The Office Puzzle

Completed!

Started Christmas eve day and finished it this morning!

1000 piece puzzle, piece of cake!

Onto the next one...

Wok You Look'n At?!

Weird but I'm on a stir fry kick as of late and I can't explain it. I whipped up this delicious teriyaki meal last night, and cleaned my plate right down to the very last grain of rice!

You Sly Foxes You, Hubba Hubba!

Morning walks are the best, so quiet, calm and peaceful.  The calm before the storm of man awaking and ruining it with their hustle and bustle.  Often times I'm treated to seeing things most miss.  Take for example my walk on Tuesday morning - 

As I made my way up the driveway of the school, a mile down the road, I noticed an animal on the soccer field.  At first glance I assumed it was a dog but didn't see any owners milling about.  As I got closer I realized it was a fox, however, she was just standing there looking at me; never turned and ran, which was unusual. I suspect most people at that point would have assumed it was a rabid fox because foxes aren't out in the day and they would have immediately posted to Facebook about their find with a reminder to keep a close eye on your cats and dogs, UGH...oh the misinformed dipsticks!

Turns out it wasn't one fox but TWO foxes!  The reason they didn't turn and run is because they were "stuck" together, OUCH!  They tried to scurry away but their 8 legs had them going in different direction.

What I was witnessing was a pair of foxes mating!  Here is what the Google machine has to say - 

"During mating, a bulb-like mass of tissue surrounding the baculum tip (called the bulbus glandis) swells as it engorges with blood and the pair may become locked (or tied) together – this is known as a copulatory tie or copulatory lock, and is present in most canids."

Seemed like a rather odd place, out in the open, for these two to consummate their affection for one another but interesting just the same.

Perhaps, like most folks these days I recorded a 30 second clip of this pair trying to make there way to the woods -

💔

 😭

Try Losing One

It's hard to get a number

It's hard to get that dance

It's hard to talk a girl

Into ditching all her friends

It's hard to get that first kiss

It's hard to make one fall

It's hard to get the courage

Up to give her dad a call

And if all that ain't hard enough

Try losing one

Try walking through the door of an empty house

Try staring at the wall pouring whiskey out

Try living with knowing that you let her down

Try trying like hell not to think about

That hurt in her eyes as she turned around

If you think finding a girl you can't live without

Is the hardest thing you've ever done

Try losing one

It's hard to come home early

Them last call home come so late

Pride is hard to swallow

And sorry is hard to say

And taking her for granted

Is an easy thing to do

And if you wanna see the kind of hell

A girl can put you through

Try losing one

Try walking through the door of an empty house

Try staring at the wall pouring whiskey out

Try living with knowing that you let her down

Try trying like hell not to think about

That hurt in her eyes as she turned around

If you think finding a girl you can't live without

Is the hardest thing you've ever done

Try losing one

Try losing one

Try missing her every night holding on

Barely getting by a love like they

It might be hard to find

But try losing one

Try walking through the door of an empty house

Try staring at the wall pouring whiskey out

Try living with knowing that you let her down

Try trying like hell not to think about

That hurt in her eyes as she turned around

If you think finding a girl you can't live without

Is the hardest thing you've ever done

Try losing one

Try losing one

Grief

Merry Trixie Christmas

Trixie dog had a Merry Christmas!

Here are some UP and close candid pics of her in her Christmas PJs!

Santa got her (2) new squeaky toys, which I call her "chickens", and she loves them - 

We'll add them to her bed of squeaky toys.  Spoiled much...

Merry Christmas To You All!

Emilie and I put our Christmas tree up!

It looks great, if I do say so myself!

Here is the rest of the inside decorating, not as fancy as years past but festive.

A difficult holiday season would be an understatement.  However, I was on top of the world yesterday, as I got to spend Christmas Eve with both of my daughters.  I had them ALL TO MYSELF and all my worries went away, if just for that short time.

Two beautiful souls that I love so so much!  I couldn't be prouder of them both.

Wishing you all a VERY Merry Christmas!

CMGI Field, What?!

How many of you all recall when, what is now known as Gillette Stadium, the home to our New England Patriots, was originally supposed to be called CMGI Field?! Based on the date stamp on the pictures, this was back in 2002.

The stadium, parking lot signs had all be named CMGI Field.  I don't recall why, and honestly can't be bothered this morning to research, but the sponsorship fell through.

For some reason I made my way to the stadium and took some pictures before all signage was changed to Gillette Stadium.

White Christmas, Perhaps?!

I took this picture during my 7AM walk yesterday morning.  You can't tell in the pic but it was still snowing lightly.  Most surfaces had a coating of fresh fallen snow.  It was so calm and peaceful.  

There's still a coating out there is morning too, so this is as close as we'll get to a white Christmas this year.

To Survive...

First Snow Of The Season

We had out first snow fall of the season; a dusting really.  It always looks so nice when it first falls.

One of the things I like about fresh snow, is you get a glimpse at what creatures are lurking about outside - 

These are deer tracks - two of them.  Coming from the backyard and making their way to the front and ultimately across the street -

Outside Christmas Decorations - Done

I spent some time in the yard a couple weeks ago to finish raking, getting the driveway markers in place and to do a little decorating for Christmas.  I put out my Christmas flag, hung a couple red bows on the lampposts and put out the Christmas spotlight, which casts images against the house.

