I love that television program where the two ex-stuntmen and their cluster of nerdy science geek assistants eagerly blow stuff up in the name of research.

Around here we call that “solid waste management.”

No, in all seriousness, I tip my hat to the “Mythbusters” team. They have the workshop that dreams are made of, walls filled with shelves covered with bins-full of parts and supplies and components and materials (starting to sound like our bedroom), and the bomb squad guys are always just a phone call away (hey, just like here!).

Despite the thick fog and the 58-degree temperature, I know it is summer because I am tripping over gallons of molasses and multiple 25-pound cartons of chocolate chips. I’m trying to figure out how to “put away” 1,300 pounds of flour in 50-pound bags, not to mention the 500 pounds of white and brown and powdered sugar. There is no way. It’ll all have to stay piled up in the middle of the floor.

You’ll have to forgive just a little bit of minor tech-talk for this story.

It looks like I’ve got some assigned reading this summer.

With my own book about the simple and the complicated life of Matinicus due out in less than a month, I’ve had a few interesting comments regarding the other current books which tell the stories of the coast of Maine.

“Oh, is your book like That Lobster Book?”

“Is living there really like on Bennett’s Island?”

“You must know Linda Greenlaw.”

I’d better get busy.

The school teacher left me a message last week something along the lines of: “Of course you know that Friday, June 4, is National Doughnut Day. If you should happen to be celebrating that particular holiday, count me in.”

That’s pretty typical of the sort of messages I get around here.

If you should happen to walk the road to the west side of the island, and keep an eye toward the bushes before you get as far as the microwave telephone tower, you might see the zebra. It’s actually fairly difficult to miss.