Blog

Using Maine Stones, Granite, Solid Rock In Building Anything To Last.

Maine has fertile rolling farm fields, lots of deep, vast forest sections.

The Maine land ideal for raising critters, growing crops to feed the population. The woods to heat and build a home with in Maine. But besides the rich soil to produce sustenance, the timber, rocks are part of the landscape in Maine.

See What You Are Missing In Maine? Sample ME. Beware Of Lake Rocks If Boating.

Some places in Maine more than ever you notice the rock outcroppings.

The craggy rock bound coastline is one popular tourist venue. You see the rocks, the table land heading to the peak of Mount “K” too. Where only the hardiest vegetation can survive.

The blueberry barrons of Downeast is another spot hot with rock. Bald spots poking up and out of the ground with acidic soil. A sour PH. Those rocks that limit the use of the Maine land. Just like farming headlands that stick up and make planting, cultivation and harvest impossible.

But all those rocks that head to the surface on Maine land.

Needing to be picked and removed. Escorted to rock piles that form in the woods or used as fill in low sections of roadways. Or to create pretty obvious boundaries for properties in Maine. Nothing like a long rock wall to make where the line between the real estate pretty Helen Keller obvious.

For farming machinery to operate without being jammed or damaged. The rocks have to find a new home. Be escorted one by one to another area to sit and wait. For someone to retrieve and reuse them. That is where I am this morning as I eye a large outdoor brick fireplace.

Maine Living, All Natural. Rock Solid Simple. Not Used To Judge, Stone.

The fireplace structure pieced together with mortar and rows of masonry bricks back in 1975.

But like most things in life, wearing out. The weather winning the battle of water tight and straight as an arrow. Now become sagging, missing pieces that keep the structural integrity sound and solid. The decline is increasing and it has been time to do something positive.

I don’t want to replace the outdoor fireplace with another one of brick though.

Avoiding all the mortar that if not sealed and maintained, will in time dry out, fall and flake again. So making a fireplace that is going to see out my time on Earth and without a big expense is the mission.

Parting with three thousands dollars to carbon copy what is there is not going to happen. Too many other projects when you own a set of farm buildings in Maine needing the financial lubrication, attention.

A local land owner had four pieces of property that he wanted to know the value of and the payment for services.

Granite curbing, pieces of the wonderful building material. That will get a new purpose in life the barter for payment. Help yourself time. To recreate a use. Beyond what the granite slabs spent the majority of it’s life since sliced and slid into the ground along a roadway to define it.

Or used in an old time cellar Maine house foundation before concrete forms and pouring walls became the standard building practice. Granite and the right hand picked stones to create an outdoor fire pit for cooking, for entertainment.

Simple, Stunning, Real, All Natural. Maine.

To create the crackling sound, dancing flames and release of all those positive ions on a hot summer night on a Maine lake.

So now how to put together using the shapes of granite I have to work with make it like solving a puzzle. A little Tetris, part geometry, some spacial relations exercise in the gray matter.

All toyed with carefully before moving the very heavy pieces into place.

So L3 and L4 don’t suffer too much from the try this, how about that arrangement combinations. More involved them just trying a couch or bed on the opposite wall to see how that feels for the room flow.

Inspiration from Pinterest helps the stone work granite fireplace discovery.

The Internet is an amazing source of how others in the same quandry use the quarry stone to create outdoor fireplaces. So much of what is online concentrates on inside swanky creations. Where all I am after is something that creates a chimney draw to whisk the smoke away to not sting the eyes of the circle of chairs surrounding it this summer.

Building With Stone, Masonry, Granite, Marble To Last. Maine Has Lots Of Rock As Far As The Eye Can See!

To shelter the blaze and provide for grates to slide into place. To cook not just enjoy the radiance of heat from and light from the wood burning on the end of a stone patio setting.

Making something lasting from the most basic, natural materials is Maine ingenuity using what you have to work with today.

Rocks are plentiful in Maine on edges of farm fields, gravel pits and offer a work out to put into place, a new service.

Adding order and new purpose to anyone with a way to transport them. And the patience to one by one put them into place and enjoy for years to come.

If you have been there, done that with rock’s send me a ping.

Love to hear about the success and what you would have done differently if given the chance again to work with rocks. Stay tuned for finished product images once I get it figured out and set up.

New inspiration for the stone project fireplace from an ad in the Bangor Deadly this morning. I may have to take a trip to Calais where pink granite is plentiful and practically free for the asking. But the weight transporting I found out building a front set of steps at my family home was pretty heavy.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730

May 23, 2015
Run Away, Get Lost, Find The Space In Maine.