Not over the top by any imagination, just simple and basic.

Concrete Chickens

Sadly, not the real thing but thought I would kill two birds (get it) with one stone here.

I moved the yard figurine mother chicken and her three chicks into the vacant chicken coop.  Gives the impression that there are still chickens occupying the coop, and it gets the figurines out of the direct elements and protects them some.  They've been outside for so long and it shows but hopefully this will extend their life some.

Stalker

I was being watched the other evening, as I made my way out to pickup the mail.

I love birds of prey, one of my favorites!

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose

Here is the pile of recyclable metal I'd been saving for several months.  Everything from bent nails, rusty screws to old rabbit cages.  Once I had a large enough load, I reached out to a local Facebook guy who picks this stuff up for free.  He came out within a couple days of me calling him and wha-la, all gone.  Well, all but the orange wheelbarrow.

 

Halloween Dinner

This is a picture I took around Halloween, hence the Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale beer. Grilled myself a delicious burger and using my home grown Yukon Gold potatoes made myself some fresh fries.  Mmmm, so so good!

 

Closed For The Season...

Sadly, I am out of the chicken business...

Decided I didn't want to fuss with winterizing the coop, then the need to shovel a path out there and keep it maintained and I didn't want to make numerous trips out there each and every day throughout the winter either.  Although, not a huge burden and worry, it was always on my mind.  Worrying about the cold weather on the girls, snow in general but heavy wet snow on the roof.

It's only been a month since I rehomed them and I can honestly say I do miss having them.  I miss the fresh eggs and recycling foods out to them.

Once they were picked up, I spent some time cleaning the coop out, including the nest boxes and laying down the last of bale of straw.  Sill using the upper part as storage but for now - NO VACANCIES!

DIY Door Swag

Made me a Christmas door swag from items I picked along my walk the other morning!  I went prepared, planning to pick these items, so I brought along my trusty hand pruners.  A snip here and a snip there and WALLA!

A nice big White pine branch, a bright red Winterberry branch, some Bittersweet and a couple pine cones, all tied together with some fishing line and BAM!

Rather be creative and resourceful, versus using my hard earned money on items mass produced by others.

Camouflaged No More

With all the leaves down now, it's much easier to spot critters that might otherwise be camouflaged well. Like this impressive hawk.  Perched atop an old dead tree, perhaps looking for a rodent in the litter below.  Didn't seem to mind me walk up to it, as close as I was able, to take a pic.

A Surprise Boo-Boo

Honestly, don't recall what I did to get such a bruise on my palm?!  A bit tender but not something that I was even aware of at the time and didn't notice it till later in the evening.

I helped an elderly family friend the other Saturday - chain sawed up a very big oak branch that fell onto her chain link fence, cleaned all the gutters on her house and raked some of her yard. Finishing it all off with the leaf blower to clean her high traffic areas, garage, porch and driveway.

Somewhere during that work I obtained this souvenir.

Leaning Poplar Tree Of Ye Olde Homestead

A couple weeks ago we had a rain storm come through the area with super high winds.  Following that storm I noticed the neighbors Poplar tree, which is just over the property line, and had been 100% vertical is now leaning almost at a 45 degree angle.

I'm thankful that it's leaning in that direction versus over the chicken coop.  I suspect this dude will come down at some point during the winter, perhaps following a heavy wet snow fall.  Of course I would prefer it NOT fall on my property but it'll prolly get hung up in the neighboring Boxelder tree, which in essence will force it to fall my way.  Shouldn't hurt anything falling in that directions it's leaning and it sure would be nice that when it does come down it takes a bunch of the Boxelder tree limbs with it!

Stay tuned...

Thanksgiving Power Red Donation

Another Power Red blood donation in the books!

My next donation will put me in the 7-Gallon Donor club!

A huge THANK YOU to all the Red Cross works who have helped me in my blood donation journey!

Unimaginable Pain

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below picture?!

No Wok But Delicious Anyway

This - 

Plus this -

And some sautéed chicken breast, and I created this delicious dinner - 

With enough leftovers for dinner the following night too.

Add a couple frosty Coor's Lights and all was good!

Egg Casings

During my fall yard cleanup and as I cut back all the old flowers, grasses, veggies, etc. I always check for praying mantis egg casings, seen here above.  Although, I don't always see these dudes during the summer, these casings are proof they were there and prolly watching me.  I want to pay careful attention to these so they're not discarded and hauled away to the town landfill.  I most definitely want them to hatch here on the ole homestead, so they can help with insect control through the summer.

Pictured above is one of two casings I discovered this fall.  Hoping there are more out there that I didn't disturb.

 

Working Smarter These Days

I took a new approach this fall to my ornamental grasses.  In years past I would cut each clump by hand using hand pruners, which was a slow and tedious task for sure. To even take it a step further, since I don't really have a place to dump or compost this still stuff on my property, I would then cut up these shoots into small pieces that would fit nicely into a large landscape barrel.  My neighbor, thank goodness for him, would take the barrel to the town recycle center, with his yard waste and dispose of.

This year, however, I tied each clump of grass to keep them bundled, then pulled out the ole chain saw and whacked each clump, ten in all, right down at the ground level.  Once cut, I hauled them to the driveway, where again my awesome neighbor, backed his trailer right up to them for easy pesy loading, and off to the recycling center they went.

SO much more efficient and SO much time saved!