Monday, August 31, 2015

Marshfield Fair Petting Zoo

Aw "nuts", this little guy was tired...

Rock or Bust World Tour

AC/DC kicked off their North American world tour, Rock or Bust, Saturday August 22 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. and we were there!

A group of ten of us all went.  We had terrific seats and had a great time!

Those seniors can still rock.  Put's performers of today to shame.



This will now put Emilie's upcoming One Direction concert into the proper perspective, hahaha!

Monday, August 24, 2015

That's All She Wrote!


Sitting here this morning enjoying a cup of coffee and the chickens clucking when another sound immediately grabbed my attention.  The satisfying sound of the trap doors slamming shut!!

Seems this young woodchuck just couldn't resist an ear of Jane and Paul's Farm delicious butter and sugar corn.

My patients and persistence has paid off once again! 

Most Common and Eye Catching

Here's a pair of beautiful Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds!

The first picture, of a female, was taken here at the ole homestead.  The Hummingbirds, as well as butterflies absolutely love our Harlequin Glory-Bower and so do I!!


The second picture was taken by Emilie when visiting a friends house.  She had this Hummingbird feeder hanging right outside her kitchen window and this male was buzzing all about.  Here he is taking a quick rest.

Bean Bean Bean

Our pole beans are ready and coming in like gang busters!

Emilie and I picked a mess, see below, with plenty more to come!

Find The Critter


Can you find the critter in the above photo?

Two Pair

 The baby White-Tailed deer are getting so big!  I suspect all the hosta and sedum these littlens ate certainly helped that process.  They've not experienced a New England winter yet and don't know what's a comin, so for now they're still happy go lucky.

There looks to be two mothers, each with a single fawn - "two pair".  Ironically, both fawns look to be the same age; twins.

Here is one of the mothers and both fawns -


The mothers always keeps a more watchful eye -


Emilie has named this one Bambi.  She'll sneak down as close as possible to take this terrific pictures and had even been working on getting this curious one to come to her.

Froggie Went-A-Swimming


It wasn't until August 19 that we had our first amphibian cooling off in our pool.  Ironically, we removed this dude fro the pool three days in a row.  He was determined to stick around.

Sadly, I've not seen many frogs or toads this Spring and Summer.  Not sure if something's going on or if this past Winter took it's tool on them with the bitter cold and deep deep snow.

Friday, August 21, 2015

What Time Is it?!

It's Cobbler Time!!


Our Tennessee thorn-less Blackberries are ripening and ready for picking!

Hint hint...

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Motorcycle Ride and Chowda!

We took an ~185 mile, round trip, motorcycle ride up to Gloucester, MA this past Sunday.

Traveled Rt.27 to Rt.62 to Rt.127

It was a very hot and humid day.  Cooler on the bikes as long as we kept moving.  Gloucester on the other hand as a tad cooler.  We were lucky to find a parking spot for four motorcycles on the main drag.  Then a short walk to a nice seafood restaurant and a delicious bowl of New England Clam Chowder for Stephan, yummy!


It was a great ride but a long ride.  We got back home just as night was falling and the temps cooling.

NOT A Door Knocker!


Quite an unusual place for this Green Tree Frog to hide!  First one I've see at the ole homestead in a while and a pleasant sight at that - at least for me.

Little fella got a little "twisted" each time the door handle was turned.

Perhaps, the metal handle was the coolest place he could find. And by coolest I'm referring to temperature cool, not cool looking cool.

Cool right?!

A Stunning Happenstance...


In early Summer I transplanted what I thought was a Purple Cone Flower, above.  Much to my surprise and enjoyment this one echinacea clump included a White Cone Flower and some Black-Eyed Susan's!

I couldn't have planned it any better if I had tried.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Do You Know How Fast You Were Going?

Well Thank you!


A nice site to behold on this Friday morning - Franklin's finest pulling over a speeder in front of our house!  Doesn't happen often enough in my opinion.  With the new blacktop down on Lincoln Street the speeds have only increased but sadly radar patrol hasn't followed suit.

Hoping the speeder received a BIG fat ticket!

Go Pats Go!

First New England Patriots preseason game of 2015 was held in Foxborough last night!

Although the game ended in a loss for the Pats, it was nice to have football back on TV.

The DirectTV blimp flew over our house in Franklin just prior to kickoff.

Always a site to see.


Go Pats!

The BIG THREE O

Pints that is!

I've hit the 30 pint donation mark with my double-red donation yesterday morning!


I'm in the "Gallon" donor club now.

#RestockTheShelves

First Tomato Batch of 2015, YUMMY!


We picked our first batch of tomatoes of the 2015 season last weekend!

There are oodles more on the brink, which actually should be picked now.

Tuesday night we had BLT's for diner and they were DELICIOUS!

