Cover Your Ice Holes!

Ice Houses on Lake Chickawaukee
Rockland, Maine
February 1, 2007

Yet another under-appreciated house of style, that is always a pleasure to see this time of year — and well past its time for a design competition from dwell (and, no, this is not a paid endorsement of any kind, I just can't think of another magazine that would give a shite about what these things look like) — is the ever endearing, always reappearing 'Ice House.'

Gentlemen (I assume that's all that dare enter these things), let's get a-fishin'!

•••

Ice Cold Ice
(Buy: The Go Find: Stars On The Wall)

Piggy On!

Rockland Waste Water Treatment Plant
Late-Summer 2006

I don't know much (anything) about pigeons. But I do know, for a fact, that very few people have a tolerence for them. I like them (as did, according to random research, Yul Bryner, Gypsy Rose Lee, Queen Elizabeth II (although I doubt she actually ever touched any of them), and Roy Rogers). And so does the person that raises them at The Rockland Waste Water Treatment Plant. I have walked by this facility, every morning, for the past three years on the way to work—and Thursday, curiosity finally got the best of me.

I did not get a chance to meet the person who raises them, but Ron (that's what the name on his shirt read) gave me the nickel tour. These pigeons are big, boldly colored, and beautiful. I hope to go back again to talk with the breeder himself, and hopefully share it with you here. You'll be the first to know.

ROY ROGERS RIDERS CLUB RULES:
1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect the weak and help them.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.

Happy Trails, my friends, until we meet again. Probably , tomorrow.

Peter Kreuder: His Piano and His Orchestra: Birds of Paradise (Buy It!)
They Might Be Giants: Birdhouse In Your Soul (Buy It!)

Aft on the Poop Deck, and Walkin' All About

Rockland Harbor
The Foggy Summer of '06

Aft on the poop deck, and walkin' all about,
There's the second mate, so steady and so stout.
What he's a-thinkin', he knows not himself,
We're wishin' he would hurry up and strike, strike the bell.

Strike the bell, second mate, let us go below,
Look you well to windward you can see it's going to blow!
Look at the glass, you can see that it has fell,
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!

Down on the main deck, workin' at the pumps,
There's the starboard watch, just a-longin' for their bunks.
Lookin' off to windward, they see a great swell,
They're wishin' that the second mate would strike, strike the bell.

Aft at the wheel, poor Andersen stands,
Clutchin' at the spokes with his cold, mittened hands.
Lookin' at the compass head the course is true and well,
He's wishin' that the second mate would strike, strike the bell.

For'ard at the fo'cs'le head, keepin' sharp lookout,
There's Johnny standin', a-ready for to shout,
The lights are burnin' bright, sir, everything is well,
We're wishin' that the second mate would strike, strike the bell.

Aft on the quarterdeck, our gallant captain stands,
Lookin' at the sea with a spyglass in his hand.
What he's a-thinkin', we all know very well,
He's thinkin' more of short'nin' sail than--strike the bell.

-Traditional

Dan Zanes: Strike The Bell (Buy It!)