MeInMaine Blog

Category: Uncategorized

  • Worry, Anxiety, Fretting…. Are You Scared, Fearful And Full Of Woe?

    Find Beauty, Peace, What Quiet Is All About, Maine.
    Hike Mt Katahdin, Baxter Park Or Other Outdoor Maine Trails. Clear Your Head!

    The reason people worry is often because of the need to be in control.

    When they believe their life is out of control. And very few things in life offer that feature, comfort of absolutes, black and white givens. “Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway” is a quote from Mary C. Crowley. Smart lady.

    Others weigh in on worry. “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened” is a quote from Winston Churchill.

    “If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.” a quote from Dale Carnegie.

    So getting uptight, antsy and worried seems to most that have conquered it to be a waste of time. Results are what we are after and just coming to a dead stand still, becoming emotional drains a person. And does not help the sun to shine again. For blue skies to appear over head.

    “There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever” Mahatma Gandhi quotes.

    Worry about death, the future, health are all unknowns. Often something you can not prepare for but all happen right on schedule anyway. Worry is a lot like planning way way too far ahead. The intricate plans coupled with the further out, down the road can all change. Usually do. Because of time, other people with other plans. Even the weather can impact the perfect event that requires crystal clean not pouring rain. And there you are, all tied up and wondering now what to worry about? There is a lot to be said about spontaneous. Just do it.

    Living in today, enjoying the season you are in is one key.

    Not looking too far back with regret that can beat you down. Not waiting until some future event that may not happen to be happy is the other extreme. What about today? Why is it so hard to live in the here and now may be because more and more society is unhappy. Something is missing and trying to get beyond today to something better may be the trip up. Being in too big a hurry through life is the other stressor.

    But sometimes worry is a good thing. You remember your best performances as a kid in a school musical play or during public speaking events where because you were a little nervous, you took it all very serious. Wanting to do a good job. Taking the occasion personally as important and striving to do your best for the audience. Which you do when you have a few butterflies. But once warmed up, everything goes smooth when you have practiced, are ready. Know the subject you are talking about.

    Are you a professional card carrying worrier?

    Do you get consumed with the “what ifs” ? Surrender in Maine. Relax, draw a deep breath. Unplug in Maine.

    If you consider today twenty years from now will be the good old days. When folks lament how much simpler everything was back then. Probably because you just got the day to day figured out and then everything rushed on. Overbooked lives can add coal to the worry tender box too. Building pressure, making everyone hot under the collar around the constant building worry.

    Maine, come find the answers to your problems, sort through the baggage. Get your thoughts in order in the four season beauty for any reason in Maine. Watch the stress, fear, worry melt away.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com

  • Back To The Wall, Up Against It Financially Is No Fun.

    Local Musicians Create The Tunes, Entertain.
    Maine Is Simple Living, Basic And Loaded With Common Sense.

    Living high on the hog is not a sport, lifestyle perfected in Maine.

    Rural states with less population like Maine raise families to take care, respect what they have. To save for a rainy day. To live within or below your means. So you can sleep nights without worry. And provide for your family, create a stable household that is not used to deficit spending. That lacks the galloping gimmees.

    Not having debt all around you, driving a twelve year old car you bought used or “pre owned” for cash is Maine.

    Knowing you could step out and buy something new and flashy. But say pass. Not needed. Or other areas of your life need the resources more. Like the roof that has curled, aged shingles. And that lost a few tabs during the big January wind and snow storm. And if you don’t replace that roof this year, the expense in water damage next spring will be three times the investment of a few squares of asphalt today.

    Deferred maintenance is never a good thing on Maine buildings that get lots of weather.

    But being up against it, like the hot stove a child touches only once, can be a sobering, never forgotten life lesson.

    The assumption that financial success will automatically follow you forever is like the roaring twenties hay day gitty feeling right up to just before the stock market crash. Ad people in the cities started jumping out sky scraper windows in distress, panic, grief when they lost everything.

    In Maine our value is not always tied to something purchased, that has money or plastic exchanged for it. Because Maine living is kept simple, basic, real and honest. What is important, our priorities revolve around the family. Enjoying the four seasons of nature. Extend to the local community that we all are members of and pitch in to improve. To find our place, hone are skills and apply them to the local Maine town we feel fortunate to live, work and play in. Home made food is often the payment received for a good deed done too. There are some amazing cooks in Maine. Around every corner, creating covered dishes, sweets, breads, rolls to die for.

