Show Me

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below picture?

She didn't think I saw her, as she did blend in nicely. However, I am always on the lookout for critters when I am out on my walks and this is one of the encounters I enjoy. I suspect most folks would be clueless of such encounters and miss it completely, as they're too engrossed in their phones.

 Also, full disclosure, I've see her in this same dead-end road spot a handful of times the last couple of months.

Click this link to see the critter and where she was hiding - "Oh, Deer"

Boy Was I Flushed!

I thought it a good idea to replace the water supply hoses to each of my (3) toilets.  I have replaced them all at some point but it's been years now and even though they are the recommended braided supply line hoses, I still wanted to replace them.  After all how much could it cost?

About the same time as this urge hit me, I found that my kitchen sink is leaking, UGH!  It's leaking around the strainer fitting, plus there's a cracked plastic PVC nut that's also leaking a tad.

So, I reached out to the plumbing company that recently replaced my gas boiler and scheduled a time for them to come out and give me a quote.  I have a service contract with them, which includes discounts on parts and labor.  Since they were coming out to give me an estimate, I asked them to quote out replacing the three toilet lines and two outside spigots.  Figured why not, I'll have someone here doing a repair job, I'll let them address the preventative maintenance items too.

OH BOY, was I wrong!

They quoted me $110.00 to replace ONE toilet hose, ONE!  And to replace all three, multiply the $110.00 by 3 - $330.00 and that's with their "discount"!

Like the bible thumpers that come knocking, I told them to piss off!

I am more than capable of replacing these hoses myself but again, I just assumed while I had them here...

So, instead I took a drive to Lowe's and picked up three brandy new 12" toilet supply line hoses.  They were a whopping $5.30 each, so for three new hoses, including tax, it cost me $16.89 -

Here are the new hoses I purchased -

It took me about 30 minutes to replace all three hoses this morning and test them to make sure they're working fine and not leaking.

Here are the old hoses I replaced -

I understand that they're running a business and need to make money but c'mon.  If this isn't price gouging and taking advantage of people I don't know what is!

Let me tell you, once my maintenance contract is up, I will be taking my business elsewhere!

Shame on them!

Oecanthus

With the cold weather upon us these days run-ins with insects and critters are few and far between.  However, we had a few days of above average temperature to end this past week and this dude, a male Common Tree Cricket made an appearance.  Perhaps, out sunning itself one last time before it crawls back into its winter hiding place -

Just Being A Homebody

This should surprise no one but I spent this past weekend at home and in the yard, taking care of this, that and the other things.

Saturday, I lowered the deck on my ride mower for the final cutting of the season.  I like to cut it short for the winter, plus being short the leaves don't get snagged in it as much and blow on by.  I did a first coat of painting on a new inside project I started, to be revealed here later.  Ended the day with a relaxing soak in the hot tub!

Sunday, I changed my flags, from Halloween to Thanksgiving -

Moving the clocks back an hour had me up at my regular time even though the clock displayed 4AM.  Once daylight arrived, and even though a brisk 38ish degrees, I made my way outside to do some more raking!

Replenished with a plethora of leaf bags I tackled the sidewalk side of things and filled up (10) more bags and rest assured that they're FULL!

My new full leaf bag total stands at a whopping (41)!

Okay, so before heading out to rake on Sunday morning, I spent about an hour readying my crockpot with the fix'ns for beef stew.  Loaded with tender beef, garlic, onions, mushrooms, carrots, green beans, peas and potatoes.  I'm not a braggard but I gotta say, I nailed it! Nice and thick, as it should be, and super tasty!  It was ready by half time of the Patriots games and went well with a glass or two, okay half a bottle of Merlot, with plenty of left overs for a couple days AND I froze some for a later time.

#Blessed

If Even Healed At All

"Welcome"

I have a dream or perhaps an idea is a better way to describe it...

To add some color and pop to my front door.

So, I reached out to my signage consultant Gregory Frye at Fastsigns of Cutler Bay, FL, who by the way is a savant when it comes to all things signs related and I HIGHLY recommend him for any job small or large, and this is what we came up with.

We chose the farmhouse font, Abigalside, and Greg created the following options -

Which do you prefer?

Options #1, which is magnetic -

Option #2, which is magnetic -

Although, I am partial to option #2 above and feel this is the most appropriate to address the religious zealots, the solar panel pushing sales folks and the requestors of contributions\donations that come knocking, AND quite honestly how I feel about people in general these days.  However, I chose to air on the side of caution and instead went with option #3 below.  This option fits in well with the house color scheme, does add some pop to the door and flows betta -

Option #3, which is a decal -

So, if you are NOT one of the above mentioned visitors, then you're all "Welcome" to stop by!

Now, whether I answer the door when you ring is an entirely different thing...

A Plague Of Birds

Suppose it's just that time of the year, migration time.

Birds are on the move, many in masses too.

Admittedly, I am slow on the draw with the camera but in fairness I've not had my camera on me, so by the time I run to grab it and get back the flocks have often moved on and I miss out.

One exception was the flock of grackles that took over my front yard the other afternoon.  There were easily three times as many birds than the pic below shows.  They were in the trees above and on both sides of the house.  It's quite impressive to see SO many all together, especially when they take flight.  How they don't bump into one another is amazing.

While making diner the other night, I looked out to see about (15) wild turkeys making their way into my yard.  These birds have tremendous eyesight, so when they saw me watching they picked up their pace.  By the time I grabbed my camera and returned, this is the best shot I could get, which only shows five birds -

I am not into Ornithology, nor am I an Ornithologist or even a Twitcher for that matter but I do enjoy watching the birds that visit my place all year long.

Bag It!

Yesterday was a beautiful day!  Sunny, not a cloud in the sky and near 80 degrees.  A perfect day to spend in the yard and banging out some raking, UGH!

Clearly, I didn't think things through back in 2002 when I planted these maple trees. At the time they were no bigger around than ones wrists but fast forward 22 years and they're monsters now.  With their size comes leaves, seemingly endless amounts of leaves!

As you can see in the pics below the ground is covered, deep too, AND there's equally as many still to fall, ALAS!  Keep in mind that this is just one section of my property, my front lawn has just as many leaves, if not more, so I still have a lot of raking to do...

Before raking -

After raking -

(29) leaf bags jam packed full -

The town does leaf pickup one time in the fall, which is scheduled for me on Monday, November 11, so right around the corner, which is really what's driving me to get as much raked and bagged as possible before pickup day.

Which reminds me, need to sign off now and make a BJs run to purchase more bags, as I'm all out.