Happy Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween to all!

Any surprises that Emilie carved this pumpkin?!

If you'all not aware, Emilie is obsessed with The Walking Dead!

Taking A Walk

Captured this hawk on his walkabout.

A very handsome boy - 

He has an eye on some little critter - 

One of Our Visiting Small Songbirds

A Tufted titmouse keeping an eye on the camera man while enjoying some fresh picked sunflower seeds.

Our Unique Fragrant Flowers

Our Harlequin Glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum) in the foreground and Giant White Moonflowers in the rear -

Too bad they don't last longer.

One Plus One Equals...

So, I was waiting in line to check in for a haircut the other day.  In front of me was a couple with two young boys.  It looked like all three of the makes just had their hair cut.  They were at the counter settling their tab, which was some $45 dollar and some change.  As is typically done at this salon, the cashier a young girl (cashier in training, hair dresser in training) asks before scanning your credit card if you want to add a tip to the card (not in so many words but you get the idea).  This couple hems and haws a bit, does some quick math and tells the girl to add $9.00.

I was VERY surprised to see the cashier open a drawer to pull out a calculator so she could figure out the amount to enter into the credit card machine!  I kid you not!  She needed a calculator; a calculator, UGH!

I'm not mathematician and I have never played one on TV, and I'm not too bright either but CMON MAN!

The Tastiest Event of the Year!

We'll be attending Franklin's Taste Of The Region this Tuesday evening.  Hosted by the United Regional Chamber of Commerce and held at the Tri-County Regional Vocational High School, which is only a couple miles from us.

Local area restaurants and chefs offer delicious samples of their dishes.  It's a great way to see and taste a variety of foods in a casual atmosphere.

We've been going for years and always leave stuffed!

It's a good take, c'mon down!

What's "Bradlees"?

We've had a Rubbermaid trash can in our garage since living here in Franklin.  I don't recall exactly when it was purchased (for $19.99) but it came from Bradlees, which was a discount department store chain that went out of business back in 2000 - 2001.

I don't believe it's has even had trash in it in all these year, unless you consider what I'm about to list as trash...  Rather it's been used to hold "stuff", long stuff, i.e. winter driveway reflectors, hockey sticks, baseball and wiffle ball bats, vegetable stakes, rebar and the like.

It's resided in pretty much every corner and non-corner of the garage at one time or another.  It's big. It's bulky. It's in the way. It takes up too much space and generally a pain in the butt.  Well, good news, in preparing the garage for winter I cleaned the barrel out!  Many items were relocated to the real trash can, others were neatly wrapped and what remains are all now stored in a 5-gallon bucket tucked out of the way.

A win!

Now, what to do with essentially a brandy new trashcan?

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat!

and I did!

What To Do?!

We've been residents of out town for over 16 years now.  In that time we've seen the town grow with many changes and improvements, some good and some not good.

Frustratingly, with the changes and growth the town has changed and turned into a typical bureaucratic body loaded with rules, restrictions and sadly hypocrisy.  Here are two examples -

In the first photo below you have two signs; one reads, "Swim at your own risk.  No lifeguard on duty".  The second reads, "WARNING no swimming".  Soooo, which sign should I follow?

The second photo shows a beautiful recently built (within the past 5-years) building at the local beach (Beaver Pond), which shares the area and parking lot with a nice artificial turf field hockey\lacrosse field.  This building has storage in the back half and restrooms in the front.  I've NEVER been at the field when the restrooms have been open and available.  As you can see in the pic there are two porta-potties outside, why?!?!

The town of Franklin could do better!

FHS Panther Field Hockey

Franklin High School Freshman Field Hockey team -

No. 18 Miss Emilie -

The girls are enjoying themselves and having a great season, as are the parents. As of this posting they're 8-1-3, with the season winding down.

Ladders

My commute to and from work clocks in at roughly 120 miles.  So, I spend quite a bit of time (way more than I'd like!) on the road driving North and South on Rt. 495.  Most days the drive is uneventful.  I turn the radio on, zone out and listen to the radio.  That being said, in the same breath I've seen quite a bit of, I'll call them, oddities to be nice.  Honestly, it saddens me how people act and behave and carry themselves these days in general but driving in particular when there's no accountability for their actions.  Common courtesy, patients and respect are hard to find and all but gone everywhere these days. ALAS!

I've found that vans and small box truck drivers with a gazillion ladders atop their vehicles are some of the worst offenders.  However, not so much in what I describe above but rather for simply being dangerous dipsticks.  Their cargo atop their vans; ladders, staging and often times wheelbarrows, always look like they're about to come off.  They often times drive as if in sports car, change lanes with almost no notice or warning.  They are typically inconsiderate and generally dangerous drivers.

Here are some examples of the vehicles I'm referring to -

I have many opinions, just saying, and this is one of them.  You don't have to agree or disagree with me, just venting.

You Look'n At Me?!

Trixie-dog doesn't miss a trick.

She's cuddling up with her "chicken" and winter woobies -

She's always watching and waiting for a snackie -

Look! Up In The Sky...

There a pub we ride to that's at the intersection of Rt.140 and Rt.62 located in Spencer, MA.  It's a good meeting location and a jumping off point for some of our longer rides, i.e. up to the Quabbin Reservoir.

The town of Spencer has it's own single runway airport, which is just off of Rt.140 which is all I know about it.  However, when we're in the area on weekends there is almost always glider planes floating above us high up in the sky.

The picture above, although a somewhat cloudy morning, shows a prop-type plane pulling a glider plane up, up, up into the sky.  The glider eventually breaks free and effortlessly floats above us.

It's quite a site to see and watch.

Too bad I don't like heights, otherwise this would be something to put on the ole bucket list... 

Allium Salivum aka Russian Red

My hardneck garlic arrived via USPS last week!  I ordered, as I've been doing for years now, from Sow True Seed out of Asheville, NC.  They're terrific, from their variety to their customer service to their quality.  I highly recommend them.

This time last year, October 5, 2015 to be precise, I planted a garlic variety called Music.  It did terrific and tastes wonderful!  This fall we're trying a new variety called Russian Red.  I saved a couple small gloves to sample.  JoAnne cooked a roast and stuffed it with this garlic and WOW it was delicious!

1lb Russian Red -

9 BIG beautiful bulbs -

Separated into 76 wonderful looking cloves -

Four of six rows hoed and cloves seated - 

Rows covered and lightly tampered -

I'll add grass and leave clippings the next time I mow the lawn to keep the weeds down, moisture in and for an added layer of insulation from the cold New England weather heading our way.

Now we wait and salivate...

Big Games A Coming!

Let's go Soxs!

Let's go Pats!

Farewell David Ortiz, Thank you!

Already Scrambled??

I would think ouch!

Had a weird wrinkled egg waiting for us in the coop today, weird.

Celtics Open Practice

JoAnne, Emilie and I fought the rain and a nasty Friday evening commute to drive into Boston to attend the Boston Celtics open practice at the TD Garden. A prelude to the coming basketball season.

Afterwards, we walked across the street to The Fours Boston, a well known sports bar, for a nice dinner and visit with a cousin of JoAnnes who manages the restaurant.

All in all it was a good take.