Author: Dale Sinclair

October 18, 2016

Clearly I am falling short of the high bar that Dale set in his life, particularly publishing The Dumpster consistently and regularly.  My apologies to his dedicated readers for the dearth of pithy insights from the gentle soul.

Dale / Papa would be 77 tomorrow, so on the occasion of his birthday, I thought it appropriate to share his post from last October.  I also hoped the Red Sox would still be in the play-offs on his birthday (so much for that!) and planned to post the picture below to  celebrate his love of sharing the Sox with his family.  This picture of was taken in the Spring of ’12, I believe. 

Stephen

AUTUMN
Autumn greeting from your friends here on the Scarborough Marsh. October is the month of change around here. We reflect back on the past and need to start planning for the future. Autumn does not last that long here, we see the changes every day, those trees with the summer green hues are now turning into the colors of a child’s crayon box. There are lots of bright reds, yellows and oranges. In a short time it will be only falling brown leaves blowing in the wind and we will be chasing them across the yard with a rake. It’s not as much fun as when I was a child and we would rake up big piles of dry leaves so we could jump and bury our selves in them. Then dad would that night set the pile on fire and we would pock it with a stick and put sparks into the air so it looked like a world of fire flies. The acidity smoke would drift up and down the street like early morning fog.
October is a good time to get out and enjoy the last of the nice warm weather. You can enjoy the animals at the County Fair,(wash your hands), pick some big red apples, or ride up into the mountains and have a picnic while taking pictures of the colorful hills. The future is near with those bitterly cold days and the ferocious northern winds that will force us to don heavy clothes, hats and mittens. So love October while it last.

WHAT AGE IS IT ?
In 1969 a popular musical group called the ” 5th Dimension” released a song called ” The Age of Aquarius”. The lyrics of the song said we would soon be entering into a time of love, light, and humanity. It predicted that peace will guide the planets and love will move the stars.

If you watch and listen to the nightly news it would appear that the age we are headed for is one of darkness, an age of hate and fear. A time of less civility and loss of respect for others that are not like us. We do have a problem, we must be sure that we are not a part of the problem for we have been taught to be a nation that loves , not hate. I long for the days of Aquarius , when practically everyone I know will respect each other and one another’s beliefs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !
Yes, this month is my birthday. Lots of my friends and family are Libras. I wonder if it has anything to do with January being one of the coldest month of the year in Maine. When I was born the telephone was on the wall and it had no rotary dial. The president was FDR, and you could get 5 gallons of gas for a dollar. In music it was the Era of the Big Bands and we only had 48 states. There has been a lot of changes, and a lot of birthday parties. I’ve opened hundreds of birthday cards and ate lots of birthday cake of various shapes and colors. Now I’m only semi-excited about another birthday right around the corner.
Conversely , kids birthday’s celebrations are fine, it needs to go along with all the other fun days that they love : Christmas, Hanukkah, Tooth Fairies, Easter, etc.but for me it has come a time to give up childish things. It’s time to deflate the ball just like Tom Brady would.So please to all my faithful readers, resist that urge to run out and buy me that expensive gift.

The one gift that you can give me , the greatest gift of all, and you all can do it. This month sometime find a person in need and help them. Regardless of their gender, age, geography, or politics they need a little help. In our lifetime at some point we all needed some help from others. So please be one of those unselfish “others”. Just look around they are all around us. And Thank You for my Birthday Gift.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ?
Imagine that Bill Gates called up and asked you out to lunch. Over the salad he hands you an envelope and says , ” I have reached a point in my life where I no longer needs wealth. So you can have this it is all ours “. You open the envelope and inside find a check made out to you for TEN MILLION Dollars. So what would you do ? Think about it and write back to me and next month I will tell you what my readers would do :
Give it back ?
Accept it Gratefully ?
Give it away ?
Feel that you don’t deserve it ?
Call your Lawyer and Financial Adviser first ?
Give the church 10%
Share it with whom ?

I’M THE LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD
My life, my whole life, has been filled with the most wonderful ,beautiful people. I started a list of all the people, past and present, that at some point in my life did so much good. It was amazing, the list went on for pages and pages. So many of you were on that list. My wife Ellen topped the list for she does so many wonderful things every day to make it better then the last. I look at my children and grandchildren and they are the best. My daughter, my three sons, what great parents they are, just special young men and woman. I would love to tell you about all the great ones on the list but there is not time or space to do it on an e-mail.

