First Acadia Trip Of The Year

    It was originally supposed to rain today like it always does on my days off but the showers ended up getting pushed back until tonight so we made our first trip of the year to Acadia. The park loop road just opened a week ago as did the carriage roads which opens up all of our hiking options.

    I woke up at 8:30 and started getting ready, loading up my pack and all that good stuff. Along the way we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for Jaime to get her ‘happy juice’ and we got to see a little woodchuck beside the drive-thru, then Shaws to pick up some lobster rolls. We gassed up at Irving in Holden hoping for some broccoli and cheddar bites but like always they were out. Luckily the Ellsworth one didn’t let me down, they’re usually pretty well stocked there, and I also got a BBQ rib sandwich and some onion rings. We like to stop at Mardens and eat in the parking lot there like we used to do on Jaime’s lunches back when it was Walmart.

      Our first stop of the day was to an off-trail waterfall I went to last year that we’ll call Eagle Cascade. Its not even a tenth of a mile off the carriage road around Eagle Lake but its not quite visible from the path so its rarely visited. But we hate walking along carriage roads so we parked at a viewing area and followed the stream downhill which is a bit more difficult but actually a lot shorter in distance, and much prettier. There are tons of small waterfalls along the way, giving it a very serene atmosphere. During times of low water, like right now, its fun to rock hop down the stream.


    Unfortunately, Eagle Cascade isn’t much to look at during times of low water. I was hoping to make it there during the snow runoff when it would be a raging torrent but with most of the park closed until late April and the fact that the snow melted months ago, no such luck. We’re going to try to make it after a heavy rain one day so we can see it at its full potential. But it was beautiful nonetheless. Its only about ten feet high but the water pours right over a sheer rock face making it a true waterfall.

    From there we walked down the carriage road a couple tenths of a mile to the abandoned ruins on Eagle Lake, a place I’ve visited a couple times, once with my parents and again with Brian and Stephanie, but never with Jaime. Just a couple hundred feet off the carriage road is what remains of a house that was going to be built on the lakeshore. It was never completed but the stone arches and pillars remain of what would have been the foundation. Other than that, nothing else is known about this mysterious location…  

     Until now. Jaime wanted to get some pictures and video of me on top of the arches. I used a small tree to help me climb the wall which is becoming fragile and starting to crumble. After getting some pictures of Jaime popping her head up over the stone wall like a gopher, a rock came loose. Beside the loose stone, I noticed a small crack in the mortar between stones. There was a piece of paper in it, folded up tightly. We figured it was nothing but had to get it out anyway, just to see because we could feel something special. Using a couple small sticks as tweezers, we managed to wiggle the paper out. It was a poem written in ink on old weather worn paper, giving some insight as to why the arches are there, a shrine dedicated to a lost love. I will post more about it on my Leave The World Below blog. This was truly an amazing discovery.

   We jogged back along the carriage road and followed the stream uphill back to our car. Originally we were planning on exploring the side of Mt Champlain like we did a few times last year in search of the Hanging Steps. We found so many awesome places along the mountainside we wanted to go back for further exploration but Jaime was kind of beat after our first adventure. So we parked along the road and I took a quick solo trip to the Hanging Steps to make sure they were all still intact after the winter. They were as glorious as ever. I can’t believe we searched and searched for something that was literally right there. But all the cool places we found along the way were well worth it.


    Continuing along the park loop road we stopped at Hunter’s Head, a landmark on old maps that is hardly mentioned today. I first read about it late last year but never made it. After scouring the internet and finding practically nothing except for a couple cool photos, I figured today was as good a day as any to explore. With a rough idea of where to look, we parked at a viewing area and I walked down through the woods towards the ocean. It didn’t take much exploration to find what I was looking for. Beyond a recently fallen tree there was a small rockslide leading into a giant chasm that split the enormous rock cliff in half, the waves of the ocean crashing more than fifty feet below.


     While making a failed attempt at descending the giant chasm down the rockslide and jagged cliffs, I heard voices nearby. A father and his two daughters were exploring the area as well and informed me that it was indeed possible to go down into the giant chasm, they’d just come from there. It was nice to see a family enjoying nature without being glued to their phones. The tide was beginning to come in though so I’d have to hurry.


