Hans-Peter and Carolyn Krahn gave MFI and me a book about Maine as a gift when I retired from ERM CVS and invited us to visit sometime. They live in Freeport, Maine, and Carolyn has a long family history in the area. MFI had never been to Maine, and I had only been to Loring AFB briefly on Temporary Duty back in the mid 70’s. We contacted them and planned a vist well in advance, so that once we arrived, they would have some projects in mind. Boy did they deliver.
They own a vacation house in Ocean Park, a village in the southern part of Old Orchard Beach, ME (population 8,960) that they offer for rent seasonally. OOB is located on the inner side of Saco Bay and is a popular seaside resort on a 7-mile stretch of beach. The area is the ancestral land of the Abenaki nation and was first settled by Thomas Rogers in 1657. He called the area “The garden By The Sea.” Rogers cultivated an apple orchard, but abandoned it and his homestead after a destructive attack by the Abenaki. However, the orchard survived for the next 150 years and became the town’s namesake.
Our projects were all at their beach home, Sea Haus Krahn, so we found a nearby park called Silver Springs Campground and Cottages in Saco, ME (population 18,482). The park was coveniently only 2.6 miles from the house, and from there it was only a short five block walk to the beach. This gave us the luxury of driving to the retail stores nearby for breakfast at Ocean Park Soda Fountain, as well as, taking a break on the beach if needed. The RV park was old but fairly well maintained. Most trailers we saw seemed to be full-time residents. In fact, someone had recently pulled out of our spot, because a small ground-level deck was still there. Backing in was a challenge for MFI because of the narrow road and closeness of sites.
We met up with Hans and Carolyn at Sea Haus Krahn for a tour of the house and property and discussion of projects they wanted us to do. The house was a 2-story, 3-bedroom, 2-bath cottage on Temple Avenue. The first floor had a screened-in porch entrance with picnic table, living room,, kitchen with dining table, laundry area at the back door, and a newly refurbished full bathroom with shower. There were three bedrooms and a full bath on the second floor. A large unpaved driveway was on the east side of the property and a good-sized shed with power sat at the back of the lot.
Hans had made a lot of improvements during the time they’ve owned the house, and our projects were just the next steps in a long range plan he’d developed. On the back of the house, he had removed the old existing cedar shingle siding and installed green board insulation. Two new windows were installed, and he had crafted exterior sills and eyebrows for each, which along with trim needed to be installed (first project). The second project required we install new cedar shingles over the insulation. We were excited and anxious to get started, but Carolyn insisted we accompany her on a walk to the beach. OK, OK! We were treated to a colorful sunset too.
The next morning, we had breakfast and coffee at the closest Starbucks (surprise) then set up an outdoor workshop in the backyard. Hans had instructed us on how he wanted the window treatments installed with specific screws he’d purchased. Installing these while high on a ladder made it a bit challenging, not to mention scary. For the second-story window, I had to peal back the roof flashing and asphalt shingles to fit the side trim pieces. And once the window trim was finished, I had to reseat the flashing and shingles and caulk to prevent leaking.
Hans and Carolyn had purchased the new bundels of cedar shingles and stainless steel staples. We used our compressor and staple gun, both of which made the installation much easier. The bottom rows of shingles needed to flair outward to match the existing at the corners, so I nailed a horizontal 1″ X 2″ piece at the bottom of the sheathing before starting the first row of shingles, and this did the trick. I snapped a chalk line to keep the rows level and used chairs and ladders until the height prevented me from creating a higher scaffold. Progress was slower the higher I got, because I could only use the tall extension ladder and had to move it often to progress along the wall. MFI tied a rope on a Homer bucket, filled it with various sized shingles, and hoisted it up to me. The trickiest part was removing bad shingles at the corner and adding new ones so it looked seamless. This required a quick YouTube refresher, but ended up looking nice.
At the southwest corner of the back wall, I needed to shingle a small wall, which was above the backdoor entrance, bathroom, and laundry. I installed flashing where the wall and roof line met. The hard part was working on top of a sloped roof. I fell twice on the roof, but fortunately not off it. Here are the before and after pictures of all the shingling.
While we installed the new shingles, Hans and friends moved the shed from the east to the west edge of the backyard. Frankly, they made it look pretty easy. Hans was finishing the placement of leveling blocks for the shed, when his backyard neighbor (pictured in red shorts) came over and delivered a message from his wife. She believed the shed would encroach on their property and wanted it moved. We (including her apolgetic husband) believed that she was totally full of shit; however, in the interest of saving the time it would have taken to find and share surveys of the property to prove her wrong, Hans relunctantly acquiesced and moved the shed to her satisfaction. We thought it strange and cowardly of her to never even show her face during the entire discussion. I’m guessing her name was Karen.