I will choose to mention what a small group of friends that I have had over the years. We meet every Thursday afternoon and set around a happy hour table at DiMillo’s, the boat”. Over the years these guys have helped me, they have encouraged and supported me,as I have them. I have to smile when I think of you and my past and how special and unique you have made my life. You are the best and I will keep you in my heart, mind and words. For you are that special person who treats each other with love and respect. God Bless you.

THE END
Well that’s it for this month. I hope that the Dumpster finds it way to you this time. I wish that the rest of October warm sunshine will shine upon you and nothing but good things will come into your life. Most of all may you have something to laugh about each day, keep smiling.

Your friend always, Dale

Greetings from Vermont.  I’m sitting on the deck, watching a hot air balloon rise quietly in the sky and  hearing the random firecracker or two in the distance.  The firecrackers remind me that Independence Day is nearly upon us, which reminds me of how much Papa LOVED going to his family camp in Wytopitlock, Maine and leading the family celebration of our nation’s birth.

I hoped I could find a July Dumpster focused on Independence Day in which Papa would invoke his vast skill as a history teacher to share with us one of his unique perspectives on an event we usually take for granted.  Interestingly, I could not find an issue dedicated to the Fourth; clearly his interests and perspectives were too broad for that!

However, I did manage to find a few pictures of the family celebration in Wytopitlock, which I hope you enjoy as you read this Dumpster from July 2010.

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful summer.

Stephen

Hi Neighbors,

“I wish you were my Neighbor”, wasn’t that how Mr. Rogers opened his TV Show ? Oh, that was a long time ago and I was just a little boy, and did not like to change my shoes and put on sweaters. But I would have loved to have played with his Trolley Train.

It is July so you know someday you would open the e-mail box and I was going to be there. Guess what? That day is here. July is one of the most anticipated months, it is really the start of summer. That hectic school year is long forgotten, these days will be our longest, finally we have warm temperatures, and life in Maine is less stressful and we can put the lawn chair in the shade and take a nap.

Do you remember last July ? Yes!  Three weeks of rain. We wore rubber boots to church, everything was covered with green mold, and we hatched bugs by the billions. July in Maine can give you some strange twists.This year on the Scarboro Marsh we get a heat wave. To avoid being in a puddle of sweat you run the AC and windows fans 24 hrs a day and sleep naked.

For the Out of Staters who are coming for a camping vacation, you need to know this. If you bring all kinds of rain gear it will guarantee that you will have one dry sunny day after another. Conversely if you do not have water proof clothing, you are asking for a non stop spell of pea soup fog and rain that has not been seen since Noah built the Ark. 

Also do not worry about Black Bears. You need to watch out for Bullwinkle. In Maine we have the largest moose population outside of Alaska. These critters will crash your car, they are even in the cities where the motorists don’t expect them. The Maine moose is the most deadly animal here, and they’re everywhere. Except when I am hunting them.

July Food

You guessed it, it’s Ice Cream. July is National Ice Cream Month. In 1984 it was so designated  by Pres. Ronald Reagan (of jelly bean fame). He liked desserts. Ice Cream is America’s favorite treat, we consume more per person in the USA than any other country in the world. Sure ice cream shops open up early in the Spring but I am not passionate enough about it to walk through melting snow or to stand in line during a Nor’easter.

During a July heat wave that is when you need ice cream to survive. It is a recession proof  product. We may be spending less on some leisure activities. But for ice cream on a hot day I am willing to open the wallet. The cost of a cone is no longer a dime, like when I got it from the Soda Jerk at the drugstore.It is still a bargain compared to other summertime activities. Plain vanilla is still the No#1 best seller. I am a chocolate chip guy but here in Maine you can still find the old time flavors like grape nut, apple crisp and blueberry.

July Sports

This month I had spells of being dizzy and lost of balance. Kind of like back in college at Pats in Orono. It turned out to be just an inner ear problem and since I could not drive for a while I got to see a lot of World Cup Soccer. Watching TV sports right after breakfast and putting up with constant horn blowing for 90 plus minutes is not how Americans start their day according to Dunking Donuts. Americans will never be crazy about soccer , which every other county in the world loves and calls it football, which it more accurate.

The reason the USA cannot stand the sport is because we hate referees., especially those who never seem to get the calls right. These guys in shorts and blowing whistles miss the fouls, off sides, out of bound and goals because they are running up and down this huge field and never have a proper view. All in-justices must stand because the referees will not give an explanation for the blown calls And in these countries  where people find more passion for it than sex, no replays are allowed. Soccer is a frustrating sport for Americans because it seems basically unfair. The rest of the world accepts it and makes it perfectly clear, “that’s Life,  Get over it “

4th of July

I usually spend the holiday at the Wytopitlock Camp. Same this year. The town does not have a fireworks show. So t’is the tradition at camp to have a big bonfire and to make it a real entertaining evening we all take turns poking the hot ashes with a stick. We do provide plenty of ” HARMLESS ” Sparklers for all. The sparklers are fire on a metal wire which is burning at more than 1,000 degrees F. Mothers who tell their young children not to play with fire are handing these sparklers out like lollipops.

