Category: Living in Maine

State Of Maine National Soap Box Derby Champion

There was a time when five soap box derby racing cities in Maine put on locals.

Recruited the parents and support from strong arms and backs to wallets opening wide to fund the soap box derby program. The five venues grew, peaked and eventually only the Houlton Maine Derby Hill program was the one race city to survive.

Maine Soap Derby Racing Produced A National Winner In Akron Ohio AASBD Run!

Why? Putting up a hill, tearing down the race track used to qualify the winning soap box derby field of boys and girls is one of the main reasons. (Ouch, the L3 and L4 crack thinking about it for many grabbing their back.)

Hard work, long hours and logistics of taking over a neighborhood, a public street and adding the hay bales, safety barriers, the launch, the run out on the end when everyone screams “BBbrrrrake! ‘

All the effort put into the race track creation and dismantling is why a program for soap box derby survives or dwindles down to peter out to no more program.

Staying abreast of all the car modifications, regulation changes made mandatory by the AASBD part of expense and education to keeping the momentum going. Kids grow up too.

The All American Soap Box Derby First Place Trophy Taller Than Most!

Have other family events, employment and recreational, sporting, etc pastimes to keep up with as well.

Besides just down hill gravity racing with kit cars that win or lose by a hundredth of a second in races divided into heats.

The Houlton Maine race site history at this link.

And the up to date website for Maine soap box derby racing.

Watch the race videos salt and pepper through the derby site and on line around the social media circuit.

This past Sunday, the parents, family members of Mallory Bruin of Hampden Maine were honored in fine fashion at the Millar Civic Center. Video of the recognition for winning the top spot in soap box derby racing.

Town officials, the press, lots of well wishers and drivers especially that wanted to hear about the five heats after the winning the first one to advance.

Something two thirds of the racers don’t do in the three lanes, one trip down the hill that started the tradition back in 1934.

Check out the middle honey bee bright yellow jacket wearer with hands held high on the All America Soap Box Derby site lead in photo array. That’s Mallory Bruin from Maine.

A Maine Soap Box Derby Racer Wins The All American Top Honors, 1st Place Trophy!

After a parade and lights, siren escort through the Shiretown of Aroostook County when the family got off the Houlton Maine exit of Interstate 95, the national champ was treated to a reception with refreshments to relive the experience.

To thank the local volunteers that worked with she, her older and younger brother who were both in the Houlton Maine Soap Box Derby Race.

It is a big deal to win the state race or final game in any sport. But to go on and take the first place trophy on the national stage in Akron Ohio is something else.

Thank you parents Larry and Trisha, brothers Stephen and Chris who were on board from day one to cheer, hoot and holler.

No matter what the Maine weather that can add a whole new dimension to down hill racing with rain, wind, scorching sun, dipping low temperatures.

Kids and families are reminded we live in Maine, the weather can change every twenty minutes to keep it interesting and add to the challenges.

Like life, bundle up, get in, sit low, simmer down, hang on for the best ride. Or to just complete the challenge.

The Field Of Racers In This Years All America Soap Box Derby In Akron Ohio!

On the way to a World Championship tall trophy, a ring, all the other trappings included in the top spot honor.

No kid is raised by themselves in Maine either.

Thank you to the communities around the racers in Maine who contribute paint jobs, lettering, travel support.

And all have a helping hand in the accomplishments of one young lady who can drive, consistently win heat after heat in her red super stock car with the musical notes trailing in the wind on each side.

Congratulations Mallory Bruen and good luck to all other boys and girls who decide to rally race, to compete in the June state local event in Houlton Maine on Derby Hill.

To experience the thrill of the hill and learn about mechanics, competition, safety first and spirited soap box derby racing.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

July 26, 2016
Picnics, Camping, Grilling, Eating Outdoors In Maine.

You don’t have to be in Maine for a long time to have a good time. Outdoor exploring makes a person hungry though.

The picnic areas in Maine are a great place to pull over, open up the basket lid to fish out what was packed away to remove hunger. To quench the thirst as the outdoor air and exercise combine to increase the taste. Of whatever is dined out as the wildlife peek out, wander by and entertain table side.

We spend most of our time outdoors and three times a day the dinner bell rings. So outdoor dining, it is a big part of life in Maine. While parked somewhere nice like beside a lake, river, the ocean. Or while10 and 2 on a mission to get somewhere.

Nothing Like Outdoor Dining In Maine! The Back Drops Are Spectacular.

The recreation areas of Maine state parks is one source of spots to stop, snack too.

To stretch, take a break from behind the wheel or on the trails to eat. To snap some of the beauty of the surrounding eye candy to post on your refrigerator or the round robin on social media channels.