      A little free-climbing later I was at the base of Hunters Head, looking into the deep chasm. I’ve never been one for rock climbing but lately I’ve found myself doing it more and more in order to get to cool places and jaw dropping views. To get into the gorge required walking across some seaweed that’s submerged during high tide, which I hate doing because its so slippery but it’d been so long since the tide went out that it wasn’t too bad. Using the timer on my camera I was able to get some great shots of me at the mouth of the chasm. I just started using the timer function a week ago while taking pictures of my closet shelving system and I’m really enjoying it, it beats the hell out of selfies. The giant crack in the cliff was completely dry at the end of it where the water hadn’t touched in hours but with the tide rolling in I didn’t hang around too long. Its an otherworldly, rugged placed, kind of like Thunder Hole on steroids.

I found an easier way up the cliff, no free climbing this time around, the way the family I met told me to go. Hey, I would have but I was short on time so took the most direct route. The ledges that make up Hunters Head are much more jagged and weather worn than the rest of the Acadia shoreline, giving it a more wild feel. I’d actually always wanted to explore that area after seeing it from Little Hunter’s Beach but being a kid at the time, it was a little too far for me to wander off to. After hearing about it Jaime decided she had to see it too. We took the easier way but while sliding down the jagged rocks she ended up with quite the hole in the butt of her pants. We joked about her butt-hole being torn the rest of the day. She didn’t quite make it inside of the chasm but got to see it from the outside and from above.
  
    Rather than drive through Bar Harbor, which probably would have been pretty quiet anyway, we did the rest of the loop road and got to see a couple deer along the way. One of them stopped by our car and posed for us so Jaime got some good pictures. I went to Mardens on our way through Ellsworth and got some snacks. And after smelling the ocean air all day Jaime decided she had to have steamers for supper so we picked up three pounds just before the seafood counter closed. Well, not ‘we’, I did, Jaime had a huge hole in her butt that wouldn’t be appropriate to show off in the grocery store. We’re both a bit sore now but it was well worth it. A great way to kick off the hiking season.

New Toy Acquisitions

       Wooo! My Masters Of The Universe Slime Pit just arrived. Yes I already have two of them, one being the Slime Pit I had as a child, the one that kinda scared me a bit, okay a lot, so my parents had to throw away the slime. I remember seeing a display of them at the grocery store once, yes Masters Of The Universe was so popular it was carried not only in toy stores but supermarkets and pharmacies as well, and although I loved seeing the Slime Pit so prominently displayed I had to hide behind the shopping cart. The artwork is amazing and I always wished I kept the box. Over the years parts of mine broke or got lost so a year or two ago I bought one that I thought was complete at the Toy Vault. It turns out it was missing one small piece at the top of the skull so I was going to buy that piece on EBay but while searching for it I spotted a listing for not only the complete Slime Pit but the box as well. I could have bid on it for $50 or bought it at the ‘buy it now’ price for $60 which isn’t bad at all because I was looking to buy the box alone for about that price. Jaime being the awesome wife she is said ‘fuck it, its ten dollars, buy it now’. Three days later and it has arrived. This thing is beautiful, well, ya know its creepy and scary looking but in a beautiful way. 

      On Tuesday I went through my box of Transformers I brought in from the shed to see which ones I want to sell and what ones are going on display. One of my favorites was always Devastator, the giant robot that the six Constructicons combined together to form. I had all six of them but was never good at transforming the damn things so I never actually got to assemble the construction vehicles. Finally, twenty-five years later, I gathered all the parts and built Devastator. He looks amazing but would have been rather hard to play with because he’s rather fragile. But he’ll look incredible on display. Another life goal complete.



    Almost ten years ago when we were poor and I had to resort to selling off some of my collections I sold some stuff I still sort of regret. One of those collections was the Thundercats. I had gone back and watched some of the original cartoon and quite honestly it sucked, so I sold the figures, not really being a fan anymore. Then the remake came out around 2010 and oh my god that shit was off the chain. Unfortunately it wasn’t very popular so the toyline ended prematurely and most of the figures were never made. I would have collected those but since most of my favorites didn’t get made it was pointless. But I did keep a couple of my old ones, Lion-O and both versions of Mumra, as well as Mongor who wasn’t with the rest of the collection so got kept accidentally and Driller who was not only my favorite but also pretty rare. The lower half of his body consists of three detachable pieces that form a drill. I only had two of the pieces but knew I had the third somewhere. Even as a kid I had that problem, one of the pieces was always missing. So I decided not to sell him figuring I’d find the other part eventually. Ten years later, I finally found it mixed in with the Dino-Riders I just brought back from my parent’s house a few weeks ago. Driller is now complete and what I thought was a $75 figure is actually worth about $200. But he’s not going anywhere other than my display shelf next to his other remaining Thundercat buddies.