Each year we give the 4th celebration and events a theme. No one knows how or why it got started but it attracts a crowd into the Haynesville Woods waiting to see the our Fourth of July Parade. This year the  theme was “CHRISTMAS in JULY” Everyone dresses in a costume, we make a float, and play loud music.

This parade would be rated the nations largest based on per capita ( population 5 ). It is the jaw dropping  event of the year. Because the town is so small and the parade so big this year we held it on the lake. We took anything that would float and drag it into the water. The Wytopitlock Christmas Flotilla set sail for  a two hour tour.We took the biggest guy we could find put  a diaper on him and called him Baby Jesus and he was the Grand Marshal of the parade

 July Reading

One of my personal ritual each summer is to read some good books. I know some of you see virtue in re-reading an old time classic. Harper Lee’s ” To Kill a Mocking Bird” I see why that would be a great re-read. But I never read the “same ” book twice. So bring on the long summer days and I’ll spend the time on the beach with a new book. My son Stephen gave me a good baseball book. It is the “End of Baseball ” A great true story of Bill Veeck. Back in 1944 Veeck was a maverick promoter, he was returning from WW II with a wooden leg and  $500 and hustled himself into buying the Philadelphia Athletics. He lets all the white ball players go and secretly recruits the legendary stars of the Negro League.. He makes up a team of Black Forty Year Plus Rookies like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Back Leonard. A team that will go down in baseball history as the greatest to ever play the game.

A July Nightmare

By July the water in Maine lakes and ponds is no longer body numbing cold. So for fishing nuts like me we are positively elated. I did not plan on talking about fishing waters until I caught something to brag about. But events of the last two months got me thinking. In Maine for years the fishing has declined. I have blamed it on things like : over fishing, global warming and change in water temps or the increased popularity of ice fishing. But I think pollution of the water is the culprit. For decades the water shed run off has filled our lakes and streams with chemicals, salt, fertilizers and any other cobacteriosis (thanks for spell check). So much that the fear of eating a mess of fish scares pregnant women and mothers with small children. Plus some of my best fishing buddies are now only practicing “catch and release.”

Now the biggest nightmare of water pollution in US history has got to be the BP oil spill. and what this on going disaster will mean in our lifetime. Not just in the Gulf Coast but Mainers should be angry and frustrated as well .We can sympathize with people who depend on the sea for their livelihood. Mainer’s loves the sea coast for its beauty and recreational  activities it provides.

Think what the oil spill has done to Louisiana and Florida marshland and beaches. Now what if it happen here in Scarboro with it huge marshland. Or if we had black sludge washing up on the white sandy beaches and rocks of Cape Elizabeth and So Portland or Casco Bay. No one though it would ever happen in the Gulf.

So does that mean it will never happen on the coast of Maine. As my old Boy Scout leader use to say, “Be Prepared.”

Out of Here

I can’t take it any more, this rambling  on and on has given me a headache. I need a month off, maybe I’ll be back in August. Until then stay out of the Sunshine or wear a hat.

 If you don’t come back I will miss you . Your friend Dale

Note from the editor:  Rather than just re-post the Dumpster sequentially, I think we might enjoy re-posting “seasonally appropriate” Dumpsters.  By that I mean posts from June in June, posts from November in November and so on.  I always enjoyed Dale’s observations on the seasons and holidays, and hope you do, too.  

So with that, here’s a post from June 2010.  

Stephen

I am back.

I am here to fill your ” You Have Mail ” box with spam. Remember you have two choices: change your e-mail or find the delete button quickly.
I feel that the month of June is pretty nice. You have weddings, graduations, retirements, etc. Plus many things are slowing down or stopping for the summer. As an old school teacher how we love to see the end of the school year near. We were four times more excited than the kids. Yes ! Life is different in June, we start to feel that summer is here. Full of those Lazy, Hazy , Days of summer. We can get out and enjoy a more restful, peaceful, time of year. Enjoy ! but remember the sun screen lotion.