Moving the shed meant the electical connection also needed to be relocated. I dug a shallow trench from where it was originally exposed back to the house. The soil was very sandy and easy to remove, at least for this part of the project, and I simply pulled the power line out of the ground. We were concerned about direct burying the relocated line, suggested to Hans it be placed in a conduit, and he agreed. Then I trenched from the house to the shed, while MFI installed a junction box at the house and assembled the conduit for pulling the line to the shed. Again, the sandy soil was easy to remove, until I was just about to reach then the shed. I stepped on the shovel only to have it hit something hard with a metallic sound. Turned out that pieces of a pot-bellied stove had been buried there, and I had to dig up most of it before we could pull the line and place the conduit for burial.
Believing Hans would be interested in what we’d found, I laid the pieces on the ground and washed them off. There was a stamp into the forged metal that indicated the stove was cast in August 1895.
MFI installed an electric connection on the shed exterior and ran lines inside for the light switch and two convenience outlets for Han’s workbenches. We also hung shelves above the door and both above and below the work benches for storing fasteners and materials which otherwise were cluttering the work surfaces.
MFI was also kept busy while I was attaching shingles. There was a latch on the inside of the upstairs bathroom, so guests could lock it for privacy. Unfortunately, it was installed in a way that caused it to lock when a guest exited the bathroom and closed the door. MFI reconfigured it to prevent this from happening thereafter. Also, Carolyn had purchased a front door knocker they reallly liked. Susan cleaned and installed it.
Hans was mostly on the road working, so Carolyn was responsible for ensuring we got lunch and dinner. For the most part, she purchased food, stocked the refrigerator, and we prepared our meals each day. However, on occasion she joined us and had taken on the task of ensuring we were exposed to three of Maine’s traditional treats: lobster rolls, whoopie pies, and red snappers. Carolyn apologized for the lack of size and reshness of the lobster rolls, since they were purchased at a local grocers. Hell, anything with lobster in it was great in our book. What made the red snappers famous, aside from their bright color, was the fact the casing really did snap when you bit into it. And who doesn’t like a whoopie pie for dessert or afternoon snack?
While home one evening, Hans and Carolyn took us out to dinner at The Brunswick hotel, locally known as “The Swick.” It boasts of having the largest patio area in Old Orchard Beach, and that was in part because they laid out sand-stabalizing matts with tables and chairs for diners. We ate on the beach and had a close-up view of it and the nearby OOB Pier. This was a terrific evening together after working hard all day.
After dinner, we walked to The Pier and through Palace Playground, the local amusment park. The pier was covered end to end with retail shops and restaurants. Originally, it was built in 1898 and was 1,770′ long. The Grand Casino was constructed at the outer end and could accommodate 5,000 patrons. I say originally, because the pier was damaged twice by storms, one destroying it completely. We were on the latest version rebuilt in 1978, and it was only a modest 500′ long. We didn’t have any advertised “Tequila Frogs,” but we had great views of the beach and amusement park.
Hands and Carolyn kept suggesting things we should do and see before we left. High on their list was the Bush residence in Kennebunkport (population 3,629) and the L. L. Bean store in Freeport (population 1,485). We drove to Kennebunkport and passed the Bush mansion along the way. We knew one of the former preseidents was in residence because the U.S. flag was flying and the driveway was filled with black secret service SUVs. The mansion is on a peninsula, and I had to go to full iPhone zoom to get this picture. The town was really quaint and well stocked with high-end retail stores.
We were shocked to learn there were not one but five L.L. Bean outlets in Freeport, all within several blocks of each other. We visited them all, as well as, several other retailers and thankfully kept our purchases within our budget. The outlets were heacvily stocked with everything you might need to recreate outdoors. I thought the “Bean Boot” vehicle was an iconic symbol of the brand.
Our last day of work was a particularly long one, what with tying many up loose ends. We showered at the house and thought we’d eat out. On our daily drive to Sea Haus Krahn, we passed a restaurant called Lobster Claw Pound and this sounded perfect. It was already 8:30, but my google search indicated they were open until 9. We walked in and a server greeted us with, “Sorry but we’re closing.” Disappointed, I returned to the car. MFI wouldn’t take “no” for an answer and decided to work her magic. It wasn’t 10 minutes later and she returned to the car with a carry-out bag. She had gotten these two lobster and potatoes for just over $20. We returned to dine at Chez Arthur and enjoyed the lobster with some red wine. A fitting end to our project-stop with the Krahn’s.