      And speaking of Dino-Riders, while going through my box of parts I began assembling the T-Rex. You see, the Rulons would put intricate weapons systems on the carnivores and control them for their evil purposes. The intricate weapons systems consist of tons of small parts that break easily and commonly get lost. I’m about halfway there with the T-Rex but am missing a few integral parts of the $500 set. Yep, the armored Tyrannosaurus Rex is worth that much, not that I plan on selling him. I’ve found a few of the parts I need on EBay but haven’t ordered any yet. Krulos, the leader of the Rulons, still needs his gun turret perch to stand on so the hunt for Dino-Riders accessories begins.


    And even though I put it in one of my other blog posts, I also got Razor Ramon from the Wrestlemania series of WWE figures and Sycho Sid from the WWE Elite line of figures. I found both of them at the Toys R Us in Manchester CT a few weeks ago. The other figure I was really looking for was Sasha Banks. But I couldn’t find her anywhere so I eventually ordered her from Ringside Collectibles, the next day I found her at Walmart, two of them actually so I could keep one in package and take the other out. So now I have three Sashas. It’s a good thing she’s so awesome.

      Last night I told Jaime I was mad because the next batch of stuff I’m selling on EBay didn’t have bids yet, I was hoping to make enough on there to buy this extremely rare Skeletor figure that someone just listed. I only had $60 left from my EBay money and the figure is $60, I didn’t want to spend it all on one figure with Jaime’s birthday only a month away. She said “isn’t that the figure on your Christmas wish list, you’re getting it, now, go out there, get your computer and order it immediately before its gone”. Who could say no to that? So I ordered my 12” rotocast Skeletor figure from the 200x Masters Of The Universe vs. The Snakemen line. They were made right before the line ended so the only two figures in that style are Skeletor and He-Man in his snake armor which I also need. Yes, need. Skeletor looks amazing, the entire 200x series was incredible and in my opinion easily the best line of action figures ever produced. So the only thing better than a perfect 6” Skeletor is one twice that size. Can’t wait for him to arrive. I have the best wife ever.

Closet Display System

    Since getting back from CT Tuesday night, I’ve spent most of my time working on the new closet system in my studio. At work we recently got in some beautiful boards by Rubbermaid for those organizational tracking systems a lot of people install in their closets. It gave me the idea to do one in mine but not for organization, for an action figure display. I have way too many that are stored in bins or out in the shed because I don’t have room to put them. Well I want to see my toys damn it, so redone closet, here we come.

   On Thursday morning I stopped thinking about it and finally got my ass in motion. The hardest part of this whole process was actually moving everything in order to make room in my closet to do anything. A few months back I put my dressers in there which was pretty cool except for the fact that they were about an inch too wide, making it extremely difficult to open the drawers. So those had to come out in order to install my new shelving system. To get the two dressers out and into their new location meant moving my cabinet and lingerie chest which no does not contain any lingerie, that’s just what it’s called you pervs, but moving those to their new locations meant moving my bookcase and coffee table which is a really interesting square piece with multiple compartments on each side. While moving the furniture I decided to lay out my new rug as well which meant  spinning my old one around and sliding it over to the other side of the room.



         With so much to do I got up when Jaime left for work at 8:30 and got a move on. With my plan in place as to where to move everything and what order I needed to do it to be most efficient, I got to work. Not wanting to empty everything, I moved most of the furniture without removing anything which made things heavier but took a lot less time. Working out has definitely paid off because I moved everything without even using the hand-truck and somehow got it all in its new home before going to work at 1:00. The night we left for vacation I bought the entire case of 4 foot boards from work not wanting to miss out but on Thursday I decided to get the 3 foot ones as well. They both come five in a case and I figure I’ll just return whatever I don’t use.