You and I are taught early on the importance of the basics.

Air, water, food, love and shelter are pretty essential to maintain your state of health. But when you live in a place with the space called Maine, it is pretty easy to overlook the obvious for needs to be happy and content. No space, no peace is what happens.

Negative People Are Not Mountain Climbers. Get High Up, Surround Yourself With Positive People.

You’ve heard the wail in the backseat of a family sedan about “Mommmmm, he is in my space again.”.

As the head swivels, body twists and the index finger, a stern look are transmitted like speed of thought eerie lightning. The hard glance telegraphed sharp as broken shards of glistening glass.

No over crowding, less people, space is not a premium in Maine.

The acreage is large, the housing stock is roomy too. And it is all low cost because of the sheer abundance of both. Our location insulates us. Protects the need for space inside all of us.

When you have more than enough space around you relaxation happen. Easy does it, settle down can take place.

You find you can breathe, not have the worry about bumping into someone else’s private cushion of space. Expecting too that the same won’t happen to you too.

And when you remove the worry of keeping a safe distance of ten miles per car extra clearance. To avoid collision like in driving, the lack of overcrowding causes another thing to happen.

Suddenly you are more concerned about the fewer people that are down the road. Around the neighborhood from where you live in Maine. Like smaller classrooms, less kids, more attention, better learning.

All Year Long, Maine Is Outdoor Living. This Is Where Best Discussions Are Held. In Family, For Issues Facing Small Maine Towns.

The awareness of the wildlife increases in Maine. The critters of all kind like us need uninterrupted space on land and water too.

The protection of the environment spikes. Then thoughts about what are you eating, how are you doing taking care of the one body issued to you start to roll on the mental film projection.

Splashing on the back of the inside of your head. From the time back there early in life.

When wearing, sporting only a birthday suit.

Someone holding you high by the ankles and administering a quick slap on the keester.

The one to grow on as you head up and out off the assembly line. Come on get a rhythm as the man in black sings.

Maybe the blues happen to many because of life in a space the size of a fish bowl.

And no place to hide, recharge or unplug because of all that out in the open glass.

Always on display for all to see.

It is way way different living conditions in simple, rural Maine.

Take a step, make the leap.

Maine Is Having Land, Using It For Farming, Hobbies. Or Just Enjoying Wide Open Space.

Out into the wild blue and green yonder of wonder dubbed Maine.

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by plenty of space growing up on a Maine potato farm.

I had a little more space to roam. Than someone trying to pull off living in an area the size of a suburban walk in closet, raising a family with walls in your face.

The day to day with zero lot lines inside the property. Forget about that condition just outside the living space of sticks and bricks. If you can call the green strip a yard.

Can you achieve peace and quiet without space that removes all that steals it?

Maine. The recipe for something tasty and memorable in life starts with a large heaping, helping of space. Add some crystal clean, unspoiled recreational water, infuse with breathe deep the deep blue fresh air. And Mister Man, you are cooking with gas.

The sky is the limit in how high you can go with the natural buzz. Inside you because you have room inside, outside to move around with freedom leading your life in Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730

May 18, 2015
The Dream Of A Soap Box Derby Racer From Maine Heading To Akron Ohio.

The down hill event that since 1934 has entertained families with gravity racers.

Cars built to be the fastest to the bottom of local hills. To make the big trip to the World Series Of Soap Box Derby Racing in Akron Ohio.

Long Hill, Fast And Smooth. Maine State Soap Box Derby Racing Venue In Houlton Maine.

Maine racers have done very well in the three lane famous race out in Ohio. June 20th is the 20th running of the Maine soap box derby statewide program in Houlton ME.

Watch the video from the 2014 Maine State Soap Box Derby Race to get a gist of what this event is all about, how it runs.

The principles learned through soap box derby racing cause a lifetime of memories. Learning family fun through gravity racing.

Lots of science involved that a kid can apply and benefit from unlike some textbook exercises to teach the same things. Plenty of luck of the who did the driver get paired up with for racing heats all plays into it.

Mechanics, friendly spirited competitive racing all mixed in with being a good sport. Win or lose and learning how to master lane one and two in the big race for the state of Maine. The one at Derby Hill in Houlton Maine’s Community Park.

Started Young, Soap Box Derby Racing In Maine. A Family Fun Sporting Affair.

