Litter Bug PSA!

To all you selfish, inconsiderate and lazy pricks - before throwing your nip and pint bottles out of your vehicle window, would you at least put the caps back on and tighten them?!

It would sure make picking up your littered and discarded trash SO much easier.

Hoping for your drinking and driving arrests👮🚔!

I'm Five Dollars Richer!

Getting fit is really "paying" off for me!

I came across this pencil bag on my run yesterday afternoon with a five dollar bill inside, WHOOHOO!

I really enjoy running again and actually looking forward to it each day.  However, if I find myself indecisive about getting out there, the potential of finding more cash is all the motivation I need get mov'n!

As my brother would sing, "I Like To Move It Move It!

Distance

Stupidology

Saw this news story posted online this morning and it caught my attention at being SO weird, oh and the fact that whoever wrote this article is a buffoon! I wouldn't even call this news worthy.  Perhaps, there's more to the story but based on the picture and the caption, I'm not interested in clicking and reading the story.  Must be a super slow day in Providence...

First, why does it matter that the woman is a "Mexican mother"?  Is it because they were eating enchiladas? I like enchiladas but I'm not Mexican.  She being Mexican has NO bearing on this story what-so-ever!

Second, "bravely shields", you have got to be kidding!  Bravely shielding if perhaps there was some sort of gore, e.g. blood and guts, on the table or some adult content or shenanigan's going on.  Sorry, but brave is running into a burning building or a burning car or some level of heroics, or if she were pulling her son away to safety, hitting or fighting the bear in some manner but covering his eyes is not 'brave', rather utterly clueless to what the real danger is.  Looks like she pulled the boy overtop of her to protect herself from being mauled...

As Bill Engvall used to say, "Here's your sign"...

Father or Farter?!

Admittedly, I am NOT into bathroom talk or humor but thought this was worth a post.

The above was hanging in the bathroom at my optometrist office.

I'm still not sure if this is creative or disturbing, leaning towards a little of both but clearly someone has some spare time on their hands...

A Productive Saturday

With Saturday being rainy and a little on the chilly side, I opted to take care of the inside chores versus outside.

After a brisk 3-mile walk first thing and before the rain arrived, I headed off to the market (prices are stupid expensive, good lord!).

I prefer going to the market early in the hope of avoiding as many assholes as possible.  Doesn't mean I miss them, as there are simply too many of them, it just limits my exposure to them.

Once home and most of the groceries put away, I spent some time separating the meats I bought into individual freezer bags for quick and easy use down the road.

Then the cleaning began - throw rugs and mats shaken. Pet bedding, pet blankets and pet toys into the washer - Trixie had a spa day at the groomers on Thursday, so only made sense to give her things a through cleaning too! Complete vacuuming from top to bottom, including the tile and linoleum floors and the basement.  Cleaning of the commodes, sinks, showers and tubs. The mopping of all floors, again, including the basement stairs and floor.  Washing of my bedding and all towels.  Cleaned the stove top, microwave, toaster and counter tops.

Oh SO clean!

Trixie - haircut, mani\pedi and a nice bath -

Then I made a lasagna, with ground turkey (2nd attempt), which I've been craving!  A bit dry, still working on perfecting the recipe, but honestly if I do say so myself, very tasty anyway -

While the lasagna was cooling, I changed and went for a 6-mile run to finish the day on my feet.

A refreshing shower and it was time to dig into my lasagna dinner, mmm SO good!

I was out like a ton of bricks as soon as my head hit the pillow and had a very good sleep!

A Papier-Mache Basketball

Sort of a find the critter post, first picture anyway...

When mowing the lawn the other evening I noticed something familiar in the grass beneath this red maple.  Knowing full well what it was, I looked up and was shocked to see what I saw!

Approximately 15' up from the ground was this enormous Bald-Faced hornets nest!

I honestly don't recall ever seeing one so BIG!  This dude is BIGGER than a basketball.  As you can see in the picture below, the bottom of the nest is missing a piece.  This is the familiar item that was lying on the ground beneath the tree.  Very distinct and telling that such a nest was nearby but that close was a bit troubling.

I believe, for the most part anyway, that leaving things like critters alone and they'll leave you alone.  Of course it doesn't always work this way, especially with bees.  However, it has been working fine in this case.  Clearly this nest has been there for a while; all summer long, and in that time and to date, I've mowed my lawn 23 times this season so far.  The mowing includes cutting beneath this tree and due to the obstacles around it, there's some jockeying that takes place to get the area cut.  In all those times, as well as weeding and tree limb pruning (yes, from this tree too), I never noticed this nest, nor had any issues from the residents.

