Last weekend Niki and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a few hikes, drinks, and chores around the house. Here are a few shots of an incredible bouquet of flowers from Niki's folks. These are petunias, May Weather Daisy (?), and something white? The arrangement is huge and smells great!!!

One of our hikes was at Camden Hills. A great place to gain fast elevation, 1300+ feet in as little as a couple miles. The view of Camden and the Atlantic make it a great place to sit and take in the coast of Maine.

(My favorite fungus name, Chicken of the Woods Fungus.)

As we ate lunch and looked out to the ocean and Camden I received a call from my mom and cousin Rachel. So, here is you picture.

(Jake enjoying the view. )

I thought I would throw this pic in because I miss the desert. Niki and I in Spooky slot canyon in Escalante.

After much tinkering, fabrication, electrical, and engineering, I have finally fixed the lawn mower. If anyone out there has parts or knows where I can get parts for a Murray Grand Prix 12hp 36"deck I need to stock pile. Apparently this is a very rare old model and finding parts are next to imposable. However, all is good now. The lawn is cut and Jake has room to run and play. Here are a couple pics. Also, check out the new one piece work suit.

(Front yard with long and cut grass.)

(Check out the work suit.)

(Jake reclaiming his backyard.)

OK...OK, a little catch-up from JFK.

(waiting...waiting)

After spending 26 plus hours at JFK, FIVE of which on the runway, I finally made it to Columbus. Here are a few pics from the exceptional accommodations provided by Delta and JFK.

(My "room" for the night, Gate 17)

(The carpet was filthy, but Delta gave us a nice blanket to sleep on.)

I can't bitch to much, elderly and handicap people received the same accommodations.

Once in Columbus, I met up with the family and we had a great time. We BBQ at Ron and Terry's and Jeff and Brenda's visiting with family, playing pass the trash, and playing with the dogs. Ohio State is the largest,most populace, university in the country. This years graduating class had just under 8K students, 5400+ of which receiving an undergraduate degree. One of those 5400+ undergrads was Patrick.

(In come the graduates. all 7,916!)

(Can you see Pat? He's the one in the black robe on the left.)

We were lucky to sit under the C deck in the shade and enjoyed a center stage view of the whole commencement. Ohio State's key note speaker was President Bill Clinton. I can't even remember who my or Niki's, at both the U and Western, key note speaker was? He took a while to get comfortable in his speech, but once he got going it was a good speech. Another unique benefit OSU gives all those grads is their actual diploma.

(Pres Clinton on the jumbo tron.)

(Pat and Emily)

(Pat and Niki)

CONGRATULATIONS PATRICK!!!

Again we had a great time. Unfortunately, we had to fly back via JFK. Luckily, we only had a two hour delay till we were back in Maine.

(Back to Delta hub at JFK)

Thank you everyone for a great week, from Niki, and a great weekend, minus JFK, from Jeremy.

I HATE JFK...airport that is. And Delta's night crew, and the bastards in the control tower , and the "bad" weather to our west. Pics to come of my posh stay at JFK.

Here are some pics from a hike last weekend to Gulf Hagas. The hiking crew is Brian, Ashley, Riley, and Wolfgang and Niki and Jake. Gulf Hagas is a small gorge tucked away in the forest south west of Baxter State Park. I recommend bringing a swim suite and taking a dip in one of the many pools.

The area is managed by a logging company. This is true for most of Maine's great hiking. It's great the logging company's open their land for public use, but watch out for the the trucks. They are not afraid to run you off the road.


One of the many pools.

Jake crossing the stream.

Always good to have pics of flora.

The trail was thick with bright green spring leaves.

No swimming pics, besides no one needs to see my almighty whitey. Jake was a great swimmer. I don't know if he was really hot and didn't care, but he did not hesitate to jump in and swim with mom and dad.