Happy New Year 2016!

Before the calendar turns a new leaf over, before the social networking sites get flooded with messages, before the mobile networks get congested, let me take a quiet moment out to wish my family and friends a wonderful, happy, healthy and prosperous 2016!

Christmas Recap

Our Christmas tree -

Trixie dog showing her Christmas spirits -

JoAnne's first Prime Rib - 

with Greek Lemon Potatoes, Brown Sugar Carrots and gravy - 

Our Christmas was terrific!  Dinner was out of this world! Santa was good to all of us!

Merry Gronkmas!

Wishing family and friends a VERY Merry Christmas!

Scrooged...

A 23 Fl. oz. can of Arnold Palmer Lite Half & Half - Iced Tea and Lemonade, and eleven Jolly Rancher candies.

This is the Christmas gift Emilie received from a classmate for the gift exchange.  The gift giver happens to be a boy!

Students provided a list of several gift ideas they'd like in the exchange. Names were then drawn and assignments made.

Emilie pulled a girl classmate.  She was very excited to pick up the gifts asked for.  She wrapped them nice and neat and brought them into school in a holiday themed gift bag.

The boy on the other hand ,who pulled Emilie's name, gave NO thought to her gift and clearly put zero effort into it.  My guess is that he remembered the morning of, so he stopped in at the convenient store across the street from the school and picked up the thoughtless items pictured above.

Sadly, a sign of the times and the type of person being raised today.

Of course, being the dad of the student who got the short end of the stick, I hope Santa brings the boy coal for Christmas and that he gets a nasty, irritating rash on his privates.

HOHOHO, Merry Christmas...

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below photos?

I'll help you out as I zoom in -

Ah, she's taking a midday nap in the sun...

Ice Chunks

And this is why our refrigerator, in-door ice maker is not dispensing ice!

Of course Sears doesn't have a fix for this issue.  We've been told this is a common occurrence with in-door ice makers and we simply have to live with it.

The technician did show us how to lightly bang on the bucket, that holds the ice, in an effort to loosen or free some of the stuck cubes...I kid you not.

What More Could You Want

Pizza, steak and cheese sandwich, fries, pickle and cold beer -

@ Cole's Tavern

The 5 essential food groups!

Wait What?!

I took this picture yesterday, December 18, 2015.

The weather has been so mild here in New England thus far that this tree is thinking it's Spring and has begun to bloom!

I've noticed other trees also budding up.

Oh, they're in for surprise here shortly.  This weather can not and will not last.

Until then, we'll all take it because it's great!

Checkered Or Tartan Twilled Cloth

I'm a plaid wearer!

My yard coats are all plaid.  I've even added a plaid ball cap to my wardrobe,

They're versatile, comfortable and also hide yard dirt and stains.

However, due to my plaid fashion choices, I'm often at the receiving end of many a joke and ribbing by neighbors, friends and even some family.

That's why I snapped a quick pic of this dear couple at the market.

Tell me that's not love...

Honor Roll!

Emilie made honor roll once again for term 1!

Keep up the good work Em!

Father Son Talk

A family is at the dinner table. The son asks the father,

“Dad, how many kinds of boobs are there?”

The father, surprised, answers,

“Well, son, a woman goes through three phases.
In her 20s, a woman’s breasts are like melons, round and firm.
In her 30s and 40s, they are like pears, still nice, hanging a bit.
After 50, they are like onions.”

“Onions?” the son asks.
“Yes. You see them and they make you cry.”

This infuriated his wife and daughter. The daughter asks,
Mom, how many different kinds of willies are there?"

The mother smiles and says, “Well, dear, a man goes through three phases also.
In his 20s, his willy is like an oak tree, mighty and hard.
In his 30s and 40s, it’s like a birch, flexible but reliable.
After his 50s, it’s like a Christmas tree.”

“A Christmas tree?” the daughter asks.
“Yes, dead from the root up and the balls are just for decoration.”

Johnny Acorn-seed Squirrels

I spent many weekends and endless hours this fall raking and raking and raking all in an effort to remove the gazillion acorns that fell and covered the lawn.

Only to have these critters bring them back one at a time.

And to boot they're randomly planting them throughout the yard.

Sorry, Occupied...

Lost my garage parking space.

Came home from work the other afternoon to find my garage bay occupied.

A temporary solution, as the garage that houses our bikes, gets a new shingled roof.

Green Grass Grazing

Even the deer are enjoying the warm weather.

These four are always together.

Seems with the mild temps the grass hasn't gone dormant quite yet and just might still be growing a tad.  It's still green and the deer still enjoy nibbling on it.

Break Time

The weather has been so mild for this time of year.

The critters certainly seem to be enjoying it.

This pair of Cardinals were taking a break from foraging to soak up some sun.

Heat Wave?!

WOW, can you believe the temperature we hit yesterday on December 12?!

Doesn't look like we'll be having a white Christmas.

I'll take it!

Where O Where Have Our Eggs Gone?!

Same feed, just new packaging

With the shorter days and colder temps we're only getting one egg a day now.

The older hens appear to be going through their molt.  Egg production typically stops when this happens, so that accounts for five eggs.  However, the three Americana pullets just started laying, so not sure why we're only getting one versus three.