    As a kid I remember the feeling of two dollar a barrel Maine potato years.

    And did not like it, am not a fan of debt. Realize it is necessary for business expansion, to buy a home but learned that mortgages, revolving credit card cycles are not easy to swallow. And to be avoided whenever possible. The feast or famine two step is Maine or any kind of farming, small business keeps your head clear. Part of what makes you resilient, disciplined, creative. And always looking for no or low cost recreation which Maine is famous for any season.

    Being without debt can make you feel wealthy, prosperous because nationally it is not the norm. In a day and age where the average credit card debt around your neck nationally is $17,0000. Where the cost of a typical USA wedding is $27,0000 which does not guarantee marital bliss or compatibility. And starts the not tied with debt surrounding it. That can lead to more and more borrowing until snap. It breaks. Everyone loses. The kids always the most.

    Debt can become like a disability you wish you did not have but that has followed you most of your life. And you may have been raised in a household that was always on the brink of financial disaster. So it can feel normal, commonplace. Get to Maine, find a home for seasonal recreation use or full time retirement that you can own outright. No mortgage going in, coming out. Free and clear. Plain and simple. Maine.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com

  • Grandparents, Filling In Around The Cracks, Building A Better Adult.

    Maine Kids, Grow Up Close, Tight, Together.

    The role of grandparents in help raising the next generation is invaluable.

    But sadly not if the grandparent and their kids, the grandchildren are many states away from each other. And once, maybe twice a year if everyone is lucky can afford to link up. Spend time together for the wisdom, life experiences. To share the family history, the stories that all have lessons that rub off and shape the newer members. That get passed down as the circle continues.

    When your kids are fully grown and out of the house, the impact of grandparents involvement becomes even more obvious.

    When they mention stories that you did not share, teach them but that the grandparent did. Helping the parents make sure everything needed for survival, a happy full life with rich experiences happens. That is love, family, and grandparents have a very important role in holding everything together in the process.

    Teaching values, developing beliefs, sharing the important life skills like saving for a rainy day. To be grateful for what you have. To work hard to do the right thing. To believe in yourself. To be ever mindful of the needs of others around you. To think of the greater good, making things better than they were without you pitching in, trying to help. Grandparents stop into little league games, have weekly meals and the table talk benefits the entire family. Go to musicals at school and church pageants.

    They shadow, shepherd and are the voice of reason.

    The calming soothing voice and hand reach out, hug when the child needs it the most. The talks on an open porch. The counselor before 55 minute paid sessions with a stranger, non relative who does it for a living. Not out of unconditional love alone. The grandparents have the experience, to share affectionately. They deserve respect and are vital to rounding out the child in a small Maine town.

    Sometimes the grandparent is doing the primary job of child raising the second crop of kids too. Not just adding bits and pieces to the childhood but even more hands on. With a direct, distinct role day in and out as a care giver. That love, dedication, goodness directed to the grandchildren. Who are right there through the same family ups and downs, life struggles and triumphs. And with a wealth of knowledge to draw from due to living longer, learning much through life.

    Nearly 2.5 million grandparents raise the grandchildren. Have given up retirement, their personal plans put on hold. Dedicating their lives to getting grandchildren raised. Sometimes because the primary parents are not willing, not able to do the full time child raising job.

    When you are lucky enough to live near your grandparents and they are the type to pitch in and stay actively involved in the grandchildren’s life, it is a very good thing.

    In small town Maine, the village raises the children. And grandparents have the time, finances, experience to make a difference in a child’s life. And have their own enriched in the process.

    Maine, big state, more space, friendlier people.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com

  • Imagine It Taking A Week And A Half To Get The Party Dishes Done.

    You Gotta Eat, Nothing To Be Stone Faced About.
    The Parkview Terrace Catered Food Functions Around The State Of Maine. Served Locals Too!

    Catering, running a restaurant in Maine and doing it as a family.

