MeSoFun Blog

This will have to be a photo-free update, due to AT&T's lagging cell phone network. Primarily, you will be happy to know Daisy has relieved herself. I stopped by Duke Patrick Woods, the woods at the end of our street, and she simply can't help but mark her territory when she's in there. So crisis averted. Mainers are nonplussed by this storm. We drove about 15 minutes away to South Portland (SoPo!). We meaning the dog and I. It's raining pretty good, but it's not impressive. It's breezy, maybe around 30 mph around the ocean. It's certainly not weather to be out in. Unless you're from Maine. I counted six runners jogging through SoPo. There were more cars out than you would see on a normal Tuesday morning. We spotted a half dozen cars pulled over at the side of the road near a jagged, rocky beach. I rolled down the window to take a photo and the phone/camera got sprayed with water from windblown surf. My phone now smells like the ocean. Then we went t...

This from a glancing blow from last year's hurricane season. I am headed there now. Maine: Where nothing ever happens. Maybe my opinion is skewed from living in Utah. Trapped miners. Wives being killed by psychotic husbands. Wildfires. We had it all. Maine? Nothing ever happens here. Even a yoga class at my preferred yoga center is on as scheduled today. C'mon. Give me something to work with here. YOGA NOT CANCELED isn't the sexiest headline in the world. That's what you get for living this far East. A geographical primer for you: We are about 1,000 miles east of Gary, Indiana, and in the same time zone. As a result of being so far east in the time zone, the sun comes up at about 5:30 a.m. in August. In June, it's more like 4:30. Early to rise. Early to bed. That's the Maine way. The storm is tracking west of us, back to my old stomping grounds around Dartmouth College. So I'm going to take the girl for a little drive. We're going to the coast to see ...

My little soldier. Sunday, 8:52 a.m. Current wind speed: 10 mph. It's the little emergencies you can't prepare for with a storm. For those of you in the Midwest, imagine if you had a week to prepare for a severe thunderstorm. What would you do? Get some reading material for when the power goes out. Some ice to keep things in the fridge cold. Candles to read by. Food. Water. You're all set. And then, as the storm hits, you realize the things you forgot. Happily, that list is short at the moment, if you define short as about 18 inches tall. Daisy needs to poop. That's the big storm update for this hour. My dog, Daisy, needs to poop. But she doesn't like to go outside in the rain. We've gone out to the back porch. She sniffs at the air, looks at me, sniffs at the air, then gives me the, "Please don't make me go out there look." This from a dog that I've referred to as a sea otter. She loves water when she's floating in it and drinking it. W...

If you look closely, you can see the fear on their easels. This was the scene outside my workplace at 4:30 p.m. Terrifying, to be sure. Saturday, 5 p.m. Weather Channel says: Exclusive Threat Level for Maine is Extreme It's possible the threat of Hurricane Irene has been a tidge exaggerated. Just a bit. Extreme threat level for Maine. Really? From 60 mph winds? WE GET 60 MPH WINDS EVERY WINTER. They're called Nor'easters. These storms are so beloved, my wife's school mascot is the Nor'easter. Still, I bought 25 pounds of ice. Let me explain. Some people are coming over tomorrow to play cards/cribbage/drinking games and I really need 25 pounds of ice ... in case the power goes out ... to keep the beer cold. Warm beer is the disaster that concerns me the most. We rent. We have renter's insurance despite owning nothing valued at more than $200, and that's a rarely-used Kitchen-Aid mixer. We're not responsible for anything at the house. Our newer, less-dr...