Maiden Ride Today!

Went on my first summer 2024 ride today!

An 137 mile roundtrip ride down into Connecticut and back.

Rain was predicted for the afternoon, so we opted for a half day ride and made it home dry...just barely!

#Blessed

My Littles - Update

An update to June 18th post titled My Littles -

Three days after my above post I noticed this little'n perched on my deck rail.  Seems it was time for both youngster to fledge, which surprised me looking back at the pics I took of them in their nest, hmm

Somehow this newbie made if from the nest, under the deck, topside and perched atop the railing.

I pulled up a chairs and watched this dude for a little while, hoping one of the adults would stop by so I could get a pic but no luck.  A short time later, this baby was gone and off to see the area.

I checked their nest later that afternoon to confirm it was empty, them removed it, so I could finally take down my ladder and check my gutters.

Irresistible!

I picked up a couple Rescue disposable fly traps from TSC weeks ago and immediately set one out when I got home.

Not sure if this is a good thing, as like the Japanese beetle bag traps, I feel putting these traps out actually attracts the pests to your yard.  Regardless, it did a remarkable job and trapped more flies than I would have guessed were out there.

 

I took this pic on June 4 and as you can see there are about ~2" of dead flies in there! When I took it down 20-days later it was loaded with dead flies, about half the bag FULL, I kid you not!

One take way, do NOT hang this trap close to the house or anywhere folks will pass by or sit near, as it STINKS something awful!  Live and learn, as I hung it under my deck, next to the back door, PHEW.  

I'll be hanging the other trap out this weekend but away from the house and hopefully down wind.

It's A Reflection Of Them

Asclepias, AKA Mikweed

My Milkweed plants have finally moved into a sunnier location and I have so many of them this year!  Most are doing fantastic with oodles of flowers too, which smell terrific!

Although, I've had Milkweed for many years now, there have been no Monarch caterpillars that have called them, alas

Fingers crossed this could be the year since they're doing to well!

If the Red Milkweed Beetle, sometimes called "four eyes", is any indication, my hopes for Monarch's have grown since there are scads of them all over!  

Red milkweed beetles, herbivores that eat only milkweed, are not harmful to monarchs or harm monarch eggs or larvae, so you do not need to remove them from your milkweed plants. The two species can and do coexist peacefully.

Here are just a couple pics of cuddling and dining beetles -

Fingers crossed!

Game! Set! Match!

I ordered myself a pair of badminton rackets, which also included 2 shuttlecocks, and they arrived yesterday afternoon.

I was SO excited and couldn't wait to head outside to start using and work on my form!

Oh, perhaps you got the wrong idea, I am NOT planning on using these on the badminton field of play, NO!

Let me explain - these rackets are ideal for eliminating, yet another garden pest nemesis of mine, the dreaded Cabbage Moth, see below.  They lay their eggs on my broccoli and kale plants and before you know it they hatch and the worms take little time in their destruction.  Eating the leaves and pooping all over the fruits, YUCK!

There are oodles of them this year too, flittering around my yard, flowers and veggies.

From the untrained eye it might look like I'm having a seizure, as I'm chasing these moths around the yard, swinging wildly and cursing but I like to think of it as cardo and an exercise in hand eye coordination.

Don't be fooled, it's not as easy as you might think.  These moths flutter up, down, sideways and all ways, so timing and aim needs to be precise.

I am happy to report that on my initial use I went 5 for 6 in less than 15 minutes.

Game on!

Wicked Smaht Idea

For Father's Day Emilie bought me an animal escape ramp, which is a floating animal saver rescue tool for pools. 

You fill the main pad up with air, using a small hand pump that was included with the item, then put stones in the pouch that sits on the deck to secure it and keep it in place.

The premise is critters such as frogs, toads, chipmunks, etc. have a place to get out of the water and rest.  The smarter ones can use the ramp to escape to safety.

I can only assume this works as advertised, as there's no way of knowing for sure just how many critters make their way out.

This morning, during my regular pool inspection, I was happy to see this Green frog taking advantage of the floating lily pad, HAHA!

I'm guessing most frogs and toads will need assistance is getting out out -

Let The Gardening Season Begin!

