Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

The phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is based in Greek mythology where apples were associated with the healing god Apollo.

Who Nose...

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

There are 90 days of fall so get out and enjoy it before winter hits.

Find the Critter XIX

Can you find and name the critters in the above picture?

Closed for the Season

As Lasky said, the security guard at Walleyworld in movie National Lampoon's Vacation, "Sorry folks park's closed. Moose out front should have told you".

We'll, I'm not Lasky, this isn't a movie and I'm not talking about a park. However, what I am referring to is our pool and our pool is now officially closed for the season - Sorry folks pool's closed. Grumpy home owner has told you!

Signs the Economy is improving

or is it simply a selfish, well-to-do pecker-head showing his true colors?! I'm thinking the latter!

Back in October 2005 McDonald's replaced the coffee in it's 600 New England stores with Newman's Own Organics Blend coffee! I really like this coffee, sooo much better than Dunkin Donuts, and stop whenever I get a chance. This Saturday I stopped to grab a cup on my way to Westwood.

So, I'm sitting in the drive-thru and queued up behind an impressive black, freshly washed and waxed Lexus LS series sedan driven by an older gentleman that I would guess was somewhere in the area of late fifties, early sixties. The Lexus dude pulls up to the window and pays for his order. As he waits for his food to arrive he takes the coins that were given to him with his change and tosses them out his window against the building - I was shocked! We're not talking about a lot of money here but the amount doesn't matter. The ignorance of this stunt is unsettling. Certainly he could have chosen something better to do with it. For example, give it back to the clerk and request that it be put in the collection for the Ronald McDonald House.

Prolly think he's some big shot with an over inflated ego. You know, the upper management type with no conscience about his actions and only concerned about himself. I hope that some day he'll need that change and realize the errors of his ways with his mightier than thou bone head stunt. Oh, I also wished for him to choke on his food...

Bird Flu versus Swine Flue

My doctor just told me the primary difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu.

With Bird Flu you need a tweetment, and with Swine Flu you need an oinkment.

Find the Critter XVIII

Can you find and name the critters in the above picture?

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Potatoes are a good source of vitamins B6 and C.

Hay versus Straw

Q: "What’s the difference between hay and straw?

A: Hay bales are a food source. That is the first and perhaps most important difference. Hay is actually a plant that is cut when it is alive and full of grain. The purpose of the hay is to feed animals. Straw, on the other hand, is simply the stalks of standing plants that contain no grain. The grain is harvested from the plants by a machine that cuts it off of the stalk. The grain is then removed from the field and the stalks are left to die, standing. Once they are totally dead and mostly devoid of moisture, they are cut, raked, and baled. The baled straw has multiple uses. It can be used as animal bedding, erosion control, home building, and more. One thing it is not used for is food."

Future Garden Perhaps...

Can you find the difference between the before and after pictures below?

Before:


After:

Yup, you guessed it the spruce Christmas tree* has been removed! I cut it down, loaded it in the truck and took it to our local town recycling center. Although, it might not look too big in the picture it was a lot more work than I thought; limbing it, loading it and unloading it. However, at the end of the day it was worth it. It looks SO much better now and opens the space up nicely. We can now look out the rear living room window and see the back gardens, which were hidden before.

Since this location is sloped so much there really isn't too much we can do with it's, plus it's also a pain to mow. So next year we're thinking of making this our vining vegetable garden and not even worry about mowing it. I was thinking about planting zucchini and summer squash along the side and rear borders and pumpkins and butternut squash inside, where they can creep and grow all over each other. We'll see...

* The previous owners did in fact use that tree as a Christmas tree one year and then planted it the following Spring.

Easter Egg Chickens

Our coop is now complete with the addition of these (2) beautiful little girls. These chickens are known as Easter Egg chickens and will lay blue-greenish colored eggs. They come from a combination of Ameraucana and Araucana chickens. I've been wanting and looking for some of these birds for a couple years now but hadn't found the right ones; these are the right ones!