Canning is right around the corner!  Get ready JoAnne...

The State Bird of What States?

The American or Eastern Goldfinch have arrived!  Actually, they've been here for quite a while now.  Initially, they were enjoying our Purple Cone Flowers and Catnip.  However, the Sunflowers are now in full bloom, so they're dining on these seeds too.  Busy little birds and a tad skittish but fun to watch.

Name the three states that the Goldfinch is the state bird of?!

The first is a picture of a Goldfinch pair, with the male on the left -


Here the male is flashing his butt to the camera lady - 


The female spies that she's being spied on and photographed -


Answer - New Jersey, Iowa and Washington

All pictures taken by Ms. Emilie.

Contrail Explosion



Emilie took these interesting contrail pics the other afternoon.

Beautiful blue sky too.

"Green" Thumb Perhaps?!


The sod I put down on the two bare spots, from where Emilie's swing-set sat, is doing terrific.  Nice deep dark green.  It's liking and responding to the nightly hand watering it's receiving.  I'll also give myself a pat on the back for the prep I did before installing, which was to turn the soil with a shovel, mixing in some rich chicken and rabbit infused compost!

Now if we could get a good soaking from Mother Nature the rest of the lawn might green up some so there's not as much of a contrast.

All Started From Seed


Our Cana Lillies are doing great!  Of course watering by hand each night certainly has helped.

Typically, Cana Lilly are propagated by separating the bulb, however, these plants were actually started from seed.  Once the season has come to an end I'll dig the bulbs ups and store in the basement until next Spring then replant.

Friday, August 07, 2015

Meet The New England Revolution!

The New England Revolution 2015 "Meet The Revs" season ticket holder exclusive event was held at Gillette Stadium last night.  I was fortunate enough to obtain (4) tickets to this event, so off we went!



One of the highlights for me was being able to walk on the turf.  Much different than watching from home or even from the stands.  Definitely a different perspective. Looked smaller from field level too. 


Starting at 7PM the Rev players were each assigned to specific autograph tables on the 100 level concourse.  Two players were seated at each of the twelve tables, see seen below -


So, we had two hours to visit all twelve tables to obtain twenty-six (some tables had 3 players) autographs and take photos.  The lines were long in general but especially the more liked/famous players like Jermaine Jones, who's line went on and on and on.


In the end JoAnne, Emilie and I did pretty well.  We split up and each stood in a different line.  Emilie had the autograph poster, pictured above, and made sure to take JoAnne or my place in line, as the two of us went into another line.

We were able to get 22 of the 26 players autographs and many pictures with the players!


It was a very nice take and beautiful night to be outside. The evening ended with an awesome sunset over top Gillette Stadium.

RIP Blackie

Sad to report that Blackie our beloved rabbit has passed away.


I found her Monday morning before I left for work.  Naturally, the news didn't go over too well with Miss Emilie, alas

Not sure of the cause but I'm guessing the heat and humidity played a role.

She was buried out back, next to her daddy Jack.


Thursday, August 06, 2015

Choo Choo Ride

Took the commuter rail into Boston yesterday (Wednesday) and spent the day working at our corporate office.


It was another beautiful day.  Post Office square was bustling with activity during lunch time.  People eating, napping and playing chess to name a few.


I had a hankering for Regina Pizza after watching Emilie and Alyssa devour theirs a week or so ago.  So, I took a stroll down to Faneuil Hall Marketplace and grabbed option #1 - two slices of cheese and a bottle of water.  It was delicious!


Of course took in quite a bit of people watching too.

Commute Hell

I endured an agonizing 2+ hour, stop and go commute home this past Tuesday, UGH!


Frustratingly, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the delays.

Terrible!

Thirsty Thursday Has Arrived!


A frosty Coors Light.
The New England Patriots.
A plumaria flower.

Sunday, August 02, 2015

Got You, You Wabbit Stew, You!

After spotting a young woodchuck in the yard the other morning, I thought it prudent to set the ole trap.  Broccoli has worked in the past, however, I didn't have any handy.  As a matter of fact I didn't have anything to use as bait, so I simply moved the trap to what I thought was a pass though spot and set it with plans to bait later.

Well, low and behold look what happened to venture inside and get "trapped"!!

A stewing rabbit or perhaps a fwicasseeing rabbit...






She was just a young'n but had done some damage in her short time.  Had a fancy for our echinacea.  I transferred her to a box and took her for a ride several miles away.  A nice spot, if I do say so myself, beside a large pond with grass, plenty of spots to hide and ironically a bed of echinacea.

A Roaring Garden Fire


What better way to use the raised garden bed where the garlic had been?!

How bout a roaring fire and s'more making!

Just Being Silly

Bottle cap self tattooing



Irresponsible parenting perhaps but we had a great time!