Maxx's Maine Camping Blog

The brown trout are released!

I was kind of . . . sort of . . . patiently waiting for Tami to be done working last Monday so we could take a walk through the campground.  She’d just gotten done telling me that if I asked when we were leaving one more time, the answer would be NO . . . when we heard a really big truck coming in the gate.

And it had the Maine Wildlife symbol on the door!!

I didn’t have to ask again.  Three seconds later, Tami and I had our sneakers on.  She grabbed both her cameras and we raced that truck past all the campsites to the lakefront.

And we beat it too!

They backed up to the water, as close as they could get before the it became too muddy and uneven.  But they were still pretty far away.  I couldn’t figure out how they were going to let those fish go, until they pulled out a hose and hooked it up to water tank number six

See how the top is open?  That’s so he can watch and make sure all the fish get released.

The hose reached all the way to the edge of the water

And when they were ready, they opened the valve and let them go!

And they’re free!!

Swim little fishies!  Swim!!

They emptied two tanks in less than half an hour.  I found out that these beauties are 1 to 2 years old.  They release brown trout into Lower Range Pond every fall, but we’d missed being here for the last two times.  We’re so glad we were home so we could watch and ask questions.

I could tell that the really cool fish-release-guys were glad too.

After they left,  Tami and I hung out on the lakefront for a bit.   Sometimes, the eagle shows up right after the fish are let go, and Tami was hoping to get some pictures of him hunting for lunch.   He never did show up, but she got these cool pics of the lakefront

4th of July!

There I was at story time last Friday, when . . .

GASP . . .

the sun came out!!

Everyone squinted up at it and started exclaiming about how bright it was.

Tami said, “Shhhhhh . . .

“you’ll scare it away!”

But we didn’t.

There was plenty of sun to have a fourth of July parade.  Look how cool everyone’s bikes were

Those patriotic campers of mine went through the park in a blur of red, white and blue . . . tooting their whistles . . . streamers  blowing in the breeze!  It was soooo cool!

Debbie and Bryant also had some All-American relay races on the playing field, made noisemakers at Arts and Crafts, had a seed spitting competition and played with the water balloon slingshot.

It rained a little Saturday afternoon, so our hayride was canceled.   But I still visited with my little campers while Debbie put tattoos on everyone. Everyone except me, that is.  Sigh.  Tattoos don’t stick to fur so well, I guess.

On Sunday, I brought one of my favorite books to Story Time

Mouse Was Mad, by Linda Urban.  Everyone loved it!  A couple of my camping friends, Hunter and Amy,  brought one of their favorite books too, When You Give a Moose a Muffin!  Bryant made some Moose Feed (yummmmmm)  and we nibbled on that while he read to us.

Later that afternoon, Bryant had the kids design their own Fourth of July pizzas.

Aren’t they all awesome?  I can’t choose a favorite  . . .

On Sunday night, BJ Hickman magically appeared to perform for us.  He was soooo funny.  Did you know he has a magical mouse?  And a magical clown?  And he can make a necklace disappear?

He tried to show us how to do some of his magic tricks . . .

I’ve been practicing that ring trick every night . . . but I still don’t get it.

oh, Oh OH!  You know what?

Tami talked to Santa yesterday.

He’s coming all the way from the North Pole to our Christmas Party Saturday night!  I’m such a lucky moose to get Christmas twice a year.   But Tami tells me, that I have to be twice as good too.

I try.  I really, really try.

Our camping friends, the Spencer’s, have a sign on their site that counts down the days.  I looked three times today, but it says the same thing every time.

3 Days till Christmas!

Max here!

Remember how Tami and I took a walk to check out the snow situation yesterday?   The first place we went was to check on the eagles.   There was no sign of them, I’m afraid.  But I’m pretty sure I saw something moving in the nest, so it could be that the adult was hunkered down to keep warm.  The wind was whipping down the lake, and it was pretty chilly, in spite of the warm sunshine.

Tami was hoping it was time for her loons to be back, but there was still ice from the state park beach, past our point all the way off to the left as far as we could see.

But there was some open water on either side of the strip of land to the beaver hut.  So we headed over there.  Not enough open water for loons to land, but we thought we might see signs of the beavers . . . or the pileated woodpecker.

As we reached the beaver hut, Tami saw a robin on a branch

you would’ve thought she’d won Powerball or something.  After she snapped the picture, she started grinning and hopping around.  “It’s a robin!  Spring’s here . . . spring’s here . . . uh-huh . . . it’s Robin!”

Sheesh, you’d think she’d never seen one before!

Right after that she saw a Wood Duck cruising the shoreline and heading our way.  So she scooched down into the bushes.  While we waited for it to pass by, Tami told me about them.

Did you know they lay their eggs as high as 50 feet up, in the crevice of a tree?  And just one day after the chicks hatch, they jump down and follow their mother?

Whoa.  I’d like to see that.

Then some Ring-Necked Ducks came by.  From a distance, they can look a little like loons . . .  but up close I could definitely tell the difference.

We were just about to leave when a pair of Canadian Geese landed on the lake rather noisily.  They called back and forth, their song echoing loudly from one end of the lake to the other.  The Ring-Necked and Wood ducks all scattered.  Just as Tami was about to take a photo, we found out why  . . .

A humongous flock landed!   I’ve never seen so many at one time!  There had to be sixty of them if not more.

And they were kind of goofy too.  I mean, they were rolling in the water . . . they ran across it and slapped their wings on the water’s surface . . . they dove under only to pop right back up.

And they hollered endlessly!  It was like a geese party.  They made such a racket, the eagle soared overhead to see what was going on.  Which made them holler even louder, of course!

Tami and I were cracking up, watching their behavior.

They must have had a long flight, because some of them were a little sleepy

Some of them were cranky

And then there were those who didn’t know which end was up

When Tami, Ben and I went back later, they had calmed down quite a bit and  a few were sunning themselves on the ice.

It was wicked interesting to watch them in action like that.  Neither Tami nor I have ever seen them so active.

Chinese New Year Weekend

I’m a little behind in my posting, time has flown these last couple of weeks!

Here’s some photos from Chinese New Year Weekend . . . notice the cool dragon hats!

This little guy can’t be bothered to look at the camera . . . he wants to get on the hayride!

Memorial Day Weekend

Look who made an appearance this weekend!

Maxwell Moose!

Some families stayed Thursday through Sunday. Others booked Friday to Monday. But all in all, we were full this weekend! A big wave to everyone who joined in the fun!

The weather was nice . . . there were even kids swimming in the pool and the lake yesterday!

This little guy marched in our Pots and Pans Parade Saturday with the noisemaker he made at Arts and Crafts. Look at all his red, white and blue!

We also had the water balloon slingshot out both Saturday and Sunday. One young man won two ice creams! He told me it was his favorite part of the weekend.

Other activities included volleyball, a teen ping pong tournment, horseshoes, bubble play, storytime, movies, whiffle ball, jewelry making, hayrides, kids games, ceramics and Trash Bag Theater . . .

Here’s the five casts with the props they were randomly given. I’m told they created some un-for-gettable performances!

Next weekend . . . an Ice Cream Party with pot luck Toppings …  Yum!