I opted to go with just two different annuals for my pots and hanging baskets this year - Petunia Sophistica® Lime Bicolor Petunia, which have a awesome lime and rose color, and Candy Tops Rose Snapdragons, which are rose colored too.  They compliment each other and all are filling out quite nicely -

This antique planter was my mothers.  It gives me great pleasure to pull this planter out of winter storage, add plants to it and watch them thrive.  Makes me smile and think of my mom each time I look at it and this year is no different -

Gardening season doesn't officially start, in my mind anyway, until I get my baskets and pots filled with annuals!

Not A Rubber Ducky

I captured a couple of the many visiting Blue Birds enjoying my bird baths.

Post bath preening and relaxing in warm sunny spot -

This is the first summer in the last 5 or 6 that I don't have any nesting Blue Birds 😥.

The unwanted, dirty and annoying House Sparrows have chased them off.  Bullying them out and away from the bird houses I have and that the Blue Birds have called home for years.  They've done the same thing to the Wrens too.  Wish I knew of a way to rid my yard of just these vermin sparrows...

Selfishness

Some, like the Tin Man in the Wizard of OZ, lack a heart...

Ah, Early Summer Blooms!

My Asiatic Lilies are doing fantastic again this year!

Although, I only have a couple different colors, these orange ones are stunning.

Just wish they'd last longer.

My "Emilie" Tree

Emilie's Kousa Dogwood tree looked great this year!  It was loaded with flowers and has filled out nicely.

I planted this in honor of Emilie the year she was born.  It had a rough go early on, like Emilie did, but I've doted over it, keeping it watered and pruned, over the years, which has paid off as you can see.

It brings a smile to my face and fond memories whenever I look at it!

Now That's Italian!

I worked in the Boston office yesterday and I took a nice relaxing walk at lunch yesterday to Faneuil Hall Marketplace.  Once there, and who can resist, I certainly cannot, I grabbed a couple slices of cheese pizza and a bottle of water from Regina Pizza, found a bench in a shady spot and savored each bite as I did some people watching. 

So so tasty!

AND

People are so so weird!

My Littles...

A pair of Robins made a nest atop my 30' extension ladder that I have stored under my back deck. They made it in less than a couple days, and when I was away in RI for my daughter's graduation.  Seems they like the spot and have been here for the last couple of years.

There are two nice and plump youngsters in there now.  It won't be long now before they're old enough to "fly the coop".

I'm looking forward to it, since the parents get all hot and bothered when I'm out and about in that area and carry on and on and on but also because I need to use my ladder!  Soon enough...

Dad

Happy Father's Day!

Miss you

"She's a beauty Clark!"

Open for business!

Come one, come all!

Just in time for the heat and humidity that's headed our way next week!

To The Victor Belong The Spoils!

So, I just finished mopping the floors this morning.  Since they were still wet I took a seat in the living room to give them time to dry before walking on them and put things back in place.

A couple minutes later I hear, what sounded like the cat chasing her bell ball around in the other room, so didn't give it too much thought beyond that.

However, about 5-minutes later, when I made my way into the front hall, I noticed drops of blood all over the foyer carpet!  Trixie was with me in the living rooms, so not worries it was her blood, rather I assumed it was the frick'n cat -

Then I look up and am SHOCKED to see the below, my blinds torn apart and ruined, WTF, and NOW I am livid -

So, off I go in a seek and destroy mission to find Oliver!

I see him at the top of the stairs and immediately head that way with steam shooting outta my ears, however, when I get to the top of the stairs I am further shocked at what I discover -

A dead female Sparrow lying and staining my carpet!

Although, I am still upset at the destroyed blinds, which I now need to replace, I'm kinda proud that Oliver took care of this prowler!  I've seen him attempt to catch a chipmunk that was essentially cornered and he failed, so I assumed he was special needs when it came to his hunting abilities but that has now changed!

Seems the screen was opened just enough and this sparrow thought it a good idea to venture inside. I'm fairly certain that she won't be doing this ever again 😉(as I drop her into the trash barrel)...

Bucket-O-Frogs

Ah, the joys and surprises of doing my morning pool inspections.  I never know what critter(s) I'll find -

I removed (18) frogs from my pool yesterday morning!