They're young still but super friendly and have a nice disposition in general. Of course the coop is in disarray as the pecking order needs to be re-set with the introduction of these pullets. It's interesting to see how the seven birds breakout into three different groups. Each group represents how the chickens were introduced, so we have (2) groups of two birds and (1) group of three birds.

We've been getting one egg a day now for two weeks, which is being laid by the Amberlink, hooray!! The others should be starting soon, just in time for winter. This may force me to install a light in the coop this year, not for heat but rather to fool the girls into thinking the days are longers, thus keeping them laying. C'mon girls start-a-laying and earn your keep...

If you're not familiar with what blue-greenish colored eggs look like click here, EGG, to see a picture, which shows them with a brown egg and white egg for comparison. These eggs taste the same as brown and white eggs and any claim to them being lower in cholesterol is false.

Steel Chiminea - Before and After

Call me Fred Sanford if you'd like but at the end of the day I think you'd agree that we scored a winner with this particular "find".

Coming home the other evening, just before dark, we came across this steel chiminea sitting curbside. The house had a For Sale sign in the front yard and a pile of trash out for morning pickup. Apparently, this chiminea gem just wasn't wanted at their new abode. I initially drove past but quickly turned around. After all I saw it first and didn't want any other passerby's to try and take my "find". We hemmed and hawed a bit before deciding to take. Part of our apprehension was the fact that we were in the Explorer and not my pickup.

However, at the end of the day I'm glad that we decided to rehome it. We'll break it in once the cooler weather moves in.

This is the before picture -


This is the after picture -


I sanded the entire outside of the stove and spray painted it with a flat black high heat Rust-Oleum paint. Looks nice right?!?! Lowe's has a similar chiminea called the "Garden Treasures Steel Chiminea" selling for $149.00.

If anyone is interested, I will let this refurbished gem go for $75.00 cash...

Can you say S'MORES!!

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Blueberries are rich in vitamins C and K.

Find the Critter XVII

Can you find the critters in the above picture?

New England Revolution Night Out

We went to Gillette Stadium this past Saturday night and took in our first New England Revolution soccer game. Although the Revs lost to the Kansis City Wizards 4 - 2 it was a great opportunity to get inside the stadium and check it out. Plus it was a beautiful night. Only half of the stadium was open for seating but we had our choice of location and seats. We were able to take our time getting in and out and puttered along checking out the stadium. This would have been nearly impossible if we were at a New England Patriots game. It was a very good take and very reasonable tickets prices including free parking - two thumbs up!

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are over 93,000 public schools in the United States.

Calling in the BIG Guns...

Okay, here's the issue -

The wet spring and summer we had created perfect breeding conditions for many an insect, for example it's nearly impossible to venture outside when the sun goes down without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Another pest that has thrived this season, and one that has worn out it's welcome (which it never really had) is the slug. You can find them out and about in the early mornings, especially when the dew is still covering the lawn or turn over any rock and you'll find the slimy, trail-leaving pests hiding out.

They're eating holes many of our flower plants, especially the hostas, which is clearly their favorite based on all the damage they've inflicted. You can see an example of the damage in the picture below. The other morning I killed over 200 slugs in the back yard alone, which didn't even put a dent in their population. I used a pair if pruning scissors to cut the son-of-bitches in half, however, sprinkling them with good ole table salt immediately dries them up and works wonders too.

Since patrolling for and killing slugs is a time consuming task and really not the best use of my time we've decided to proceed with plan B!

What is plan B you ask? Hmmm?

Well, plan B involves the purchasing one of the bestest, all natural, aka "organic", controllers of slugs in the business...



The Muscovy duck! Game on!

These are (3) week old ducklings that were hatched on 8/13/2009. We only wanted a pair but since they're too young to sex we decided on three in an effort to increase the odds of one male and one female. I hope it doesn't turn into a ducks version of, "The Faber/Leonard Chicken".

