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AUGUSTA – The Maine Warden Service is urging people to not venture out onto any ice that may be covering Maine’s waterways.

Throughout Maine, the state’s lakes and ponds may appear to be frozen in parts or their entirety, but safe ice conditions cannot be assumed even though temperatures have been below freezing in recent days and at night. Also, any snow covering thin layers of ice acts as insulation and slows the freezing process.

“There are no safe ice conditions anywhere in the state right now,” said Col. Joel Wilkinson, chief warden of the Maine Warden Service. “I understand that people are anxious to begin winter activities, such as ice fishing and snowmobiling. But don’t risk your life or the lives of others by traveling onto thin ice.”

As the temperatures continue to fall in the coming weeks, and the ice begins to thicken, the Maine Warden Service is recommending that people check the thickness of any ice before venturing out for any activity on frozen water.

If you must go on the ice this winter, the Maine Warden Service offers these tips for ice safety:

· Never guess the thickness of the ice – Check it! Check the ice in several different places using an auger or some other means to make a test hole and determine the thickness. Make several, beginning at the shore, and continuing as you go out.

· Check the ice with a partner, so if something does happen, someone is there to help you. If you are doing it alone, wear a lifejacket.

· If ice at the shoreline is cracked or squishy, stay off! Watch out for thin, clear or honeycombed ice. Dark snow and dark ice are other signs of weak spots.

· Avoid areas with currents, around bridges and pressure ridges. Wind and currents can break ice.

· Parents should alert children of unsafe ice in their area, and make sure that they stay off the ice. If they insist on using their new skates, suggest an indoor skating rink.

If you break through the ice, remember:

· Don’t panic.

· Don’t try to climb out immediately – you will probably break the ice again. Reach for solid ice.

· Lay both arms on the unbroken ice and kick hard. This will help lift your body onto the ice. Once on the ice, roll, DON’T WALK, to safety.

· To help someone who has fallen through the ice, lie down flat and reach with a branch, plank or rope or form a human chain. Don’t stand. After securing the victim, wiggle backwards to the solid ice.

How Thanksgiving began is varied, all for reasons of being thankful. Today, Thanksgiving has become to most Americans, a time to gather as families, eat far too much food and perhaps even watch a little football.

I hope you will also take some time from your busy to schedule to reflect back on all the things you are thankful for. And, by the way, make sure to share at least one of the thanks with someone else.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tom Remington

The Alan Jackson song, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” (available below for you to listen to) asks that very question. I was getting a hair cut. When I left and got into my car, I turned on the radio, something I don’t often do, and there was a lot of chatter. Nothing made sense for quite awhile, as nothing made sense to anybody for quite awhile.

After a few minutes, I realized what was going on but I didn’t know what caused it. I rushed home and turned on the television. Beginning that day, my life was changed forever.

Don’t ever forget!

Tom Remington

August 18, 2009 – Skinny Moose Media launched its weekly newsletter ‘The Skinny’ on Tuesday as a new medium to inform the public in regards to industry news, new products, and special deals. With a handful of informed bloggers, Skinny Moose Media will be turning to their writers for help. “Our writers are always posting about the latest news and the newsletter will not only keep people informed but will assist in promoting our individual bloggers in the Network,” Steve Remington, President of the media company, said.

The newsletter has a strong concentration in the outdoor and recreational industry, especially hunting, fishing, shooting, and conservative politics but the Network is expanding their Internet presence every day. Signing up is simple. Browse to skinnymoose.com and fill in your name and email address in the form.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I’D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN’T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
‘SANTA DON’T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON’T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY! COUNTRY, MY CORPS.’

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN’T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT’S CHILL.

I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, ‘CARRY ON SANTA,
IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.’

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
‘MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.’

This poem was written by a Marine.

The following is his request. I think it is reasonable…..

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending
this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming
soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and
women for our being able to celebrate these festivities.
Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we
owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and
dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your
small part to plant this small seed.

Posted by Tom Remington

Thanksgiving means different things to different people. For us here at Skinny Moose Media and from Tom and Steve Remington, we want to take a few minutes and just thank everyone for being a part of our lives.

All too often we can get caught up in so many bad things going on around us that we forget about how many things we should and can be thankful for. And as such, I am thankful for you and both Steven and I and everyone associated with Skinny Moose Media want to wish you the absolute very best Thanksgiving Day. And may it be the most special day of all.

