is the big one, and applying the management techniques used in our more successful fisheries is showing signs of success–stocks are rebounding. But how do we make sure there are those able to catch the rebounded stocks if the industry is allowed to die? In 2008, those 70 or so boats were allowed to fish a total of 48 days. Perhaps the correct level for allowing the stocks to rebound but not the industry. Times are tough. Now there is a new management system in place, which divides fishing grounds into sectors and allows more local management. The fishers will be more actively involved in the science and will no longer be in a mad scramble to maximize their catch in 48 days. We’re at the bottom of this fishery at present, I hope to report soon that the Maine groundfish industry is on the upswing. Once those cod recover however, look out lobster! They are a cod’s favorite food.

Unsigned, undated painting by Edward Grant

About 10 years ago I went to our recycling station (dump) here in Lamoine as I do every Saturday. We have a “swap shop” containing books and other items which folks think might be of use to their neighbors, and I like to give it the once-over every time I go. On this particular trip I spotted four watercolor paintings which seemed nicer than the usual swap shop offerings. I brought them home. Two of them ended up matted and framed on my living room wall. I sometimes get criticized for bringing things home from the dump, but these paintings were calling me. As they say, “I don’t know art, but I know what I like”.

Every few years I would do an internet search for Edward Grant to see if somehow my artist might be recognized. For years I turned up nothing. I had nothing besides his name to go on. Last week I was watching Antiques Roadshow (PBS) and I decided to give it another try. Immediately I struck gold; up popped the Biggs Museum of Modern Art in Dover, Delaware which had had an exhibition of his work.

I wasted no time in contacting the curator and explained to him that I might have some Edward Grant paintings and wondered if he could help me verify the style and signature. Admittedly, the paintings I have are of Maine landscapes, and those on the web are more of sandy Delaware, but the curator eventually replied that he thought the style and the signature looked genuine.

Signed, dated 1973

Edward Grant was born in 1907 in Delaware and painted prolifically throughout his long life. He was friends with famed Maine artist N.C. Wyeth and that’s where I think the Maine connection was established. Edward had a summer place in Round Pond, Maine. His “day job” was as artistic director of the Hercules Powder Company, an explosives maker. Over his 70 year artistic career his style changed many times, morphing from illustration art, Social Realism, Abstraction, Photorealism and finally moody landscapes until his death in 1998.

The Biggs curator referred me to an art dealer in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware who specialized in his paintings to put a price tag on my treasures. Of course, it was a little awkward when we came to the subject of provenance, that word which means the chain of custody. It would have been best if I could have shown him a photo of Edward handing me the paintings. Instead I had to settle with, “I found them at the dump”. The art dealer returned with a minimum price (and an offer) of $2,000 for the four paintings. No great fortune, but I think I will no longer be criticized for lingering at the swap shop!

More on Edward Grant can be seen here.

Edward Grant’s paintings can be purchased at the AerieArt Gallery.

This is what I saw when I tried to access my site.

This past week has been tough. Affordableacadia.com started fading away last Saturday, February 5. At first I thought it was a regional internet glitch, but as time went on, into Sunday, I started to get worried. I emailed my tech guru and he said all his sites were down too. After another day or so I got the news: The website host, the guy who owns all the servers for many, many websites died, and his grieving family simply “pulled the plug”. Everything that is on a website, all the text, pictures, sidebar gadgets, traffic statistics, everything, resides on the hard drives of the host’s server. Lots of people were in a panic. People with dozens of sites who rely on them for their income were suddenly helpless. People who take money for access had to face angry subscribers. It was bad.

Finally, another hosting firm was designated by the family to sort out the mess.  Slowly, starting Tuesday, some sites started to come back on the new servers. I considered taking the easy way out and just transferring to them, but I didn’t like the fact that they didn’t have a phone number. I had no way to communicate with them except by “ticket”, a kind of dedicated email, and they were very slow to respond, and incapable of grasping complex issues. To be fair, they were dealing with a huge mess, and I was small potatoes. But they were simply “out there somewhere” and I felt helpless.

The Grand Theater, Ellsworth, Maine

I decided I wanted someone local. After all, I’m here in Maine trying to promote the Maine experience and so I started looking for a web hosting company nearby. Fortunately, WERU, our local community radio station has such a host and so I signed up with svaha.com. The contact person, who I didn’t get permission to name, spent many hours trying to get me up and running. I’m impressed.

What I take away from all this is the need to back up my website. It is also necessary to understand the type of backup you are doing, because you may end up with only text. The pulling of the plug could have easily been a fire, hurricane, molasses flood or rampaging gorilla, you never know.  The other lesson is the local contact. I know where my new host lives!

Read how this disaster unfolded at Warrior Forum.

Atlantic sea scallops, (Placopecten magellanicus) Photo courtesy of Kevin H. Kelly, Maine Department of Marine Resources

Another secret many summer visitors don’t know about is Maine’s scallop season. Like shrimp, it’s a winter thing; the season is (this year) from December 15, 2010 to March 27, 2011. Also like our shrimp fishery, this is a sustainable fishery with tight regulations.

from http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov

The season is kept short to limit landings and many of the best scallop beds are off-limits to ensure the health of the fishery. This means that Maine’s scallop harvest fluctuates wildly, but that fluctuation does not indicate a free-for-all, boom-or-bust approach. Unlike lobsters, our scallop harvest is much lower than our states to the south. In 2009, total East coast landings topped 25,000 metric tons, of which Maine’s share was just 324. This is a small number compared to the average Maine harvest of over 2000 metric tons in the 1990s, but sustainability is the new top priority. In 2008 a survey was done by the NOAA and the results found that:

The numbers are the highest seen on Georges Bank since 2000 and the second highest since 1979 in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, and help document the effectiveness of a key measure used to manage the commercial fishery, that of rotating access to highly productive sea scallop areas while closing others to allow scallops to grow.

When we buy scallops at the seafood counter, we’re actually buying only the abductor muscle of 3 to 5 year old scallops. This muscle is big so that the scallop can flap it’s shell halves together to jet around the sea floor. So scallops are unique in this ability to move around in a hurry, if only for a limited distance. The scallop is cleaned at sea, and the rest is discarded, since scallops cannot be kept alive like clams. Seafood lovers in Europe however have been known to eat the whole scallop.

from http://www.fishingnj.org

Although Maine’s scallop fishery has made great strides to sustainability, one fly remains in the ointment: the dreaded dredge. This is the metal basket towed behind the fishing boat which collects the scallops. It also disturbs the sea floor and occasionally traps sea turtles. Some commercial harvesters dive for scallops, which is much better for the sea floor, and new evolving dredge designs are on the horizon. Overall, the trends for scallop fishing are encouraging. Now science plays a primary role, and so much more is known about what is happening “down there” than in the old days.

Our local Ellsworth roadside seafood man, David Gardener, is selling tubs of scallops for $12.50/ lb. These are not the kind you’d be likely to find in your frozen food section, some are so big you have to slice them in half to cook them at the same rate as the smaller ones. Think small hamburgers. The other difference is these are “dry” scallops. Some processors soak their scallop meats in phosphates to get them to take on water-thereby increasing weight. When possible, buy dry scallops for the best flavor. I’ll save my favorite Maine Scallop recipes for a later post.