To let others know what you have been up to while in Maine.

When you live full time in Maine, the picnic areas don’t lose their luster.

They are still used as outdoor dining room locations as revisits to old familiar favorite spots get collected. And new hidden, unknown destinations are discovered and enjoyed when lucky enough to be in Maine more than a handful of days. Or a solitary week and that’s all she wrote.

Maine is a place to take your time, relax, explore and savor.

Here is a list of roadside picnic rest areas on Maine highways. Along your state and US highways in Maine, the canopy over the picnic table is a familiar site.

The Entertainment Reaching Into A Picnic Basket, Outdoor Dining On Homemade Goodies In Maine.

More valuable and necessary as tight vacation budgets years ago did not allow the restaurant dining and in the middle of no where, there were not so many choices or franchised meal deals.

For the pull over, stop in and slide into the booth. To put a quarter in the tableside juke box for the pick three of your favorite 45’s to sample.

Tourist rest stops along Maine’s many highways before the Interstate picked up the pace and the landing gears lifted up and under. For the here we go.

The old pack a lunch and nibble along the way to your destination in or out of Maine. Used by motorists and locals alike. Because a grill is on premise and the highway department folks keep them squeaky clean and inviting. The folks who use them also practice respect.No one likes a litter bug right?

The carry in and carry out, tread lightly approach to how you live your life.

That’s Maine. How you treat others and their property, their feelings and opinions and expect the same in return.

The View At Your Picnic In Maine. It Adds To The Home Made Taste Of Whatever Is Packed Away In The Picnic Basket.

Some of the picnic areas in Maine are no longer. I remember taking my kids to one on RT 11 in Moro Plantation that was stream side.

The kids checking out the water while the picnic basket opened up, the home made food pulled out. While the grilling operation was underway.

The birds chirping, the flow of vacationers with their campers and pickups, SUV’s loaded down with kayak and canoe working roof racks.

That’s the entertainment pulling off the road from traveling to grab a bite to eat.

Budget cut backs and Interstate 95 in Maine made the shift from the smaller picnic area to larger tourist information centers.

Complete with running water, for those pit stops. For the perusal of the brochure racks of maps, tourism information and four color propaganda from its publicity members.

I am a card carrying member of the Tourism bureau that has seen many changes in it’s name. And still stock the shelves with print media that still gets picked up, circulated and digested by the motoring public.

Farm Fresh Blueberries Ready To Be Raked On The Barrens.

Removing fatigue in driving to avoid accidents is another big reason for the tourist stops.

Locals around the tourist information centers of Maine use the facility for their own quick meal.

And families enjoy the play grounds if there is one and the folks you meet at the next picnic table with the open sides, roof over head.

Helping tourists get around, know the lay of the land is part of the where are you from, what are you doing for fun while in Maine.

And the suggestions about the list of activities you might want to consider while in Maine on vacation. On top of giving directions, the best way in, out, all around the many small scattered towns, plantations and only a handful of cities in Maine.

Respecting Maine’s Vast, Rich Natural Resources. Easy Does It.

We all work for the Maine publicity bureau, put the badge on every morning. Mainers are friendly, make eye contact, will do you a favor. Because we love where we live and can’t keep it a secret.

Maine, hear her calling?

It starts as a whisper and then snowballs from there once she gets into your system. Unplug, recharge, let go in Maine.

Don’t try to fight it. One bite, a small morsel, a glimpse of the eye candy is all it takes. Then she has a secure hold on your heart strings and gives a playful tug as a reminder it has been way way too long. Come back to Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

July 18, 2016
Maine Has Many Moving Parts, Check Out Her Venues.

Vacations in Maine when you are a native are extra special.

Because more than one a year happen and we get to sample the same places different seasons. New spots to add to the list while life ticks by.

Egg Rock Lighthouse Off Bar Harbor Maine, MDI. One More To Add To The Collection Of Maine Lighthouses.

It is hard to imagine just a few days a year in Maine and expecting that small a session to explore and enjoy her to even begin to satisfy the thirst or hunger for more.

Have you ever been to Maine gets a lots of of the same answers. When you poll the wild blue yonder and ask for a show of hands. For who has been here, there and in between.

Because there are four seasons, the venues we enjoy the most are never quite the same. The spot on the calendar that we visit and return for more is like adding different seasoning to the experience.

Personally, I love to visit a Maine lighthouse in the dead of winter.

No other cameras to fence with to collect the eye candy. And there is something about seeing your breath and the shade of the ocean blue water in contrast to snow white pure that makes the photo opt more memorable for me. More on Maine lighthouses.

