Lawn Mower Racing In Edgemere Maryland

Welcome to Lawn Mower Racing in Edgemere

2012-02-06T22:41:00.003-05:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

This web site has been voluntarily created by me as a nice little promotional piece for the family oriented sport of lawn mower racing, Twisted Tea, AMSOIL, 98 Rock, The Full House Saloon and also the great American neighborhoods in and around beautiful, suburban Edgemere, Maryland.

This is my way of thanking TWISTED TEA, AMSOIL, the friendly folks on the staff of The Full House Saloon and 98 Rock's crew plus the attending members of the national lawn mower racing community for a very pleasant and relaxing day at the races. The lawn mower racing event was a great time for all of us who were there on that gorgeous, powerfully bright and sunny (from a photographer's point of view), end-of-summer day in Edgemere.

This site is also a great way to show 98 Rock's Mickey and Amelia's sponsors, advertisers and bosses how the 98 Rock crew handled themselves at the event and how they easily fit right in with the mower racing crowd. The 98 Rock crew are good people with close ties to the local community.

I am a low income, 100% disabled U.S. Army veteran surviving on a small Veterans Administration pension, so I cannot afford a real web site for this. Consequently, I have turned this free blog into a web site. So when you hit the bottom of the page where it says "Older Posts" just consider that to mean "Next Page" and click on it.

I know it would all be much better as a real web site, but I do the best I can with what is available to me for free; and I learn how to use the blog building software through trial and error. Would you rather have me sitting home rotting in front of the TV or would you prefer me to make do with all that I can -- within my personal limitations -- in order to get my mighty good photographic, written and Internet published works out to the world?

I am an inner-driven man, a talented photographer, writer and Internet self-publisher who does all that he can to contribute to the world around him. Especially when it fully agrees with my personal love of family events and activities.

C'mon Into The Pit

2008-10-03T00:58:00.010-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Left click on the photos on this site to enlarge them and really see the details of these cool little racing machines. Right click on them to make copies.

You are welcomed to download any of the photos off of here that you want. If you take any photos off of here, all I ask is either a small donation through my PayPal account (accessible over there in the right side column) or a good trade. The first photos that were taken from this web site were traded for two delicious strips of venison tenderloin. If you want any of the photos for commercial uses, I need donations like professional grade camera and computer equipment or lots of money in my PayPal account.

Thank you.

Those White Buildings Right Out There Are The Full House Saloon

2008-10-03T00:57:00.010-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Relaxing In The Pit On A Very Bright and Sunny Sunday

2008-10-03T00:53:00.008-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Some Say That John Deere 'Rules' -------------- On The Track--In The Yard--On The Farm

2008-10-03T00:33:00.010-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

A Good Trailer For Travlin' The Circuit

2008-10-03T00:30:00.007-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you click on that "Older Posts" button just down below here at the right you can enjoy more of the mighty-fine photos on this site.

Triple Exhaust Pipes and Beefed-Up Brakes

2008-10-03T00:23:00.006-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Check out those heavy duty brakes!!

Still On A Roll

2008-10-03T00:21:00.004-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

That darned thing looks like it has eyes and a mouth, doesn't it? An artist could easily turn it into a cartoon character.

Yellow Twisted Tea and The Purple Racer My Nephew Will Matthews Liked Best of All

2008-10-03T00:16:00.005-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Ol' #3 and The Blue Twisted Tea

2008-10-03T00:12:00.003-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

The Blue Twisted Tea and John Deere 842

2008-10-03T00:10:00.006-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Rope A Dope

2008-10-03T00:08:00.012-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you click on that "Older Posts" button just down below here at the right you can enjoy more of the mighty-fine photos on this site.

Lotta' People Luv' Them Thar' John Deeres

2008-10-02T23:58:00.008-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Flying Tiger Puttin' In

2008-10-02T23:44:00.009-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Father and Son Having A Nice Day

2008-10-02T23:30:00.014-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

I'd Bet All These Guys Are The Great Dad Types

2008-10-02T23:18:00.008-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Somebody Came In A Real Cool Camero

2008-10-02T23:09:00.012-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

That long, tall, good lookin' woman there, with a Twisted Tea in her hand, is Amelia from 98 Rock.

