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Maine winters can be long, and out here in the country you take your entertainment where you can find it.
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Often times, that’s on a frozen river.
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Smelt, a small oily fish people enjoy fried…
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… run thus time of year and intrepid Mainers set up ice fishing shacks.
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Sitting in a plywood box in sub zero temps staring at a hole in the ice isn’t my idea of a good time.
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But to each their own.
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The husband and I found a (not so new, but new to us) brewery in Lewiston recently.
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Baxter brewing is housed in the old Bates mill complex …
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And has a fabulous tasting room space.
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I love when companies repurpose old buildings. This was a hydro powered textile mill back in the day and if you look closely in the far corner of that picture you’ll see a raw rock wall. During heavy rain storms it weeps… wear waterproof shoes if you sit there.
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The beer?
Yeah, there’s lots of it on tap.
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That chocolate orange stout?
Primo!
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They also have a full bar and since I’m a sucker for fresh herbs in my cocktails…
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I sampled the thyme after thyme mule with pear and lime ginger beer. Yum!
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At the bar we spied an outdoor mural we missed on the way in.
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Along with the beer?
Food.
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Sadly it wasn’t as good as the booze.
The husband’s French onion soup was sent back because it was basically just a bowl of soggy bread.
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My dumplings were tasty but a bit overdone with hard edges.
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The generator that powered the mill.
It’s massive and would have cost a fortune to remove so they just painted it and left it in place.
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The husband liked his chicken tenders, though I thought the coating was too heavy and too dry.
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I should have known better than to order a smash burger… I don’t usually like them as they’re thin and well done… but the bartender said the maple honey cream sauce was amazing so I took the plunge.
Sauce aside, it was a dry hockey puck.
Am I the only one who hates this smash perfectly good meat to smithereens trend?
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Poor pub food aside, the atmosphere and beer were good enough to warrant a return trip.
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We’ll just order something it’s harder to screw up. Like nachos, or salad.
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😊
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These winter pictures popped up on my Facebook memories recently and I thought it would be fun to share.
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Backyard deer on their path. They don’t stray very far from it once it’s cut.
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That’s my husband shoveling out our neighbor who thought she could make it down her driveway in her car before plowing.
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She couldn’t.
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And here’s my husband a year later pushing his snowblower next door….
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To help dig out her husband’s plow truck.
My husband is a good neighbor to have.
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This is Mr. White, a beautiful boy who is no longer with us. He always wanted to go outside in the winter…
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But didn’t really like it once he got there.
❤️
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Are you tired of winter snow photos? If so, you have my permission to depart the pattern now…. because that’s all there is today.
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No adult beverages on the deck last week I’m afraid.
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The above is a rare deer track free shot of the backyard. Taken early in the morning, it didn’t last.
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The wind has been killer this season. The above is a shot of my husband shoveling the driveway when it was 6 degrees with 53 mph gusts.
Yours truly stayed inside.
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Driveway clearing after a storm is the Maine equivalent of the office water cooler. Everyone crawls out of their snowbound homes and chats.
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And if you’re lucky, your neighbor cracks through the ice crusted snow your snowblower won’t with his tractor plow.
😊
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As many of you know, we’ve battled a certain red squirrel in the past.
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She’s chewed holes in our barn, our garage and our wood shed.
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She’s gnawed her way into the eaves of our home and given birth to a large brood we physically had to evict. She attacked my husband when he was cleaning gutters and built a nest in his truck engine, destroying wires that required it to be towed to the repair shop. I could go on, but I think you get the gist.
She’s a menace.
So the other day… when I saw she had a friend?
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I was concerned, but before I could fully process the horror? I saw this…
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Four!
There are now four red menaces in residence.
We’re doomed.
😫
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After 3 years of virtually no snow, this winter is keeping our shovels busy.
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Strolling out to the man cave for an adult beverage requires some effort.
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The bird bath is disappearing.
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And the shrub hats are growing.
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As is the hump on the patio table.
❄️😊❄️
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten has developed a disturbing fondness for Al Roker…
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Should I be worried?
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Has the revolution begun? And why did no one tell me…
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I love Cards Against Humanity and Beth Dutton.
I may have to own this.
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Not my photograph, but it was posted by someone in Maine.
If that squirrel isn’t silently saying ‘hold my beer’ ? I’ll eat my hat.
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Bacon is life.
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Sunrise on snow.
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It’s hard to beat.
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💕
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More snow makes for pretty pictures I like to share with all my snowless southern and western friends.
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The shrubbery wear hats.
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And the edge of the driveway hump grows.
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Critter paths are clearly visible.
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And we have no idea who was romping on our deck. Those faded middle tracks are my husband’s, but clearly others followed suit.
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A path to the man cave must be shoveled.
It’s where the beer lives…
😊
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We never know how many deer are going to arrive in our backyard on any given night…
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Could be two, could be ten.
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They always show up at dusk so pardon the poor quality photos with reflections from the windows.
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When the snow starts to pile up?
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So do the deer.
Fourteen was the count when I took these photos.
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💕
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