If you are reading this publication you are interested in the marine industry. Just how important is this industry to you? The real question is are you willing to support saving its history? There is no question that the State of Maine has an incredible maritime history and that needs to be captured and preserved as best we can. Even if you are not an avid maritime historian and just enjoy reading great stories about the happenings and people of the coast you might want to help save this history. As head of the board of the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, this is what we are trying to do, but without the proper finances, decisions must be made as what is the priority. Over the last several years there have been changes at the Museum that have put it on the proper course for success. Most of these positive changes has been with staff, both on the administrative level, but also those working in the trenches. Then there are the volunteers who come in and make a dramatic difference getting projects completed that otherwise would fall through the cracks and might never get done. Right now, we are in a major upgrade to our strategic plan, which we have been working on for the last nine months, which is going well. We are going through every aspect of the Museum, turning over all the stones, with the staff as well as buildings and collections and identifying exactly what the next steps for the Museum should be. COVID has forced the staff to alter some of their plans and that has created changes that have been beneficial and will continue even after the pandemic becomes a lesser issue for us. I have my ideas for creating a more impressive Museum, but I am waiting to see what the strategic plans says along with the feedback of others at the Museum. I believe one of the first things everyone will agree to is the complete renovation of the building known as the Whitcomb & Pendleton Block, the big brick building right on Main Street. This is the face of the Museum as it is the building used for admissions and the store. The main issue is that we are unable to use the huge second floor space, which needs to be renovated and have an elevator added. My vision is to make this a model room, which a lot of people would like to see happen. If you would like to support the Museum and what we are trying to accomplish simply go online and become a member and if you would like to do more that would be greatly appreciated too. You could even become one of our volunteers if you would like. I have several projects that could be done as do other departments, including grounds. Come join us and make a difference.
I like winter, not for the cold or snow, but it forces me inside with the idea that I can accomplish at least some of the many much needed chores that I have put off when the weather was warm. There is still the problem that the plate is full of projects and which one needs priority. That does not mean I am going to do what I should. I will push a deadline right to the nth hour and hope that I am not going to fall short and so far, so good. Give me a good snowstorm and I can hear the couch calling where I will sit most of the day reading a good book. Problem is that I have so many good books even if I retired ten years ago, I probably still could not read them all. There is also another problem I have yet to stop buying books, so like space the bookshelves need to keep expanding.
The holidays can be challenging trying to get everything done, but we have a good plan by pressing the new issue a little early in December. There is also usually five weeks and this makes it easier for me to make a run to Massachusetts to visit my mother and celebrate Christmas and her birthday, which was her 91st this year. My wife learned a long time ago where I get some of my traits. My mother is a very good quilter, but she has a number, a considerable number, of them unfinished, and she is making a valiant push trying to get them done.
I have many projects that for the most part feed into one entity. Before I started putting this issue together, I was adding more vessels from the “List of Merchant Vessels” for 1960, adding more shipwrecks to a shipwreck index, and reformatting a list of steam vessels, which all feeds into that great big vessel database. I had a tough time putting them down and doing what I should have been doing. I have also been spending several hours a week trying to get the vast number of unfiled papers filed and there is progress on that front.
It is well known that I put a lot of miles on a vehicle every year. I normally average about 42,000 to 45,000 miles a year, but this year I was shy of 50,000 miles by a mere 72 miles. To do this job right you spend a lot of time on the road distributing the new issue and getting stories for the next one. I am hoping next year to shrink this back to less than 42,000. This would be a huge savings in time and money. If you average 50 miles an hour for all these miles (8,000) this works out to be 160 hours. Now take the 8,000 miles and figure how many gallons of gasoline you save: 412 and this means a savings of $1402.00 at $3.40 per gallon.
Now I have reached a popular goal in the GMC and that is called the ‘Moon Shot,’ which is going over 238,855 miles, the distance to the moon. This is the third GMC that I have done this in: the first two going a total of 372,000 and 394,000 miles. However, I still have not pushed them as far as the 607,000 miles I had on the Jeep.
