Sandwich Fair

Common Ground Fair

Cape Cod

Pellet Plant Work

So here are some pictures from my new job, I've been there about a month and a half. The console on the left has most of the temperatures and air flow readings that I have to watch very carefully for my entire shift. We now have to write down a bunch of readings every fifteen minutes. It is good to have a base line to help with future reference but it is kind of an annoyance to have to do it so often.

The Machine below is one of the two old pellet machines that we have. The front of it that shows where the finely ground up material comes in has been swung open so you can see the inside. There are two rolls that spin but do not rotate around each other. It is the pellet die around them that rotates. The material goes in and is pushed through the die by the rolls. The material has to be very dry, if it is too wet the pellets don't hold their shape.

Then I have the picture of two machines. The dark blue machine is one of the old ones closed up. The green machine is brand new and is not set up to run yet. I will produce twice what the others can but there is still a lot of work to do before it will be able to run.

Jeff, one of my coworkers is running the bagger and bag sealer in the other picture. For now it is all done by hand which is slow and tedious. The bags then go up the conveyor to the round table to be stacked on pallets. That is the inside of the plant and when I take some more pictures I will show the rest of the "operation".

Sandwich Creamery

It's always nice to take a drive to the Sandwich Creamery to get some honor system ice cream. This trip showed that people have not been so honorable as they have installed a video surveillance system and have posted the below sign. I have always wondered how honest people have been and this sadly shows me. The ice cream is a bit pricey but it ranks with Ben and Gerry's and Haagendaas(misspelled I'm sure).
We took a different route home and found this quaint roadside spring which I took some water from.

Around the yard

I just love the Hibiscus. I have three apple trees but only two that are fruit bearing size. The good thing was both produced good tasting apples this year! Last year one of them tasted terrible and the other didn't produce. One is a Canadian Strawberry(I think) and I don't remember the other one. Sam and Debbie gave us a Honey Crisp last year which is living but not thriving. I hope in a few years to have some apples from that tree. We had lots of peaches but they turned very quickly and even if they were not turning the yellow jackets started to eat them anyways. Cassandra did get some to make some delicious deserts and we had some right off the tree, very sweet.

Ciara's Birthday

Cassandra and I went on a short canoe trip on Squam Lake today. What a beautiful day to be on the water. We even saw a snapping turtle that looked to be a foot long, although it was in the water and hard to tell the size. We also saw a painted turtle.




Today was Ciara's twentieth Birthday!! Makes me feel pretty old. I also feel proud of how she has been facing responsibility. She took a year off from college after high school and I was worried she would not go at all but she has been taking classes and sticking with it! It has been very difficult financially for her but she is pushing forward and unfortunately with Cassandra not working we are in no position to help out. To add to the hardship her car is out of commission and has gone up to her father for him to try to fix. In the mean time she is using Cassandra's jeep while Cassandra uses my diesel truck and I drive my efficient but old Honda. Kyle came with Ciara and Cody brought his Girlfriend Betty and we had a very nice dinner together topped off with cake and ice cream.