New2Maine.com

Mt. Katahdin, Maine, originally uploaded by Surfingjoe.

I don’t think I really need to say too much about this one. Simply stunning. She and I are definitely going to get up to Baxter this summer.

As I reported in my previous post about Chip’s Subaru Center, She and I both own Subarus. Prior to a recent ski trip to New Hampshire, after which She would be taking my 2002 WRX to New York to see her family and some friends, I scheduled my car for an overdue oil change and a thorough pre-roadtrip inspection. When I spoke to Chip to schedule the appointment, I mentioned that I only ran synthetic oil in my car and would be willing to bring my own if that was a problem. He suggested that I should pick up a case of whatever I wanted to run and he’d happily use that instead.

We dropped my car off at about 8:30 AM last Tuesday. Aside from the oil change and once-over, I mentioned an annoying brake rub in the right rear wheel when cornering hard to the left. He promised he’d check it out. I heard back from Chip before 10:00 AM with a handful of recommendations. In addition to the oil change, I was told that my fuel filter should probably be replaced, and that my alternator belt was pretty weather-worn (I’d noticed some cracking, but didn’t mention it—I wanted to see just how thorough their inspection was). The brake rubbing was caused by a backing plate that was not seated quite correctly. All of this was taken care of for $110 (plus the cost of the oil). Chip also mentioned that the a/c belt was looking a little ragged but would probably last another 5000 miles and so could be replaced with my next oil change. Best of all, my car was ready by lunch time! Fast, thorough service at a fair price—what more can you ask for in a mechanic?

We’ll definitely be trusting both our cars to Chip and his crew in the future. If you own a Subaru and are within reasonable driving distance of Portland, I’d highly recommend you give him a call – (207) 775-2020. If you’re looking for your next car and aren’t quite sure what to get, I’d even suggest looking at Subarus just so you can go to Chip. He’s that good.

Empty Playground, originally uploaded by alternativeperception.

I’m not entirely sure where in Maine this was taken, but it is a pretty accurate depiction of what the weather has been like lately. Snow followed by rain last week, and then warmer weather with pea-soup fog this week. Walking the dog through Evergreen Cemetery yesterday morning was a bit eery…imagine gravestones instead of swing sets.

Portland received another 7-8″ of snow yesterday, putting us close to the 7′ mark for the season. That was not, however, the big weather story of the day. Beginning in the late morning, the temperatures rose close to 40° and the precipitation turned to rain. Lots of rain. According to WGME, 2.54″ to be exact, enough to break a record set in 1900! This led to some absolutely miserable shoveling yesterday afternoon as I tried to make sure that the berms left by the snow plows did not become permanent mountains of ice overnight. I gave up after moving some 80 cubic feet of water-laden slushy material that weighed enough to bow the reinforced handle on my shovel. All I can say this morning is “oh, my aching back!”

After reading Type A Diversions: Emilitsa, a review of Portland’s newest Greek restaurant (on a blog which is now on the blogroll here), She and I have decided to bump Emilitsa to the top of, or at least very near, the top of our dining list. We just ate at Street & Co. last Friday (review coming soon), and The Front Room and Cafe at Pat’s are still on the list as well, but sometimes you just have a hankering for phyllo dough. Alas, we are going out of town for the weekend both this weekend and next, so we might not get to check another item off our “to-eat” list until March.

Update: We’ve finally eaten at Emilitsa. See my review here.