Thursday, December 29, 2016

Just Passing Through...

Lone wild turkey passing through on Christmas day.

Behind the chicken coop -


Through the neighbors yard -


And across the street and into the woods -

Christmas Eve Prime Rib!

JoAnne cooked an absolutely, melt-in-your-mouth, delicious prime rib on Christmas Eve day -


Even Trixie-dog enjoyed one of the bones - 


There was enough for leftovers a couple days later!

Who Goes There?!

 The wild deer were visiting the neighbor the other day.  There was  some interest and confusion in white deer with the extension cord plugged into it...


Here's one of the youngster, ever so on alert -

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Another Pint Lower

I came across this blood drive posting on Facebook Friday afternoon and registered -

After shoveling I headed to the Franklin PD -

To donate a pint of blood -

First Snow Storm of the Season!


First snow storm of the season yesterday dropped about 5" in Franklin.

Nice it was occurred on a weekend, so no worries about commuting in it.

Was enough to breakout the snowblower and put it through it's paces.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Work Related Event

 I attended a Cisco Systems Inc. event at Gillette Stadium this past Thursday.  We were inside and had a terrific view looking down on the field.  The event was a busy one, but the ground crew looked equally as busy outside.


The Sparrows were already on their seats waiting for the game to begin - 

Go Patriots!

"The Hoosier Poet" James Whitcomb Riley




Our frosted Franklin punkins...

Entitlement


 nor are the seats on the MBTA Commuter rail -

A young college dweeb sat next to me on the MBTA Commuter rail the other morning.  Fortunately, it was a three person seat, so he was on one end and I the other.

It wasn't long after he got situated did I notice him digging in his nose, UGH DISGUSTING!  He then proceeded to lower his hand and flick his findings off.  Now at this point I'm beyond disgusted but said nothing.  However, when he went in for a second drilling but this time choosing to smear his findings off on the seat I let him have it!  I lit him up on a very quiet train.  Thankfully, he got up and left.  Chances were VERY high that had he stayed and had he said a word back in any form of justification he was going to have more issues with his nose...

People are so selfish and inconsiderate and think only of themselves, it's sad.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Egg Shell Bumpiness

As expected the shorter days and cold weather has triggered a shutdown for the ladies of the coop.

This time of year they usually go through a molt.  As a part of that process they also stop laying eggs. Out of 8 chickens one is still laying, so we're getting an egg each day.

The eggs are coming out with a fancy end or tail, see pics below.  These are calcium deposits.  There are many reasons this can occur, from the chickens age, lack of day light (shorter days), temperature, etc.

No cause for alarm.  The eggs are still good and edible, in fact they're delicious!  We'll keep an eye an watch this but suspect it'll correct itself over time.  Certainly makes for interesting egg shells.


Just Hang'n


The Elf on the Shelf has busy too bee-bopping from place to place.  Very creative this season!

Here he is hanging over the kitchen sink with some snowmen.

I suspect his bottom is frozen resting against the window like that! 

Christmas Tree 2016

Our Christmas tree is up, decorated and looking terrific!


Gifts are magically appearing underneath too.

Keep Warm!

 Brrrrr!


It's super cold this morning here at the ole homestead.

So cold in fact that there's no activity outside, from walkers or joggers to birds or squirrels.

Snow moving in tonight and into tomorrow.  It's gonna be a mess and one hell of a morning commute, UGH!

Saturday, December 10, 2016

FHS Field Hockey

An exciting and fun season, topped of with a winning record!


Proud of you Emilie!

Hello Now Go

The deer were here the other day feeding on the neighbors arborvitae.

Not too many options for them now that all the annuals and perennials have died off.

I enjoy watching them but struggle with letting them get too comfortable coming around.  Had this been Spring, with perennials poking through, these dudes would do a number on them.


In the end I chased them off.

Ole Homestead Mess Hall

I filled the bird feeders last weekend.

Amazing how quickly they know they've been filled.

This Blue Jay didn't waste any time -

An Eastern Bluebird, one of my favorites made an early appearance too -

The peanut butter suet is a big hit too.  The Bluebird is keep watch and patiently waiting for the Downy Woodpecker to finish up -

Under Construction


As I mentioned in a previous post, my company is moving into a new building in 2018.  The new location 100 Federal Street, pictured above, is kitty corner from our current location.  I took this picture looking out the window from the 14th floor of our current building.