Deeper places inside are hit and tickled and soothed when you get to explore and discover Maine’s magic without lots of people to share the moment.

Bigger Than Life. Majestic, Constant, Challenging Mt Katahdin Maine.

Off season is not a bad thing in the state dubbed “Vacationland”.

So how about a few images from Bar Harbor Maine, made the trek during tourist season but enjoy it even more around the fringes when cruise ships are not double parked off shore.

Use the LL Bean Island Explore to take you to and fro and leave the driving to the blue and green marked buses is one bit of advice is new to these parts around Mount Desert Island.

They say that at one time 85% of the nation’s wealth was concentrated in Bar Harbor Maine. That JP Morgan did not like spilling his drink when taking a sunset cocktail cruise along the shoreline around Bar Harbor Maine.

More images of Bar Harbor Maine.

So JP used a little of his vast wealth to take the belt and suspender approach to smooth the waterways off the coast of Bar Harbor Maine.

To alleviate that little unpleasantry. By commissioning a load of rocks to create a breakwater to calm the Atlantic Ocean waves.

Maine Is More Than Lighthouses, Lobsters, Lake Loons.

Take a ride on the Acadian boat tours and hear more tales about the big fire of 1947 that changed the face of Bar Harbor.

And see a bald eagle swoop down at you in the boat with talons out stretched. To muckle on to a fresh piece of fish and then flap flap for all he is worth to return to his nest with dinner for the wife and kids. Bring the camera, keep the safety off and just wait for more of the wildlife to say hello.

White tail deer on the islands, sea kayaks bopping around your tour boat all add to the sunshine, sea air and feeling of wide open expanse on the water.

I felt lucky to see gray seals, puffin, a minke whale and to collect one more Maine lighthouse for the collection.

Egg Rock Light is pictured in this Me in Maine blog post today.

Have you been to Maine and which parts have your never dipped your toe in? Try out the new venues of Maine on your next vacation and remember camping, a picnic and just a few gallons of gas along with tent for under the stars is one inexpensive option to drink, breathe, hear and see Maine. The off the beaten path places are the most special and home grown not store bought.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

June 27, 2016
The Beauty Of Maine, Space Is A Big Part Of The Magic.

What is the attraction to a big place like Maine?

Space, lots of it. Not worrying about interfering with any other person’s privacy, happiness, their personal life enjoyment. And likewise, no other of our fellow man or woman bumping into our bubble.

And it snow balls from there. More space, less or no people in an underpopulated rural state like Maine means the local water resources and the land turf is not over used and abused.

It Is The Prettiest Weed I Can Think Of… Lupines.

Like a home where no one is around to clutter it up, there is not so much housekeeping to perform to pick up after yourself, someone else.

And the folks that return to Maine for the solitude have a respect. Developed like the die hard locals. To carry in, pick it up and tread lightly. Leave everything like you found it or in better shape if possible as you become a vigilant, good steward.

And when you have a lot of people to herd like an urban area does, there are layers of players.

Plenty of thickly stacked permits, regulations to apply and slow everything to an expensive crawl. To corral and keep everyone in line with lots of rules.

Clusters Of Lupine, Sometimes They Are More Spaced And Scattered.

Plenty of crowd control applications and lots of little bureaucratic kingdoms to arm wrestle with in the hurry up and take a number, have a seat. To maneuver around to get even the smallest of stuff accomplished in an overbooked life.

In small rural Maine traffic is gone. Replaced with outdoor beauty, scenery, wildlife, wooded sections, waterways, open space. We use the land, create wealth from the dirt in so many versions of farming.

Delays getting cross town to appointments, return to the hardware store for the right wicket, to pick up bread and milk… all the errands are quick, simple, no road rage elevating the temperature under the driver’s collar.

Crime stats peg us at the fourth lowest for breaking the law.

Eye contact made, manners displayed with an extra helping of consideration. There is a small town, intimate connection in Maine communities. A tight wrapped we’re all in this together and aren’t we all lucky to live here the way life should be.

Day Is Done In Maine. Fresh Rain, Sunset Sunshine Combine.

Is it like that where you are now? Do cars get stolen, windows broken to steal the contents? Maine keys in rural areas never leave the ignition, house doors left unlocked too. Because we are far enough away and folks are taught as little grasshoppers to respect other people’s feelings, their personal property too.

Lower cost house and car insurance because the price tag for both types of coverage is lower. Because the real estate prices are closer to the ground.

Like I said, it snowballs. The extras that combine from the long list of what we don’t have that you don’t want but have to grin and bear it, just accept with a bite the bullet by choosing to live in the city.

