Graham Lake Ellsworth Maine (Portland, Caribou: rent, construction, prices)

[American girl]

It's official! Spring is here. The labradoodle took his first swim this morning. We ran hard and as soon as we turned into the driveway he sprinted to the lake. Can dogs grin? He sure looked like he was grinning. His winter coat is long so he had to stay outside on the steps for an hour to dry off. He didn't mind a bit. Cats didn't like having him wet though. They refused to rub him until his coat had completely dried.

[boonelsewhere]

i guess flooding in Maine in the news did not effect the lake that much.
thanks for us know what going on on Graham lake.

Originally Posted by American girl

It's official! Spring is here. The labradoodle took his first swim this morning. We ran hard and as soon as we turned into the driveway he sprinted to the lake. Can dogs grin? He sure looked like he was grinning. His winter coat is long so he had to stay outside on the steps for an hour to dry off. He didn't mind a bit. Cats didn't like having him wet though. They refused to rub him until his coat had completely dried.

[Fewta Mayna]

I haven't checked checked this board out in a while. We hope to be moved in up there from south Alabama in August.

American Girl, that was great reading all your posts describing your cross country skiing trips on the lake. I haven't done any good cross country skiing since moving from Maine 11 years ago. I had become addicted to it. I can't wait 'til the first snowfall. If it doesn't start during the day, I'll keep waking up looking for the first flakes and go out skiing when it gets to a couple inches. My Chessie will love skiing with me. We'll both be in heaven skiing around Graham Lake and exploring trails and roads we find adjoining the lake. I'll admit I will be nervous skiing out far from the shoreline and most likely won't unless I've seen trucks out there.

I was talking to a man on the phone who lived on the north end of Graham Lake for 6 years. He's seen 5 or 6 bears but no moose while he lived there. I would have thought the opposite. I read that there's a few Bald Eagles on the lake. What wildlife have you all seen around Graham? Any coyotes? I've read that there are wolves in Maine. Has anyone seen any?

Hope everyone keeps posting.

[American girl]

We've seen bear, moose and deer all in the driveway. We see the eagles nearly every day. We've just started seeing a fox on the road, which worries us because we have cats. Dozens of loon couples spend their summer on the lake. Hawks and owls are numerous and we love the little sand pipers in the summer. And the heron are spectacular. No wolves. It rained and drizzled all day yesterday - good day for burning brush. The lake is high, but still not as high as we've seen it in the past. We saw our first fishermen/women this weekend. A small boat with two hardy souls and then a big bass boat. The big boats zip along this time of year because they know that there is enough water covering old stumpy (this Graham Lake denizen has many children lurking on the lake bottom). Later on when the lake drops they either move on to deeper water or just mosey along. Or, if they're numb they keep on zipping and lose their motors. It's still a little too raw for boating, in our opinion. We like to fish but not in our winter coats. Soon, though, soon .

[thenewNewEnglander]

I think people are overly critical of this lake myself. Maybe its not the deepest and it is in fact man made. But it is a body of water that is not polluted to my knowledge... If you look at it and it makes you calm, if you can float your boat on it, or catch a fish, or cool if in a summer dip its good to me. So what the hell. Besides I think Ellsworth is great. Ya got Mt Desert right down the road, Bangor in the other direction. Hate to tell ya folks.... This area is gonna grow in the next upswing. When ya got over 4 million visitors a year going to Acadia you dont have much choice. You'll be the next Nantucket or Newport before you know it. Hope you hold your property and make milliions.

[American girl]

A lovely day on Graham Lake. Shoulda raked, shoulda weeded the herb patch, shoulda planted some flowers, shoulda walked the dog.....Sat on the porch with all the windows open, rocked in my chair, drank iced coffee left over from breakfast and read Fer-de-lance, the first Nero Wolfe novel, published in 1934. The waves gently lapped the beach, the birds chirped, cat-in-the-lap purred and after about 10 minutes I didn't feel guilty at all.

[Mainelover]

Just got up here to open up our cottage for the summer...there has been bright beautiful and cool days, like today, and then we had hail yesterday after some sun...anyway, here's a Virginian, aka NJer, aka Mainer. I can spend just one night here opening up this house and I know I'm just "home."

