34 - 2/22/11 - Marshside Storytime

Initial Impressions

34 – 2/22/11 – Marshside Storytime

Snow Chance In Hell: c. 2002/03

Okay so this is a first Initial Impressions to feature Marshside Storytime.  These are pulled from the archives of my nearly 18 years at the Marsh.  They are all hilarious, although some are probably going to make me look like a real asshole.  Whatever, there is a statute of limitations on these actions.  Enjoy.

At the old Marshside we had a large barn located across the small dirt parking lot.  It was here that we had our walk-in fridge, prep area, and a large section of the barn which was filled with paper goods and a lot of random stuff.

                At one point we had a really weak intercom system put in.  It worked at first but not too long after it sounded like when you put your whole mouth over a microphone, it became just a bunch of garbled sounds.  It became more reliable to step out onto our deck and shout or whistle for somebody in the prep area if we needed something to be brought over.

                When it would snow we would take to throwing snowballs at the side of the barn.  Sometimes to get people’s attention, sometimes for fun, sometimes to throw at people.  Hey, we’re only human.

                Anyway, there was one time where this one guy Bento was in the prep room doing his thing when we needed him to bring us something.  A few snowballs and shouts brought him to the door.  I told him what we needed and he went to get it.  Of course, I had another snowball left over, it couldn’t go to waste.

                When he came back out I fired the snowball at him but missed.  He was not amused.  I enjoyed it though and decided that the game of the day would be to see how many times I could call to Bento, get him to come out, and then how many times I could hit him with snowballs.

                After a couple of times, and a couple of bad misses by me, he wised up.  I shouted to him and threw a snowball at the barn but Bento would not come out.  I was not to be denied the satisfaction of drilling him with my perfectly round ball of frozen water so I went in the prep room after him.  

                I quietly opened the screen door and the storm door and crept a few steps back to where our tiny prep area was.  There was an unsuspecting Bento chopping lettuce for salads.  Aww, maybe I shouldn’t since he has no idea?  Wrong.

                Being a sport I shouted, “Hey!”  Bento looked up and his eyes got huge behind his giant Drew Carey-like black-rimmed glasses. 

                “No!  No!”  Bento shouted as he pressed himself up against the wall knowing the end was near for him.  He acted as if I was Jason Voorhees and was about to throw an axe at him.  This scene of pure horror from him caught me off guard and I busted out laughing.  There was no way I could control myself.  Still, it was too late to turn back.  I cocked my arm back while still laughing and fired the snowball from about eight-feet away. 

                My aim was sad thanks to my laughter and the snowball sailed to the left knocking a clock off of the wall.  The snow splattered against the wall the clock spun around in the air bouncing off of the shelves on the left side of the prep room.  Bento breathed a sigh of relief and I dashed out of the prep room still laughing.  I think it took a few weeks for him to trust me enough to come outside when I whistled for him.  Ahh, good times. 

Altered to protect the innocent.

33 - 2/17/2011

Initial Impressions

Christopher Setterlund

33 – 2/17/2011 – In My Footsteps Trip

         -->   Took a trip to Canton, Sharon, and Foxboro today.  200 total driving miles, $20 in gas.

            The first stop was the 700 foot Great Blue Hill and a foot or so of snow on the entire way up.  Sure, it was in the 50’s today but that did not melt much snow.  The entire hike up the mini-mountain was like the scene in Rocky IV with Stallone running up the mountain.  The view from the observatory at the top of Great Blue Hill was sick, the Boston skyline was visible although melting snow made a bit of fog.

            There was also a small collection of wildlife at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum.  The otter was so cute he was doing laps around the tank, flipping off the walls of the tank and swimming upside down.  The only downside was the pair of deer that spent the whole time licking each other, legs, asses, it was like animal porn.

            My shoes were soaked from the snow pretty quickly, I also ended up getting pretty busted up from the piles of heavily compacted snow.  Taking a few photos of the Canton Viaduct I sunk in the snow and I tell you hitting that packed snow was like smashing my shin on the front step.  It was worth it though, that viaduct is like something out of ancient Rome.

            There was some sort of black box in front of the Canton Town Hall.  I am trying to figure out what the hell it was.  Time capsule?  Sculpture?  Pointless or useless?  Maybe, it had some cool things carved into it though.

            Driving through Sharon, a back street neighborhood, I saw some white trash looking guy in a white-t and boxer shorts walking, blowing his nose all over the snow.  Then I saw him later leaving Walgreens and wanted a photo but he was looking.  Didn’t want snot blown on my windshield by that loser.

            Thought for a moment about hiking up the 300 foot Moose Hill in Sharon, but my ruined hip, knee, and shin told me to forget about it.  I found it odd that while walking through the deep snow it was only my right leg that sunk down in over and over.  What is that?  Does my left side weigh less?

