Elections: Frustrated with Negativity

Thank God the elections are almost here and the endless negative commercials will be over! I wonder (aloud) if the negativity of the commercials parallel the situation of our county.

Every time I see one candidate bash the other, I often turn the TV/radio off or mute it, and say to Courtney or anyone who will listen, "if they spent as much time explaining what they stand for and how they are going to represent us and less time bashing their opponent, I would more likely vote for them'....

These days more & more Commercials, television show, reality TV and movies portray (the main) characters as being mean, double crossing and game playing. Okay, I am watching too much Dancing with the Stars and Hallmark movies, but isn't being nice a good way to heal our country?

Where are the nice, honest, straight shooting people/candidates?
Are they becoming lost in the muddle of negativity?

When my kids were little and I had foster kids, I had only one easy rule in my house, "Consideration".
Consideration for others covers just about everything under the sun. Think about it. If politicians were more considerate of their constituents with whom were voted in and that they represent, wouldn't our town, state and country run more smoothly.

If "consideration" were to be exercised, then the politicians would not be making sweet deals with their cronies and bad bills would not be passed in the middle of the night or hidden in a foot tall bill that has nothing to do with nothin'?

I personally think that we have outlived having 2 major parties...
Of course, I don't know everything by any stretch... But I do think if everyone wasn't split by party, maybe "groups" of like minded people could work together without the pressure of what is best politically for their party, maybe some of the dilemmas our country faces could be solved more easily.

Think about our local elections... There is NO PARTY LISTED on the local ballot! So people are elected on their merit, NOT on their party. Interesting concept?

Whether or not you agree with me or not, be an American and VOTE...
But with that said, know what you are voting for! Don't just vote "party lines" unless YOU believe in what you are voting for.

Enough ranting today.... saw another negative ad and had to blog it, 'cause Courtney and the dogs are sick of me saying it outloud.

Vote on November 4th!!!

I was just watching a YouTube video made by some of the top stars in the United States. Usually, I am not impressed by 'stars' endorsing a certain party or candidate, but this video is all about VOTING!

I think it is worth taking a look at!!!!



On the local level, tonight Dexter Candidates Night is at 6:30 pm at the Universalist Church. If you can't be there in person surf on over to the Town of Dexter website and click on the yellow "Live Streaming Video" box on the right/top of the page.

You will be able to see 'live' the participating candidates comments, thank to Dave Giles. Yes, he is a candidate, running for town council this year. But I will tell you he is not doing all this "live streaming video" work for you because of that, but to help the citizens of Dexter be more informed!
Hats off to you Dave for the efforts you are putting forth......

Big Lake Wassookeag

The colors on the lake today were magnificent!
Fall is such a wonderful time of the year! The brisk breeze, the colorful foliage, the smell of fall in the air.... And then there is the smell of wood smoke from the chimney, knowing that the home is warm and cozy from the stove...

Fall also is when people are decorating their yards with scarecrows, cornstalks and chrysanthemum arrangements.

If you fell like taking a foliage ride, don't leave out driving around the side streets in Dexter. It appears that more Dexter citizens have decorated their porches and driveways for the season then in the past! Pleasant Street, Maple Street are a couple that are nice! Check it out.....

Exciting News, New Technology

Some exciting news!!!
Bob Simpson, a previous Town Manager, and I used to dream about putting council meetings and such on Cable Access TV for more citizens to keep in touch with what is going on in Dexter. Well, that never came to fruition, but now in the 21st Century, new technology has created new opportunities.

"STREAMING VIDEO"

Dave Giles who is a teacher at the Tech Center in Dexter is making it possible for the citizens of Dexter to watch the meetings from the comfort of their homes.

We are trying a new "Streaming Video" broadcast online on Thursday, October 9th at the monthly Dexter Town Council Meeting.
Dave will be videoing and recording live starting at 7 pm.