All that being said, Bald-Face Hornets are known to be hostile and territorial.  They are sensitive to noise and vibrations and will treat them as threats, retaliating aggressively - SO my ride mower perhaps?!?!

The known diet of the Bald-Faced Hornet includes other insects, spiders and plants. They are omnivorous insects that hunt other bees and eat meats, fruits, and flower nectar. Their favorite snacks are horse flies. So, they're very beneficial to have nearby.

Seems they've not been threatened by me, yet, so seems I've been lucky!

Sad State of Affairs!

Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania is a clown!

Senator Chuck Schumer is also a clown for pushing for the senate dress code change!

It's sad that the bar is being lowered to accommodate a single lazy POS, versus holding Fetterman to the standard that has been in place since it's inception, and the standard that he knew about when he was running for his seat in the Senate.  

Are there not more important and pressing issues to focus and worry about as a country; a country that is divided as never before?!  This is what these asshats waste their time and efforts on?

Shame on all of them!

Munching Machines

During our motorcycle ride this past Sunday, we stopped at a Rhode Island gas station for a snack and a stretch.

I may or may not have snuck off into the wooded area for a quick potty break 😉 before getting back on the bike.  TMI I know but when you gotta go, you gotta go!

In the wooded area I noticed a small oak tree that was almost bare of it's leaves, odd for this time of the season.  Upon closer inspection I saw the reason why, it had dozens of these caterpillars all over it and as you can see these are the culprits as to why the leaves were missing.

Turns out these are Orange-striped oakworm caterpillars and they're known to feed on the leaves of oak trees in late summer early autumn.  Seems they're native to North American and the good news is that these defoliators rarely affect tree health and since they're a native species, they have many natural predators to help keep them in check.

And away we rode...

Welcome To The New America

 Along the same concerns with an earlier post of mine about vehicles driving into buildings and planes falling out of the sky, comes this post!

WTF is up with all of the food recalls?  Again, seems like every time you put on the news there's some report of a food product being recalled for one reason or another.  

According to the FDA website, see link below, there have been over 200+ food products recalled in 2023 to date, and as you can see from my screen shot below there are over 1005 recall entries going back to September of 2017!

Seems America has lost it's way.  No one seems to care anymore.  Work ethics and workman ship, once superior, is now subpar is SO many ways.  It's really a shame!  Sloppy work, too many owners, CEOs and upper management types more interested in the bottom line and lining their pockets, then they are with safety and doing the right thing.  Too much is being grown outside of the US and imported.

FDA US Food and Drug Administration

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service

The other thing folks should be aware of and concerned with, is when you start looking into many of the products available to us all - from cleaning supplies, to pots and pans, to plastics, to our food and what's in it, you'd all be shocked!  The chemicals! the dyes! the PFAS! All very bad for you!  It's scary

Something stinks here!

Tomato Canning, Of Sorts...

It was a wet summer here in New England, the complete opposite of the summer of 2022. The lawn and plants loved it, with everything looking nice and green.

My veggies did well too, for the most part. Even though I ate scads of BLTs and tomato salads, and adorned my Friday night pizzas with fresh cut tomatoes, I lost so many more, which I attribute to the weather.  Some days and weeks too much rain, others very little and I think the inconsistency contributed to the loss.  That and the deer seemed to take more of a fancy to my tomatoes this season than in the past.

Anyway, in an effort to try and salvage the remaining tomatoes, I picked what I could; the good and the bad, cut them up, cored them, gave them a quick boil, then peeled them and cut them up for freezing.  Yes, this is not canning but hoping I can use these in the crock pot this coming winter. 

Here are a couple of the batches I saved and froze -

I will be gearing up for next season and plan on taking a stab at actual "canning" of my tomatoes.  I have everything I need, will just need to do some homework on my options and the methods but rest assured, I'll be ready!

Another New England Ride!

Another great day on the motorcycle yesterday!

It was a chilly start, brrrr, but ended as a beauty. There wasn't a cloud in the sky come the afternoon, blue as blue can be.

A 141 mile round trip ride into Canterbury Connecticut where we stopped for lunch at the D&G Pizza and Pub 

Eggplant Overrun!

I am being over run with oodles of eggplants!

This is my first year growing and they have done fantastic. They have loved the rainy, hot and humid weather we've had.

I bought (3) good looking plants from a local farm and they took off almost as soon as I got them out of their pots and into the soil.

If I only liked eggplant, alas...

My dad planted them every year and my folks enjoyed them, but being the fussy eater I was growing up, I never ventured even a taste.  So, here we are many, many years later and I've still never ventured even the tiniest bite of eggplant.  Perhaps, some day.

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below photo?!