Soap Box Derby is a national program that operates on the World famous Derby Downs in Akron Ohio.

The local race is annually held to produce a winner, the “Champ’ to be eligible to compete in the AASBD race against other “Champions”.

A rally program allows allows participants to earn points by racing in events around the region closest to the driver and his or her family. Rally Champions compete in the AASBD against other winners in from around the country.

Stock, super stock, master drivers are part of the car racing division breakdown.

Stock racers are 7-13 and the car they drive takes approximately five hours to assemble from a kit. The racer in their stock cars are approximately 5’3″ tall and 125 pounds. The car with out driver or weight tips the scales at around 61 pounds on the dial.

Super stock racers for derby down hill runs have drivers 9-18, the same assembly time as the stock cars. The size is up to 6′ tall, 160 pounds or less.

Happy? I Guess. Drove Hard To Win, Place In The Top Eight For Maine’s State Soap Box Derby Race In Houlton ME.

The masters division of soap box derby racing is for 10-20 year olds. Up to 6′ and 160 pounds in a lay down design. Shields and tucked inside with only the eyes visible in a masters soap box derby car. The assembly time varies on the skill level and imagination, resources of the Master driver and his or her support racing.

All the cars are sold as kits through the International Soap Box Derby.

The kits for cars include everything with the exception of Z-Glass Racing Wheels and weights.

Love to talk about the Maine soap box derby program and here to use as a resource. 207.532.6573 is the daytime number to call with your questions. Work this week to track down empty cars, find derby drivers to wheel them down the big Derby Hill.

Have had two of my own kids make it to Akron Ohio and helped others make it to the prestigious race out west. Will share how to get a program started, what it involves for manpower and resources needed to pull off a local soap box derby race.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573

info@mooersrealty.com

May 13, 2015
Old Police Cruisers, Working For Benefits.

Maine is not a state where residents are flush with money.

The riches are family values, lots of outdoor natural memories growing up. But sometimes the cost of living can increase needlessly. Because overspending in the public sector happens. Frivolous or resistant to change enter the picture in small Maine towns.

Shining The Way, With Sight And Sound To Avoid The Craggy Maine Rock Bound Coastline.

Getting your money’s worth, careful impulse control on the spending.

Not because you are cheap. But due to being frugal in the simplest approach to living, working, playing outdoors in Maine.

Recognizing, readjusting and pulling back hard on the reins. In constant review of any and all expenditures. That makes the insulated, less responsive administration top heavy with salary bloat. Reallocating the resources for the troops.

Doing the actual hands on working hard in the many trenches in small town living in Maine.

Avoiding unnecessary upper level positions is hard because it all gets political.

The survival of this job means partnerships to protect another position or program that no longer has funding. Whether needed or not. From outside the system is where the adjustment needed comes from to ratchet down the spending. Better sooner than later in a small Maine town. If not being done within the existing system.

Sweet Sounds, Locally Sourced From Maine Youth. Keep Them Here In Maine.

To make sure where the resources are needed most are addressed first. Lubricated with public funds raised through taxation of all kinds.

Ah, but the master plan that is fairest across the board.

Not cherry picked to meet hidden agendas or to end up being lopsided spending.

Overspending makes folks leave small Maine towns from the burden it creates across the board.

Sure, an element of the population in small Maine towns can afford to absorb the higher taxes that lands in the mailbox. But the bulk of the tiny communities Maine is known for can not for long.

Overspending is a cancer in a small Maine town that creates the nail for the coffin. To guarantee it’s death. The loss of population because residents and their families are forced to leave. Not by choice, by simple economics.

Paddling For All You Are Worth, To Avoid A Dip In The Drink, Upended Mid River Or Stream.

I used to feel better about older Maine police cruisers that you knew logged more mileage on the dashboard odometers.

Not ones swankier than most Mainer’s park in their garages and driveways.

Less upper end school administration positions and more teaches with feet on the ground in the classrooms is where the budget should target too.

We get creative in our households in Maine to adjust the spending when tough times hit.

Why so slow on the municipal level to band aid and avoid a five year plan for direction of the Maine town?

Exercised, Disciplined Maine Youth, Priceless.

Folks able to work receiving public benefits expected to labor for the community good. Not to embarrass but to contribute for the greater good.

That just supports there is no free lunch if you can work but chose not to… why enable that there is?

Lazy. It is not what the discussion promotes. Around small Maine home supper tables nightly.