    One big happy brood all the time? Well, not necessarily. Family businesses have their own unique set of strengths, weaknesses. Too familiar can breed contempt. Respect can go out the door along with all warm and fuzzy when the orders are coming at you too fast and furious. And you are dealing with the public that can become more and more brutal, demanding the longer they have to wait.

    The Parkview Terrace in Houlton Maine on Main Street across from Cary Library started serving food in 1966.

    The peak of panic pushing the plates was one major holiday that caused them to herd in like cattle. Very hungry bovine. Mother’s Day gets the award according to Neil Cowperthwaite, one of the sons working in the operation of his parents Albro and Marion. 1300 people served food in three hours. Whoa. That is NASCAR pit stop efficient. When I see that mental blur, I get tired.

    But busy can be it’s own sweet elixir when you are prone to being restless. When growing up, you were often pushed on by a thought if sitting too long, too still, “let’s do something”. The satisfaction of cranking out that much food to that large a crowd is impressive. For over forty years, the business flourished so they had to be pretty skilled, very good to keep the doors open so long. Making the hungry patrons come back for more.

    It took a week and a half in the big kitchen on the lower level under the dining room complex to clean the tittering, tower of dishes.

    The “vehicles” that carried the main course food, the side dishes like corn fritters, and all the pies, cakes, squares, cookies and other sweets to complete the dining experience. All the dishes, glasses, cups and silverware required a ten day recovery after Mother’s Day to get the complete sets back sparkling clean. Stacked, shelved and readied for the next meal time maneuver.

    Holidays were the best for business. But not spent like you and I not in the food service business. When we might be at our own table serving up family food tradition recipes. Or asking if there might be a sliver of banana cream or Maine blueberry pie left out back to top off the calories. When quizzed do you miss the madness of Mother’s Day at the Parkview, the answer is would you miss a migraine? Intensity and the satisfaction of getting it done, working hard and as a team highly organized is still a rush. When you are at the top of your game.

    The largest on the road catering job was 10,000 people handed sets of knives, forks, spoons at a Bangor Maine Amway convention.

    A big orange truck leased from Cole’s Express, over the road professional tractor squatted under the fifth wheel unit housing all the food for the catered event. Loaded to the gills with all the devices to heat it up, dish it out. Then high tail it back to Aroostook County for the regular food games on the local level.

    To run the “Donut Deli”. To cater to the kids from high school that walked down during lunch break for a large fry, small soda for a buck. I remember seeing the weekly habit of after church meaning head to the Parkview Terrace. Ooh and ahhing at the beautiful sweeping staircase that spilled in two directions at the bottom. Before winding northward to the second floor that must of been just as elegant. But signs warning don’t tread at all on these steps kept us on the first level but always wondering what we were missing aloft.

    The Houlton Rotary Club also met Monday noon at the Parkview Terrace before the migration to the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd on the next corner of Main and Winter Street to the east.

    A bad accident returning from a big catering job down state caused by falling asleep at the wheel was not a happy moment in the history of the Parkview Terrace.

    Lots of locals remembering working for the Cowperthwaite family and if you were a hard laborer, able to be taught the right way to do your job, you could get all the employment you wanted. If you are willful, lazy and just had the wrong dark cloud overhead attitude when someone in the public is demanding this or that with a sharp tone, you got a pink slip. You had to get out if it was too hot in the kitchen.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com

  • Changing Of The Seasons, People You Meet For A Reason.

    Spring In Maine, Nothing Like It.
    Maine’s 4 Seasons, They Transition Slowly To Allow Adjustment, To Get You Ready.

    Spring in Maine yawns, stretches, stirs slowly.

    The changing of the seasons always maneuvers gradually, methodically. Part of reason because we love them all. Let go slowly. There are a few in the boat that have never been to Maine. Yet. That think of winter being pretty much all she wrote for weather. The all in all done for a one size fits all in the climate department. Maine has no polar bears. No igloo subdivisions dotting the landscape. No special highways for dog sled commutes over the frozen tundra. That’s Artic Circle. Enough said about Maine’s weather, climate.

    Maybe it’s just me but this winter, didn’t it have some days with higher than normal wind performances?

    Large chunks of roofing shingles on the farm lawn prove the point. Maybe just localized wind sheer. No leaks but the first slip to be eyes closed, reach in and pulled out from the property maintenance job jar. When the extension ladders get hauled into action. Out of winter storage and one important not dirty but necessary four letter word is muttered under my breath…”roof”.