The next order of business is naming them. Emilie has taken on this responsibility with the exception of the male (again, assuming we have one), which I've taken the liberty of naming "Kid Rock"!

Yes, of course I need my head examined! I have no one to blame but myself too. However, if this works it's brilliant and all we'll need to worry about is walking in the yard with bare feet, oooh yuck! Perhaps, I haven't thought this through entirely.

Side Note:
Prior to departing on our vacation we relocated our rabbits and chickens to my dad's house to be cared for. I was fit to be tied throughout this whole process and swore up and down that the animals were going to go once we returned - so go figure how we still have them and we're still adding to the menagerie...

Find the Critter XVI

Can you find the critters in the above picture?

Road Trip Cleanest Lavatory

I'm no expert when it comes to bathrooms, however, I can tell when they're clean, or in need of cleaning or down-right nasty.

During our 2000+ mile vacation journey we made frequent stops at various restaurants and rest areas along the way to "use the facilities". The majority of the privies were fine especially when you stop and think about the number of visitors each relieves and the numbers being performed.

Sadly, I must report that the dirtiest rest area we came across has to be the one we stopped at upon entering West Virginia. The men's lavatory had a, "Closed for Cleaning" sign when we first arrived, which I was happy to see thinking that once opened it'll be fresh and clean. I wasn't in dire need and happy to wait for a clean latrine. I'm still not sure what "Closed for Cleaning" means in West Virginia. I will spare you all the details but rest assured it was NOT clean...

Hands down the cleanest and most impressive facility was in Virginia. Again, we chose to stop at the Welcome Center upon entering Virginia. They were clean and fresh with all necessities fully stocked and functional. These particular washrooms offered something that we'd not seen before. There was a unique stall in both the men's and women's room that had two chamber pots in it - an adult potty and a child's potty! As anyone with little kids can attest, this is a fantastic idea! Not only were there two potties but there was also plenty of room. Many stalls have just barely enough space to get oneself in and situated, never mind having a young'n in tow. JoAnne was sooo impressed that she took the below picture.

Find the Critter XV

Can you find the critters in the above picture?

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

On August 12, 1851, Isaac Merrit Singer received a patient for the sewing machine.

Delicious Ears

A couple days before we departed on our vacation the corn we planted started coming in.

Here is a picture of the first 8 ears picked -


Here you can see just how delicious they look with their husks pulled back -


You simply can NOT beat farm fresh corn just picked, shucked and cooked. Hmm, Hmm good!!

We we're able to eat some fantastic Tennessee fresh picked corn also, which is equally as tasty. When we returned from our trip there was still plenty of good eatin corn waiting for us. One of the dog day pleasures of summer!

We're Back...

The fat lady has sung! Our vacation is over, boohoohoo! The two weeks flew by and went way too fast. We fought it as best we could but reluctantly we're back at work today. No luck at hitting the big Powerball or Megamillions jackpots, alas.

We logged a round trip total of 2,008 miles and traveled the following -
Day1: Depart home, MA. to Lancaster, PA. (408 miles)
Day2: Departed Lancaster; Took in Gettysburg then to Charleston, W.VA. (426 miles)
Day3 - Day8: Visited St. Albans and some family then to Johnson City, TN. (306 miles)
Day9: Departed Johnson City to Scranton, PA. (584 miles)
Day10: Departed Scranton to home (284 miles)

We had a great trip - I'm glad we went! Emilie was a trooper and did a fantastic job traveling, especially since her portable DVD player died just a couple hours into Day1. I'm happy and proud to have been able to recreate the trip I remember taking as a kid with JoAnne and Emilie. To be able to share that same experiences with them, to show them where my family grew up, and to introduce them to family they had yet to met.

As the song "Take Me There" by Rascal Flatts says -

I wanna roll down Main Street, the back roads

Like we did when you were a kid

What made you who you are?

Tell me what your story is

Also, a VERY BIG thank you to our extended family in TN for EVERYTHING that you did for us!!

We're on Vacation and We're Off!!

