A Trixie Pampering

It was spa day for ole Trixie yesterday -  a haircut, nails trimmed and bath.

She came back looking and smelling like a brandy new dog!

Before -

After with her Halloween bandana -

She's a regular at Dog Loves Grooming Salon & Re-Tail here in Franklin.  They're great there, always friendly and always happy to have Trixie in for a visit.

A Geranium Cutting

Back in September, when visiting Emilie at URI, we took in several of the area RI farm stands.  All had beautiful flowers and interesting fall plants, pumpkins, gourds, etc.  One place in particular, The Farmer's Daughter in Kingston had a unique geranium with an unusual color flower I've never seen before.  So, I helped myself to a small clipping, which I've had in a cup of water on the kitchen windowsill ever since.  During that time it sprouted oodles of roots and yesterday I finally planted it in soil.

Time will tell how and what it does, especially since it's really not the right season, but I'm hopeful and looking forward to see if it'll bloom.

Stay Tuned... 

Rejected!

The coins here were rejected by the automated coin counting machine at my local bank.  I guess it's fairly accurate at rejecting what it knows is foreign coins and damaged beyond recognition coins.  No big deal, as these will simply go into my pocket and passed off at a future purchase...

The Coop Ladies

Here's a picture of the ladies!

They're getting ready for the winter ahead, with four of them starting to molt.  I'm sure the other three are not too far behind.  With the colder nights and shorter days I'm down to 3 or 4 eggs a week now, TSK TSK TSK!

On the fence on whether to hold onto them and keep them through the winter or rehome them?!  If I decide to keep them, I will need to start the coop winterization here soon.

So much still to do in the yard but we're running out of daylight, as it gets dark so early now.

Out Of The Park Good!

Mmmm, Mmmm good!

I nailed diner Thursday night, which was also enough for lunch on Friday and on Saturday!

My Yukon Gold potatoes sliced into fried, oiled and seasoned -

My California Wonder pepper and a red onion - 

A shaved steak with pepper and onion sandwich with piping hot fresh made french fries!

All with a couple of super cold Coor's Lights!

HIT THE SPOT!  Trixie also approves, as she's my official taster...

Halloween Prep

Trick or Treat!

Emilie working on her Halloween costume by adding some fake blood to her t-shirt.

It was a good idea and shirt came out looking as if it had real blood stains on it.  Emilie did a good job decorating it.  Perhaps, due to her love of the Walking Dead...

Define Life

Laziness and Excuses, Unacceptable

This is what our tax dollars get us here in Franklin...shoddy maintenance.  Oh and excuses too from the town administrator, who blamed this on the pandemic and having a hard time filling positions.  At least that's what his email back to me claimed...

It's important to note that all these pictures were taken in the area in front of the elementary and middle schools down the street, and I took these shortly after the school year opened.

Clearly storm drains with weeds that has such lush and tall growth have NOT been tended to in quite some time!  The sidewalks have growth and weeds growing and encroaching on them, as well as piles of pine needles and leaves covering a good portion of them, which also have been there for a while.

This area is very busy in general, more so now that school is back in session - students, walkers, joggers, bikers, etc. and all have to navigate unkept sidewalks all the while needing to be super careful of the speeding vehicles passing by them too. 

Seems that safety for kids, residents and others isn't a concern or priority for the town of Franklin.

 

I Call "Shotgun", Of Sorts

Oliver the cat and Trixie the dog are in a constant battle for lounging places. Whether it's the dog create, the dog bed, the sunny spot by the sliding door or here pictured below in my recliner, UGH!

It's funny to see who gets what spot and then how quickly the other will claim the spot as soon as it's vacant.  Of course Oliver is simply a load but Trixie is vigilantly on watch and standing guard.

Frustratingly, I am the one who ends up with me rear-end covered in cat and dog hair, alas... 

Eat Up!

A jumping spider dining on a house fly!

When our Autumn Joy sedum bloomed it not only attracted all sorts of bees and hornets and yellow jackets but oodles of fly's too.  I would swat as many as I could whenever I passed by and pleased to have help from little arachnids like this furry little fella! 

Mangia!

Reuse, Repurpose and So Long

I finally pulled the bunk beds down from the attic. I spent a good hour the other day washing and wiping them down, thank you Murphy's Oil soap, as they roared back to life and look very good.

These were used by my brother and I growing up, then by my two oldest when they were young and have been stored up in our attic for many years now.  A good product, built years ago when things were made to last, that was put to good use by my family and served us well.

That being said, the time has come to let go of this heirloom and pass it along to another worthy family, as it has plenty of life left in it.  I am plead to say that I found a new home for this piece, down in Connecticut, where it's sure to make a couple youngsters very happy.

"The First Telephone Pole"

Another find of my dads, from a time gone by.

My dad was a great wordsmith and had a very creative mind.

If memory serves me correctly, my dad wrote this sign for my Uncle Joe who had recently erected an old telephone pole in his yard to mount an outside spotlight on.

And it's still there today!

My Congregation, Alas

It's that time of the year, fall, when the stink bugs, lady bugs and boxelder bugs start congregating on our house.  The latter are the worst in terms of numbers, there are thousands easily.  They prefer the south side of the house and come out during the day but hide as it gets dark. Behind the shutters, under the clapboards, wherever there's a hole or opening they can fit in.  They're harmless except they defecate all over.

I was hoping we wouldn't have as many this year, as one of our neighbors had a number of boxelder trees removed but alas, that had no effect.

Frye Gets Third Master's

My brother was up for a visit a couple weeks ago.  We spent a bit of time going through some of the boxes of  my dads paperwork to see what might still be relevant, if anything.  We came across this news clipping my dad saved from June 15, 1980.  Quite an accomplishment and an indication of how smart and hard working my dad was! 

Praying Mantis PDA

Love was in the air the other afternoon here at the ole homestead.

A little too much PDA but very pleased none the less, and hoping for a springtime loaded with praying mantis nymphs...

Farm Stands and Fall in RI

I visited Emilie at URI a couple weekends ago and spent the day.  It was a beautiful warm fall day, so we stopped and had a nice lunch, then visited a couple of the area farm stands. The fall flowers were still in bloom and looked amazing.  The assortment, sizes and colors of pumpkins and gourds was overwhelming.  One place had some unusual and creative fall decorating offerings, e.g. straw chickens and ponies, as well as real face molded pumpkins.

Once you get off the beat'n path Rhode Island is a beautiful state with quite a bit to do and see and visit!

It's All About Me!

A tad difficult to see but there's a UPS truck parked on the right side, just past the white box truck on the left.  It's frustrating how people just don't think or just don't care is more like it and pull a stunt like this.

Some drivers become catatonic when it comes to another vehicle double-parked in their lane and don't know what to do and are fearful to try and pass, so you can just image the problems these two truck caused.

The UPS driver didn't seem worried or that he cared one bit.  He pulled over, rooted around in his truck for a bit then stepped out and slowly took his time walking to deliver the package.

Honestly, what is wrong with people today?!

Welcome to Fall

Here are my fall decorations - a mum and three pumpkins.

Simple and easy, for both displaying and then disposing of, when the time comes.

Barrels and Barrel of Acorns

Yup, I raked up this many acorns from our front yard!!  The bag is about half full too.  We've been here in the house since 2000 and I don't recall ever having this many acorns in one season.  Not sure if there's any coloration to the upcoming winter but folklore does refer to an abundance of acorns in the fall as an long cold winter...