Ouchy Boo Boo!

Yup, I think I might have broken the index finger on my right hand yesterday, OUCH!  Embarrassingly, I am going to tell you how...

Now, I wish I had some heroic story where I punched a bag guy in the mouth for being disrespectful and that "you should see the other guy". However, truth be told I did it while shaking a throw rug from off my back deck.  UGH, please don't ask.  That's all I'm fessing up to. 

It's all sorts of non-Christmassy colors this morning, very swollen, aches terribly and I'm unable to bend it.

What terrible timing too, GRRR!  I'm right handed, so this is already proving to be a challenge, not to mention that my oldest daughter, her fiancée and my youngest daughter are coming over this afternoon to hangout, open gifts and have dinner.

This is going to be a challenge for sure to prepare dinner and all but I refuse to let this get in the way of enjoying time with my girls and having a nice meal, so giddy up! 

Fortunately, most of the house cleaning I was doing in anticipation of visitors I had completed, so most everything is shinny, neat and clean.

Holiday Neighborly Celebrations

My friends\neighbors invited me to their family Thanksgiving celebration a few weeks ago and as much as I tried to decline they were not having any of it.  I didn't want to impose and be a bother, as they were having a house full but in hindsight I am happy I went.  I had a very nice time, met many of the family that I had only heard stories about.  The meal was delicious, I left stuffed AND with a doggie bag of goodies.

So, when I got the call this past Saturday that their family Christmas party was Sunday and that I should arrive around 2ish, I didn't dare try to bow out.  Once again I had a great time, watched some football, joked and laughed a lot and drank and ate my fill!

Much to my surprise I was also included in their Christmas gift swap!  There were 22 of us in all, so there was a lot of swapping taking place.  The original gift I opened was taken, as was the one I was swapped with but ironically when it was all said and done, I walked away with my original gift, a plug-in the wall heated throw blanket!  Almost no need to turn the thermostat up past 60 now...

I am beyond blessed and am VERY fortunate to have such wonderful friends\neighbors!  I don't know where I would be without their support and caring. I'm not sure if they truly know how thankful I am to have them in my life and just how appreciative I am for EVERYTHING that they've done and do for me!

Note: The picture above is of my neighbors family room.

#Blessed

Who's Surprised At This Nonsense?!

Retiring GOP congresswoman's decline has been 'very rapid,' son says

Click the link above to read about retiring MIA representative Kay Granger -

Not that anyone needs another reason to dislike politician or why SO many of us have trust issues when it comes to most of these hypocritical, entitled POS - 

Tell me how an elected Congresswoman can remain absent from the capital for over six months AND not be present in over 54% of the votes cast AND still have a job?!

If this person was unable to fulfil her duties as a Congresswoman, for whatever reasons, the proper thing to do would be to let folks know and step away.

These POS get paid a stupid amount of money, along with all sorts of perks and benefits.

AND, in my opinion, as to why there needs to be term limits and or limiting the number of terms these dipsticks can serve, like POTUS. 

I'm fairly certain that our founding fathers original intent was to send normal citizens to Washington for a term or two when they would get together every other November, pick someone in their community they respected, and send him to Washington for a couple years to vote for their neighbors’ best interests and those of the nation. It was NOT intended to be full time position, nor was is supposed to make them rich.  However, fast forward to current times and most politicians are now career politicians, pulling in an annual salary of $174,000.00!!

Sorry, NOT sorry, 81 years old is too old to still be serving effectively, again in my opinion!  Is anyone really surprised that her health is declining?!

Boy, wouldn't it be nice if we each could have such a high paying job where we only had to show up 46% of the time and still get paid in full...

A More Subtle Look

Can you spot the difference between the two sets of pics below?!

Seems once I get an idea in my head, watch out.  For whatever reason, perhaps when organizing the upstairs hall closets, I became fixated on the attic pull down stairs and how the wood stain look was drawing too much attention to it.  Plus, I've come to realize that I'm not a big fan of the stain wood doors, trims and baseboards throughout the house and in general. So, I decided to paint it white to match the ceiling with the hope that it would blend in a bit better.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, and pictured below, where I applied the third coat of paint.  It's looking like a fourth coat is needed, especially the trim, and then I can claim victory.

When I apply the 4th coat, I also plan to paint the ceiling too, giving it a fresh new look, so stay tuned.

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Just trying to keep myself busy.

Onto the next project...

Grief 😢

 Voltaire once said, "Tears are the silent language of grief."

Grief speaks in the moments we can't control, in the tears we can't hold back. It's a language we never wanted to learn, yet it fluently communicates for us in ways words cannot.

As Tyler Perry said, "Grief is a very living thing.  It visits at random. You can't schedule it... So when it shows up, however it shows up, let is show up."

