Ready or not!

Light the candles.

Pour the bottled water.

Jump in the shower that’s cold, not hot!

Recently, the Newcastle Historical Society museum was given a notebook of articles and stories written by Thomas Gay (1902-1984). Gay lived his entire life in Newcastle and ran a grocery store near the bridge. In 1926, he married Iome Irvine (1902–1990) An article, dated 1979, tells about the area, its shops, stores, and people, as Gay remembered them. I have not changed the wording nor the punctuation in any way.

Clients — and potential clients — often ask me what I do with my cat, whose name is Kismet, while I’m busy taking care of their pets at their house. I tell them it’s not a problem because I think she likes my roommate better than me, anyway. I’ll try not to go on and on about Kismet, but let’s face it — anyone who has ever loved an animal could write a 12-volume set about their pet.

We all know a story of someone “doing something” only to make matters worse. Just “doing something, even if it’s wrong” is rarely the right answer. Staying put when lost is almost always the right answer. Doctors pledge first to do no harm. A few folks have even suffered from not heeding my wife’s advice that “It’s never too late to shut up.” When we don’t know what we’re doing, doing nothing is usually the best answer.

As I drove around the south end of Damariscotta Lake in Newcastle one mid-morning in August, a fisher bounced across the road from the lake, up the bank, and into the woods. I had glimpsed a live fisher only once before, dimly in my headlights: a black weasel-shaped animal, too big to be a mink.  I saw a dead one that was smaller – dark, dark brown with black legs.  But what luck to see a live one in daylight! As it leaped up the bank into the woods, I saw its mahogany-brown back. Oh no! It was supposed to be dark brown. Was it just a house cat?

Smokey, the King Ro cat – or, as he thinks, “the King of Round Pond” — had quite an unexpected, unwanted experience this weekend. Smokey was scooped up a mere 10 or so yards from the store — his home — and taken to the animal shelter. From what we can piece together, someone from away thought that a cat out and about is not the norm and called animal control. While their hearts may have been in the right place, please realize that in a small town in Maine, cats do go out and hunt — they are not all indoor cats.