   We normally have Friday off together but due to Jaime’s promotion, sometimes she has to work Friday now so I had the day to myself. Again I got going right away, woke up early and began putting up the shelving system. I was planning on using the electric drill to screw the upright tracks into the studs but it turns out I don’t have the proper drill bit so by hand it is. Amazingly I had the right number of tracking pieces and they were all the right size, not bad for a $10 bundle I picked up at the Norwich Goodwill in CT.

    The only problem I ran into was that the closet wall was bowed out in one area making it damn near impossible to screw the tracking system in. I had to use my shoulder to push against the wall with all my strength while screwing it in, and admittedly broke a sweat, might have come close to passing out too seeing as how I hadn’t even had breakfast yet. But I got all the tracks up and wrote down all the pieces I needed to complete the system before Jaime got up for work.

    I brought her in and hit Lowes and Home Depot to see who had the best prices. And of course I went to all the thrift shops as usual and didn’t buy anything, and still no Sasha Banks figure anywhere. We’re a little behind in Maine though, no one even had the set of figures that she comes in. So the search for Sasha continues.

    I met up with Jaime on her lunch and we had Subway at the park. Then I went back to Lowes and Home Depot to buy the parts I scoped out earlier. A good $60 later I had the brackets and rod for my closet as well as the wire shelving I had them cut to the exact right size.

     So it turns out they didn’t cut the shelving to the exact right size, in fact they were almost an inch and a half shorter than I asked for. Not feeling like going back for a third time I removed the tracking and slid it over so they’d fit. But, the screw wouldn’t go into the stud which means there was probably a knot in it, right where I needed the screw to go. So I attached the proper drill bit onto my electric drill and found out that the cord was a good two feet too short. With no extension cord in the house I connected a couple power strips together and there you go, I got my extra two feet and drilled through the damn knot in the stud. Power tools sure do make things easier.

    With all the parts in place I began resting the wooden shelves on their pretty architectural brackets. One major problem; they were crooked. Dumbass here forgot that the holes on the tracking had to line up exactly. Turns out they were all perfect, except for the one that was damn near impossible to do thanks to the wall bulging out. So rather than redo that one, I redid the others. Luckily with the drill it wasn’t too bad.

    The little piece of tracking I got was just the right size to fit above the compartment for the water heater, the 20 inch piece of wire shelving I had them cut came out right and fit in perfectly. The coat rack rod system thingy went in without any problems, I still have room beneath my coats to put two plastic totes, and I finally have a permanent home for all my jackets. I have about ten. And the wire shelf above the coat rack is just the right size for my box of extra tools.

    After adjusting the tracking and actually using my level this time, which to be fair I couldn’t have done before because I didn’t have the brackets to lay the shelves on, I got everything up properly and it looks amazing. However, dumbass strikes again and for some reason only bought three of the six inch brackets when I actually needed four. Granted I was just getting them on a trial basis to make sure it would work, why I only bought three is beyond me. And originally I was going to do only two of the four foot shelves but it turns out I can fit three so I needed two more architectural brackets as well. And wouldn’t you know that the architectural brackets were at one store, the plain bracket at the other.

  So on my way to pick up Jaime from work I went to Lowes which is where I needed to go anyway to return the wire shelf they screwed up. But before leaving I realized I would need to return all three pieces that the shelf was cut into, one of those pieces being the one that fit perfectly above the coats, that now had the full coat rack on it. Whatever, I’m not taking it back down so I’ll just keep the other two parts and use them in the shed or something. Then I picked up Jaime on time with a couple minutes to spare and ran over to Home Depot before they closed to get my other bracket. Then to Walmart to pick up some more kitty litter, our little fur baby loves a certain kind, luckily it’s the cheapest on the market but it also sells out quickly so when we see it, we get a bunch. Jaime wanted Chilis for supper and after my long day I was ready to sit down and take a break and I can never say no to Chilis. So I got my favorite meal there, the honey chipotle chicken crispers with fries and corn on the cob. My mouth’s watering now just thinking about it.