            Went back to Borderland Park in Sharon/Easton.  I was able to skip the $2 fee to get in, it’s called ignoring the toll booth.  There was way too much mud thanks to it getting up near 60 by this time.  I did get to take some crazy shots of the Ames Mansion though.  Some workers in a truck stopped to watch me since I looked drunk stumbling in the snow, only the right leg sinking in of course.  Tried to explain this to an old couple walking by but they ignored me or pretended they were deaf.

            Foxboro started out as a total bust since the historic homes I was looking for were either not where they were supposed to be, or they were being lived in, and had no place for me to park to take a shot.  Can’t just stop in the middle of the road, well, usually.

            Going to Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place more than made up for it.  Ate at Five Guys for the first time and had my mind blown.  Having lunch in the shadow of Gillette was pretty bad ass.  Then I got to get pretty close to the field, some great shots.  I almost got in but the field worker chickened out.  Just needed 2 minutes but no, he was more worried about his precious job.

            I found this old school, Paine School, in Foxboro.  Behind it was this weird stone tower with stairs leading up to it.  No sign, no plaque to tell me what it is.  All I know is the railing leading up was wobbly and the stairs were covered with ice, horray.  I ended up with soaked shoes, socks, and the bottom foot of my pants again after blasting my heat to dry them.

            I stopped on the side of the road to shoot an historic home, no harm right?  Then I went to leave and ripped a huge patch thanks to the mud, car covered, yeah, doesn’t make me look too suspicious.

            Song of the Day – Hearts On Fire by John Cafferty.  From Rocky IV, I heard it in my head as I scaled Great Blue Hill, I did not shout ‘Drago!!’ at the top though.  Buy the mp3 here and go train!

            Quote of the Day – “Great view, huh?”  Field worker at Gillette Stadium to me as I drooled clinging to the gates only a hundred feet from the football field.  He would not let me in, said he’d get in trouble.   

            Photos of the Day:

Canton Viaduct

So close to the field at Gillette.

View of Boston from the top of Great Blue Hill.

What the hell is this tower?  Behind Paine School in Foxboro.

32 - 2/16/2011

Initial Impressions

32 – 2/16/2011

I am not sure now what is worse, the swollen meatheads at the gym, or the little gym sluts.  Sure the sluts are nicer to look at than a bunch of guys walking like monkeys but the gym sluts coming in dressed like they’re going clubbing is way too distracting.  Hey, go back to what you do best, working out in the back seat of some high school guy’s car.

                In a related story, there were two hot girls from the gym walking home as I left.  Thought hard about picking one or both up.  My Skinemax fantasy quickly turned to some sort of Fatal Attraction where I get killed and they steal my car and my organs.  That would be my luck so I left them to walk.

                So first the Yankees jerk around Derek Jeter, now the Cardinals are jerking around Albert Pujols?  If Pujols is not a top-5 player in baseball I’d like to see the list so I can laugh at it.

                I am prone to say that if you dream about the same thing/person 3 nights in a row, including twice in the same night that your brain might be trying to tell you something.

                I never thought that I would actually have MORE energy by ingesting LESS caffeine.  How is that possible? 

Jessica Alba is pregnant again.  I will reiterate how damn lucky her husband is, she is so hot you need a fire retardant suit just to think about her.

A perfect time to pull something in my hip is when I am planning on hiking up Great Blue Hill in Canton tomorrow.  Mile up and back, 635 feet high, sure no problem, I’ll be hurting more tomorrow night.

I still think that the ‘chinless fat’ guy from the gym is going to find his way into a book of mine at some point.  They guy is just money when it comes to laughter.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again.  Relationships are like cars.  When your car breaks down over and over and over what do you do?  Do you keep on pouring money into something that is dying?  No, you save your time and money and you go get a new car, one that works.  Wow, is that so hard to figure out?  I guess you have to go through it to understand, I did.  Who’s next?

Really loving the raspberry-melon Gatorade.  Highly recommend everyone go and try it.

How is it that we have a thousand types of Cheerios but they can’t find room for Count Chocula anymore?  Madness people.

I have two new books up on Amazon in the Kindle store.  Go and check out the horror/suspense story Seventh Island Light and the children’s book Goot's Mission.

Need You Now by Lady Antebellum is my choice for today’s Song of the Day.  You can buy the mp3 here.

Photo of the Day:

Fort Rodman, New Bedford, Ma.

31 - 1/10/2011 - In My Footsteps Trip

Initial Impressions

Christopher Setterlund

31 – 1/10/2011 – In My Footsteps Trip

1.  This trip was up to the North Shore towns of Newbury, Newburyport, and Plum Island; $30 in gas, total of 290 driving miles.