We hope that it will be insightful and beneficial.... (and that it works...) In the future we hope to bring you more "Live Streaming Videos" from other meetings, events, book club discussions.... The list is endless.

Click here on Dexter's Website for the broadcast and click on the yellow box on the right.

Please email judy@DexterMaine.com with your comments and thoughts.

More Yoga talk...

I mention quite awhile ago, Courtney and I go to Yoga every week for an hour with Yoga Guru Donna Kraft-Smith.

We have been going well over a year now and still really enjoy it!

I received an email recently from someone who had read my blog about going to Yoga and they sent me a great link called "100 Free Online Instructional Yoga Videos".
It has 100 yoga videos on YouTube that are free.

Click here to check them out

Fall Flowers at Abbott Memorial Library

I took this picture while waiting for Courtney at the Library.
She is working as a fill in at Abbott Memorial Library but is still working for Judy Craig Consulting.... phew !!!!

So of course I had my camera and took some great shots behind the Library.

Speaking of which.... A few weeks ago, a historical engineering consultant came to the Library suggesting what kinds of improvements, fixing existing issues and providing lots of insight in maintaining a historical building.
John was soooo interesting!
Courtney and I joined library trustee Bob Crawford and Librarian Liz Breault and John as he took us from top to bottom of the Library.
Most interesting and thought provoking.
Example: if you are fixing something, use the same materials as was used when the building was built or upgrade. Not to save money and not necessarily for historic value, but because the "fix material" will bond better with the original materials and may actually cost less.
I never thought of it that way... I assume newer building products would be better, but that's where "thought" got me :)

Fall is here!

Ya... I took a vacation again from blogging...
There are many times I want to write down my thoughts and share some news, but I wonder if it worthy of publishing for the public to read.
Now that fall is here I will try to change my ways with the season.

Speaking of the season, Darlene (of the Snap of the Dragon) and I "dressed" Main Street in Dexter again with Chrysanthemums. The new owners at Spring Street Greenhouse (Tim) gave us a good deal on buying the chrysanthemums.
FYI: Darlene and I grow the summer flowers, but we do use some tax dollars to buy the fall flowers.
We were really pleased with the new Main Street barrels we purchased for the 2008 season. They are a lot bigger than the previous year, which was good because they looked full and held the moisture a little better, but took more flowers to fill them.

I hope everyone enjoyed them. Dexter's Main Street looks so festive. Thanks to the businesses who also decorated. Country Charm's window boxes look great! And thanks to the Prudential guys who watered their own flower barrel this summer!
I want to thank Jean Jacobs and the volunteers who helped water this summer, although we ran out of volunteers towards the end of the summer.

If YOU would like to help out watering, give me a call. We can use all the help we can get. NOPE, we don't get paid, but the satisfaction of driving downtown in the evening and seeing how pretty it looks is reward enough!

While I am talking about flowers, some jerk stole 2 of the chrysanthemums out of the barrel in front of Vicki's Hair Salon... What kind of ass would steal flowers from Main Street? I hope they enjoy them, but I also hope that every time they look at them, they remember that they are STOLEN FLOWERS. I did buy some more flowers to put in the barrel, but still......

Stealing....
As you many know, there have a bunch of burglaries in our area lately.
I have posed the question to some town officials about starting a "community watch", sorta like the cities do neighborhood watch.
May I suggest that we all talk with our neighbors and get acquainted with them (if you aren't already).

-- Let your neighbors know if you are going away and what vehicles may be in your yard, if any.
-- Call the police if you see anything suspicious. Better to safe than sorry!
-- Do checks on the elderly

Locked doors don't seem to matter anymore if you are away, but if you have some ideas on keeping our homes safer, let me know to pass along to others.

Dexter Police Chief Art Roy recommended the public keep its collective eyes open.

“If you see anything suspicious, call the police right away. Don’t wait until later.” The non-emergency telephone number for the Dexter Police Department is 924-7622.