Combined it all with the natural beauty a place like four seasons Maine is famous for and that word is getting out about thanks to people buzzing on the Internet.

Have you been on the fence about living in a place like Maine?

Or at least investing in a piece of it for the R and R we all need to unplug, recharge? Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts and eyeballing the imagery that the copy wraps around as we hunt and peck about the place we all love so much. Maine, it may just be what has been missing in your life.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207/.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

June 21, 2016
Getting Away From Store Bought, Turning Toward Home Grown In Maine.

The term home grown extends way way beyond just where the food comes from that you serve up, put down on the family table.

What you cultivate on the local level is a known product though and takes away the mystery of where did this stuff come from anyway?

A Maine Lake For A Neighbor. Yeah, Do That.

But the attitude of doing things local, everything local has to happen in a small Maine town.

Because if spending was not done locally, instead outside the economy of the small Maine community, it would cease to exist. Or the day to day quality of life would suffer.

Because the flow of money to feed all in the small Maine town would be cut off and stranded. The population would drop off as the census number of residents bleeds out. Did a blog post on the importance of using local resources in our real estate job.

In small towns you become protective, strive to preserve what is special where you are lucky enough to live on the map in Maine.

What’s Cooking Inside, Outside When You Live In Maine? Plenty!

In a city, it might not even be considered so important whether you bought the car locally or out of town, out of state. As long as you got the best deal. Or thought you did.

Part of the roaming online to shop is motivated by the almighty dollar. But the habit of leaving a small Maine town to buy a product or service is one sure way to harm the local economy. There is something to volume that a larger market provides to whittle away on the price tag that tells you how deep to reach to cough it up. Open wide and say “ahhhhh”. But do you even need it comes into play. Better impulse control for the spending in small Maine towns happens.

The what is important if you live in a city and comparing that list with the one held in a small Maine town is so different.

Your happiness, your survival, your emotional and financially condition is fed differently. On a small Maine farm, you can get excited about your chickens that put themselves to bed. Are pretty low maintenance but are being eyed by a fox that sees them as individual fresh, never frozen chicken dinners.

You the homesteader building a farmstead in Maine likes the manure they create as they hunt and peck around the barn yard. Adding soil amendments and rich nutrients to the landscape you scrape, rock pick, cultivate and hoe to hopefully harvest something bountiful. To feed yourself, to sell to others what you don’t need.

Maine Garden Bounty, Creating Wealth From The Fertile Soil, Farm Dirt.

In a city you are 10 and 2 in grid lock and hot under the collar when traffic on the expressway slows to a crawl.

Or to nothing at all as a wrecker is called, a meat wagon or hearse to clean up the next accident you come up on as you take the long journey home. In a city, you get excited about an open parking space, or owning a coveted one for $30,000. Purchased to be able to leave your car close to where you live.

In a small Maine town, help yourself. Parking is free, everywhere. Less people, less problems is a big part of it. When you boil it all down. You don’t worry about crime in the 4th lowest state for it either.

The ride to and fro to work in a city. Seems long, time consuming. That in reality is just a few miles but with an obstacle course of congestion to contend with every day. In the small rural Maine community, what is traffic? There is no need to remove the keys from the ignition, to lock up the doors or be concerned about someone heisting, boosting your ride either.

See The Light, Love The Surroundings, The Locals In Maine Small Towns.

You work the local community events and help put together the behind the scenes parts of the production whatever it is.

From a community supper for a cancer survivor and their family to help out.

Or to pitch in and build a play ground, something else needed in the small Maine town. Rising to the occasion because everyone else who lives in the small Maine burg does too.

It feels good, was taught as a knee jerk reaction to see a need by parents, grandparents. Volunteer for others. It is a way of life that seems down home to a Mainer, like a fish out of water to someone that at first glance thinks hokey, unrewarding or a waste of time. Try it, you might like it city mouse. There is life beyond the pushing through crowds, trying desperately not to make eye contact and mostly looking down to seem nondescript.

Fishing For Something Missing? Maine. Find It Here.

The outdoor living, fresh air, clean water and space is what energizes in small Maine town living. In a city, space is found at one park. That’s all she wrote unless you can get out of the city. And get to a place like Maine, the way life should be. As often as you can.

Have you been away a tad too long or are you just new to these parts? Come see what you are missing in Maine, the way life should be. Still in.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

June 14, 2016
Photos Of Maine

The safety off your still camera or video device and you find yourself in Maine.

Lots of eye candy to collect. To take back home out of state where what you snap and capture in Maine is 180 degree not the case where all those people spoil the surroundings.

If The Boot Was From LL Bean, It Would Be Replaced Free, Not Be Leaking Right?

