Our Raised Beds Already At Work!

My raised garden beds are ready and most in used already!

I built and installed a replacement 2"x 8" x 8' strawberry bed. Unfortunately, the extremely hot and dry weather of last summer, coupled with the damage the deer did, I lost all but a lone single strawberry plant.  I took advantage and added some rich compost to the soil as a part of the replacement.  Letting it all settle before planting new plants, which I'm picking up tomorrow from my farmer friend Tim.  I don't think we'll see any berries this season but if all goes well, we'll have them coming out of our ears!

As you can see the garlic is doing FANTASTIC!  Already looking forward to harvesting!

I took advantage of some open space in the bed below and planted (16) Red Onions!

To satisfy my early New England gardening itch, I planted a six-pack variety of lettuce.  They're hearty and can withstand the chilly spring nights.  Just hope the darn wild rabbits leave them be.

Show Me The Money...Plants

Lunaria Annua, also known as Money Plant and Silver Dollar. I've read that the Pilgrims brought them to the colonies on the Mayflower, and that Thomas Jefferson grew them in the famous gardens of Monticello. Many gardeners consider this plant a pest.The purple flowers in the photos below illustrate how some might consider these a pest. 

This patch of ours has grown in just a couple years from a single plant. Now there's all over the area, popping up here and there. It's on the edge of the lawn\wood line so no worries. They look nice too, now and even when they're all dried.

Happy Mother's Day To All!

"You've Got Mail"...

I had enough and finally tackled our mailbox project yesterday!  Although, nice to have a mobile mailbox during snowstorms, it was very unsightly.  The biggest challenge with mailboxes on our street is snowplow damage.  I suspect a combination of angel and speed, mixed with heavy wet snow, and many a mailbox is destroyed.

Before -

Step 1, cut the black top sidewalk -

Step 2, dig the hole.  Three feet down and add a couple bags of concrete -

Step 3, fill the hole mount the mailbox and add some reflectors -

Step 4, have Emilie customize my finish concrete work - 

Hoping the slim, narrow pole will be less of a target and will withstand what's thrown at it.  However, the heavy plastic mailbox is another storm but one that's now easily replaceable if\when necessary.

BBQ for ME!

On my way home from running errands Friday night I finally stopped in at Commonwealth BBQ in Wrentham, MA.  Had heard a lot of folks raving at how delicious their food was and I was not disappointed.  It's a takeout type restaurant where you order your food through a window from outside.

I went with "The Commonwealth" sandwich - pulled pork, see above, with slaw on the side and Cowboy beans, YUMMY!

HBD 2017

Happy Quarter Century Birthday to My Oldest Daughter!

Love you!

Cedar Fungi

Mowing the lawn today I noticed something unusual and something I've never seen before growing on one of our Red Cedar trees.  Well, I stopped the mower, grabbed my phone and snapped a handful of pictures.  The weirdest...

In researching I came across this interesting article from Mass Audubon that explains what these interesting orange globes are - 

"What's Growing on That Red Cedar" 

"Tom" and Gerry Perhaps...

A terrible cell phone picture with the glare from the window, however, I didn't want to miss this couple frolicking the other morning.

From what I've seen the hens typically are running from the toms but not this pair.  She was content to hang around and slowly forage all the while completely ignoring his advances.

Our 2017 Tulips

Here are the few tulip that have graced us this Spring -

Most of the ones we've planted are long gone now.  I'm sure there are many reasons but I suspect chipmunks and deer played a role in their demise.  As a matter of fact, the red tulip picture above shows some of the deer damage.  They arrived as the tulips were beginning to pop through the soil and ate the tops off.  Fortunate, it was just leaves that were damaged and they;ve since bounced back nicely.

Looks like I'll be planting a slew more this coming fall.

Post-Dental-Cleaning-Commute-To-The-Office Lunch

Stumbled upon a new favorite lunch sandwich - turkey, bacon and cheese on a toasted Asiago bagel, YUMMY!   To die for delicious! 

Already looking forward to my next dental visit!

Find The Critter

Find the critter -

Can you find the critter in the above picture?!

You're A Peach Hon!

Our peach tree, which the previous homeowners planted many, many years ago, is hanging on and like clock work presented us with some beautiful flowers this Spring.  It suffers from a couple diseases that I'm aware of and maybe more - Gummosis and peach scab (aka "freckles"), and sadly doesn't produce as many peach as it had years ago.  I faithful prune it each year to remove the affected limbs but in doing so the tree is slowly becoming a Charlie Brown type tree.

Sneaker Net

I awoke to this note, slipped under the bedroom door -

I was too tired to stay up to watch the end of the New York Ranger vs Montreal Canadians playoff hockey game the other night but Emilie the night owl toughed it out.

I like how she provided me with an old school note versus a text.

I'm happy to report that the Rangers went on to eliminate the Canadians from playoffs!

Wake Up!!

I was awoken the other morning at 12:30AM to the sound of smashing and breaking glass!!

Not sure what was going on I chose to sit quietly for a couple minutes and waited for Trixie-dog,who sleeps in the kitchen, to give me a sign.

I begin to hear a low, steady growl!

Oh boy, but no other noise, crashing or otherwise.  So, I ruled out a break-in, got up and made my way downstairs.

Low and behold, the picture, which had hung over the mantel for some 12+ years, had given way.  It fell of the wall, hit the mantel, which in turn took our a half dozen framed pictures and a couple nick-knacks.  All fall and crashing on the hearth.  Glass was everywhere, what a mess!

An hour and a half later with the use of a Dyson push vacuum and a Sears shop-vac all the glass was cleaned up and a resemble of order restored.

The picture, which is all scratched from the broken glass and it's trip to the floor, now hangs in our garage.

The Earthworm That Could

Hmm, is that what I think it is?  Well, that's odd!

Yup, it's an earthworm making it's way across our deck

Seeing an earthworm around here isn't odd at all, see them all the time.  What's odd is that our deck is some ten feet high off the ground!  So, not sure where this dude was headed...

Happy Birthday Mom!

Wishing you a Happy Birthday Mom!

Sure do miss you something terrible.