    The contrast of a few lingering “rotting” snow banks to earlier fluffy white soft powder fresh ones. Where the deposits this time of the calendar become more like snow cone crunchy, granular. Peppered with sand seasoned, mixed in. That was layed down for traction to take away some of the slip and slide. And the white white of most of our buildings in Maine can also make you antsy. Can’t wait anxious. Can you say high volume power wash? Or paint can and brush after scraping the loose, flakes of dead paint for the new fresh trim ultra bright white coating. (Two more slips spiral southward into the now not so transparent jar for chore, puttering suggestions.)

    There is a restlessness to a Maine spring when winter frost takes its sweet time oozing, gasping out of the ground.

    Lake and river ice disappears. And Maine farmers begin to think about which field “warms up” quickest. That drains and allows equipment to plow, disc and prepare the soil for seeding. Without the planting preparation tractor and whatever it drags behind it getting mired up to the axles. Four wheel drive or not can spell quick sand like doom in the back forty acres of a Maine farm.

    Maine land, a patch of dirt that begs, whines, obsesses about the need for USDA soil conservation drainage tiles please. To give the water another place to go. With a Maine bottle club last call urgency after the house band says good night. you’ve been the best audience ever. Really. The house lights arch welder, solar eclipse bright flash on. And everyone squints like a ground hog on February 2nd. From laughter, dancing, socializing. The distraction from day to day.

    And a “we don’t care where you go but you can not stay here” tone is ushered in so everyone thinks go home.

    Flit. Vamoose. Go now. Water laying in stagnant puddles reminded, chided, scolded and directed the same way to say Moose Brook. The hope since day one when the mature trees were removed one by one. And a Maine woodlot changed it’s voting party membership affiliation. Becoming a cleared field instead for an entirely different purpose altogether.

    It’s too early to rake lawns, gather blown debris from sticks, twigs, food wrappers or old leaves that flew in on a northwestly direction wind red eye.

    And replaced all the ones you had bagged and tagged. Or burned, remembering that same sweet, smokey smell from falls through out your life so far. Anxious to roll up the sleeves and tackle what winter left behind to make room for spring. But the 51 degrees last weekend of sunshine city a tease of sorts. As a dusting of white powder greets during the hunt and peck process with fresh coffee injected, as the day unfolds. Saying ah ah ah… not yet. But knowing a “last time” finger wagging reminder for plowing snow may have already happened. Stay tuned.

    Little league games in early spring where you best bring a blanket, or what the heck. Wear a snow suit. Being warm rock, paper, scissors combined trumping fashionable any day of the week. Shorts and tank tops, Tevas will have their cue to announce you’re up. you’re safe.Out of the woods. Moisture from the ground, the sun still changing up the wattage on it’s bulb for more heat, not just extended light happening slowly. To prepare your mind for spring in Maine. Where you start to see maple syrup buckets here and there popping up around your local town, country settings. Where canoes, kayaks are dug out for river races. When snow shoes are hung up and baskets for approaching fiddle heads are located, readied for service.

    Thoughts of dairy bars opening up, greenhouses being put on line and heading to the lake for BBQ’s all crowd in to the grey matter.

    To replace down hill snow skiing, ice hockey games that can only be watched standing up. When following orange basketballs, visits to different Maine high school gyms stop. As one by one fully grown, greying snow birds that have an aversion to winter shovels, scoops, windshield scrappers, that went on strike last fall gladly return. Find their way without a trail of bread crumbs to Maine, Vacationland. The state that really should be in Canada. And almost is. Have you figured out the reason for your season? And the people you meet along the way of the experience called your life? Maine, figure it out, spend time with her. Don’t keep her waiting. Get here every chance you can for all the answers, reasons for the seasons. To collect needed, vital puzzle pieces.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com

  • What Can Your Child Offer An Employer For Real Life Skills To Keep The Business Open?

    Be A Good Sport, Congratulate Success.
    Instilling In Kids Early On The Right Stuff To Succeed. To Contribute For The Greater Good.

    The days of lots of laborers on any job have seen erosion.

    Partly due to automation, to skirt around the rising cost of employing John and Jane Doe. And a change in what we consume, find important for pleasure, for survival. Would you hire your own kids?