JoAnne, Emilie and I are on vacation, yippie!

We're great procrastinators. Although we've discussed what to do and where we should go pretty much all summer long, it wasn't till Friday-ish 8/14 that we finally made a decision and decided what we're going to do.

We want to take a swim in some warm water, 80+ degree - our pool is just too cold, i.e. 76ish, brrrr.

So, we're off (driving) to Johnson City Tennessee!! We know of a wonderful little cement pond that we just can't wait to jump into...


P.S. Ssshhhhh, since we're such terrible procrastinators, we've not even had a chance to call ahead to make sure the pool's still open. We'll be making this call from the road this morning...

Wild Wabbit Wabies

Working in the yard the other afternoon I came upon a wild rabbit nest with four plump babies crammed inside. The nest was nothing more than a hole in the ground, just big enough for these little guys. The hole was dug beside a large rock in one of our flower gardens and was partially covered by some nearby chives and purple coneflowers – a pretty cool location and hiding spot. Emilie and I saw a couple of them tooling around in that same flower garden about a week later. Still too young to be out on their own but old enough to be curious and checkout the area - just hope that know that eating our flowers and vegetables are a NO NO!!

Garden Prep

I have several potted tomato plants still hangin around. They are just now starting to show signs of late blight and will go in the trash come Monday. Otherwise, all the tomato plants I had in the garden are gone. I spent a couple hours this past weekend turning the soil where the plants were in an effort to make sure any and all tomato parts, i.e. leaves, tomato's and juices, are underground to compost and decay.

Come fall I will add some compost and turn the soil once again and finish off with a planting of winter rye. Then come spring time, I'll turn the soil once more. Hopefully, this will rid the garden of any signs or remnants of blight, so we can have some tomato success this time next year.

As you can see from the photo above there's an open void between the corn up top and the sunflowers down below, alas. I planted some zinnias, that we started from seed, in this area so it's not so empty, plus it'll add some color. It's almost time to pick some corn and the gold finch are enjoying the sunflowers.

Find the Critter IV

Can you find the critters in the above picture?

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Grapes are a good source of vitamins C and K.

It's Gamo Time! Let's Dance...

I type this posting with a sense of embarrassment. Embarrassment for two reasons; the first is that I incorrectly blamed our visiting deer for eating a number of our vegetable and flower plants, and the second for not considering and foolishly believing that I had eradicated the true culprit, varmint, sonofabiach...the woodchuck, see earlier posting titled: Jon & Kate Plus Eight Minus Six and Jon. However, just to be clear, the deer are NOT harmless victims that have been falsely accused and the jury is still out on who's responsible for some of the other, non-broccoli damage.

I take pride in noticing outdoor animal plant type stuff, especially in and around our yard where I spend SO much time, a lot of it on my hands and knees. To jump to the conclusion that the deer were to blame and to not even consider that something or someone else was responsible for the damage, has me questioning my Chi - perhaps my Yin & Yang are outta sink...

As I made my way to shake the dew off my trouser lily this morning, I peaked out the windows and was SHOCKED to see a big, fat woodchuck sitting in amongst the kale and broccoli helping himself as if at an all you can eat buffet! You can see, in the first picture below, the damage he's done to the broccoli - eating the tops and tender new shoots off of each plant. It's possible but highly unlikely that I would be more understanding if the rodent ate one plant at a time but it infuriates me that he bebop's from one plant to another as he destroys them all, arrrrrrrrrrr!!

Broccoli and kale garden below. You can see the damage done to the broccoli - chewed and eaten, all of them. Apparently this pest doesn't care for kale but then again I don't blame him for that. Actually, I would prefer he eat the kale versus the broccoli, since I eat the broccoli and we grown the kale to feed our bunnies.


Here are two small pumpkins happily minding their own business and just growing. As you can see one of them has been attacked and eaten, almost in half - sunofabiach!


Here is the same pumpkin plant as above zoomed out some. As you can see from this photo a bunch of the leaves have been eaten off the vine. You shouldn't be able to see the orange flowers if all the leaves were still in place.