Here's an added bonus!  A 30-second video of a Black Swallowtail caterpillar eating parsley.  When was the last time you saw such a thing? You're welcome 😉!

I'm Just About Done With The NFL!

 So, after only the first game of the season, I'm already, close to giving up on watching NFL football this upcoming season and here are some of  my reasons why - 

1 - Too many breaks and commercials! Too much time spent hocking product! Run a play, go to commercial. Come back run a play, go to a commercial. Come back, run a play, penalty, go to a commercial, score go to a commercial, extra point try, go to a commercial, and on and on it goes, turning a 60-minute game into a 3+ hour waster of time!

2 - Too much bullshit celebrating when the primidone's make a play.  First, it's your flipping job and second, often times your team is losing, so BFD you make a nice play.  The game is 60-minutes long, celebrate at the end!

2a - Too much celebrating on regular plays, end zone plays and BS antics!  Act like you've been there before!

3 - Admittedly, it's a tough, violent game but get up off the fucking field when you get hurt (with some exceptions of course), so the game can continue!

4 - Bullshit calls by referees!

4a - Bullshit delays by referees trying to sort penalties out!

4b - Bullshit instant-replay delays!

AND now this - the NFL trying to force this divisive nonsense down America’s throats.  I agree with what Kari Lake, Larry Elder and Burgess Owens had to say in this article - 

NFL Goes ‘Woke,’ Makes A Massive Change Before Games

All in all, too many frick'n delays!

Sorry, NOT sorry, but all of the above annoyances have taken the enjoyment out of the game for me.

My Two Cents

I took all the change I've been savings over the years to my bank the other day and ran it through their coin sorter machine, free to customers. I was pleasantly surprised at how much this bowl of coinage turned out to be!  

The old adage of "A penny saved is a penny earned", is SO true!

BTW, this quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, however, the Internets state that he never actually said this.

Rise and Shine Say's The Roosters!

It's a peaceful 5:30 Friday morning.  The temps have dropped and the high humidity is all gone, so I have some windows opened and listening to the crickets sing as I enjoy my first cup of coffee.

HARK!  But wait!  What did I just hear?  One of my favorite all time noises and sadly, one I seldom hear anymore especially at the ole homestead.

A ROOSTER! 

YUP, the wonderful crowing of a rooster!  Actually, I can make out two roosters!

Guessing my neighbor got new chicks this summer and by the sounds of it, a couple cockerels got slipped in.  They sound like youngster just discovering their crowing capabilities and I LUV IT!

Sadly, the town of Franklin does not allow roosters. It's just a matter of time before someone calls animal control to report and complain of the "noisy" roosters.  The chicken owners will then be getting a visit or letter from animal control informing them of the bylaw and telling them they must get rid of the roosters pronto.  Of course the letter will also contain threats of fines for not complying. 

*I received such a letter years ago...

DON'T get me started on rooster crowing noise versus barking dogs, deafening cars, trucks and motorcycles noises, low flying planes and helicopters noises, early morning and late night mowers, blowers and weedwhacker noises.

I will continue to enjoy the crowing as long as they're here!  All the other noises mentioned above and the idiots who drive them, fly them and run them, as well the person(s) who call to complain about the crowing, can all piss off!  I hope they each crash, fall out of the sky and loose a couple fingers using their annoying noise makers.

Have a nice day 😊

Homemade Pizza Pie !

Friday night is usually my pizza night, however, due to poor planning on my part my dinner options were all frozen.  So, pizza night was moved up a day.

After mowing the lawn tonight, and before heading inside, I went to my garden and picked a juicy, plump tomato and a bell pepper. These incredibly fresh veggies and some of my own garlic, picked back in July, made their way onto tonight's homemade pizza, along with some ham!

The fresh veggies make such a BIG difference!

YUP, I ate the entire pizza!  Well, Trixie helped too.

#Blessed

Life's Hard Lessons

Why Even Bother? People Know!

At the end of the day, I don't care one way or the other, as I'm not an avid or even a casual user for that matter or fan of the app "X", formally known as Twitter.  However, here is the problem I have with the recent renaming of the app.

Seems, most articles and news stories that contain references to "X" often times follow said reference with the following statement or something similar -  "the platform formerly known as Twitter", UGH!

Here are a couple examples I pulled from random news articles - 

"Not the way any of us wanted it to go, but we know the commitment you've made to this team will continue to impact us moving forward," the Jets wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they've turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn't have support. Extreme politics at its worst," Sams wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Was similar with Prince, when he changed his name to that symbol, forever referred to as the "artist formally known as Prince"

PALEEEESE and fuck off!

I'm A Hundred Bucks Richer!

I found this $100.00 bill in the street on my 3-mile run this afternoon!