Harry and Family

2008-10-02T22:58:00.010-04:00

In this next shot, my families' friend Harry appears to be really worried about something. Is it that he has to tell his mother and everyone else how he came sputterin' in dead last in the amateurs' race on his TWISTED TEA theme painted riding mower, or does he sense that his cousin is trying to swipe his cold, delicious TWISTED TEA out of his hand.

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you click on that "Older Posts" button just down below here at the right you can enjoy more of the mighty-fine photos on this site.

Removing The Deck

2008-10-02T21:07:00.006-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

My Red Shirted Nephew William Charms Crew

2008-10-02T20:46:00.008-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

The Announcer

2008-10-02T18:40:00.004-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Comin' 'Round The Bend

2008-10-02T18:38:00.004-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Mighty Dusty and Mighty Good, Wholesome, Family Oriented Fun

2008-10-02T18:27:00.006-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Three Racers Goin' At It

2008-10-02T18:23:00.010-04:00

I am using these two different versions of the same photo to show you how I have tried several different croppings of each photo on here and that some of my photographs may need to be cropped differently for various commercial uses.

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you click on that "Older Posts" button just down below here at the right you can enjoy more of the mighty-fine photos on this site.

A Two Mower Heat

2008-10-02T18:15:00.003-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

Amelia Gives The 98 Rock and Mower Racing Fans A Hearty Around n' Around She Goes

2008-10-02T18:06:00.011-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

A Gracious Little Winner and The Big Hearted Guy Who Came In Last (But only because of mechanical problems, swear to it)

2008-10-02T18:02:00.007-04:00

Up above is my family's friend Harry sputtering in towards the finish line in last place during the amateur heat. And here Harry is below with the girl who beat him in that for the whole-lotta-fun-of-it race.

Photography by David Robert Crews

Twisted Tea Possibilities

2008-10-02T17:57:00.014-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

I had been asked by one of my nephews to come to the race just to shoot photos of his friend Harry's Twisted Tea themed racing mower along with Harry and his wife posing in their Twisted Tea clothing, so that the photos could be submitted for use by Twisted Tea on their bottle labels. But then it was such a wonderful, family oriented event that I went all the way with it and shot it as if I had been hired to do a magazine article about the race.

I used my nephew's old style, inexpensive, "point and shoot" 35mm film camera for the job, not nice, new, expensive digital photographic gear (of which I have none). But the resulting selection of photographs on here are sure as heck a fairly professional looking lot.

On that race day in Edgemere, the sun was about as bright and harshly beaming down as it ever is here in central Maryland; and the bright, harsh sunlight really made some of the photos look all washed out. Consequently, while preparing the photos for publication on this site, I did my best to utilize my severely limited digital Photoshop skills to make the photos look their best and to have the Twisted Tea logos on Harry and his wife's hats and Harry's t-shirt and on his mower stand out better; but I need some Photoshop coaching or other type help to be able to bring these logos out better. There are also some shots on this site of other racing mowers, with Twisted Tea written on them, that need to be 'punched up' a bit. I used to do this kind of custom photographic work in the old "wet lab" photo lab I worked in at our local community college, but that lab -- and other non-digital photography -- is no longer offered at the school. I am certain that a few of the photos on this site would look a bit better if I were as highly skilled and talented at presenting them in digital format as I am at the old style of printing photos on paper in a "wet lab". But, alas, the digital revolution in photography has taken over, and I gotta catch up somehow.

I am quite pleased, though, with the overall results of my photographic work that is presented here on this blog/poor man's web site of mine. Plus, it was a great day for me being there with the family-centric, relaxed and easy-going lawn mower racing crowd. This is why it all took off -- basically 'under its own steam' -- to become this web site that I created about it. AND! I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment and aspect of the work.

Harry Gets Snuck Up Upon

2008-10-02T17:54:00.015-04:00

Photography by David Robert Crews

My Short Stories About Being A Maine Bear Hunting Guide and Country Girl's Delight

2008-10-02T17:34:00.004-04:00

Here is a guide to my stories about being a Maine bear hunting guide and country girl's delight up in Patten, Maine at Katahdin Lodge and Camps. I will provide links to each of these stories, where they are published on a Maine web site. Some stories are on several web sites

Just keep in mind that I need some professional editing help and I also need to do some other 'sprucing up' of them in order for me to be completely satisfied with these written works--but the stories sure as hell are interesting, entertaining, a tad bit educational, and (according to thousands of readers so far) fun to read anyways.I hope that you enjoy reading one or all of them.

