Trixie dog says...
Happy Halloween everybody!
Friday, October 30, 2015
Take Me Back In Time
I came across the following items when preparing the garage to store the lawn furniture.
I completely forgot I had these items. They've been stored in a carton and tucked away in a typically inaccessible spot, well until this past weekend anyway.
These came from my farmer friend Tim. His dad owned a building that housed an auto parts store in the front and an auto repair shop in the back many many years ago. The back of the building, the repair shop, closed and sat empty for years and became a storage spot. Many items from back in the day when it was up and running were still there.
Some 10, 12, 15 years ago my friend sold the building. I helped clean it out at that time and saved a number of items, these cans being just a few.
The Shell cans are tin and with the exception of one all opened and from the early 60's.
The Oilzum are cardboard and also from the early 60's.
The Yoohoo can is steel and I'm guessing late 60's early 70's.
Interesting.
Commute Oddity
Something you don't typically see...ever, around here anyway. Especially when driving 70mph on the highway. A woman, driving a fancy SUV Mercedes with the windows up, wearing a surgical face mask!
Of course I don't know the reason or history behind why this person is doing such a thing and there could be a perfectly good reason but it still struck me as very odd.
Hmm, note to self - stock doomsday bunker with surgical face masks...just in case.
Who Goes There!
Picture taken by Emilie showing 3 of the 4 deer visiting and dining.
It didn't take the resident deer long to locate where I've been dumping all the acorns, behind the chicken coop. The squirrel and chipmunks too. They all seem to congregate and dine together. Suppose with no more hosta and sedum and echinacea to eat they can't be too fussy.
What's All That Racket
Just passing through...
With Fall upon us the Blue Jay has become much more prevalent. They're actually an attractive bird with their blue, black and white colors. A skittish and a noisy bird too, always making a racket. They've been darting in and out, here and there but never sitting still for too long. They seem to enjoy the Bittersweet berries best but scrounge for other morsels as well.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Entitlement, Alas...
Not sure to blame the school that poorly designated this as a valid parking space or the lazy dipstick who thought it was a good idea to park there.
Note: This was a large parking lot with plenty of available spaces to choose from.
Many, many people were using these stairs all day long, as they were the entry way to the main field, concession stand and bathrooms. However, on this day, which has sadly become common practice by SO many, it was about entitlement versus common sense and common curtsey.
All Tucked In For The Winter!
Well, I finally got the chicken coop - rabbit pen winterized this past Sunday.
The resident critters approved and are all now ready to take on the coming New England winter and all that Mother Nature throws at us.
First Hard Frost of The Fall
Our hydrangea's still has/had several stunning flowers on them!
Here is one taken on the morning of 10/16 -
Here is the same flower taken on the morning of 10/19, after a hard frost passed through the area the night before -
It's official now, the New England growing season has come to an end.
Multifaceted, Multiyear Marketing Partnership
Another Championship!
On October 1, my company announced a multifaceted, multiyear marketing partnership with the Boston Celtics!
On October 14, Wyc Grousbeck, Co-Owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Celtics, Leon Powe and the 2008 Championship trophy were onsite for coffee, donuts, a meet-and-greet, raffle and autograph signing
Exciting times!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Hibachi Fun!
Saturday night birthday celebration with friends at Ichigo Ichie, a local Franklin Japanese restaurant.
What a fun time! We had a blast!
Roast duck, fried calamari and sushi to begin with then onto the feast above!
The beers were frosty cold and the food was fresh, delicious and plentiful!
"SUSHI"?!?! Ah, yes!
Closed For The Season
"Sorry folks pools closed. The moose out front should have told you!"
Another season has come to an end. The pool has been winterized, covered and is now closed for the season. Always a bittersweet time of the year.
The Joys Of Snowblower Repairs!
With the help of my neighbor we replaced the engine plate on our Craftsman snowblower.
The difficulty rating for replacing this piece on the Sears parts website was 4 out of 5 wrenches, yikes!
Well, in some respects they were spot on. Actually, it wasn't all that difficult but we did need to essentially take the machine apart. Once apart all we had to do was remove the four bolts holding the engine to the engine plate. Simply right?! Um, nope! Three came off with relative ease. The forth, however, just would NOT come out. We tried all kinds of tools, leverage tricks, sprays but she wouldn't budge! In the end we ended up drilling out the old bold, which was threaded and instead installed a through bolt, pictured above.
