Andresen's

A beautiful summer Sunday today . . .finally not so humid. Karl "joint compound" Andresen and Jodi invited us over for a great midday meal, a paddle up the Sebasticook River, and some good swimming. After a delicious meal of homemade meatloaf, roasted red potatoes, french cut green beans, and sweet peas (everything but the meatloaf was grown in Senor's garden) we hit the river.

Karl and Jodi have the most beautiful piece of land out of anyone we know around here; they have river frontage (actually its in the back), but there is a STEEP hill to head down to get to the river bed. Karl made some steps some years ago, but, it is still quite technical to get the boat down the hill. Even more difficult, as you can see from the photos, was launching the canoe into the river (there is no "dock," but there are a bunch of rocks that lead out into the water). But Karl and I got it in the river fine! Amanda and Karl each took a kayak, and Jodi sat up front, with me paddling from astern, in our canoe.

The Sebasticook River runs from Sebasticook Lake up in Newport, Maine (just shy of Bangor, I believe) and empties out in the "bay" in Winslow, after passing through the dam right in back of Pleau's IGA. Here, it joins the Kennebec River and heads down towards Bath, where it meets the ocean! While some of the best striper fishing around is just under the dam, the Sebasticook River itself is home to a lot of neat wildlife--beaver, osprey, loon, Great Blue Heron, and many Eagles, and little baby turtles. These are things we have seen, anyway. It is always enjoyable to paddle the Sebasticook, since the current is very minimal, and one can launch and land in the same spot.

We all took a gingerly trip down the river, exploring some neat coves dammed up by beavers, stalking a large male loon (kind of like what Twon does . . .minus the loon, that is!!!), and enjoying the smooth water and beautiful scenery of rolling hills and farmhouses. Amanda took some great shots of some of the aquatic flowers and plants, which she'll post as your THIRD BLOG of the day!! You guys are lucky today.

After the paddle, we took a great dip in the newly remodeled Andresen pool (thanks to one of the April blizzards which caused a pine tree to kiss the old pool goodbye), played a nailbiting game of cribbage (I won) and had sundaes. Amanda and I came home and had a little campfire outside while Amanda spoke to one of her friends from high school about the upcoming class reunion.

Some other hilights included:

-transporting the canoe on the trailer of a tractor lawnmower across Karl's field

-Karl being COMPLETELY submerged in SPF 6,790 sunscreen, since he burns easier than a Marlboro cigarette

-Amanda, who was an excellent swimmer in her youth, taught me the butterfly stroke, which I've always wanted to do. I cannot believe I have known Amanda as long as I have without knowing her swimming skills.

We did a lot today!!!!