They better get their coop in order and short this out and soon!

Lazyness or Inconsideration or Something Else?!

It's one thing to have some trash fall out of your barrels during the transfer to the truck now that the process is automated.  However, it's entirely different when the trash is left there, along with the barrels, curbside for two days.

Friggin neighbors!

Westwood Wolverines!

I continue to find items from the past, as I work on rooting through boxes to clean the basement and garage.

Here are a couple items from my almamater Westwood High School, circa Nineteen-Eighty-Something...

That Constant Hum! Make It Stop!

At Emilie's first basketball game if the season.  Sitting in the bleachers watching the girls practice but  distracted by the woman sitting next to me humming away, UGH!   Go away!  Sit somewhere else, PLEASE!

TIMMMMBERRRRRRR...

Can you spot the difference in the top two photos?

Here's a closer view, just in case you had trouble with the pics above.

Another item that's been on my "list" for quite some time now has finally been completed!

The tricky part was the electrical, phone and cable wires these trees were growing into and over.  However, once limbed we were able to drop the tops without any issues.  Limbing was done in short order.  They were loaded into the bed of the truck as they were cut.  Once they were all loaded, we made a quick visit to the town recycle center where we unloaded them.

The stubs were easily pulled out of the ground, roots and all, with the pickup truck.

I now need to rake and neaten up the area, then figure out the plan for moving forward.  Thinking about tightening up the mounding and edging around the Kousa Dogwood then planting grass where the spruce had been.

I have all winter to think about it.  It does open things up quite a bit.

Smile!

I think this tube of toothpaste is a tad bit past it's expire date...

Puzzle Fun

Emilie and I banged out this 500 piece puzzle over the weekend.

I'm SO Stuffed!

BURP!

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was plentiful.

I'm still unable to button my trousers...

"Boxed" Lunch

Making progress on my basement and garage cleaning.

Sold the above two vintage, circa early 1970's, lunchboxes.

They were relocated here, with many, many more items, about five years ago when we were cleaning out my folks house.  They'd been sitting in the same spot on the shelf since their arrival.  So, I dusted them off, took some photos and posted them on Craig's List.

Sold!

Happy Turkey Day!

 

Wishing Family and Friends a Happy Thanksgiving

And remembering and missing the loved ones who are no longer with us.

To be physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

I was puttering in the garage and basement this afternoon.  Still have quite a bit of "stuff" that I relocated here from my folks house.  Trying to make sense of it all and some decisions on what to do with it.  After reminiscing, this item went in the recycling bin.

Came across my old Boy Scout handbook from back in 1975.

Also, appears that I wasn't too fond of being a Boy Scout.

Hmm, who knew...

Additional Coop Winterizing/Insulation

Added some leaf bag insulation to both ends of the chicken pen.

This will certainly help keep the wind from peppering the plastic.

I filled them will Maple leaves. I'll slowly use as bedding for the coop floor throughout the winter.  The chickens will enjoy scratching in it to find snacks.  The rabbits also enjoy a handful here and there snack on too.

Shoo Pest, Go Away...

Now this is how you deter woodpeckers from poking holes in the side of a house!

And prep for Mardi Gras...

Fall Gutter Cleaning Fun

A tad nippy this morning, registering in the mid-forties but what an absolute beautiful day today!

A perfect day to be up on a roof and cleaning gutters.

When I arrived there was no doubt the gutters needed cleaning.

The gutters packed and over flowing with Oak leaves !

Ah, but they're no match for my leaf blower and I.

TA DA!  Clean as a whistle.

Pesky Bothersome Critters

So, as I do each Fall, and have been doing for as long as I can remember, I plant Winter Rye in my vegetable gardens. Helps hold the dirt, when tilled in come Spring it enriches the soil and I can pick some throughout the Winter and feed as treats for the chickens and rabbits.

However, as you can see from the picture below the deer have already found it leaving their hoof marks behind as evidence.  Although, still growing and coming in, they didn't waste any time in eating most of it to the ground.

They'll be sorry when the real cold weather is upon us, wishing they had saved some.

Of course come early Spring, with the days longer and warming the rye will take off and thicken up quite nicely.

Just need to figure out a way of deterring the deer from coming so close to the house and fussing with all our plants.

Mellow Yellow

A stubborn Aspen tree refusing to comply and drop it's leaves.

Doesn't seem to care that all the other trees in our backyard have shed their leaves.

Still proudly displaying their magnificent yellow colors.

Nom Nom Nom (the sound of chewing)

I don't know what all the fuss was about this past Thursday afternoon but there was a flurry of critter activity taking place!

There were oodles of American Robins darting back and forth between the ornamental pears trees and the Bittersweet vines.  I suspect they were dinning on the plentiful berries still hanging on.

This grey squirrel was in the Kousa Dogwood tree eating the now discolored and withered berries that had covered the tree earlier in the Fall.  Nothing goes to waste.

Here is a Downy Woodpecker bee-bopping from one tree limb to another looking for something.

The best of the bunch is this female Cardinal taking a short break and posing.

With all this food around there is no need to fill the bird feeders yet.  I'll wait till the deep freeze and snow before offering assistance.