The Maine lake surface like a polished bottle, smooth and glassy. Because no one has criss-crossed it at a high speed to cause the ripples and waves.

Or maybe the wind is on a break. Stepped away from whipping it up and making it choppy, salt and peppered with white caps to keep it interesting.

As Maine loons, ducks bob, drop, go sideways as they fish for dinner. The handicap on the meal score card number increases.

Then light rain falling slowly like the old coffee commercial with the “Dee dee Dee dee DEE dunt” with the percolation picking up pace. Making small circle ker plunks sending out bigger waves around them.

The top types of images of Maine you see folks post?

Gotta have a Maine moose, a lighthouse or two and someone grinning wearing a plastic bib and using the pry tools on a bright red steamed Maine lobster.

Fresher Lobster Than This? Only What’s Still Underwater, Swimming Along The Maine Ocean Floor.

Or bucket full of steamed clams, boiled corn on the cop. A tall micro brew or adult grape juice to wash it all down.

Ice Ice Baby. Maine Has Four Seasons. Yes, Winter Is One. Bit Nippy Today Would You Say? No Need For Sunscreen Or Black Fly Repellent.

As you watch tall ships, schooners on an open deck or glazing over a sandy beach, rocky shoreline before you as you feed the pie hole.

Blueberry fields, potato picking, farmer’s markets.

Snow that is as white as a person has ever witnessed blanketing anything left outdoors to its own defenses. Water in the Maine photos is a common theme.

Sunrises, sunsets, fisherman with their worms tucked inside a well packed tackle box. A thermos of coffee fixed just the way the guy with one hand on the twist grip tiller likes it.

Maine Winter Weather, Snow Makes Maine Extra Special, More Personal. Not A Slew Of Tourists Hanging Around The Photo Ops.

As he prepares to get the jump on the rest of the World. His mosquito like sounding outboard motor whining and buzzing in a drone by your lake camp as darkness punches out. Daylight enters to set up shop.

Animals, People Of Maine Get Along Just Fine. Because It’s Not Crowded. We Need Each Other.

Birds, bees, butterflies and lupine flowers in the growing collection of whoever holds steady the brownie hawkeye. For the Kodak moment because time goes by.

Everyone now toting a cell phone, a tablet device and not just something with a long telephoto or wide angle camera lens hanging on a strap.

Drones lifting off, taking it to another level for a more adventurous new interesting angle on the approach to the photos or video frame with natural sound loops of Maine.

Get To Maine. You Have No Idea What You Are Missing Staying Away.

So your collection of photos from Maine. Do they feature hikers, bikers, state parks and mountains to ascend or ski down swish swish fashion? Do they feature the rugged coastline, the folks weathered by age but dripping with wisdom if you take the time to shoot the breeze?

Maine Is Real, Peaceful, Not Crowded.

Maybe you are not truly happy unless you smell like a Maine hand peeled log cabin fire?

Or can close your eyes, lean back and hear, smell grilling onions, baked beans or home made bread.

Vinegar splashed on your self picked, hand cleaned lightly buttered fiddlehead greens.

Pies lined up and cooling on a rack in a summer kitchen wainscoted and painted yellow or green or colors no one picks in new construction.

Running the camel hair brush that is under 30 mining for just the right hue, tint from the Sherwin Williams tall skinny display of paint chips.

Maine, All Four Seasons We Spend Most Of Our Time Outside. It’s All Natural, Simpler Living.

Maine is still like the Cracker Jack box prizes that were really neat, not duplicated and parked in a sturdy foil wrapped box not flimsy bag.

What people using wheels, wings, cruise boats come to see.

Day Is Done, Cue The Stars, Crickets, Mister Moon.

The designs of the Maine farm barns, the rolling fields, hand stacked rock walls, the thick woods and long vistas of Maine.

Are those in the ingredient mix of your photo recipe what’s cooking, being served up as the apple of your eye when you think Vacationland, the Pine Tree State?

What do you want to spy with your little eye?

The lifestyle of simple living in Maine marches to a less complicated drum beat song.

Your image array, the photostream on your SD card, hard drive or beer bottle brown acetate negatives must have a little of this and that right?

Maine Farm Fresh Veggies, Fruits, Produce. Nothing Sweeter, Healthier Than Close To Home Food.

Get to Maine. Don’t keep her waiting. Shoot the photos to share with folks less fortunate who did not make the trip. Yet.

What could possibly be so important, distracting on your end of the pike to keep you from carving out time for a Vacation in Maine?

Low cost camping trips don’t make your mortgage your soul or have to sell a duplicate organ on Ebay to finance right?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

June 7, 2016