This group was in the skimmer basket, the others were in the water.  Of course the ones in the water would dive deep, swim away to avoid me.  I eventually caught them all and moved them away from the area.

Guessing the heavy rains we had the previous evening had something to do with all these dudes deciding to go pool 'hopping' (see what I did here 🤣) in my back yard.

The red frog in the above pic is a wood frog.  I recall seeing these all the time at my folks house growing up.  I believe the others were all Green frogs.

2nd Floor Views

This past Thursday afternoon I took the below pics from the 2nd floor mezzanine, which is a part of my employer's conference center floor.  It's an inviting space, especially in the evenings when they light the firepit.

As you can see it was a beautiful day in the city -

I took the below pic late one afternoon, as the mezzanine was being setup to host an event - 

My employment is quickly coming to an end. A tough pill to swallow after 25 years 😥. Still trying to process it all, as it hasn't sunk in yet, alas.  I'm sure gonna miss it.

What Goes Around...

All 50 States Ranked

I don't recall the criteria used to come up with these number but seems that I'm where I need to be to keep my hourglass running -

#5 Massachusetts -

#19 Florida -

#23 Illinois -

#46 Tennessee -

Guests Best Check For Their Stay!

I opened the basement door that leads into the garage the other morning (this was back in April) and this is what I was presented with.  Do you see it?

At first I thought it might have been related to a very near miss I had with a red-tailed hawk driving home from the commuter rail.  We almost collided, as the hawk was weighed down by something in it's talons.  I assumed that this dead bunny was what the hawk was carrying and to avoid the collision it let go of it, which somehow landed on my car unbeknownst to me and slid off at some point once I parked in my garage.

However, after finding some additional oddities in the garage, here is what I think happened -

First, the other oddities were the mouse traps I had set in the garage, al four had been tripped and one was missing. I looked high and low I could not find it.  Only after mowing my lawn, when I was cleaning off the mower before pulling in back into the garage, did I find the missing trap.  It was on top of the mowing deck, an odd place!

What I believe happened is the rabbit ventured into the garage, perhaps when I had left the door open and was puttering in the front yard, and got itself trapped in there when I finished for the evening.  At some point it got into the traps, although small mouse traps, perhaps one injured it enough to eventually be fatal.  The one missing trap found on the mower deck would indicate it had shut on the rabbit in some way and came off as it moved around.  Or, maybe it was too cold in the garage, on the concrete floor, for an overnight stay and it didn't survive.

As Good As New, Well Almost

I had to do some repairs on my farm gate.

The post on the left side in the first pic, the one with the bird house mounted to it, broke off at the ground during a windstorm we had back in the fall.

I finally repaired it a couple of weekends ago.

I had to dig out and remove the broken end piece first and fortunately, I was able to reuse the original post and hole.  You can see the post is now noticeably shorter but is solid and works!

I took the opportunity to clean and repair the old bird house before I remounted it but on the other post.

It didn't take long before a couple of wrens moved into the top nest and staked their claim!

Philodendron Update

My adopted Philodendron is doing fantastic!

The top 3 shinny leaves just recently opened and it's getting even bigger.

The cat seems to have finally stopped eating the leaves too. Guessing he was tired of getting sick each time he dined on it.  I was sure getting tired of cleaning up after him too, that's for sure!

This is an update to my November 18, 2023, King Of The Jungle post.

No Integrity!

BIG Home Improvement!

Well, I did it!  I finally pulled the trigger and replaced my older gas boiler and gas water heater!

I went with a new gas boiler and a tankless hot water system, that takes up a fraction of the space AND has a 96% efficiency rating!

The old boiler had a bad gas regulator, so it was NOT running anywhere even close to this efficiency.  Also ran into some issues this past winter with Co2 alarms, so this upgrade was long overdue.

The old boiler and water heater -

The new high efficiency system -

I used a local company called Notturno Plumbing & Heating that have been terrific from the initial call requesting a quote, to the crew doing the install!  Very professional, prompt, neat and super friendly.  I highly recommend them, for those in my area -

Another item off my "To Do" list, a GREAT selling point AND one less thing to worry about moving forward!