German Red Garlic, Planted!

I placed my Garlic order on the 19th.  One pound of a hardneck variety called "German Red".  My order arrived on the 26th.  I planted on the 27th.  Here is the sites description for this garlic - 

"This lovely hardneck garlic has a bold, full-bodied true "garlic" flavor. Consistent producer of large bulbs with with fat cloves and red streaked inner wrappers.

Fewer, but larger cloves per bulb with a complex flavor. These generally do better in areas with colder winters."

(7) Beautiful BIG bulbs arrived -

Separated into (49) individual cloves -

Three row of (16) cloves each -

Cover and water -

Also, emptied a bag of grass clippings atop each row to help retain the moisture.  Once they poke through I'll add more clippings for added insulation through the winter.

Can taste them already!!

A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

It wasn't easy to endure but the first layer of black top has finally been put down!

The sidewalks need to be repaired, curbing to be installed, sewer and water covers installed and raised before the second and final layer is laid.  They're been making slow progress but we'll take whatever progress comes at this point.  However, can't wait till it's all done, along with the noise and disruptions.

Just in time for the snow plows to come barreling through and tear it all up again.

Well It's About Time!

All I can say is finally!

Took till September 21 before I saw the first Monarch Butterfly visiting the ole homestead. Seemed to be enjoying this lavender Butterfly Bush, one of many that we have throughout our yard.

Not sure what the hold up is but this dude best be moving along if Mexico's in the plan.

Dinner Time, Noom Noom Noom

I watched this male Praying Mantis catch himself a Honeybee and devour the entire thing!

This little dude took up residence in a cluster of Black Eyed Susan's right next to the basement door.  I first noticed him back in the Spring when he was the size of an ant.  He's still on the smaller size compared to some of the others Mantis' I've seen, especially the females.

Interesting creatures!

Gold In September

I stumbled upon this very moving video about a young girl named Annie who is helping raise awareness for pediatric cancer.  Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarter back, helps Annie go door to door to raise awareness -

Gold in September

"You just gotta believe in gold in September and everybody just should be happy in what they have and just take action and do something" Annie

Instead of hearing about all the bad the NFL has to offer, sure would be nice to hear more about these stories.  Obviously, there are still plenty of good guys in the NFL doing wonderful things.

Chipmunk Go Away!

The birds have been loving our Sunflowers.

I noticed this critter also dining on the seeds.  The interesting thing, which these pictures don't show, is that this dude is about 7' atop the sunflower plant!  I watched him climb right up the stock to the top like it was nothing.  Dude filled the pouches of his mouth up to overflowing.

The wildlife is busily scurry about getting ready for the long winter ahead.

Last Of The Peppers!

I picked the last of our Peppers.

As you can see we have tons and they're delicious too!  It was a very good year for peppers.

The plants have also been pulled, cut up and added to the compost pile.

The circle of life.

Deck Repair Fun - UPDATE

Booyah!

The painters arrived bright and early yesterday morning and wasted no time getting to work on the two decks.

I swung by in the afternoon to check on their work and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were finishing up.  They did a terrific job, the decks look new again!  They have their fresh Winter coats and ready for the cold weather ahead.

This was a last minute type project but came together rather quickly, with a nice strong finish!

Things Are Looking Up

Here are some random pictures I've taken this Summer.  Different flowers with a sky backdrop.

Type of Viburnum -

Sunflower -

Butterfly Bush -

Sunflowers -

Butterfly Bush -

Sounds Of The Past

Friday evening Emilie comes into the family room with our cordless phone handset in hand.  She was trying to call the neighbor across the street to see if he was interested in going with her to free skate at the local ice rink.

She's standing there with a puzzled and confused look on her face, and proceeds to ask the question, "what is this noise?".  She then puts the handset on speaker and redials the neighbor.  We then hear BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.  Of course us "old timers" are very familiar with this sound - it's a busy signal!  However, Emilie had never heard this before and didn't know what was happening.

Today's youtes are spoiled or perhaps fortunate, with the technologies that are available now; call waiting, caller ID, Facetime, Snap Chat, texting, etc. and don't realize how easy they have it. Everything is instant and at their fingertips.

I recall growing up needing to call the operatior to place a long distance call to Greece.  The operator would need to initiate this process.  We'd either be put you on hold or operator would call back once the call finally got through.  The connection itself was usually terrible at best.  There'd be echoing, and delays, and static, etc. but we'd always be thankful to have gotten through and able to speak to family.

Times have changed, which means I'm getting older, UGH!

Night Night!

Today was spent putting our pool to bed for the season!  Seems like we just opened it too.  Always a nice feeling when this chore is done and behind us.