Grief arrives uninvited and unscheduled, slipping into the quiet spaces of our lives - a familiar song, the scent of something that stirs a memory, or a recollection so vivid it feels as though time has folded.

Grief is as heavy as it feels, is inseparable from that love. They are two sides of the same coin. It's love persisting, even when the person is no longer there to receive it.

Our tears are how love finds a voice when words fail. They are not a betrayal of strength but proof of a bond too powerful to be forgotten.

Washington Irving captured this perfectly: "There is a sacredness in tears.  They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.  They speak more eloquently than 10,000 tongues, They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."

Grief is not something to cure or escape, but to honor and embrace. Over time it shifts and changes, but it never disappears. And each tear reminds us that it's not something to overcome but something to carry.

So when grief comes, let it.  Let the tears fall. Let them speak for you.  They are not your weakness but your truth - love's silent language, translating the depth of loss into a human expression.

The reality is that we will grieve forever.  Grief becomes part of us, woven into the fabric of who we are. 

And just as tears carve paths down our cheeks, they also carve meaning into our hearts.  They remind us that grief is the cost of love, and it's a price worth paying.

Because love never truly leaves us - it speaks silently through every tear that falls.

A New Twist On "Snow" Blower!

Just came back in from shoveling again now that the snow has stopped.

It's actually warmed up some and the sun is out, and there's a bit of melting taking place, so I wanted to clear as much as I can and let the ole Heat Meier get to work on some melting.

I had a brilliant idea, well brilliant in my mind, and fired up the old hand held "leaf" blower, now referred to as the old hand held "snow" blower!

It worked like a charm clearing the lighter, fluffier snow!  No shovel was needed or used on the walkways and back deck, all the snow was blown away, see below!

I'm quite certain the neighbors and passing cars think I have a screw loose but my back thanks me.

A White Christmas Maybe?!

It snowed yesterday, light snow in the afternoon that turned to rain, then back to snow and picked up heading into the evening. Guessing we got about 4-5" here in Franklin.  Enough that the plows were out, as was I shoveling, proof below -

Last night it went into the single digits temperature wise, with the weekend day temps staying in the mid-20s, brrr!  We very well just might have a white Christmas this year!

I'm right in the 3-5" sweet spot -

Knowing the temps were going to drop, I wanted to get the driveway, walkways and deck cleared off as best I could last night before everything froze solid - mission accomplished.

Even though today Saturday, December 21 is the official start of Winter, I've had enough!  We've already had single digit cold temps, freezing rain, snow AND I've had to breakout the shovels and actually shovel snow.  All the boxes have been checked, I'm done!

Greek Cuisine

I've been feeling a bit melancholy lately.  Reminiscing of past holidays, big family gatherings and of course missing my mother and her cooking, especially the Greek goodies she would make for the holidays.

In an effort to try and recapture just a smidgen of those delicious foods I turned to the Google machine and found a local Greek bakery, well if call Boston, the city of Brookline to be exact, a local bakery.

Off I went earlier this week, braving commuter traffic and crazy inner city drivers, and made my way to Athan's Bakery, which is on 1621 Beacon Street in Brookline.  

I did give the bakery a call before heading in to make sure they had what I was after and was told they had 2 of the 3 items - spanakopita and kourabiedes but unfortunately, no koulourakia, alas -

The bakery itself is in an old style building, which was nice but truth be told I was disappointed, as it wasn't the sort of place I had envisioned in my head.  From a bakery perspective it was a blah. Most of the display cases, shelves and jars were empty and the items that were on display looked like they'd been there a while, not tempting.  For example, the baklava was a half pan of what looked to be older and not very fresh.

I made the hour+ drive in, so I was determined to not leave empty handed.  The kourabiedes looked nice, so I asked for 12, two bags of six.  The spanakopita looked nothing like my mothers, nor the pic above, but rather more like a 'hot pocket'; a doughy-sealed pastry, see below -

I was thinking about the spanakopita the entire drive back home and couldn't wait to dig in.  So, once home I popped that bad Larry into the toaster oven to heat up, made a cup of coffee and patiently waited.  Sadly, it was tasteless and bland and too heavy on the dough, a BIG disappointment, sniff 

Yesterday, I took a drive and stopped in to to see my aunt and uncle in Framingham.  One of the bags of 6 kourabiedes that I pick up, I bought for my uncle, my mother's brother, who's Greek.  He made coffee and we each had a kourabiedes!  Again, not my mothers kourabiedes but I'm happy to say that it wasn't too bad.  My uncle agreed and although we didn't say it, I'm pretty sure we were both thinking about my mom when eating them, which made the drive into the city to get them well worth it.

