Maine Minutiae: A Double New Years Celebration

Two New Years in One

In this post we are going to look past Christmas into the New Year, 2011. We are also looking east...as east as you can look and still be in the United States. We are once again heading out to the easternmost city in the country, Eastport, Maine. As many of you will recall, Eastport is my wife's hometown. We are heading there again this weekend to do the Christmas Thing with Heather's family. It will be nice to see all the in-laws again, but I wish that we could put the trip off for another week. If we head out this week, we will miss the Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop. This is an annual New Years Eve event in Eastport, with several hundred people braving what is certain to be cold and breezy weather. A few hundred folks is quite a crowd because the population of Eastport is only about 1600. the cool thing about this Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop is that the revelers get to celebrate the arrival of the new year twice! The deal is that you can look across the bay from Eastport and see Canada, which (I am just guessing here) can't be much more than a mile away. this is where the Maple Leaf Drop comes in. It's kinda like the ball in Times Square counting down to the New Year. The Maple Leaf Drop happens at midnight Atlantic Time which is 11:00PM Eastern Time. So for an hour, New Brunswick is in the New Year while Eastport is still in the old. At midnight Eastern Time, the Sardine Drop welcomes in the New Year to Maine and the Eastern Time Zone of the USA. This is just an excuse to drink more beer in welcoming in the New Year to both countries. And of course, getting an extra New Year smooch from your better half.

Here's the web site that has all the information you'll need to know if you'd like to spend the New Years Weekend observing and celebrating its arrival in two countries within one hour. It sounds like a hoot and I'd like to be there for the big shindig, but I think I'll be headed to Colorado to see my Mom and my step Dad.

Let me figure this out. If I time it just right I can welcome in the New Year to Canada and the Eastern Time Zone of the USA, catch a plane for Denver in Bangor, celebrate the New Year in the Central Time Zone in mid-flight, then land in Denver,  haul ass to my Mom's house then bring in 2011 in the Mountain Time Zone at one of the casinos down the street from Mom's place. Now that sounds like a plan. Too bad I don't know anyone in the Pacific Time Zone. I could celebrate the arrival of 2011 from East to West across the United States. Oh, well. Maybe next year.  :)

Christmas Cookin' and Other Stuff

Not Heather's Stove

I hope this post finds you all well and ready for Christmas. You've got only a week to get all your shopping done and plans made for Christmas lunch or supper with your family and friends. Here at the Shoe Box (our house), we've got everything done, except for one more gift we've got to buy. The kids have their Santa Claus lists all done and Heather and I have put their orders in to Santa's Workshop. I gotta tell ya that by the time Santa arrives next week, it'll look a lot like Toys R Us in our living room.

We have plans to travel to Heather's hometown of Eastport for a visit with all the in-laws for a day or two. There will be snow on the ground as usual, but it may actually snow on Christmas Day! I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for us. Yesterday, the weather guy said that we were due for a nor'easter late next week. That means it could dump a boat load of snow on us. For those of you in Colorado and points West, think "up slope".  If that happens, we'll just stay home. I am not too keen on being stranded along side the highway in a blizzard with two young children and a wife. I'm just sayin'.

Heather is busy in the kitchen right now and will be all day long. She's making Christmas presents for friends and family. What? Instead of buying gifts for some folks in the family, Heather gets busy cooking her homemade spaghetti sauce, which is restaurant quality by the way, cookies and homemade Whoopie Pies. It's pretty cool to watch her do what she does in the kitchen. Besides, I am the Official Quality Control Taster. All the treats Heather makes must pass muster, and I am the muster passer. Sometimes I have to taste stuff 3 or 4 times to make absolutely sure that it is good enough to be given to the family. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.  :)

That's the short version of what's happening with us as of this moment. These plans are subject to change, depending on the weather and road conditions between Augusta and Eastport. If you've Christmas plans you'd like to share with us, just post them in a comment and I promise to get back to you.

Seven days and counting. Merry Christmas!

Maine Minutiae : Cuttin' the Mustard for Over 100 Years - UPDATED

Over a Century of Mustard

My main(e) (<---pun) goal in writing this blog is to feature something you haven't previously known about, and today I may have reached that goal. Unless you have strong connections to Maine (Eastport specifically), like living/have lived here or have family or friends here, chances are you've never heard of Raye's Mustard. You are gonna thank me by the end of this post. Raye's is located in Eastport and has been at the same location for 103 years using the same stone grinding machinery for that entire time! Here's a four minute video that walks you through the whole process of how Raye's Mustard is made. Even watching the video gives you the feeling of traveling back to 1903, the very beginning of of this legendary business. Today, in 2010, Raye's has more types of mustard than the Octomom and Kate plus Eight together have kids. My personal favorite is the sweet and spicy, but I have tried several different flavors and each is very tasty. Another thing: while looking for Raye's Mustard's Facebook page, I learned that at 10PM, EDT, tonight, the company will be featured on Food Crafters on the Cooking Channel. My wife has already set the DVR. :) Raye's really is a good product and they offer a large variety of mustards to choose from so your sandwich will never be the same twice in a row. Pride, tradition and those 103 year old seed mills have proven to be a winner in New England...and maybe your state, too.