The work was akin to the Gilligan Island cruise, you know a three hour cruise. Instead of this taking us maybe two hours, it took closer to five!
She's in good shape now. Hoping after putting in all this time and effort, the snow will stay away this winter.
Oh, Don't Mind Us!
Let me start but admitting that these are not the best pictures, I'm aware.
Emilie spotted the two young deer lying in our front yard the other evening, around 7PM.
We grabbed the camera and proceeded to open the front door every so slowly and make our way onto the front stairs. The deer on the right, located just above the "g" in my watermark, stood up. The other one wasn't concerned and didn't budge. The one standing wasn't concerned either and began eating some acorns, which were blanketing the front lawn.
Here's a close up of the dude on the left -
Here is Emilie sitting talking to them and trying to get them to come to her -
I really do not want these critters in our yard, especially after all the damage they've done to our hostas, strawberry plants, sedum, etc. Clearly, they're comfortable here and used to us, hence them not taking off. However, for now with the Fall upon us, the more annuals they eat the less I have to cut back and cart off.
Coleus Basket
My farmer friend "Tim" gave me a half dozen "Black Dragon" coleus plugs that he started back in the Spring. They were so tiny. I didn't think they'd make it but hand watering and some TLC and they took off.
Coleus come in so many different varieties and colors now a days. I'm partial to the blacks and chocolates. May just do a coleus garden next year with a bunch of different types.
I may even try to bring one of these Black Dragons in the house for the Winter and start clippings come early Spring.
Find The Critter
Can you find the critter in the above photo?
Perhaps, these pics below will assist -
Friday, October 02, 2015
Lone Pettunia
What's that pink thing over there on the far side of the pool?
Awe, it's a lone pink petunia!
What an odd spot to grow and an odd time to appear. Even odder is that with all the potted plants we did and maintained this Summer not a one had a petunia in it.
We'll enjoy it for as long as Mother Nature allows.
"Music" To My Palate!
Oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy!
Look what came in the mail today from Sow True Seed - my Fall garlic!
I ordered a variety called "Music", which claims to be cold hardy, slightly spicy and incredibly flavorful.
Guess what I'll be doing this weekend, rain or shine!
The Potato Chip Fair!
Look what I found in my lunch box on Monday morning!! What a nice surprise whoever you were!
As far as biscuits and gravy goes it doesn't even come close to Clarence's Drive-In in Unicoi Tennessee. However, for a lunchtime oomph, not too bad.
Thursday, October 01, 2015
Bulking Up!
Took this picture the other morning of a deer in the neighbors front yard.
There were two deer foraging, both the babies that were born earlier this year. As you can see they're no longer babies. They were happily eating the hickory nuts now falling and covering the area.
The squirrels didn't seem to mind sharing.
Knock-Knock, Knock-Knock, Knock-Knock...
And this is the result of the Downy Woodpecker, ARG!
He sure has done a number on our trim that's for sure.
This time of year they become a HUGE nuisance as they forage for food and place to hole-up.
A friend bought and hung garland along the side of her house to prevent this. I believe it worked, however, you should see what the different color garland looks like hanging sporadically in the house, YIKES!
Instead, I used a couple strands of bird netting and stapled over this area. It's the netting we use to cover our strawberries and blueberries to keep the birds out. It's difficult to see unless you're up close. So far it seems to have worked on this spot. My worry is they'll simply moved to another spot on the house and do the same damage.
No Bottoms!
TA-DA!
This is the outcome of my recent shrub pruning.
I think I like it or at a minimum I like them better than what they looked like before.
The lower limbs were mostly dead with very little green left in them but still had a cone-type shape to them. This was the alternative to pulling them out, which I'm still mulling over.
Samara Time of Year
This is a picture of one of the many Boxelder trees that we have along the back of our property. Notice the brown items, otherwise known as the Samara, which are essentially a type of fruit and covering most of these trees. They're much easier to spot now that they've dried and turned brown.
Samara's are often referred to as a wingnut, helicopter, whirlibird, whirligig, polynose, or, in the north of England, a spinning jenny. I like to refer to them as super annoyances for the fact that they're very mess this time of year when they begin to fall and fly all over the place. It's a bear keeping the pool clean of them.
What's All The Racket?
This helicopter was flying over the area last month for what seemed like 10+ minutes.
Still not sure what all the commotion was but one thing's for sure, it was very loud and very obnoxious! It certainly disrupted an otherwise beautiful day.
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