I have my mothers Greek recipes, so I plan on trying my hand at make each of the items above after the holidays.  How much trouble can I get myself into?!

Stay tuned!

Another Good Read

And another John Grisham novel complete!

Again, I couldn't put it down once I started it.

On to the next.

Something To Do...

Great analogy that is simple yet makes it's point.

I'm a worry-wort myself but working on it...

Home Repairs, So "Draining"!

Back on November 5 I posted an entry called, "Boy Was I Flushed!", describing the crazy high estimate I received to replaced some toilet tank hoses.

Well, that estimate, and the main reason I reached out to said plumbing company "A" initially was because my kitchen sink was leaking, the dishwasher aerator was leaking and I had some concerns with the copper line shutoff valves looking all crusty, green and corroded.

Like the estimate to replace the toilet tank hoses, the estimate to do all the necessary working  under the sink was also crazy expensive too!  Fortunately, the leaks were not bad, so I was able to put a pan (seen in first pic) in place to catch the water, which then allowed me time to get some additional estimates.

Fast forward several weeks and tadah!

My old reliable plumber came through, as he always has, provided an estimate to do all the repair work, which came it at HALF the cost as the initial estimate from plumbing company "A", YES HALF, scheduled the work and had it all completed within a couple days of me reaching out.

All PVC piping was replaced to repair the leaks and is now up to current plumbing code, new sink drain basket, new dishwasher aerator, new copper piping and 3-new shutoff valves -

One less item to worry about.

Onto the next...

Longest Walk Yet!

I helped a friend move some motorcycles around this past Saturday afternoon, which included grabbing lunch.  My friend is a fan of Burger King, so that's where we stopped.  Now, I am not a fan of these fast food places as they're really not good or healthy for you but I'm also not one to pass up a meal.  Since I also lack self control I grabbed a couple burgers🍔🍔.  However, and although I just stated my lack of control, I did muster up enough to stay away from the fries and onion rings. Yeah, small victories am I right?!

As punishment, and to try to rid myself of the guilt, I put in my longest walk (not run as indicated in the screen shot below) on Sunday morning, an invigorating and refreshing 6-mile jaunt in 27 degrees temps -

Alas, with the holidays here, and my love of eating, seems I just might be putting in more of these long treks!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Here is my annual Christmas tree post.

Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with how it came out!

An added bonus, an inside looking out pic showing some the decorations adorning the front of my house -

#Blessed

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below picture?!

This red shouldered hawk blends in so well.

Seemed to be on the hunt and was scanning and looking all around.  Then all of a sudden off it went some 10-feet off the ground, across the street and out of sight.

Very impressive to watch.

Sticker Shock 😲!

 

Seems I'm a tad out of touch when it comes to magazine and how ludicrous they cost these days!

Admittedly, I've not purchased a lone magazine issue in forever and the same goes for a magazine subscription.  However, I seem to recall a $3.95 or $4.95 price printed somewhere on the front or back of the mag, back when I last did.

So, you can imagine my utter shock and surprise when I stopped to grab a handful of magazines and saw the prices!!  I was planning to include several with the Christmas gifts I'm giving to a buddy of mine but OMG!

Not only have the prices skyrockets but flipping through some of them, seems they're mostly advertisements with very little content!  For example, a National Geographic had a $14.95 price, as did Country Living, Field and Stream and others.

So much for this idea. Onto plan b...

"Tippy"

 Can you relate to this video?!

Click the following to view video -

"Leave A Tip For Tippy"

I don't know about you but I've just about had enough of this big push to tip everyone for seemingly everything!

I'm not against tipping for services that deserve it, for example waiters, waitresses and bartenders.  However, NOT for things that don't justify it or for jobs that don't rely on tips to offset lower pay rates.

Sorry, NOT sorry, but I'm sour to it all, with everyone with their hands out expecting to be tipped it has lost it's meaning and intent, in my opinion anyway.

Where does it end?

A Bit of Birding On My Part

The below pics are some of the recent feathered visitors I've had -

Cardinal -

Sparrow -

European Starling -

Junco -

Bluebird and my favorite -

Sparrow, GRRRR -

Wild Turkeys -

Be Thankful NOT Envious!

A Comfort Food Meal

Feeling a little queasy yesterday, so I made myself some pastina.

Pastina reminds be of my mother.

The pastina along with the nostalgia brought a smile to my face and made me feel better.

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below photos?

Admittedly, these are terrible pictures but the best I could do.  In my defense, I took these shortly before nightfall.  The pics seem lighter than it actual was and it was difficult to see that far off from my deck.

In the ~24 years that I've lived here one of the animals I've never seen, although hear occasionally, has been an owl.