All of my stess leaves me as the loons squack over something, and THEN I (when I'm by myself) go into Ellsworth to one of the wonderful restaurants. There are many. I can sit on my deck and look at Graham from a beautiful vantage point...it's always "full" here on this side. Yes, in Sept, I have a pebble beach of 20 feet, but when I look at the lake from the deck or the upstairs I get only a beautiful, vast lake view....

American girl, did I just meet you today? I was in a green Sportage from VA, and I pulled over on the dirt road to meet a smiling face walking her huge (I would say "standard poodle", but I saw "labordoodle" as mentioned") Was that you?

[Mainelover]

Originally Posted by thenewNewEnglander

I think people are overly critical of this lake myself. Maybe its not the deepest and it is in fact man made. But it is a body of water that is not polluted to my knowledge... If you look at it and it makes you calm, if you can float your boat on it, or catch a fish, or cool if in a summer dip its good to me. So what the hell. Besides I think Ellsworth is great. Ya got Mt Desert right down the road, Bangor in the other direction. Hate to tell ya folks.... This area is gonna grow in the next upswing. When ya got over 4 million visitors a year going to Acadia you dont have much choice. You'll be the next Nantucket or Newport before you know it. Hope you hold your property and make milliions.

my thoughts exactly, New new englander! I am here tonite, by myself listening to classical music and looking at the lake. It is just beautiful. My kids swam quickly last year...(it was cold when we were here) but they said in July, beneath their feet where tiny pebbles...I would definitely swim here anytime...I might wear my ocean sandals/shoes and see how it was. It all depends on the depth...

This is the most relaxing place I've ever known in my life. ANd there have been many, but none like my deck on Graham Lake with 180 degrees view of nothing but water...loons, eagle nest on my front tree...and various other critters....Can't wait to see a bear, seen deer...American Girl mentioned Bear...this sure looks like a place where there should be some bear around.! Love it...

[Mainelover]

Originally Posted by American girl

At 4:30 a.m. this morning it was 9 degrees below zero on Graham Lake! The snow makes a squeaky/crunchy sound under your feet. We let the dog out on his own this morning - knew he wouldn't stay out long. Thankfully it isn't windy and so it really doesn't feel too cold out unless you take a deep breath and then you can feel it. The car felt like it had pudding in it instead of gas. Temps rising into possibly the 40s this weekend. Will make for great snowshoeing and cross country skiing. If it has to be winter, it's better with snow!

American Girl, what type of heating do you use? We have a propane heater and are not quite sure what to do, if we want to rent it out in the winter also..we bought this house with 1/2 of the tank filled and it is still almost at o1/2...but wondered what you guys do. It could be very costly I think to open this house up to winter renting (not like that is very sought after anyway) Just wondered what your thoughts were.

[American girl]

No Maine Lover, it wasn't me you ran into this week. I walk my doodle on the deserted end of the dirt road past my house, or some other deserted road. He's too crazy to take out in public or walk on a leash. We're thankful for swimming weather, it works out some of his high energy. The next door (summer) neighbor showed up last night with her golden and the doodle was pooped when they went home - and dirty.

Our house had a fairly new oil furnace when we bought it so we heat with oil. We winterized the porch and thought baseboard heat would keep it warm but we are inches from the water and high winds and with no basement under the porch we couldn't keep it warm so we put a small Jotul woodstove out there with a metal chimney. It works great but we are so sick of wood heat. Our last house of 20 years was heated exclusively with a wood stove and when you hit middle age the mess and work start to overtake the ambience. Once we've burned all the trees that need to come down on our property we're going to replace the Jotul with a pellet stove.

As for renting, friends report that it is difficult to get renters if you heat with wood, or other non mainstream heating systems. I'd say keep the propane if you want to rent. If I was building a new house I'd put radiant heat in the floors and then have a small pellet or gas stove for "butt warming" and soup cooking.

The lake is high this year, a good start for the season. It is so peaceful in the evenings. Who needs TV when one can watch the world around them?

A funny story to end with. We noticed the neighbors had wrapped the base of all their trees with black "tar paper". We worried that there was some new pest infestation. It was a few days before we caught up with them and our anxiety grew every day. Finally we ran into each other at the local book store. It seems their 8 year old pit bull "Nancy" likes to peel the trees so they wrapped them all up so she couldn't get at them. Nancy is a sweet heart and wouldn't hurt a fly (she doesn't, however, like the doodle) all her agression is aimed at those pesky trees.