As Grouch Marx said in the 1933 movie Duck Soup and a line that Bugs Bunny 'borrowed' from this same movie and brought to fame, "Of course, you know, this means war!"

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Peanut butter is found in about 75 percent of American homes!

Visiting Pest - Hibiscus Sawfly

We have a beautiful Hibiscus that is in it's third summer that sports super BIG pink flowers. We have it planted in a corner out back against the foundation of the house on one side and the stockade fence on the other. This seems to be an ideal spot for it to overwinter, as it's been coming up every summer since being planted. This surprise me a little being that the Hibiscus is a tropical plant and we're here in New England, zone 6 - I'm guessing it's one of the hardy varieties. The only care given, outside of watering, is that we cut it back in the fall.

It's yet to bloom this summer but well on the way, yippee! However, this summer it's also attracted one of it's well known nemesis - the Hibiscus Sawfly - Atomacera decepta. As you can see from the picture below, the larva stage, is quite destructive and does a number on the foliage. They're small enough to squish with your fingers and not too messy, so I try to visit the plant once a day to kill as many of these pest as possible, as we anxiously await the flower's arrivals!


Larva stage - Hibiscus Sawfly


Adult stage - Hibiscus Sawfly

You might try yourself a Hibiscus cocktail, which is made with champagne and cranberry juice.

Jon & Kate Plus Eight Minus Six and Jon

Awoke the other morning to see a mother deer and her twin fawns frolicking in the backyard. They were fun to watch, as the fawns were carefree running and jumping, twisting and turning. Obviously they're still too young to be concerned about danger; that's what mom is for.

We've only seen them once so far BUT they've been frequent visitors for sure. They have already worn out their welcome in my book - sssssshoe, scram go away! Here is a list of the plants I've noticed that they've alerady helped themselves to: a good portion of some of our pumpkin plants, the tops off some sedium, a couple comfrey plants, hostas, raspberries and even bold enough to venture up into the yard to eat the tops off of the broccoli. Of course since they're browsers they do a little damage here and a little damage there, UUGH!

Find the Critter XIII

Can you find the critters in the above picture?

Also, can you name the critter and the plant?

FUN FACT

FUN FACT!

Raspberries have an extremely high fiber content—about 20 percent of their total weight.

We've Got The Blight Blues...

We’ve got it!

No, not the Mega Millions jackpot from this past weekend, which is now at 103 million.

Nope, not the Powerball jackpot from this past weekend, which is now at 161 million.

What we got is “Late Blight”!





Late Blight, the disease that was responsible for the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century, is a very destructive and infectious disease of tomato and potato plants. The extremely wet weather we’ve had all spring and summer has created the ideal conditions, or perfect storm, for this disease to BECOME… When it hits, it hits hard and it hits fast. We noticed it on a single tomato plant on 7/25 and by 7/27, less that three days later, the remaining 24 tomato plants were infected, as we’re our single row of potato plants. I spent a couple hours in Sunday cutting up and bagging the plants to get them curbside for trash pickup, which is the recommend approach for the home gardner.

Sadly, we’re out of the tomato business this season, which means we’re out of the canning business too – VERY upsetting and disheartening. So much hard work all for not…

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Corn has both male (tassel) and female (ear) flowers on the same plant.

There's one sad truth in life...

"There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.

"Ella Wheeler Wilcox"

Fun Fact

FUN FACT!

Each American eats 54 quarts of popcorn a year!

Ribbit Ribbit...

Here is Emilie’s latest hobby – a tank of amphibians.

We have four female American toads, (Bufo americanus) and six frogs – four green frogs (Rana clamitans), a pickerel frog (Rana palustris) and a wood frog (Rana sylvatica). The later two were added to the mix yesterday, so not seen in the above photo. We found the green frogs in our pool. The toads were found in various spots in our yard.