This pic shows why this building is known to by local Bostonian's as the pregnant building.

The blue window posters at street level, newly hung, are to let passerby's know about the construction and that we're coming.

Exciting. Looking forward to getting involved with the move and seeing what our new space will look like.

A BIG'N!


This dude was not very happy to find himself is such a predicament, especially on such a cold morning.

Teddie peanut better is just too tempting.

Entitlement!


Pulled into the MBTA Commuter Rail parking lot in Norfolk yesterday morning and saw this.  What an arrogant dipstick, REALLY?!

I can understand wanting to protect your vehicle from the other aholes who will inevitably open their door into the side of your car,  However, parking like this in the busiest section of the lot AND on a corner spot to boot, not to mention that the front of the vehicle sticking into the travel lane is douchbagish!

If you need to park like this have some common courtesy and respect for others and do so in a section of the parking lot that has minimal traffic and plenty of open spaces, NOT in the front row.

Find The Critter


Can you find the critter in the above photo?

Only In New England


The crazy part isn't mowing your lawn in early December.  The crazy part is mowing your lawn in early December while wear shorts!

For Rent. Used One Season. Like New.

So that's where the Robin nest was...



Perfectly hidden by the leaves in the Spring.   Sticks out like a sore thumb now.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

XMas Decorations 2016

JoAnne and Emilie decorated the house this past weekend, inside and out.

Here is a a pic of the outside.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Homemade Greenhouse!

Spent yesterday in Marshfield helping out my farmer friend.

A project that should had been started months ago instead of waiting for the cold weather to arrive.

The plan is for this to be his new temporary greenhouse.  This will allow him to winter his many, many plants, of which is has a great assortment.  Several more posts need to be set, then the support joists but most of the manual labor aspects of the project are done.  We simply ran out of daylight.

That's a woodstove under the brown tarp and his anticipated source of heat once covered.



Another trip will be in order once the 100' roll of plastic arrives, which promises to be quite a challenge to open, fold in half and put in place.

Familia Nueva Р2013 Libert̩ Cabernet Sauvignon РPaso Robles

Picked up this Cabernet Sauvignon at Trader Joe's the other day.

It wasn't too bad for a $10.00 bottle.

It didn't last too long either.

Another trip to the store is in order...

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

1st Snowfall of 2016

We had our first snowfall of the season this past Monday.


Well, more of a very light dusting and a good way to ease into Winter.

No doubt this amount of snow would have crippled Johnson City Tennessee (hehehe)!

Eye Bubbles?!


Thought I had an eyelash causing my discomfort the other day but nope!  As you can see in the picture I had a bubble, UGH!  It didn't float around, rather remained in the same spot and it was annoying for sure.  It lasted for the day but was gone after a good nights sleep.  However, it came back a couple days later.  Made an appointment to see my eye doctor and of course the bubble was NOT there during the exam, nope no traces!  I has come back once more since but that was over a week ago.  Weird.

Good thing I had the above picture to show the doctor.  She was VERY impressed and asked me to pass this along to JoAnne who took the pic.  So, photo credits to JoAnne!!

Re-purpose Egg Shells

Calcium!


This is the first time in all the years that we've raised chicken that we saved the egg shells.

We dried them out, then crushed them by hand, as seen in the above photo.  The shells were then added to the chickens feed for added calcium, which aides in strengthening their egg shells.  A nice way to save a couple bucks versus buying calcium supplements but also nice to re-purpose.

Determination!

Franklin Strong!


Took this picture earlier in the week, mid November.

It's a Honeysuckle flower in full bloom, reaching for the sun with not a single leaf on the trees in the background.

The "Mending Wall"

I agree with the old adage that "fences make good neighbors".  I have NO regrets putting up the fence even though our neighbors did and it was the bases for our falling out.  No loss there!

The other day was VERY windy with gusts up to 40+ miles per hour.  The winds were blowing so hard that it stripped most of the leave off our ornamental pear trees.  The winds were blowing towards the south east and as a result and bonus dumped most of the leaves onto the neighbors lawn on the other side of the fence!

See fences DO make good neighbors!


Tuesday, November 15, 2016

What's Wrong With This Picture?


Is it hypocritical that Arrow purposely prints USA on their shirt labels yet the shirt was "Made in Egypt"?!

Saturday, November 12, 2016