    I put up the new brackets and laid the shelves on them. Its looking exactly how I had envisioned. With the 200x series Castle Grayskull on the floor below the shelves, it looks like I’ll be able to fit a third three foot shelf in there which is awesome so I just need two more of the plain brackets for that. And I think I’ve decided to not do the wire shelving on the right side above the bookcase and just get some boards that match the four footers and continue the display shelving all the way over. I didn’t think it would be visible so displaying stuff there would be pointless but you can actually see it from most points in the room and I always have more cool toys I want to look at.

    I may have ‘pulled a Matt’ a couple of times but overall it went smoothly and everything fit exactly as I had anticipated, a little better even. Now with the extra boards that I got from work and planned on returning, I got a few ideas for those. The rearranging of the studio continues. More shelves it is.

    And before I post this I need to add one thing, while out today getting some more shelving for the studio I checked Walmart to see if they got in the new set of WWE figures and for once I was in luck, they just put them out. I finally got my Sasha Banks figure! Two of them for $10 a piece, one to leave in package and one to take out. And naturally this happens the night after the $23 one I bought online shipped out. Ah well, I guess I’ll have three. And now I have a new tracking system to put Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain on as well as a new shelf to display my out of package collection of WWF Hasbro figures on. We’ll get into that in my next post.

Spring Trip To CT

    With the crazy weather this Spring we decided not to go to NH for vacation. And it’s a good thing we didn’t seeing as how they just got hit with a second winter which would not have been cohesive to hiking. So although that sucks, we got to go to CT instead and spend Wrestlemania weekend with my family.

    We left after work on Thursday night which ended up being 10:00, making for a very late night drive. Knowing this in advance we planned on sleeping in that morning but unfortunately were not able to because my car stopped working the night before. Turns out it was the alternator so we were back to having one car for the day while it got fixed, something we haven’t done in over a year now. But the ride ended up not being bad at all, I barely even got tired. We spent most of the trip talking after eating our Burger King on the road. With only one bathroom break we made it there in just over five hours and didn’t run into any bad weather until the bottom of Massachusetts but still not too bad. And then it didn’t stop raining our entire vacation, except for when it turned into snow.

    On Friday morning I decided to go hunt down an old friend of mine I hadn’t seen in years. Andy was one of the last of the crew to stick by me when the rest walked away. I didn’t actually expect to find him but he happened to be home that morning so we hung out for awhile, just catching up. He truly is a musical genius and the best guitarist I’ve ever known so it’s good to hear he’s still working on music, we’ve produced hundreds of songs together and it looks like we’ve still got hundreds more to go.

    That evening we went to the Buckland Hills Mall to meet up with my cousin for supper at Outback Steakhouse, we don’t have one up here. We left a little early to do some shopping and begin my hunt for the Sasha Banks figure that just came out, in CT that is, Maine’s a little behind the times. Sasha Banks is a WWE wrestler and this is her first figure if you didn’t know. We didn’t find her at Target but we did find a bunch of discounted Easter candy that we probably shouldn’t have bought but did anyway. No Sasha at Big Lots or Toys R Us either but I did find two other brand new WWE figures, two of my favorites, Sycho Sid and Razor Ramon. So I snatched up both of them and we met up with Beckah for dinner. We hadn’t seen her in a couple years so it was really nice to catch up, she’s awesome and has always been my favorite cousin. I was supposed to eat light so I could grab second dinner at the Cajun Café in the mall food court, something I didn’t remember until we were almost home. I was willing to say screw it and just get my Cajun another time but Jaime, being the amazing wife she is, made me turn around and drive back to get my favorite food in the world. We planned on staying up until my sister got home from work that night so we could watch the NXT Dallas special on the WWE network. But we might have accidentally gotten awfully comfy and fell asleep around 10:30.

   

     On Saturday we all piled in the car and headed out to the malls in MA and RI, something that’s become tradition every time we’re down. The hot dogs at Spike’s Junkyard Dogs were amazing as usual but I didn’t find anything I needed at either Toy Vault. Most of my collections are nearing completion so its getting more difficult to find those few remaining hard to find pieces, not to mention expensive. And still no Sasha Banks figure, sold out everywhere we went. Luckily the hot dogs made everything alright.

     That night my man C-Note came by to kick it and work on some music. We’ve been friends since fifth grade, he was actually supposed to move up here to Maine with us, his bedroom was going to be what is now the studio. We talk online all the time but haven’t seen each other since I moved and he didn’t. It was great to catch up with him but he was a little too intoxicated to really record anything serious. It’s sad to me to see someone drinking when you know they don’t need it. He’s always been one of the coolest, funniest, most down to earth and carefree people I’ve ever known. We’ve done some great music together and will do so again, just not that night. Kind of disappointing.

