First Week in Maine (landscaping, floor, moving)

[atrixwolfe]

Congrats on reaching the end of your journey and your new home in Maine.
I remember when I drove my 26' u haul through NY on 84 I was convinced those roads were breaking every thing back in th u haul. Good luck unloading and settling in!

[Electric Wizard]

So how you liking it so far?

[znlwovuhrjw]

Personally I've been enjoying everything so far. The locals are becoming more familiar with me through my adventures of stupidity! First thing I did after unloading THREE 26' U-Hauls was attempt to mount my monitors on the wall.

I thought well it's plaster, usually this stuff is strong enough alone. I was so very wrong, but I figured that out really fast when I put up the first monitor, I decided to put my pansy 3/16" x 2 1/2" mounting screws into the desk to never be seen again. I took a small flathead screwdriver and felt around in the wall and figured out that locating the studs wouldn't save me, they were spaced apart in the exact area I wanted to mount my monitors. Out for sawdust gore, I went to the Medway Grandall's looking for six screws at 1/4" x 5" and the man at the counter remembered me, but looked at me like a crazy person after I described my plight with the plasterboard vs 40lbs of LCD. "No, we don't sell that size, but Tractor Supply does.". I went on down to Millinocket and looked at my options for 5 minutes, but only found hex nuts. Since I'm not driving all the way to Bangor's Home Depot or Lincoln's Aubuchon Hardware, I decided to make it work.

I got home and located my socket head kit among the hordes of boxes everywhere then stuffed some paper into the fitting because it was too tall, cranked all 6 bolts, 2 for each mount into the wall. The baseboard or whatever is back there behind the plaster works well enough to hold every monitor up, but I wouldn't lean on them lol.

The first days were cloudy and rainy and that was dandy with me, then it became sunny and humid. Bleeeehhhh, but this isn't as hot as Modesto, CA. Please come back rainy skies, I miss the lightning already.

My newest challenge is the 1 acre of lawn around the house. The lawn laughed at me when I got to the back porch, the mediocre Briggs and Stratton (Sears Craftsman) 190cc finally died when the thicker grass said "Even at your highest level, I will still destroy you.". The realtor wasn't upkeeping the lawn during the last month of the sale and I inherited the 1ft of grass. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this challenge and the Craftsman was always underperforming anyways, so we bought a Cub Cadet with some nice zero turn wheels in the front (push mower). I had to start at the HIGHEST level or it would have probably choked too, but the cadet didn't let me down. I've put in about 8 hours at least today on the lawn and I am still not done. I did one whole cut on the first pass, then raked the whole acre by hand. Did another pass, raked most of the yard then had to call it quits. The humidity puts me out faster, but I held for awhile. I have probably 2 or 3 bales of hay worth of grass stacks all over the property and STILL not done.

I think I have been to just about every restaurant in Medway, East Millinocket, and Millinocket. I think "The Bridge" restaurant in Medway is still my favorite, but I really like "The Country Diner" attached to the Citgo gas station.

My favorite store is probably Aubuchon Hardware in Lincoln, just because the prices are pretty good and it has pretty much everything in one place. Tractor Supply is the go-to for Blue Buffalo dog food and equipment.

Going to join the new non-denom church starting in town soon, a repair man from Fixit Appliance told us about how another church recently closed, but a pastor decided to step up and start over.

All in all, I have yet to see why anyone wouldn't like Maine. The most common answer to that is "winter", but I am ready to grab a paintbrush and coat the undercarriage of our cars myself. Going to pick out a snowblower when they get stocked at Tractor Supply starting in September (at least that's what the man said behind the register)

[maineguy8888]

great post!!

[znlwovuhrjw]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

great post!!

The black flies and the mosquitos will never stop me!

I can only hope that as soon as we get our Maine ID's in Bangor and then our plates after paying the excise tax, I can go fishing at least once before UMaine starts on August 31st. I think the Twin Lakes look like a nice place to go, but I saw a kid go right up to the pond along Medway Rd and start fishing, he even caught one in a few minutes! I just want me some salmon.

[Electric Wizard]

Excellent update!

I'm glad the LCD panels held for you. No doubt that would drive me crazy. Getting monitors and pc's going is priority #1!

I know what's done is done. Did you ever try and find someone with sheep or goats to take care of the lawn at first for you??

Either way I admire your commitment to the battle.

[znlwovuhrjw]

Yeah, the sheep would have helped, but damn I wanted to finish what I started. Next time the mulch is meeting the end of the leaf blower.

The new challenge has only begun! We are going to make a trip to Houlton to get one of the 28" Ariens Professional tracked snowblowers. If it dies on me, I have a dolly if I must drag it back to the garage. Looked into all of the snowblowers, only others that seem to live up to the steep price are Husqavarna and Honda; Husqavarna had too many mixed reviews and Honda is outta this world expensive. Not getting the hydrostatic transmission, only because "new" doesn't always mean without fail. Just want to get this out of the way now before they become harder to get.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by kingdomkz

... We are going to make a trip to Houlton to get one of the 28" Ariens Professional tracked snowblowers.

I am not sure if 'track-crawler' is really needed for a snow-blower. However you do need a 2-stage snow-blower. Do not get a single-stage unit.

Sometimes you will be blowing snow that is light and fluffy, which is when a single-stage snow-blower works best. Other times it will be wet and heavy, and sometimes there will be a hard crust on it, so your chewing hard ice. When it is heavy, or when it has lots of ice in it, you need one auger that chews it, and a separate impeller to throw it.

Also pick-up a dozen shear pins for it. You will likely eat shear pins.

[znlwovuhrjw]

Originally Posted by Submariner

I am not sure if 'track-crawler' is really needed for a snow-blower. However you do need a 2-stage snow-blower. Do not get a single-stage unit.

Sometimes you will be blowing snow that is light and fluffy, which is when a single-stage snow-blower works best. Other times it will be wet and heavy, and sometimes there will be a hard crust on it, so your chewing hard ice. When it is heavy, or when it has lots of ice in it, you need one auger that chews it, and a separate impeller to throw it.

Also pick-up a dozen shear pins for it. You will likely eat shear pins.

Wouldn't buy anything EXCEPT two-stage, been reading about them for awhile now. The "Professional" Ariens models come with the Briggs and Stratton motors rather than the "Deluxe" model Chinese motors. I only want tracks because our driveway is not even at all, lots of dips and hills; lots of people have said the tire n' chains approach works, but it's much better if everything is flat. We also have this pretty large downslope behind the house after you walk a few yards away from the porch, which I've already officiated as the future dumping grounds of snow, plenty of space to get to that 16' tall level!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

My son bought the Cub Cadet THREE stage blower last February. He is very happy with it. Tale a look at the link and the short video.

Cub Cadet 3526SWE 3X 26" 357cc Three-Stage Snow Blower