2.  Plum Island is a lot like driving on the Outer Cape and National Seashore.  It was unbelievable cold and windy, good thing I brought gloves and then left them in the car, over and over.

3.  There was a monument dedicated to a local firefighter at Plum Island Point, at first I thought it was a grave since the monument looks like a gravestone.  Was wondering why they would let someone get buried at the beach, a nice contrast to the playground next to it.  Of course it’s not true.

4.  Arrived at Plum Island in time to see the house at 27 Annapolis Way get demolished.  Erosion made it close to falling over the cliff and onto the beach.  Even the house next door is in danger too, hope these people had some sort of insurance in case of erosion.

5.  Got to see lots of news folk there at the house razing.  Jack Harper from Channel 5 walked through my video, thanks a lot.  NECN, Boston Globe, Channel 7 and FOX had helicopters circling overhead.  Got interviewed by Channel 7 but they didn’t use it, good thing too, I had my Ring Bros. hat on instead of my Patriots one.  I did see myself in a video on Boston.com twice though so it wasn’t a total loss.

6.  Almost used my entire camera battery filming the house being smashed, waited and waited for them to finally knock the chimney down and it took out a satellite dish too which was cool.

7.  Was excited to find out that my camera can charge using the USB port in my dash, the Mobile Command Center comes through yet again, saved me from buying a spare battery, $40!

8.  Saw a pair of the oddest lighthouses possible.  Front Range Light in Newburyport looks like a lighthouse shaped shed, I could have totally seen someone pulling a lawn mower out of it.  Rear Range Light is out on the Main Street, nowhere near the water, made of brick and you can dine at the top of it.

9.  Still trying to find out the origin of the Mill stores near those lighthouses.  They are like mini-malls with ‘Mill No.’ 1-5 on top.  They must have been old mills but they look so cool.  Went up onto the roof of one, legally don’t worry, and got a great view of Plum Island River.

10.  Steve got to witness the insanity of my trips now, I need a ‘This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops’ sign on the back of my car.  I can’t help it, I see the historic sign on a house and I pull off the road, it’s instinct now.  Other cars don’t like it though, I have learned that.

11.  Love it when so many spots I want to shoot are in the same area.  Found this out when shooting City Hall in Newburyport and noticed a few familiar addresses.  I must have looked like Daffy Duck running all over snapping away, it saves time to run but makes you look suspicious.

12.  Got to say I really enjoy having Steve Drozell along when he can make it.  Knowing the photography skill he has makes me up my own game and results in better quality photos by me.

13.  Anytime you slip while trying to take a photo it’s never good, it’s worse when folks beep at you since you know they saw you almost go down, I still got my shot and stayed dry so I can take the embarrassment.

14.  After passing it 3 times finally had to get a photo of this teal blue house with a ribbon on the door.  While behind a stopped school bus, handed the camera to Steve who got the shot, what a cool looking house.

15.  There are a bunch of these ‘mile stones’ scattered around Newbury, they date back to the early 1700’s.  Some really cool artifacts but the search for them is tough, got lost a bit.  Found 1 covered in snow so I whipped out my gym towel and brushed it off which drew some looks from kids leaving school but hey, I cam this far, I want a clear shot, y’know?

16.  The ‘Witches Stone’ looks like something off of a cave wall in ancient Greece.  A really creepy looking design and the stone is in front of someone’s house.  I wonder how many people pass that by everyday and have never seen it?

17.  Went back to Gloucester for the 5^th time.  Steve had not seen Annisquam Light and I would never refuse a chance to go back to my #1 favorite town.

18.  Got a chance to shoot video of the Man at the Wheel at sunset, the photos were awesome too.  It would have been perfect except for how cold it was.

19.  Damn GPS was good all day until trying to find a gas station.  It led us to a Tedeschi which it said had fuel, nope, stupid lying British nanny.  I almost would rather it speak in Spanish from now on.

20.  Got a nice slice of life experience thanks to toll roads, forgetting to change my GPS settings meant we skipped off of Rt. 1 near the Tobin Bridge and did a lot of back roads at rush hour.  The joy of sketchy city streets, perfect end to a great day! 

The videos shot are here --> Gloucester, Mass.

                                                             27 Annapolis Way, Plum Island being torn down.

Quote of the Day:  “C’mon, give it a nudge, just touch it, it will go over.” Me on video begging the construction guys to knock the chimney over at 27 Annapolis Way before my battery died. 

Song of the Day:  Poundcake – Van Halen (buy mp3 here)

Photos of the Day:

Front Range Light

Rear Range Light

The house at 27 Annapolis Way being torn down.

The Witches Stone

The Man at the Wheel following the moon.