Ticks, ticks, more ticks. Yes it is deer tick season big time.This year could be really bad.and Lyme Disease is nasty. With the mild winter here in Maine, many ticks were able to survive. This means you should be watchful and do a ” tick check ” if you have been in the grass and near bushes. I being a good neighbor and concern citizen have offered my services for free tick checks to all the fine ladies in Juneberry.

It is time for a History Lesson. Flag Day is on Monday. What is Flag Day ? Flag Day is to commemorate the date that the Continental Congress first approved the design for a national flag, instead of 13 separate banners. It was on June 14,1777. Us teachers may have stretched it a little bit with the George Washington and Betsy Ross version.

BUMPER STICKER of the month : ” Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet Him ”

This time of the month most of all the high school and college baseball games and season is over. And the Sea Dogs and Soxs are day by day until Sept. and Oct. But the Little League season is hot they are right into the best part of their schedule. A LL game is always exciting, you can never guess what a boy or girl might do with the bat or ball next.They love to play and it is not all about winning. They are here to have fun. Running to the wrong base, dropping a fly ball, striking out is never as important as being on the team. Being a team player and showing good sportsmanship are great lessons they are learning for life.

THOUGHT for the Month: ” Be a kind, gentle, caring and helpful person. For everyone you meet is probably dealing with a problem, so make sure that problem is not you. ”

In June we will brave the cold, heat, wind, rain and mosquitoes just to cook and eat outside. We drag the barbecues grills out of the garage and fill the patio with chairs and cover the table with the finest paper plates and plastic forks. While the wind blows the napkins all over the lawn but let’s face it we since the cave man have had a foolish love with outdoor dining.
The true Maine summer cooking experience begins in June. We love those juicy burgers and red hot dogs charred at Dale’s Great American Smoke-Out or the Sinclair’s Famous BBQ Ribs served at the Quadruple By-Pass Party.But the best summer meal of all is found on the docks and wharves of Maine’s sea ports. It is the famous MAINE LOBSTER. On a hot sunny day nothing taste better than a cool lobster roll chucked full of a quarter pound of fresh picked lobster. Or on a chilly evening you can warm up holding a steaming bowl of lobster stew. Or on any day you can stop at a local fisherman’s shack and be served a red hot boiled lobster right out of the big kettle. A true Maine summer eating experience must include the lobster,

The other day I had a big box to put into my car. I had to get the owners manual out of the glove compartment to figure out how to lower the back seat. They make cars so complicated today. I thought back to the first car I ever purchased. a 1962 FORD FALCON.
It was a classic. I was just out of college and I was proud to own a new car. This shiny light green two door compact did not attract a lot of attention. But I was honored to drive it down Congress St. with its 3 speed standard transmission and zero options. It had no radio, no AC, no powered windows, no power at all.  It had vinyl bench seats but in summer and winter it always started. In the six years I owned it , it never broke down. I only had to do tires and put in gas and oil. I sold it and went to a station wagon when by second child Bobby came along and we needed more room for strollers and diaper bags. Back then you never had to use the owner’s manual for it was all simple stuff ,plus I never had to look for my car keys because they were always in the ignition. No one was going to steal a Ford Falcon.
I love listening to music on the radio, not on a cord hanging out of my ear playing the same song over and over on an I-pod. I don’t sing, all notes and tunes are a foreign language to my ear. Most of my family never got that music gene when God passed them out. In church I pretend to sing but not loudly, church going people are O. K with it, for they are very forgiving and will ignore most of my flaws.
In my house while growing up the radio was always on. Grammie loved the Big Band era, Mom was with the swing of the Jazz age and the crooners of the post war era. In my teen years it turned to Rock-an-Roll. Yes Elvis was King and he hadn’t left the building yet. As I grew an matured my car radio or “boom box” was set on stations that played the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Simon-Garfunkel, and later Bruce Springteen, JT, or Van Morrison.

Now today the radio in the kitchen is tuned into the “OLDIES ” I love the music, I know all the words and I sing along with it. Yes Thank God I live alone. I guess I like it for these songs bring back great memories. It was a time when the world was a happier place and a more peaceful time. We can never go back to those eras but the music can take you there.
You may have noticed that the quality of the material contained in the ” Dumpster ” has been going down hill, maybe you might say it is getting trashy. I have come to that same conclusion as well. The main reason I believe that it is happening is because it is the same condition the writer is in.
Next week I am heading to Maryland to visit my son John and his friend Lanie and the cats and dog for awhile. My good friend Ewen will be going with me to keep me out of trouble if possible. So unless this trip turns out to be a ” Thelma and Louise Part II ” I should be back in time to pester you again next month. Enjoy the rest of June it doesn’t get much better.

