Day 66 was a day off

 Memorial Bridge last year in October when we first got here.

 This is the plastic and netting that they have fixed up to catch the paint chips under the bridge.

 This is how the bridge looks with it's bandages on.  Looks a lot different than the first picture i took of the bridge last year.

 this is a notice board telling people what birds inhabit the area and what fish are commonly caught in the Kennebec River.

 This is a small mouth Bass that these men caught 7/13/2012 right when I was talking to them.

 this is our Moose picture from the animal preserve in Gray, Maine.

 This is a Japanese Beetle trap - similar to the traps that we used in Pennsylvania 20+ years ago.  This particular trap is almost full - see the dark area in the bottom - that is a seething mass of Beetles who are not smart enough to get back out of the bag.

 In another life Bill was a herder of Canada Geese and today he reverted to that calling.

This is a picture of one of the wooded areas at the Animal Preserve.

When we lived in Pennsylvania, we had a big problem with the Japanese Beetles.  We had the yellow traps out that attracted them and they fell into the pouch underneath and when it was full, which happened frequently,  we just put the bag in the trash and our vegetable plants were spared their voracious appetite.  I was walking this morning and came upon a plant that was well on its way to being decimated by this flying pest.  They are really uncouth creatures because they were mating in broad daylight so I gave them the thrill of a lifetime, I flicked them with my finger and sent them propelled by the force into the center of the bush somewhere to sit and think about what just happened.  They are in droves upon the bushes that line the rail trail and there seems to be nothing to stop their proliferation.

Instead of walking to Hallowell on the trail, I walked to Augusta and went down the wooden stairs near where we go line dancing to go down to the River.  I did this while Bill was at the YMCA.  I was able to photograph the information board that tells what kinds of fish and bird life inhabits the river.   When we had the flood recently, this information board was almost all the way under water.  I walked down to the floating dock they had installed for the summer and two men were fishing in the river.  One of them caught a small mouth bass and he took the hook out of the fish and returned the fish into the river.  Apparently they were hoping for some other fish.  Must make the fish feel really bad to be rejected but happy to be back in the water swimming with his friends.

They have the Memorial Bridge swathed in fabric and netting while they remove the lead laden green paint from its structure.  Then they will go ahead and paint it Government Green – the law in the USA is for all bridges to be painted Government Green.  We took a trip today and I noticed that each and every bridge that we crossed or passed under was Government Green.  They must have cornered the market for green paint.  The big question in my mind about the Memorial Bridge is how are they going to remove the plastic under the bridge that has caught all the paint chips?  Even at the best of times, I am unable to get all the crumbs off the table and into the trash let alone try to remove the plastic they have slung under the bridge to catch the paint.  I suspect that on a windy day a lot of the paint chips will end up in the river anyway.  Nevertheless the bridge looks like  someone has  put a bandage on its belly.

We came home after exercise and after we ate breakfast we went over to the Archives to prepare and email the weekly report.  We packed up the shuttle and took It over to FedEx and then we headed for Gray, Maine.  The Inland Fisheries and Wild life arm of the government has a wild animal installation there.  All of the animals and birds there are rehabilitated from being hurt and they cannot go back into the wild due to their injuries.  For example, the Canada Geese that roam the park have damaged wings and they cannot fly.  However, this year they have a flock of 5 goslings following them around the park.  I suspect that the goslings will take off and fly away when it is time for the bird migration and they will leave their parents in the compound and to compensate for such a loss, I think that the parents will hatch another bunch of eggs next year to keep up the cycle of life.

At this animal park they have a Moose and his cow.  We did not get to see him or her up close, but what we could see we know that they are not small animals by any means.  So, I can go home from Maine happy that I did see a Moose.

We went looking for a restaurant to eat lunch at but Gray is smaller than a fly dot on the map and all they could offer us was McDonalds.  We managed to get by without fries and a soda but ate heartily anyway.  Bill ate two hamburgers and I had a salad.

On the way home we went to Famous Footwear and I bought a pair of tennis shoes and their sale let me get a second pair of shoes for 50% off plus I had a $5 coupon in their system so it was a good deal all round.

We arrived home happy that we had taken the trip to Gray to the wild animal installation and that I was able to get more shoes.

While I was out walking this morning, my phone rang and it was Andrew.  He was calling to tell me that Pam has had a heart attack and that she was in the hospital in Brisbane and they have done a triple bypass on her.  We hope that she will be ok but only time will tell.  She also has kidney problems and high blood pressure and she is around 78 years old.

So today was filled with adventures and I expect that tomorrow will be filled with adventures too.