Skywatch Friday!

This was the sky over Worthley Pond this morning as I warmed up the car. Pretty dreary and dull. On the up side the Hermit Island reservations came in the mail yesterday, the Music Man and I will be enjoying two camping trips there this summer. So let's hope that I can get more Skywatch Friday pictures that look like this! The Hermit Island Gods were smiling on us to get such great reservations, I think the offering at the Hermit Hut helped!
Enjoy ~SJ

Hermit Hut

While looking through my iPhoto collection trying to come up with next weeks ABC blog for the letter "J" (tougher than it may seem) I cam across my Hermit Island pictures. Then I remembered, I have never blogged about The Hermit Hut!

When the Music Man and I go to Hermit Island we tend to walk/hike around a lot. The island has many well maintained trials that crisscross the island. One day we decided that we were going to walk the perimeter of the island. Along the way we came across several little beaches nestled in between the woods. On one of these beaches we discovered the Hermit Hut. This hut is built up against a rock face from items that have washed up on shore. It is a welcoming little hut, complete with benches inside. I decided that it might be good luck to leave a Hermit Island treasure on the hut in hopes of pleasing the Hermit Island Gods to allow us to come back to this little piece of paradise again.




SJ's offering (the rock) to the Hermit Island God's in hopes of a good reservation next year.




SJ being "artsy" with her shot from inside the hut.

Well we wrote the reservation request letter today, let's hope that my offering at the Hermit Hut helps us get the times that we requested!

Enjoy ~SJ

Wood Guy (or Gal)!

No camping experience is complete without a campfire. In order to have a campfire you need to have firewood; enter The Wood Guy (or Gal)! The Music Man and I have looked at all of the places selling wood on the way out to Hermit Island and have decided that one is clearly the best deal. The Wood Guy (or Gal) sells you the most wood for your $2, and it is also the nicest quality. On our last visit to the Wood Guy (or Gal)! I left a note telling him (or her) how much we enjoyed the wood, and that I was even going to blog about it. So here is the plug for the amazing Wood Guy (or Gal)!

Enjoy ~SJ

The Pound

Hermit Island is home to the most northern lobster pound in the United States. Before my visit to this lobster pound, I always thought the term referred to a place where lobsters are weighed, I learned this is not true.

A sign at the pound explained the origin and purpose.                                                              

    "You are now standing on the lower main dam of the Small Point Lobster Pound. This is a typical construction for a mud dam; it being double sheathed and filled with mud to half tide level.
    The first lobster pound was built on the east side of Scotland and used finely fitted granite slabs for closing off the cove.
    Pounds became necessary when Maine shut down the lobster canning business. Life storage became an important factor in accommodating large fluctuations in catch and market demand.
    Small Point Pound was built in 1948 on the same site of a much earlier up-and-down tidal saw mill.
    Lobster pounds are generally filled in October and emptied Mach to April when the "hoped for" price is well above the "going in" price. Lobsters are fed herring scraps during the winder until the sea water reaches cold enough temperature to make them comatose. Come spring and that high price, skin divers harvest them and off to market they go.
    Every winter the pound-keeper hopes for a small shrinkage caused by death and theft. Natural predators are gulls, mink, raccoons, and two-leffed homo sapiens.
    This is the most southern pound in North America. Holding capacity is between 40,000 - 80,000 pounds depending on the state of the owner's ulcer. Shrinkage can approach 30% depending on disease and predation.
    The large steel clapper in the center allows the pound to be completely drained at low tide. The upper dam was built to make the pound smaller, thus more manageable.
    Two large swinging gates are opened whenever ice has to be broken and pushed out. Such was the case for the '93-'94 season.

 

You learn something new every day!

Enjoy ~SJ

Deer Crossing

While camping on Hermit Island the Music Man and I spent a lot of our time hiking around the island. On our first trip to this slice of ocean paradise we came across a mother and fawn while out hiking. We were really excited by the encounter and I took an excessive number of pictures.

 

On our second trip to Hermit Island we stopped counting at 15 deer. The Music Man almost got hit by a deer on his walk to the outhouse when it ran out in front of him. They don't seem to be scared by humans, and we even thought about adopting one as a pet. I spent the next several encounters trying to pet one (even though I know you shouldn't touch wildlife) since I thought they kind of look like Stanley with longer legs. It might be the tail, or lack there of.

 

 

Hermit Island is also populated with skunks that like to visit campsites at night in hopes of something nice to eat. Fortunately our encounters with them were not as exciting as the deer.

Enjoy ~SJ

Some Day My Prince Will Come.....

....and he will have uncanny MacGyver like skills. While camping on Hermit Island the Music Man memorized Some Day My Prince Will Come (a request of mine). Since he had forgotten to bring his music stand with him he utilized his amazing MacGyver skills and created one. Here are a few pictures.

 

  

  

Yes, that is a campfire fork stabbed through the envelope music, being held down by a clothespin. You should see how he MacGyvered the sump pump during the summer Monsoons! 

Enjoy ~SJ