I Love You All. Dale

Note from the Editor:

Many thanks to Dale’s sister Madeline for sharing some of the earliest Dumpsters that were not in the files we uncovered on Juneberry Lane.  As you read in the prior post, Dale’s monthly missives were not titled “The Dumpster” until May 2010.  The posts Madeline found started in July 2009 and were simply entitled July Update, August Update and so forth.  

So, thank you Madeline for sharing these earlier posts.  And happy Memorial Day to all!!

Stephen

And now, here’s this week’s featured attraction, Dale’s post from July 2009

July ! July !

Charles Dickens said it best. ” It was the best of
time, It was the worst of time.” NO , not Sarah Palin resigning or M.J.
sudden death nor the Red Soxs. Yes! it’s the weather. RAIN.
Sure , our gardens and farm crops need water to grow, But not this much water. Seriously who needs 12 inches in a month. It sure did make for
a wet 4th week-end at the camp ground. Can you say MUD ?

Cousin Lois said her garden was just a mire of mud and the flowers had curled up and were waiting for the last rites. I had so many
slugs in the yard that Jeff Probst could of feed all his Survivor Contestants
for the whole month. So Mother Nature, I promise to never, ever complain about the heat, if you will fix that broken water pipe.

It as always was good hearing from so many of you.
Thanks to your e-mails I now know that Father’s Day is a big event in June. Good news that Ellie K and Dick B are recovering from their operations. Clem, I would like to hear more about that new grandchild. It was wonderful having son John from Baltimore here for the week-ends.

The Star for July might have been Susan Boyle, the shy Scottish Maid, with the voice of an angel. Who has recovered from depression and is now on her way to a great music career. Or it could of been Mirie
Stivashankar , the 13 yr old girl from Kansas, who won the national spelling bee. She was awe inspiring as she conquered words that only Webster knew.It probably was easier for her after she mastered the spelling of her name.

But the Star for July I am proud to say was my handsome grandson Nick Sinclair. He graduated from Hall Dale Jr.HS and was recognized for the his great work over the last two years. Nick received the American Legion award for courage, integrity, honor, and scholarship. The Presidential Award for Academic Excellence which included a letter from Pres. Obama, also the P.E. award for leadership in the classroom. Nick it must be in the gene pool (mother’s side) . Nick has just returned from the Costa Rica’s rain forest where his Uncle John took him for a special vacation.

What book have I been reading this month ? American Passage, History of Ellis Island. by Vincent Cannato. It is not on Oprah’s book list. But it has lots of great true life stories of the immigrants who went through the island’s gates into NYC. Yes ! it’s a history book and I know you hated your boring history teacher. But that was years ago, so get over it.. You might like it.

If you read my monthly commentary you are probably thinking Dale you are watching too many ” 60 Minutes Reruns with Andy Rooney” I
will admit that I am a dinosaur when it comes to all the new electronic gadgets. I feel no need to conceal that I’m happy with snail mail, hard copy, VCR, my a.m. desk radio,or a Fred+Wilma’s dial telephone. So I’m not keeping up with the Jones, maybe not even with the people in Mayberry. Because for music I don’t need that iPod hanging out of my ear or watch Letterman on the TiVo while I eat my morning Cheerios.It seems I’m living in a world that I no longer know. I am a modern day Rip Van Winkle.

For example, take the growing popularity of the Cell Phone. Yes, it has a place in our society, a real potential for service, “Like I have fallen and I can not get up.” or “the flat tire on a dark rainy night.” Especially since we no longer have any highway phone booths. So I’m not against cell phones, I have one but It drives my family and friends crazy because I never turn it on. They feel that a normal person will carry it and use it daily. This small folding pocket phone loaded with giga bytes, will let you take pictures, play games,watch TV shows, go on the Internet, text messages or tethering to people next to you. All while driving 80 mph down I 95. I really do not need a cell phone hanging on my belt to do this. If I need to make a call, I will borrow yours. Because, like you said, all normal people have one today.

That’s it for this month. In the next e-mail I will give you my recipe for a delicious Zucchini/horse radish dip. Just kidding.  I wish you many sunny days ahead. My life is good here and I hope it is in your neck of the woods. They say friends will leave footprints in your heart, so please walk all over me.

God Bless, Dale

Welcome Dumpster Readers,

I am glad to be back with you again. An old saying was that March will come in like a Lion and will go out like a lamb. Not this year. The first of March brought spring like weather to Scarborough. The beautiful, colorful crocuses, daffodils, tulips are already up and ready to bloom. The trees have budded and the sap is running on the maple trees.

Continue reading “March Dumpster”