See, it does pay to exercise, in more ways than one!

"Gummosis" Update

Here is an update to my "Gummosis" posting from Sunday, July 2 earlier this summer -

As you can see in the August 19th photo below, the weeping cherry tree has finally succumbed to it's disease, ALAS.

I'm constantly picking up dead branches that are breaking off.

Sadly, the time has come and I will be cutting this tree down in the coming weeks.

Oddities

 

Why is it that whenever I place a bowl, with a spoon in it, into the sink and turn on the faucet, the water inevitably hits the spoon and splashes everywhere?!

It never fails, even when I'm cognizant about it, SPLOOSH, water everywhere!

Is it just me?! 

Tater Tower Bust

Yesterday was the day I decided to harvest the potatoes I planted in my "tater tower".  

I've been super curious to see how growing potatoes in this fashion would turn out.

I like the concept, as well how little space a tower actual takes compared to planting them directly in the soil in rows.  Also, a lot less work utilizing a tower versus in the ground.

All that being said, I must admit that I'm disappointed in the end results - not nearly as many potatoes as I was expecting or hoped for!  I thought there would be more potatoes growing along the stalks that got covered as I added sides and more compost but that too was not the case.

Two of the four sides removed -

Here is the harvesting results.  Just barely covers the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket, with the majority of the taters about the size of a golf ball, BOO - 

I "harvested" about as many grubs, in my tater tower, as I did potatoes!  These grubs were jumbo sized too -

As disappointed as I am with the turn out, I'm thinking I'll give this one more try next season but time I'll plant a different type of potato.  Seems that these Yukon Gold, which are so delicious, might not be the best.  

I saved all the tater tower pieces and will rebuild again come next season.  Stay tuned...

Perhaps, Someday It'll Make Sense

Ray Of Sunshine

Seems No Where Is Safe Anymore!

What in the world is going on these days with drivers?  You're not safe, for fear of being run over, in restaurants, salons, convenience stores, even in your own living rooms!

Seems every time I turn on the evening news there's a new story about a vehicle that has driven into a house or into a porch or into a store, some sort of building!

Often confusing the accelerator with the brake.  However, I suspect many of these are speed related, impaired drivers and even distracted drivers on their phones. Outside of medical issues, I feel these other asshats need to be held accountable with steep fines, jail time and full restitution to fully repair any and all damages, including any loss of income as a result or the need to temporarily relocate (to a hotel), etc.

SLOW DOWN!  PAY ATTENTION!  GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS!  BE RESPONSIBLE!

Here are just a few examples of recent news stories per Google -

AND to make matters worse, some of these same incompetent dicks are flying overhead now too!  Small planes are crashing all over, from military planes, to gender reveal hired planes, to weekend warrior pilots, WTF is going on?!  

It's unfortunate when innocent people are getting hurt in these accidents. On the other hand, I'm perfectly fine with these shitheads hurting themselves because of their actions or incompetence or whatever.

Run Forest Run!

Although, I'm not Forest, I snuck out for a run at lunchtime today.

I typically run down to the local school and then around the building and then head home, which is about 3-miles.  That was working fine over the summer and when I run after work but now that school is back in session I stay clear of area.

So, being that it was a school day, I took a new route today, one that doubled my usual distance - a 6-mile run!

Although, hot and humid out there, it was a great run!  Awesome feeling when you're done and all your pores are open and the sweat is dripping off you, invigorating!

Fall Annual Plantings

I took a drive to Marshfield yesterday and spent the day with my farmer friend, Tim. I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't seen him all summer long, so it was a long overdue visit.  As always, we have no problem picking up right where we left off and spent day chatting and catching up. Wish we lived closer.

And per usual, I leave there with a car load of plants, and yesterday's visit was no different!  Even though the summer is officially over and our first frost isn't too far off, I left with oodles of annuals - Inpatients, Dahlias, Coleus and Cannas

These inpatient's won't last long but they should take off now that I planted them directly in the dirt and provides some awesome red color to the front of my house -

Same with these dahlias too, they should get a big pick-me-up now that they're out of their pots.  Hoping this will encourage the flowers to bloom too before the cold weather arrives - 

#blessed

Especially These Days!

That's A Wrap!

The summer 2023 pool season is officially over here at the ole homestead!

I spent the last couple of days winterizing and closing my pool.  She's all battened down for her long winter nap.

Always bittersweet but it was time. I had enough of the maintenance and upkeep that goes into keeping the pool open and swimmable. 

Closing for the season is a lot of work too but I have the process down pretty good now.  However, all the bending, the ups and downs and wrestling with the cover have me a tad sore, but a good sore none the less.

See you in the spring!