    Do you have all you need, and what are the basic elements of your contented life, to achieve your purpose here on Earth? What is “comfortable” for you may not be the same laundry list of items for others. Those around you may scribble down, crumple up and carry shoved deep down inside their pocket a slightly different bullet list. The distinction of what is written down in black, blue, or red and white may be from a country or city mouse existence approach to life.

    In smaller areas of the country of little towns, better spending control and get your money’s worth conservative thinking, the coins come harder.

    Dollars are not let go of so easy. And on the smaller local scale, everything is much more out in the open. Visible and not layered so highly that it becomes the pea under the mattress to figure out and fix the insomnia. The reason for falling asleep at the wheel. And heading into the ditch, beyond. Life and business skills go hand in hand.

    So skills for the laborers we produce to put online. Starts with values planted early on as kids. The set of talents as parents, extended family, educators, mentors, coaches, ministers, neighbors and local community members all together instill. Then the kid adds their own gas to fuel the passion. To develop and hone what they hang on their utility belt. To carry on tradition of the “right stuff”, true grit for a rugged individual worth having at work.

    Pulling their weight in the society.

    And the worker that adds new twists, direction dance steps to think on their feet. Adapt, adjust, bob and weave. To correct the course to account for change in the economic storms that happen daily in everything around us. You can not have a we have always done it this way mentality to have necessary change. To survive and prosper with a smile on your face, joy in your heart.

    Change that keeps step with progress. But also is a knee jerk reaction to erosion of skills. The ones needed to be productive, to contribute to the greater good. To be considered an asset not liability, dead wood. If healthy enough to pitch in, add color, flavor. seasoning to the local community. But jobs needing filling can go empty because finding the right skilled employee can be needle in the haystack hard.

    During a local Rotary Club meeting yesterday, the topic of discussion was change in the education system.

    The approach to the curriculum to make it stick, roll around the head of the students. Not just be a cram for a test that you ace because of an all nighter approach to get the “A”. Then forget what you can suddenly recite that has no meaning, nothing to stick to the ribs. No take away. To lay the foundation of the cognitive wiring of our workers of tomorrow in the classrooms of today. To carry between the ears, behind the eyes the skill set a business needs. To keep you hired, on the payroll. Being ahead of that curve means seeing it. Before entering in at a very high speed in dim, drizzly wet conditions. With way too much loose gravel on the steep, sharp curve.

    One Rotary member lamented seeing a resume that would make you catch your breath, smile brightly with relief in the hiring process. Because of a heavily loaded list of 4.0 mastery with the present grading standards to win the cream of the crop marks. But then hired the person with expectations big, to find out they can not problem solve. Their education works around the classroom race track. But not the one of real life outside the school.

    Another employer told me yesterday the job applicant on paper looked world class. But when hired, was lazy, unimaginative, and had pretty much been a student most of their employable life. Not a real world contributor to earn a living outside the higher learning institutions. Stuck in the educational fountain of knowledge bubble way way too long.

    Part of the problem is making sure no ones feelings get hurt.

    That it’s light, bright and always entertaining before boredom takes over. Let Jimmy take the test over and over until he gets the 4.0. Feels the same high of mastery in a field that Jimmy may be just way over his head. And not the direction he should be heading for employment. So the employer does not shock the kid with over and over demands for skills he lacks. That got left out in the busy work of the latest and greatest education system parked on the easel during assembly, teacher workshops. The kid can get lost but think he is a whiz at this, this and he is not on the stage outside the one with the desk, apple on it up front.

    The courses are an education obstacle proving grounds to get the rolled up diploma wearing the square cocked hat with tassel. That more and more may not match the real world. What it is going to take to have under your belt to bring home the bacon. To keep food on the table because you can exchange a needed skill with consistency, a positive attitude for the paycheck with your name stamped on it. Success outside the classroom being the proof in the pudding.

    Maine, smaller, leaner, and able to adapt quicker once we see where the problems are. More connected, we talk pretty openly, crusty and not afraid of the truth among ourselves. Feel in the 108 small towns more of a personal stake in the game of local life. It is up to each and every one of us because there are no extras for reinforcements. To leap off the bench, spell any of us in most cases.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com