The World of Hydro

My new job includes automation of small hydroelectric dam sites in New England. The attached pictures were taken at the Upper Barker Mills dam site near Auburn, ME. This dam was recently retrofitted by my new company with a modern control system. The new control system allows an operator many miles away to monitor conditions, check alarm conditions and adjust operating parameters without ever leaving their home. One operator keeps tabs on multiple dams within approximately a 2 hour drive, making typical small New England hydro installations economical. Being able to see in detail what's going on from a remote location also reduces the likelihood of an operator making a long drive for a minor issue.

I visited this dam as part of my learning about the hydro business. The world of utilities are considerably different than the industrial world I've inhabited for nearly 30 years. As in any industry, there are many things that are "understood" by the people on the inside. Definitely a case of beginner's mind for me! One of the great benefits of this job is visiting some beautiful locations as you can see from the photos.

The first photo is an interior shot showing the 1.5 megawatt generator. Not large by utility standards but every little bit helps in the energy business. The next photo shows the outside of the generator/turbine building. The guy in the photo is my new leader and owner of Casco Systems, Kevin Mahoney. The remaining photos are of the dam and pond.

It's Off To Work We Go

I started a new job on Monday. It's a part-time job with an engineering firm by the name of Casco Systems. They are located just north of Portland. They specialize in utility industry automation. They've been doing quite a bit of work with smaller New England hydro dam installations lately. It was pretty weird being back in the world of work. My last day of paid work at Amway was July 18. Since then I've been almost completely occupied with moving and establishing this unique life we've embarked on. Most of my days have been without schedule or external structure. I've really enjoyed that. So getting in the car and driving to work was a definite change!

One of the really cool things about this new job is my base of operation will be home. So I won't have to travel every day to work and I can weave other activities in among the work tasks. Of course the down side is it can be harder to get away from work too! It's an evolving situation so we'll see where it all goes. I feel blessed to be working for Kevin. He definitely understands and supports the need to balance family and work. One thing for sure - there's a short distance to the decision maker in a 2 1/2 person company!

Jane and Cheryl made it here safely on Sunday evening. I was becoming concerned about them because they didn't arrive until about 7pm. They left Utica, NY about 9 that morning. By Mapquest the journey shouldn't take as long as it did. One thing we've learned since coming to Maine - distance is a poor gauge of travel time. Unless you live near I-95, it takes much longer to get almost anywhere than you think. Part of the problem is the lack of east-west routes. The other is the speed limit rarely exceeds 50 on state routes with numerous slower sections for towns. The state routes likely have never been rebuilt to modern standards, thus the slower speed limits.

The Last Leg of the Move

Cheryl set out for Michigan today to bring Jayne and her bird Hobbes to Maine. I drove Cheryl down to Worcester, MA so she could board Amtrak - destination South Bend, IN. She's going coach to save money which means sleeping airline-style (in your seat). Not near as comfortable as a sleeper but a lot cheaper!

Cheryl is being picked up in South Bend by Jayne and her grandmother. Then they head to Grand Rapids, MI where Cheryl and Jayne will load up the 1984 Mercedes Benz and head to Maine. Even though it's possible to make the drive in one 16 hour grueling shot, Cheryl is wisely overnighting in Utica, NY to ease the trip. This is a big adventure for Jayne since she has never driven this far. Bigger still is she has never seen the horse farm she is moving too!

Getting to Know You

Cheryl and I have attended 3 musical performances in the month we have been in Maine. We took in swing blues, old time (1920's & 30's) and Celtic/Folk. Cheryl managed to find a great swing blues band called "Room Full Of Blues" playing for Lewistown/Auburn - Falls Balloon Festival on our anniversary! RFB is a great band of Rhode Island that features a powerful brass section and lively music. What a great evening!

The old time music was provided by the "Wyios", a funky group out of Brooklyn, NY. Not only was their music engaging, but they had a great stage show to boot. They played in the Deer Trees Theatre, a 350 seat rustic-style facility built in 1936 near Harrison, ME. This theatre has wonderful acoustics, partly attributed to the hemlock timber frame and sheathing construction.

The Celtic/Folk music was provided by the "Swamp Donkey's", a local Maine group of 3 excellent musicians. This was the second time with "Donkeys" since we'd seen them in May. This time they played to benefit the Land Conservancy who recently purchased a tract of forest land near Norway. They too have an animated stage show to help engage the audience as well as excellent musicianship.

Moving Anyone?

Yesterday we moved our stuff out of the Carriage House. But wait, didn't we just move in 3 weeks ago? Yes we did. And because we like moving so much, we couldn't wait to do it again. Actually we swapped places with our host Tiffany so that we can get settled in time for Jayne to arrive next week. Unfortunately we are more than a little cramped for Jayne's arrival since Tiffany is still here and will be staying to mid-late October. Cheryl says it will be a good experience in learning to adapt and focus on the really important things in life for Jayne. I said that's true but it will also be hard for everyone. But we didn't embark on this adventure to make things easy in life.

The house we are now in is composed of 2 Bedrooms - 8x13 and 11x13, 1 bath, a 13x13 living room and a 13x16 kitchen. Cheryl finds all the 13's auspicious. There is also a sunporch but is useful only for storage in cold months. The small basement is dirt floored and uninhabitable and isn't useful for storage. We are hoping to be able to make use of part of the 12x30 Carriage House Tiffany is now living in.

But we will make do until our next move :-)