Before -

After -

Unusual Automobile

Snapped this photo on Rt. 495 during my commute to the office.

Can you identify what's unusual about this?

Hint:  typically seen in USPS trucks...

Peach Pair

Pick the last 2 peaches of the season.

Our Squash Has Come To An End

These are the last Summer and Zucchini squash from our garden this season.  Picked them this past weekend.  The Summer squash is a Siamese twin of sorts.

It was a very good and delicious year for our Summer and Zucchini!

Close Closer Closest

I believe this is some sort of wasp.

Dude was perched on our bay window this afternoon.  With the glass between us I took the opportunity to get up close and personal.

Find The Critter

Doubling up the challenge here -

Can you find the critters in the below photos?

There are two different insects hiding amongst our squash plants.  Pay no attention to the Powdery Mildew that are effecting these plants.

Newport Swordfish Tacos!

Swordfish tacos from the Barking Crab in Newport, RI, yummy!!

A frosty and delicioius cold beer to compliment my tacos, AW refreshing!

Followed by a stroll along the piers and shops!

Deck Repair Fun

Spent the day in Westwood yesterday doing some repairs on the front and back decks.

Some stair treads needed to be replaced, several sections on the rear deck and a railing section.

The repairs took longer than expected but all got taken care of.

Many, many thanks to Kevin and Ralph for their help, expertise and ribbing.

Next step, staining!

Pocket Selfie

Here's an accidental selfie of mine.

Yellow Jacket Surprise!

The raised flower bed above is Emilie's.  She chose and planted those flowers, which have done very well this season.  The insects love them too and are typically all over them, especially the bees.

However, the other morning, from my upstairs perch, I noticed a hole that been dug along side and that leads underneath the bed, circled in red.  Upon further investigation and a closer look I realized it's a Yellow Jack entryway!!!  An entryway that was very busy with comings and goings!

I'm guessing the reason the holes so big is because some critter was trying to get at the nest.  A skunk or opossum perhaps.

Interestingly, shortly before noticing this issue, I had just moved the grass in that area and used the push mower too and never noticed a thing.  Thankfully I didn't get stung either.

Well, last night after dark Emilie and I pulled a commando raid on them, shock and awe.  Not really shock and awe but it sounds good right.  I simply took some paper towels soaked in bee spray and pushed them down into the hole then covered with a plastic bag and secured.

Hopefully most of the bees had gone to bed and that this approach will work.  We'll see this AM.

Be Careful Skinny Dipping

One night earlier this month we watched our first ever episode of Naked and Afraid.  This particular episode was a collection/highlights of previous shows that focused on snakes. Snakes encountered, snake bites and snakes as food, you get the picture.

Anyway, it's a reality show and as such it kinda sucks. Not a show that I'll be programming my DVR to record but unusual.

The following morning we had the below serpent swimming in our pool!  Now how ironic is that?!  We've been here 15 years and in that time I can count on one hand how many snakes we've found in the pool, freaky.

Emilie went out to remove it and JoAnne went along to capture the moments in pictures, however, neither would get naked before doing so...

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the above photo?

How about now, anything?

Now?!

Commuting Woes!

Here's a sneak peek at my Monday afternoon commute home on Rt. 495 - a parking lot!

I only had about another 58 miles to go before pulling into my driveway, UGH.

Fun With Frog A Drinking Game

JoAnne and I met the neighbors and another couple at our favorite, local restaurant/watering hole, Coles Tavern this past Friday night.

We dropped Emilie and her friend off at the Franklin High School so they could attend the football game.  Our neighbors did the same with their two youtes also.  So, it was a kid's free evening for dinner and some wobblie pops.

It was a beautiful night, so we sat out on the deck.  We also had an unexpected visitor at some point later that night - a rather large, very large actually, Grey Tree Frog.  He was sitting over in a corner of the deck minding his own business but I wanted  him to join us.  Regrettable for him no doubt and for me too this dude was kept a lot longer than he would have liked.  He also got to see the inside of the restaurant too.

Needles to say the wobblie pops were nice and cold and flowing.

I decline to provide any more information or answer any other questions.  I plead the fifth...

Squawk Squawk Gobble Gobble

Awakened early Saturday morning, too early, by the chickens squawking and carrying on.

Typically indicates there's a something out-of-the-norm taking place in their little world.  Sure enough there was, a couple wild turkey's milling about.  Although, we see wild turkey's all over the place and often nearby too, they seldom venture into our backyard.  Perhaps due to the fences, so it was a nice sight to be greeted with when I arouse to the clatter.

They seemed to be milling near and in the raspberries but didn't stay too long once I poked my head out of the upstairs windows.  Camera shy perhaps...