Emilie checks the pool each morning for frogs and skims out any live insects and then relocates them, as breakfast, to the tank. We also walk our yard each evening looking for and catching insects to feed these critters. Fortunately, the toads are not fussy eaters and will pretty much eat whatever insect you drop in, as long as they move. The Japanese beetles, Oriental beetles, and June beetles are plentiful right now and eagerly gobbled up. Other edible insects, that take more effort to catch, are; woodlouse, also known as sow bugs, pillbugs and isopods, centipedes, earwigs, ants, worms, etc.

It’s actually very interesting to watch these amphibians eat. It happens too fast to really see their tongues in action, however, you can hear the sound of their tongues lashing out snatch a meal.

The pickerel frog will need to be released soon. In researching this posting I've learned that pickerel frog are known to be toxic to other frogs - when stressed their skin secrets a toxin that can be fatal to other frogs...

Fun Fact

FUN FACT!

Bananas are native to Southeast Asia. Currently, India is the world’s largest producer of bananas."

Happy Cucumbers...

Our cucumbers are starting to come in, yum yum. There are about 6 to 8 coming along and in various stages. Somewhat of a surprise to have so many since the plants themselves are what I believe to be on the smaller size. They're climbing up the trellis nicely, just not as big a plant as I anticipated - perhaps, the rainy weather we had for most of the spring contributed to this.

As you can see from the picture above this cucumber was happy to see us ;-)

Swearing Makes You Feel Less Pain

This just in - Swearing Makes You Feel Less Pain

I knew it! It's true! It's been working for me for years but no one would listen.

It DOES! YES IT DOES! SHIT, I'm telling you it works DAMIT! PISS OFF...

Allium California Soft Neck - Jumbo garlic

Emilie and I harvested our Allium California Soft Neck - Jumbo garlic Thursday night. We planted 36 cloves back on October 7, 2008 and dug out 36 beautiful whole garlic bulbs on July 9, 2009.

We rinsed the dirt from them and now have them drying.

Can't wait to get a taste of these gems, delish! It will also keep the vampires away...

Fun Fact

Did You Know:

Elephants have a 22-month gestation period, which is the longest of any mammal.

I See You...

I'm watching you!!

Celebrities in the News (today)

What's going on today? Apparently, it's tough being famous and gifted...

'Laverne and Shirley' Star Eddie Mekka Arrested for DUI

'Three's Company' Actress Joyce DeWitt Arrested for Drunk Driving

'Harry Potter' Star Could Face 14 Years for Growing Marijuana Farm

Former Figure Skating Champ Nicole Bobek Charged in Meth Bust

Soft Rot

OK, enough all ready. We've had enough rain, how bouts some nice, dry, warm summer like weather?!

It's been a horrible spring here in New England weather wise. We've had more rain and cold days than I care to count. One plus is that everyone's lawn looks fantastic and alive; nice and dark green. However, too much rain can be problematic also. Take for example our broccoli - the plants themselves look great, nice, big and full. However, the conditions have been perfect for a disease called "Soft Rot", see picture below.

Soft rot of broccoli is brought on by long periods of wet weather. The results are a watery and slimy rot with an offending rotten odor. This condition also attracts a surprisingly large numbers of flies, which seem to enjoy dining on the slim. It's so bad that even our domestic rabbits, which typically love and devour broccoli, won't even touch it!

I was lucky enough to pick one smaller broccoli head before the rot arrived and let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS! Also, if I remember correctly last year each broccoli plant produced a second, smaller head following the initial harvesting . Perhaps, this will happen again this year - only time will tell.

Earwigs

Q: Last year, earwigs devoured our bean plants. Can you suggest a way to get rid of them?

A: Combine equal parts soy sauce and olive oil, put it in a small plastic container, and secure the lid. (A cottage cheese container works well.) Punch holes in the top of the container, near the lid. Make the holes large enough for the earwigs to get in. Bury the container in the soil just up to the holes. The soy sauce will attract the earwigs, and the oil will prevent them from escaping. Change the mixture as needed.