Not what we teach our youth when aspiring to be contributing, standing on their own two feet. As they head for adulthood and becoming responsible, an asset to the small Maine town fabric weave.

Public programs of all type. Pruned hard and scaled back tough town decisions. If avoided because of lack of vision, cowardice? Or simpler to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings just not dealing with the hot sensitive topics. Hoping they go away or a miracle happens?

When you love a small town in Maine, you rack your brain to be creative to keep it on the map.

Holding the population steady. Hopeful, loaded with faith and determination to increase the number of residents in it with a plan that is lean, mean, on target.

Respecting Maine’s Vast, Rich Natural Resources. Easy Does It With Small Town Spending To Preserve Tiny Communities.

Adopting new ways to create the revenues to support the essential services. And getting more from the the budget line items across the board in spending. Or shrinking to assure the small Maine town quality of life is preserved for the long run.

Maine small town survival red flags are waving.

No white ones needed in return communication. Plenty of work to do. Pulling closer, acting like a team. Consolidation of services, working together for strong partnerships. For something stronger on the other side.

Because we have to, not because initially everyone wants to is just being progressive. Without finger pointing blame, anger, or denial or further delay. Because we can all agree we love, want to preserve, pass on the small town Maine healthy lifestyle.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573

info@mooersrealty.com

May 10, 2015
Your Fun And Amusement, In Maine, Often No Hanging Price Tag.

Talk to someone that say lives in Boston MA and ask about Bruins, Red Sox, Patriot games.

Assuming they go to lots and are lucky to be right there in Bean Town with the teams for the home games.

(OBNOXIOUS BUZZER SOUND)

Growing Up In Maine, The Fun Home Made, Outdoors. Back To The Land Never Stopped. There Is Now A Resurgence. With Younger Maine Micro Farmers.

Wrong. Jimmy tell the contestants leaving for home, the parking lot what we have for them today would you?

Reasons for missing the city game, concert, museum or play, etc.

Too expensive or the crowds bother me or too busy with a second, third job. Too tired. Just plain exhausted or worried about crime, traffic, something that robs the experience. Makes it why bother.

Maybe all the above, working a little in combination the cause for empty seats you would like to be filling in the stadium, concert, court side or the other side of the rink shatter proof glass and protective netting.

Often it is not just those reasons for saying pass.

Missing the game. More of the how do you like to use any spare time that you can whittle out of the schedule of life.

Space. No or few people. Turning up the volume of wildlife, scenery of natural surroundings. And fun that does not involve parking garages, long waiting in line, lots of swipes of the plastic card with the magnetic strip.

One reason why camping in Maine is so popular.

Bring your food, pack a wicker basket. Don’t need a thick stack of tens and twenties to fuel the experience. Cooking food outside on a grill, the open fire after a day of hiking is its own reward.

On A Mission, Mainers Are Busy Bees But Enjoy More Space, Less People In The Natural Beauty.

Walking and talking along a seacoast location in Maine.

Meandering through a farmers market. Without peeling off lots of dead Presidents to fund the adventure.

The price you pay for the best things in life. Comes from hard work, determination, right thinking. Making your own luck. Working with the weather of sunshine, summer breezes and storm fronts, cloud bursts opening up around you.

Maine is slow cooking not fast food. It is home grown not coin operated. It is lasting.

Small town connected and special. Not fast paced and impersonal. Lots of open and wooded spaces without the clumped together throngs of people. Relaxed not tense. Natural not artificial. Memorable and safe not scary and dangerous.

Maine is outdoors and low or no cost entertainment.

More dependent on you up on stage in the performance. Pitching in, not sitting like a bump on a log in the passive audience. Waiting for someone else to make your laugh, to put on the show.

Maine opens up a person to be more self sufficient in how they approach day to day living. DIY, bartering, trying your hand at many trades Jack.

Bored people are the unhappiest. And you have to be grateful before happy that lasts happens.

The Unique State Of Maine Hand Drawn, Creatively Depicted. Like The People That Are The Fruit Of The Tree.

Basic, simple, real, honest.

That is small town Maine. Because the low population and distance away from major markets keeps up insulated. I did not say isolated with high speed Internet, Interstates, lots of technology.

But living without the gizmos, taking a break from the silicone chips and flat screens, smart phones. It is not backward. Not primitive.

It is refreshing to explore Maine. Missing the commercial do dads that take away from the total focus on the Pine Tree State.

Maine. The way life should be. Still is when you are ready.

What could be more important? Holding you up. Maine, don’t keep her waiting. Watch the four seasons change, be part of that in Maine.