    On Sunday we planned on going to the outdoor flea market at the Mansfield drive-in and then an indoor one Jaime and I went to last year that had some coin collector displays my dad would enjoy. But after shoveling out two inches of snow in 50 mph winds, we decided to skip the flea market that probably wouldn’t have even been open. So we went to visit my grandmother and uncle with my dad. Grandma loves making meals for people so she served a late Easter dinner consisting of ham, potatoes, kielbasa and sauerkraut and then some cookies and pie for desert. We went to Goodwill afterwards on our way to the Crystal Mall where I found a brand new pair of jeans that will need some hemming before I can wear them and also the upright tracking system for the studio closet I’m getting ready to do. I was looking to spend roughly a hundred dollars just on the tracking pieces alone but I got a bundle of it there for only $10. I could barely believe my eyes, it was exactly what I was looking for, down to the number of pieces I needed. Still nothing at the third and final Toy Vault though and no Sasha Banks anywhere.

    We got home just in time for the Wrestlemania festivities. Mom and Julie picked out the fruit and veggie platters and made some dip for the chips. Everything was delicious and Wrestlemania was actually really good despite a poor buildup to it. We watched most of the two hour pre-show and then the actual event itself lasted nearly five hours so that was a lot of wrestling. But it was awesome to see AJ Styles at his first Wrestlemania, he’s been one of my favorites for over a decade now and I didn’t honestly think we’d ever see him in a WWE ring. Watching Zack Ryder win the ladder match to capture the Intercontinental belt was insane, I certainly didn’t see that one coming. And of course seeing my all time favorite Shawn Michaels make a surprise appearance was great, even better, he was wearing his ring attire, something I didn’t expect to see again after his retirement about five years ago. And even though Sasha Banks didn’t win the women’s belt she still had one of if not the best match of the night, plus a pretty cool entrance with Snoop Dogg performing her theme song. Overall it was a tremendous show and one of the best in years.

     For Monday we originally planned on doing some hiking. Instead we did some shoveling. Six inches of snow. Six inches! Jaime didn’t leave the house all day but after my sister got back from class, the four us went to my parents’ favorite Chinese buffet. It was delicious and worth the slow drive in the snow. Luckily the buffet is only a couple minutes down the road. Monday night was reserved for Monday Night Raw, the night after Wrestlemania Raw is known for being the best and most unpredictable of the year. Although there wasn’t much for surprise returns, it was still one hell of a show and fun to watch, I don’t usually get to watch it live when its happening.

    Before leaving on Tuesday we went to the Buckland Mall again, this time with my parents to eat at TGI Fridays and pick up some Cajun food to go for me. We don’t have a TGI Fridays up here but they always play the commercials so we’ve been wanting it for awhile now. It’s as good as the commercials make it sound. Mom made fun of me for getting a salad but it was so good I didn't care. And then I got two boxes of Cajun to take home with me, plus the one I still had from Friday night. Excessive? Maybe a little but you’ll understand if you ever get the chance to try it.

    We left early in the afternoon which meant daytime driving. It beats the hell out of driving nearly six hours at night. We stopped in Portland on our way home but as usual didn’t buy anything, except for a couple cookie sandwiches from Mrs. Fields. So we didn’t come home with much more than some food. I did bring back my Dino Riders from my parent’s basement as well as my old bar bell and some weights. The only thing that sucked more than the bad weather was not seeing more of my friends and getting to record. I was hoping to see Concept, Gambino, Santo and Larysa to hang out and work on some music but things didn’t exactly go according to plan. I kind of knew that would happen since I put so much time and effort into getting their tracks all ready to record. A part of me misses my old lifestyle, the rest of me doesn’t miss working around other people. I hate being let down and unfortunately, that’s what people do.

    All in all, it was a good trip. It could have been better had the weather cooperated but we had fun. It would have been nice to see a few more people and gotten some music done but oh well, I’m not really a rapper anymore anyway. I hope to someday be able to make it back home more than twice a year, there’s still so much I want to see and do in that area.