The House Fire is a nice, but scary one (it scared me when it happened, that's for certain). This one is for good gentle and not so gentle folks of all ages.

The Day I Fell In Love With Patten Maine ain't nuthin' like you will expect, and it is a mind blower. It's a real, small town, soap opera scene, and a teenagers' thrill a minute experience.

An Italian Nice Guy is a good bear hunting story that is really a chipmunk story. It is actually good for kids to read. No bears are even shot at in it. It is fictionalized a bit, but mostly true. I expanded on what I knew about Tony and his family, but they had to be real nice people.

Here also are copies of emails exchanged between myself and the Italian Nice Guy's family confirming that I wrote his story well.

The Rocket Scientist is a crazy trip about a genuine Washington, DC Rocket Scientist. It is about one of any hunting guide's worst fears and dangers.

Jungle Dirt is something which stands on its own. It was my first attempt at fictionalizing a true story. It is about a Vietnam Veteran's experience when he went bear hunting in Maine just three days after coming home from fighting hard for a full year 'Nam. It is a good story for all of us Vietnam Era Veterans and others who care about us, and how we were treated in America during and after the Vietnam War. Just about the only fictional parts have to do with the me making some descriptive guesses about the Nam Vet's mother and a small amount was expanded on to the guy's stepfather's description. Boss Hog on the Dukes of Hazard did look exactly like that friggin' jackass of a stepfather though.

Easiest Way To Carry A Dead Bear is a nutty piece, but it does give a damn good hunting tip. It gets right loony, ain't no doubt about it.

Bananastien is about young adults testing the limits in 1969 Patten, ME. Part of it gets real wild on the back roads.

Driving Northern Mainer Style is a basic "how to guide" on driving on those wild and woolly, climbin' and droppin', twisty and hard turning country and backwoods roads up there in Maine. And also how not to drive them roads. Within that written piece, there is also a story about how I nearly 'bought the farm' early one morning up on the Washburn Road, where it goes into the small city of Caribou, Maine. Ya' better tighten y'ur seat belts for this one.

My VW Bug Trip To Maine has a hilarious bear hunting scene in it, it's a hoot, and the rest of it is a wild, funny, and very, very happy story. It was about a trip of mine to Maine while I was on leave from the Army just after I had graduated US Army Photographic Laboratory Technician School, and before I was assigned to duty over on Okinawa. This story goes from Patten, ME down to Dundalk, MD and through a bunch of quite memorable experiences.

Then They Own You takes place in 1979, when I tried to work for my Aunt Martha and Uncle Finley Clarke in Maine one more time. They simply had no appreciation for anything that I did for them. They wanted me to work my entire life for them at Katahdin Lodge without receiving a salary and while they seriously mistreated me. I did have some great times at Katahdin Lodge, but it wasn't worth the emotional abuse that they heaped upon me. Neither my Uncle Fin nor Aunt Marty ever said one good word about the work that I did for them. To this day, they refuse to acknowledge what I did up there, when a Baltimore suburbanite kid went way up into the Great North Woods of Maine and became a bear hunting guide and country girl's delight who never made one serious mistake while living and working there.

If you click on that "Older Posts" button just down below here at the right you can enjoy more of this site.

1968 Era Baltimore and Maine Adventures

2008-10-02T16:22:00.011-04:00

Please Copy and Print This To Pass It Around
or Email It Around The Internet

1968 Era Baltimore and
Northern Maine adventures of
a Rock n’ Roll, Blues loving, Mod kid.

If ya wanna see just how hip and happening Baltimore was back in the 1960s, then David Robert Crews has some interesting and entertaining stories for you about
Baltimore Mods, Beatniks, Ted’s Music Shop,
Sherman’s Book Store, General Music Record Store,
Baltimore’s first head shop The Psychedelic Propeller,
and a teen nightclub called The Bluesette
where Mod kids from in and around little ol’ B-town
enjoyed great, Rock n’ Rolling times together.

On June 5, 1968, David graduated from high school
in the suburbs of Baltimore;
in November of ’68, he moved to Northern Maine,
where he became a bear hunting guide
and wild and woolly country girl’s delight.