***DISCLAIMER : I WAS NOT compensated in any way by Raye's Mustard for writing this post.I genuinely like and use their product...I have some in my 'fridge right now.***

UPDATE : According Raye's Mustard's Kevin Raye via Facebook The Cooking Channel will repeat tonight's broadcast featuring Raye's Mustard as follows:           
Kevin Raye Bummer, Roberta, but don't despair! It will re-air three times, as follows:
August 10, 2010 2:00 AM
August 14, 2010 5:30 PM
August 16, 2010 12:00 PM

Maine Minutiae : Whale Video !

Minke Whale (courtesy of NatGeo.)

No matter how hard I tried , I couldn't come up the words to accurately describe what you are about to see. So, I won't even try. I will set the video up by saying that it takes place in the Bay of Fundy at Eastport. Click here to see the wonders of the Minke Whale. Beautiful.

Maine Minutiae : Eastport 4th

As many of you know, my family and I just returned from a short vacation to Eastport for the Independence Day Weekend. We visited her family and saw many of her old friends while we were there. Mainly (no pun intended), we spent the vast majority of our time downtown soaking up the atmosphere. As we walked into town, guys were putting one final spitshine on their classic cars. These oldies but goodies brought back many memories of my Dad and his love of older cars and hot rods. At the other end of town, Isabella (here with her cupcake decorating ribbon) and I took a guided tour of the U S Navy FFG DeWert. Lt. Tatel showed and told us how the crew went about their daily lives and gave us a verbal thumbnail sketch of what it's like in a combat zone. A few minutes after the tour of the ship, Bailey was in the "bouncy house", well, bouncin'. The parade included a visit from Tigger and, my personal favorite, Spongebob Squarepants ! The Grand Finale was a tremondous fireworks display over the bay. As usual, I had a great time celebrating the 4th of July in Eastport with my wife and kids and the in-laws and thousands of other patriotic Americans.

Happy Birthday, USA !

Posting on Three States Plus One will be sporadic, at best, for the next week. I will be out of town with my family visiting my wife's clan for the 4th of July Weekend. I'll take my laptop with me, but time online will be limited because of the many holiday activities going on in Eastport. I wish you all a happy and safe Independence Day. Thanks for such a successful launch to the blog. I am humbled and grateful. God bless you and may God continue to bless America.

Maine Minutiae : Independence Day in Maine

It's the time of year again when Americans gather to celebrate our Nation's independence with cookouts, parades, the flying of Old Glory and the freedoms that are unique to America and Americans. I will be attending the largest 4th of July Festival in the state again this year. It takes place in one of Maine's smallest cities, Eastport. The wife, kids and I will be visiting my in-laws and spending many hours in downtown Eastport eating fried dough, greasy-ass pizza and Rose's Hot Dogs! It's always a hoot and I expect this year to be no different.
The whole state will be lit up with fireworks and other festivities during the holiday weekend. From Bath to Bangor and Ogunquit to Old Orchard Beach,The Pine Tree State is loaded with Patriotic Americans of all shapes, sizes and colors. Maine holds the prestige of having more military personnel (currently serving/have served) per capita than any other state in the Union. Something to truly be proud of. Here's  a big list of 4th of July stuff going on all over Maine. If you Mainers have no plans or just haven't decided what to do on the 4th, I'm certain something on the list will be right up your alley.

Maine Minutiae : S L Wadsworth

On any given day, you can turn on the TV and hear the announcer on a commercial say something like, "serving the people of Hooterville for 75 years!" "...100  years! "  I scoff at those newcomers! S L Wadsworth and Son has been serving the residents of my wife's hometown of Eastport since 1818! Put in perspective, that's since James Monroe was president and Abe Lincoln was 9 years old! 192 years of the same family running the business for SIX generations. Amazing. As a matter of fact, you can go to S L Wadsworth and Son today and instead of buying whale oil, you can get a house key made. This place has been around since McDonalds' signs said "Over 3 Served". That's a looooooooong time.