Mosquito Madness

I was at work, sitting at my desk when this little bugger flew in front of my face. Yes, the past few days here have been unseasonably warm, but being buzzed by a mosquito in January in Maine is rather unsettling. You expect it between May and October, but not this time of year.
Could it have hatched in the damp basement at the office? Maybe. But I don't remember any mosquitos drifting up from the dank, dark cellar last winter. Or any of the other 8 or 9 winters I've worked in the same building.
Here's what I have just found at Accuweather.com: yesterday the high in Ellsworth was 42 degrees F, about 12 degrees higher than the normal high. The day before that, 48 degrees, which was about 19 points higher than normal. The day before that: 51 degrees, or 24 points higher than normal. None of these is a record high, but it's hard not to notice when the snow is seriously melting away, all the ice in the roof gutter disappears and you can spend several minutes outside comfortably in your shirtsleeves. It is in January, anyway.
Okay, so I'm not going to make any claims that this proves or even suggests anything. I'm not a scientist and I know better than to make claims I can't back up - yes, even on the Internet. I'm just saying, I hope this doesn't start happening every January. In my mind, having lots of snow on the ground and no bugs in the air for a few months each year is not such a bad thing.

Still For Sale

While I'm at it, I might as well mention that Donald Anthony Walker Young's house in Northeast Harbor is still on the market. It is listed by Sotheby's for $1.3 million.
Walker, known as "Tony," has been called "mini-Madoff" for his role in the alleged theft of more than $23 million from investors in his money management firm. His house near the town's seasonal swimming club and some of his other assets, including his boats and his home, horses and riding gear in Coatesville, Pa., are being liquidated to help pay back his former investors. Walker apparently was a horse enthusiast and enjoyed playing polo.
Fortune magazine published a story about Young last fall that, though it seems somewhat slanted, is informative nonetheless. For a more local angle, here's a story about him that appeared in the BDN last November.
For the record, there's a lot more to Downeast Maine than the houses of wealthy people. I find the presence of so much wealth interesting, especially when juxtaposed with the comparatively minor incomes of most of the people who call the region home. But this won't be a blog about the rich & famous. Robin Leach I am not.

Neither is he. That's Tony Young.

Sold!

It appears Atlantique, the former Astor family oceanfront retreat in Bar Harbor that has been on the market for the past several years, may have finally sold.
According to the Town of Bar Harbor's tax assessor's database, the new owner is Laurie A. West of Orlando, Fla. The former owner, Catherine Barrett, appears to have gotten her latest asking price of $3.9 million for the 9,700-square foot mansion that overlooks the Shore Path and Frenchman Bay.
The sale occurred last June, according to the official assessor's database.
It had been on the market since at least 2006, when the asking price was $7.5 million and the real estate market was, well, a lot different than it is now. One of the mansion's real estate listings from early 2009 can still be found online at ExoticExcess.com. For tax purposes, the town has estimated the mansion and surrounding 4-acre property to have a total assessed value of $3.4 million.
Who Laurie A. West is I am not sure, but there is a Scott West in Orlando who is a doctor, according to some Google search results. Scott West's name appears among the information listed under the property's "owner of record" heading in the assessor's database, and both their names appear side by side on donor lists for the Central Florida YMCA and the National Park Foundation. One might assume that they are married, or at least related somehow.
But if you are in the market for some luxury oceanfront residential property in Bar Harbor, there still is some available. Businessman and former state Sen. Tom Sawyer appears yet to be offering his mansion Highland Rose for sale, though his price has come down a bit. The 9,000 square-foot home near the village of Hulls Cove was listed last year for $4.95 million but now is being offered for $4.5 million, according to this online listing. For tax purposes, the town has estimated Sawyer's mansion and the surrounding 3-plus acre property to have an assessed value of $3.2 million, according to the town's official assessor's official database.

Hi!

Hello. I live and work in Downeast Maine. I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now and have decided to go ahead and give it a try. I consider myself lucky to have a job in eastern Maine that allows me to travel around a bit and to meet and talk to people about things that are of interest to local residents and others familiar with the area.
With this blog, I hope to be able to write objectively about some of those things, whether they are mundane or momentous. I won't always share my personal opinions, but when it's appropriate I will. It's a blog, after all, so it won't be completely devoid of what I think.
Anyway, that's it for now. Check back later for more.