Tom and Steve Remington

>rent a car bulgariaw is information I received from a friend of mine in Maine who does volunteer work for Buckmasters Disabled program. She didn’t ask me to post this. She was only sharing and seeking help.

~~~~~~~

Jennifer Turner didn’t get the house she’d been planning for this summer, but the quadriplegic Auburn resident has some new help and a new timeline.

She now hopes to start construction next spring.

Turner, 38, was injured in 1985 when a pulp truck hit her family car, leaving her with a broken neck and vertebrae, no use of her legs and limited use of her arms and hands.

In 1993, she moved into a Barker Mill Arms apartment with the hope of being more independent. She busied herself in the grounds around the building, planting flower gardens in any empty space she could find. She soon became known as New Auburn’s flower lady and she helped raise money for physical education camps for children with similar injuries.

But her physical problems worsened two years ago. Years of relying on her arms to maneuver her wheelchair and pull herself from room to room, combined with damage from her original injuries, left her with severe tendon damage in her wrists. Surgery last year has helped, but not much.

Her Barker Mill apartment is not handicapped accessible. She can’t turn the doorknobs, turn on the faucet or even get herself out of bed. She relies on family and neighbors to get her up in the morning and to let her in and out of her apartment. A powered lift would help, but the structure at Barker won’t support the weight of the system.

Her choice: go into a nursing home or build her own home with the equipment she needs to be self-sufficient.

Last spring, the city agreed to sell Turner a half-acre of tax-acquired land just north of Anita Avenue for $39,500, its assessed value. She won’t have to pay for the mortgage on the land until she sells the property or ceases to live there.

With that agreement and help from a variety of programs and grants, Turner had hoped to build her home over the summer. But the federal housing program she’d been counting on changed and her funding suddenly disappeared.

About the same time, a childhood friend saw a story about Turner in the Sun Journal. The friend, Tammy Nosek, was a civil engineer in New York and she got the American Society of Civil Engineers, a charitable group, involved.

The society agreed to design the house, help with a drainage plan and solicit donations. Other people and groups have offered to pay for the lift, provide electrical services, paint the house and provide other donations.

Turner still needs excavation services, adaptive equipment and accessible appliances, building materials and construction management. If she can get that help, she hopes to start construction in the spring.

For more information or to offer help, call Auburn Community Development Coordinator Gail Phoenix at 333-6601, ext. 1336 or Tammy Nosek at (845) 567-6656.

Posted by Tom Remington

This latest video was filmed and edited by Carter Davidson and Gray Ghost Productions. The Upper Androscoggin River, as listed and promoted by the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance, runs from the Maine and New Hampshire state border near Shelburne, New Hampshire down to around Rumford, Maine. It flows through my hometown of Bethel, Maine.

I grew up on this river, noted for being one of the 10 most polluted rivers in the United States. The efforts of many have returned the river to a point that it has become one of Maine’s destination fisheries. As a matter of fact a new state record rainbow trout was taken by Steve Day from this section of the river shown in the video.

I hope you enjoy it.

Tom Remington

Family and friends, including all of us here at Skinny Moose Media, Maine Hunting Today, Maine Fishing Today and U.S. Hunting Today, are mourning the passing of a great husband, father and friend. Sayward passed away on Thursday, May 29, 2008.

An unbelievably talented man, Sayward accomplished many things in his life but none compare to the impact he left on anyone and everyone who met him. His addictive joy for life and everything around him was what made him the great man he was.

Born in Rangeley, Maine, Sayward moved to West Paris at a very young age and grew up in that community attending local schools. He hunted and fished for over sixty-five years and celebrated that occasion last year by compiling his many stories in a book called, “Deer Tails and Other Tales”.

After retirement, Sayward and his wife Cynthia of 60 years, spent their summers at their cottage on North Pond in Woodstock, Maine and wintering at their home in Plant City, Florida, where he and life-long friend, Milt Inman, would go chasing alligators and generally getting into mischief.

Some of his God-given talents included tying his own flies for fishing, constructing calls for his love of turkey hunting, woodworking, building furniture, crafting wooden boats, my favorite being his cedar strip canoes and paddles. Sayward took up the fine art of carving later in life, creating some finely detailed fish and birds. He won several awards both in Maine and Florida carving shows.

Aside from his genuine warmth and love, I will always miss Sayward’s stories. I have laughed so many times as I sat and listened to story after story and marveled how one man could experience so many things in the ways that he did.

Sayward loved his community and all the people who were part of it. He gave so much for others to enjoy.

You will be missed my dear friend!

Tom Remington and all the staff at Skinny Moose Media

Sayward Lamb is a contributing writer for many of our magazines at Skinny Moose Media. I’m asking readers to keep him in their thoughts and prayers as Sayward is undergoing some exploratory surgery today in hopes to find out what’s wrong with him. I’ve been told this is serious.

Sayward is a good friend and all of us at Skinny Moose Media care deeply.

Tom Remington

Remember this photo of a “What is it”?

The photo was taken by Milt Inman at the Andover, Maine Historical Society. Here’s his explanation:

What Is It? The machine was used to safely let a team of horses and a large sled full of logs slowly down from a mountain side to the valley below. The sled, with 4 wheels or pulleys, was taken up to near where the logs were cut and anchored to a large tree. The cable wound around the pulleys in away that it went around each one twice and then back down the mountain to a pulley chained to a tree and then back up to the braking machine. Moving the long levers on the rear of the machine would apply the braking force needed to do its job of snubbing up the load of logs hooked to the cable and going down the mountain. I think it was called a “SNUBBER” or something else. Milt

If you would like, you can return to the original post and read what some of the guesses were.

Posted by Tom Remington