Unplug, refresh, recharge and see what is missing up here in the right hand corner where Maine is parked. With the keys always left in the ignition. The house doors unlocked and the people warm, friendly, smiling.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573

info@mooersrealty.com

May 6, 2015
Rides In The Country, Through Backwoods, Farms Of Maine.

When you are lucky enough to live full time or be able to spend vacations in Maine, it’s lots of outdoor rides in the country.

To explore and discover new places. Return runs to old familiar ones too. Peaceful, simple excursions to picnic by a very verbal, babbling brook. With song birds chirping, pitching in.

Being Able To Hear Yourself Think Is Easier In Maine.

Spreading the flannel blanket. Setting down, lifting the lid.

Opening up the wicker basket loaded with home made goodies. To munch a bunch on lunch in picture book all natural surroundings in the deep heart of Maine. That pause that refreshes to steal an old Madison Avenue marketing line from Coke.

Parking your rig to hike up a small Maine hill or mountain. To enjoy the view for dessert eye candy.

Traveling by car or jeep to the border of wilderness and then setting out on foot. Hoofing, huffing and puffing it to go deeper. Gliding across it paddling a canoe or kayak.

Cris-crossing Maine with a snow sled, ATV, on a horseback trail ride.

Or on skis, a road or mountain bike, ultra glide, whatever. Is all part of the slicing and dicing it up too. To dine and savor the delicious pieces. That come already pre-seasoned, enhancement sprinkled.

No people, more wildlife, unspoiled and preserved, that’s Maine. Story telling folks you run into, bump up against. Setting out to meander along whatever the daily special surprise journey pathway. Those locals are your savvy tour guide suggesters. Pointing you in the right direction navigators that know the lay of the Maine land.

Loving, living to share that appreciation for rural Maine that they protect, hold near and dear.

All another component to the healthy habit that hits you on many levels. All different take aways. Because of the angle you come into them, return to them for what you need. What is missing but about to be re-supplied as you stock up. On anything Maine.

Growing Up In Maine, The Fun Home Made, Outdoors. Back To The Land Never Stopped. There Is No A Resurgence. With Younger Maine Farmers.

Never quite the same as you grow and learn either. And one of many reasons you make the Maine back woods, waterways, wilderness settings the locations to enjoy private time.

Not just the busy streets of sandy beach. Rock bound coast with plenty of seafood and trinkets Maine tourist attraction.

With lots of people climbing down the gang plank of a cruise ship. Looking for something labeled with Maine to wear for the back home locals.

Coming into the down hill winding streets with an SUV loaded to the gills. Shark slow methodically plying with roof top cargo carriers replacing the dorsal fin. Snaking through the neighborhoods of a quaint, crowded seacoast Maine town.

My Uncle Gordon, Aunt Charlene used to take Sunday afternoon drives.

She being from the Stockholm / New Sweden area of Aroostook County. And as the drive enjoying the day, each other on the country roads to and fro, study of the landscape took place.

My Uncle, a mechanic, interested in anything with a motor attached would tell Aunt Charlene there is an old square bird Thunderbird. Pointing in the direction of that rock pile. See it behind that old, neglected sagging barn? She nodding, sharing with him a little later. That section of forested hardwoods on the ridge. Her turn to gesture with one hand. As the to talked and gawked. Was where her grandfather tapped maple syrup trees. When she was a young Swede, just knee high to a grasshopper.

I spent yesterday afternoon after listing an Oakfield Maine home up in the hills.

Maine, One Blue And Green Dream. Wake Up, Get To Vacationland.

Walking from the location to explore a new one. Passing Spaulding, near Timoney and Pleasant Lakes.

Down around Higgins Brook, up through Bear Gulch. Ascending into the Oakfield foothills. An area dubbed “The Switzerland of Maine.”

And thinking next weekend, maybe visiting Hastings Falls, or Gulf Hagas. Hiking up a new elevation not tapped in Baxter Park.

Some treks first runs, others much enjoyed re-winds. That is what Maine is all about if you are in the mood. New and different. Old and familiar. Whatta’ll it be today you need in Maine?

Communicate, explore, discover Maine. The way life should be. Take a lifetime spending a day at a time collecting the bits and pieces of all the neat locations. Help yourself to simple living in Maine. The only way to easy does it, make it real and extra special.

I’m Maine Real Estate Broker Andrew Mooers, ME REALTOR

207.532.6573

info@mooersrealty.com

May 3, 2015