David fit right in with the native Mainers way up north,
even though they were about a solid year behind Baltimore in
all things hip and happening.
And Baltimore’s teens and young adult Hipsters were
actually about a year and a half behind the
young people of the West Coast and New York City areas.

In Maine, Dave rode snowmobiles like crazy, had stupendous times with the teens in and around Patten, Maine, learned to drive Maine’s rough and tumble backroads and woodsroads ‘like a ringin a bell’, and he tracked wounded bears at night – sometimes all by his lonesome and never with a firearm.

Really cool old photos and well written stories about it all are available for your viewing and reading pleasure and excitement at:

www.katahdinlodge7photos.blogspot.com

To email this to someone, you can click on that tiny envelope shaped button -- with an arrow on it -- that is right below this.

Guide To My Other Web Sites

2008-10-02T16:22:00.004-04:00

My other blogs (actually they are mostly a poor man's free web sites):

Blue Skies Over Dundalk Maryland---is about my hometown. A thoroughly misunderstood place, which is the brunt of massive disrespectful misinformation and self-righteous humor by the Maryland media and a million other ignoramuses. It has wonderful photos and truthful text about the real Dundalk.

David R. Crews' Ramblings and Photos---this site features greet photos and text about areas in Eastern Baltimore City and County that I love. Dundalk is in Eastern Baltimore County, but it needs and deserves to have its own site built and maintained by me.

Northern Maine Adventures---this features parts of my whole Maine story that are not in my short stories, which are published on several web sites in Maine. It is a well composed, entertaining look into the life of a kid from suburban Dundalk, Maryland who moved up to Patten, Maine and fit right in with the country folks living there, and became a bear hunting guide and country girl's delight. You can have a real good, interesting time on the Internet while viewing the photos and reading the text and stories on this site. It does, though, deal with emotional abuse that I suffered because of the way that my aunt and uncle in Maine treated me. But the very fact that I have written it all out in such an informative yet entertaining way and have had various parts of the whole story published all over the World Wide Web and read by thousands of people is a great triumph for me.

30th Artillery Brigade Okinawa 1970-71---is about my time as a US Army photographer assigned to peaceful, but wild and crazy, Okinawa, during the Vietnam War. It starts off with a great set of photographs from back then, most were taken the day the Army donated baseball backstops to Okinawan Schools. Then it deals with a very crappy situation that I was forced to endure, which still affects me to this day. I was illegally assigned as brigade photographer for the 30th Arty Bgde, and the photo lab I worked in was totally, completely, militarily illegal and immoral. This was devastating to me. I have been struggling to prove all this for over three decades, and now I am in a running battle to prove the full facts of my story. This is about fighting for what is right. The fighting is getting way more intense and about to get very interesting. I am battling to have the record set straight.

An American GI On Okinawa 1970-71---this also deals with the crappy situation I suffered through on Okinawa, but it goes into the wild and crazy kinds of times that many of us lower ranking GIs shared over there back then. It also tells of the great friendships we formed amongst ourselves, our music listening pleasures, the way we lived in our barracks, the bar and red light districts, plus true stories about our asinine leaders and our good leaders too. And how we got along with the residents of a foreign land. Fortunately, I have a natural need to write about the good times as well as the bad, this will help you to understand all that my time on Okinawa means to me.

Duckin' and Divin' Techniques of a Recycle Ranger---a blog about gathering up previously owned, currently unwanted items that are still good. I tell you about some of my best and worst finds, how to be safe and sanitary while dumpster diving, and how make the best uses of what you yourself may find discarded in a dumpster, at the curbside or in the alley on trash collection day, or anywhere it may have been discarded. America is very wasteful; take advantage of that sad fact. And enjoy reading the fun stories about Duckin' and Divin' that are on my blog.

The Way That I See It Is...---a blog about anything and everything I want to blog about.

David Robert Crews, His Writings and Photography---this is my very first blog. It is on Maine Outdoors Today web pages. That is the biggest and best set of outdoors activities web sites in the Great State of Maine. It has a variety of my work on it. But working on this blog means using wordpress software, and I cannot seem to learn how to use that program well. This blog has had the most traffic to it of all my blogs.