Mason

I’ve noticed a couple changes in Mason when we returned from our trip. The first one was that our rain gauge filled with water while we were away, meaning that Mason received at least 5 inches of rain, minimum, while we were gone, because the rain gauge only held that amount. That water, combined with some beaver activity resulted in the closing of the Flat Road extension just past Jane Gamble’s property where the east branch of the Pleasant River runs through a large culvert. The culvert was apparently partly plugged by beaver activity (I didn’t personally confirm the cause) resulting in a lot of water flowing across the road, washing away the shoulder and part of the travel lane on the downstream side of the road. The road is still passable via bicycle and perhaps light-weight motor vehicles, but barricades are up, along with signs reading “road closed.”  Of course, the flooded road is actually in Albany, not Mason.

The other “major” development is that the Tyler Road on the south side of the west branch of Pleasant River is now under construction, just upstream of Elsie Aylward’s home, presumably under National Forest contract. This project was finally approved by the Oxford County Commissioners a couple years ago after a legal dispute with land owners who tried to prevent any major reconstruction of that part of the road through their property.

I have learned unofficially that the National Forest plans to have some logging done on National Forest land up the road.

Shiloh is now nearly two years old, and we thought that he had outgrown most of his chewing habits. He has been really good about not chewing any of our clothing or shoes, except for holes in a couple pair of soiled underwear, since he was a puppy. However, I recently discovered some “stealth” chewing evidence. During the summer, Shiloh often spent a lot of time in our basement, because it was cool there during the hot weather, and I hadn’t noticed any chewing damage. That is, until I got my newest chainsaw out to saw up a couple of firewood logs I had almost forgotten about. When I went to start the saw, I noticed that the choke switch had been chewed off, leaving just a tiny nub that made it hard to pull on the choke! Bob Lowell was amused when I took the saw in for a new switch! He should have the new one in by the time we get this week’s Citizen.

Besides that, Mona and I discovered, by the time we were almost home, that Shiloh had chewed the buckle off the seatbelt in the middle of the back seat of the pickup! I had put wooden guards along both sides of the back seat so Shiloh couldn’t get at the new seatbelt straps I had installed after he had chewed off the original ones that hang down both sides of the rear seat. We also have a canvas dog bed installed, stretching from the headrests on top of the front seats to the headrests in the back seat. Trouble was there is a zipper in the bed where the seat cushions meet the back of the rear seat. Shiloh had chewed the zipper out and was able to access the seatbelt buckle through the hole in the bed canvas! I’m not going to buy any more seatbelts for the pickup!