Shag Anyone?!

C'mon folks get your minds outta the gutter! I'm referring to rugs with thick rough pile, my goodness.

These are pictures of the bedroom rugs in the house I grew up in. I should have taken a picture of the rake that's used to fluff up the rugs but didn't think of it till now. It's a typical rake that you'd use in the yard to rake leaves only yellow. It's also the cause of much criticism that I still receive today, from some, for being caught using.

Anyway, if you like shag carpet and these colors appeal to you're in luck, as my folks house is for sale!

One Problem After Another II

As the idiom goes, "When it rains, it pours". All I can say of late is, "Ain't that the truth"!

Can you spot the difference between the two pics? Hint, it's NOT the dirt and leaves.

Before (morning of October 28, 2010) -


After (afternoon of October 28, 2010) -


Bingo, you're right it's a 28 mil 15 year new pool liner!! Hip hip hooray!

Yup, the writing was on the wall, so were several holes (in the pool liner). We could have gambled and waited to see if we could perhaps get one more season out of the old, original liner but there were too many downsides to taking that approach.

After scheduling on site visits, talking to the experts and getting numerous quotes we decided it was best to git er done now. One enticing incentive was that here in New England it's now 'off season' for pool companies, so by having the work done now we saved some money.

We went with Heritage Pools. They came with excellent reference and the owner visited with us to explain the whole process. Their bid came in as the lowest and they could do the work before November. However, the most enticing aspect of Heritage Pools was that they saved the pool water and put it back once the new liner was installed. This was a $600.00+ savings alone!



The water was pumped into (3) 20' x 40' bags that covered our front lawn. The work was completed in 5 hours, soup to nuts. Other than a new liner, you'd have never known they were there.

Of course we don't have the money for such a project, so we're gonna need to make some HUGH adjustments. Look'n like we'll be eating a lot of Ramen soups this winter for starters, alas.

Soaked again...

Yup, "V" is for Victory!

JoAnne spotted a rodent in the garage last night.

Hmm, shouldn't be a problem I thought, game on!

So, using some irresistible peanut butter, I set a couple Victor snap traps.

Went to the garage this morning to inspect and wallah!

Homeowners=1 versus Shews=0

Note: I aired on the side of caution and posted this picture versus the zoomed in one. Just thinking about my audience - I care about you all!

I Support SHU Field Hockey!

Go "HEART"!

Sacred Heart University (SHU) Field Hockey!

Find the Critters

Can you find the critter in the first three photos below?

There are three different pictures with the same type of critter but they're also different.

This is what they're doing - laying their eggs!

It's funny how we've gone almost a year and a half without seeing a single praying mantis around here and then within a couple weeks of each other we run into a bunch of them. With any luck, and their egg sacks, we'll have oodles next year and for years to come.

One Problem After Another...

Needed to call a plumber this morning. We couldn't get the tub/shower nozzle to completely turn off, so the water was running away, and it was running at a scalding temperature too. Our only option was to turn off the H2O main valve to the entire house, ugh!

Of course the plumber we typically use was on the North shore doing a job and unavailable, darn it! So, our only recourse was to break out the ole yellow pages. Some of you may recall the yellow pages. I guess there is still a need after all.

Anyway, we ended up with Roto-Rooter and a very nice, friendly plumber named 'Tony'. He was in and outta here with the problem fixed in under 30 minutes and drove away with a check in the amount of a whopping $275.00!!

Still trying to figure out how we got soaked with the water turned off...

Winterizing - Getting There!

Made some progress yesterday on getting our yard put to bed for the winter. It's a long process and takes time but I made a dent. We're getting there...

The vegetable gardens are all done! They're all had compost added, the soil turned and the winter rye sowed. The garlic, which is starting to poke through the soil, has been mulched. I left a couple kale plants, which I am still feeding to the bunnies and about six red onions that are trying to make a go of it but time is not on their side. Anyway, phew!



Emilie and I got bird feeders cleaned, filled and hung. The birds don't miss a trick and have already begun visiting. I'm thinking it's due to the bad economic times we're all in. We've seen some Chickadees, Titmice and White-breasted Nuthatches.

A Double-Yoker!

Check out this EXTRA large monster Americana chicken egg that was waiting for us in the coop the other day, ouch! It's big enough to pass as a duck egg or small child.



We suspected that we had a double-yoker on our hands but how to tell, how to tell, hmmm?

Make a batch of scrum-delicious brownies was the answer!

And sure enough, a double-yoker it twas!

Last Batch of Peppers

Sadly, this is our last batch of Bell pepper of the season. Picked just last week.

The plants have since been pulled, chopped up and added to the compost pile. What has become known as the pepper garden has had rich compost added and the soil tilled. Just need to plant some winter rye and we're all put to bed for the winter.

Onto the next fall yard chore...

Surf's Up!

I saw an unusual thing on my commute home from work yesterday.

A Nissan Xterra with Alaska plates. Now there's something you don't see in New England too often.

Ah, but there's more!

There was a surf board tied to the roof of his vehicle! Yup a surf board! Weird huh!

Is there good surfing in Alaska or how about is there any surfing at all in Alaska?

I understand you can see Russia from Alaska but surfing?!? Hmmm, who knew...

Fall Garden Prep

Well, the beautiful weekend is now behind us here in New England and what a beauty it was! Perfect get outside weather.

I was lucky enough to spend the entire day on Saturday cutting grass - three lawns. Sunday, well Sunday was spent in my garden. Just about have it put to bed for the winter. All that's left to do is to plant the winter rye, wahoo! Yup, picked all the tomatoes and have them stored in the garage. Pulled all the plants and chopped them up nice and small then added them to the compost pile. Four barrels of good rich bedding from the animal pen spread on the garden and turned into the soil! Too much work would be an understatement! Hopefully I'll be able to stand up straight again soon... Can't believe it's that time of year already. Seems like I just did all this, alas.

Also planted (3) 8' rows of California Softneck garlic, mmm mmm good!

I still have the three raised veggie beds to get winterized and will tackle that once the kale has all been feed to the bunnies. Compared to the big garden, these guys will be a piece of cake to take care of. Also, there are ALL the flower beds that need to be tackled too. Always something.