Well, this my friends is an owl!

I first saw this owl perched on a branch out in the open but as I grabbed my camera and was about to start snapping pics it flew into the pictured trees below.

To be sure, and with camera in hand, I walked out towards this dude hoping to get a better shot but as I neared, off it went with an amazing stealth and ease for such a big bird.

If I was to guess at what type of owl this was, and because it was so big, I would go with either the Great Horned Owl or the Barred Owl.

Either way it was exciting!

I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for another encounter soon, and one that allows me to capture some better photos.

Just A Typical Friday Night!

I threw my Christmas tree up real quick last night - sneak peak below.  I didn't spend any time on it other than to unbox, put the pieces together and plugin, so more decorating and tweaking to come, as the motivation hits me -

Friday night is pizza night, of course it is!

Same ole same but different.  Since I've learned that most pre-packaged shredded cheeses aren't good for you; too many additives, instead I've now begun to shred the cheeses I use.  I bulk bought, from BJs, a bag of fresh mozzarella and with my homegrown garlic, broccoli and a bit of ham, WALLA -

Whilst I was creating my pizza, Mother Nature once again offered another stunning sunset off my back deck - I luv my deck and the views it provides -

A thumbs up AND a paw up! The pizza was delicious!

#Blessed

I'm Being A "Sapsucker"...

I have a Maple tree in my yard that has something wrong with it. It's stunted, as compared to the others it was planted with and has dead branches and limbs throughout, which brake and fall constantly.

I bought from the same nursery, along with (4) other Maple trees and all were planted at the same time.  The others are doing terrific and almost twice as big and tall as this sick one.

One thought, and the likely issue, is that the tree is suffering from 'girdling roots", where the roots grow in a circle around the trunk, essentially choking the tree by restricting water and nutrient flow.  Apparently, this is a known problem with Maple trees.

Now that the tree is sickly, it's a prime candidate to be taken advantage of and attacked.  For example, the picture below shows six perfect holes all lined up in a row on one side of the trunk.  I took this pic at one point this past summer and at the time assumed some sort of "borer" insect or a woodpecker had done this.

However, I recently came across the below Instagram video that explains what or who is the likely culprit making these holes.  The video shows similar holes and to my surprise it very likely was done by the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!

Of course I've heard of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker but thinking back I don't recall ever seeing one.  To be honest, until researching, I didn't know what one of these birds looked like.  Even now that I do, they look so similar to the Downey woodpecker that I don't know if I would have noticed the difference, until now.

According to the Google machine, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are found across Canada, eastern Alaska and the northeastern United States with them wintering in the eastern United States.  So, just because I've not seen or noticed any, doesn't mean they're not here and very likely the critter responsible for the holes pictured above.

I'll be paying closer attention to the birds visiting my ole homestead.

Yellow Snow

First snow of the season made for a tricky walk yesterday.

I'm not sure what this was but I peed on it anyway😉...

Couldn't Put Down

Oops I did it again...

Another Grisham novel completed!

First Snow of 2024

 Apparently, a full night of uninterrupted sleep is NOT a luxury for me these days.

Trixie had me up at 2:30 this morning needing to go our to do her 'business'.

Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that she lets me know when she needs to go out, just wish it wasn't in the middle of the night or at the ass crack of dawn is all.

Much to my surprise, and Trixie's too, was the falling snow greeting us when I pulled back the curtains and opened the slider -

Click the image below to see a 30-sec clip of the first snow of 2024 -

As you can imagine, when Ms. Trixie finally made her way back inside she was covered in snow and all wet.  All her shaking did was spray the snow all over the kitchen, she was still wet and therefore NO longer welcome up on the bed!

I on the other hand crawled back in bed and under the toasty warmth of my eclectic blanket and back off to 'bubba-night-night'...

High Flying

The nine turkey's were visiting again the other morning.  From what I can tell, there are two males and seven females. No rush, no agenda and not in any hurry.  They seemed rather content to slowly make their way from one side of my yard, across the front, to the other side.  All the while picking and eating as they went.

Just after I snapped the above pic the neighbor let his dog out, who wasted no time in making a b-line for them and giving chase.

What's amazing and SO fun to watch is how agile and quick these BIG birds are.  They each wasted NO time in immediately taking flight and off they went, and with a surprising ease, and not a short jaunt but rather they soared off.

All but one flew over the house behind me and out of sight.  However, the one pictured below, chose the safety of that tree, some 40+ feet up.  She didn't stay there too long and flew off, out of sight, in the direction of the others -

They've since been back several times and either don't remember the dog or simply aren't worried about it, as they're more than capable of escaping.

I would rather see the dog chasing off the deer, before they venture into my yard to eat my plants.