Found My "G" Spot!

Yup, I did! Found my "G" spot! Giddy-up!



Now for those of you who have their minds in the gutter, you should be ashamed of yourselves! I'm talk'n my "grill" spot; gas grill spot you pigs.

Made the above pictured creation a couple weeks ago and threw it on the grill for about 30 minutes and BAM!

I used a nice hunk of pre-frozen swordfish, JoAnne didn't think I was worth the fresh catch price but no worries, some green pepper, broccoli, red onions, fresh-picked-out-of-our-garden garlic, olive oil, fresh lemon juice and some spices.

Man it was so gooooooooooooooooood! I enjoyed it with a nice glass of red wine and topped it off with a cigarette. Kidding, I'm only kidding there was no smoking.

Watering Hole, Well Sort Of

Here is a picture of a woodchuck hole. Well, it's there under the water, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Woodchucks typically have 2 or 3 or 4 holes, so, although, this looks bad from the woodchucks perspective it really isn't. Some might surmise that if you fill it's hole with all this water that you've got to have drowned the little bastard. To be honest that thought did pass through my mind but I pushed it out knowing better.

Anyway, this is the hole that I tracked the critters to and was able to see them come and go from. So, when it was time to open my pool an idea came to me, BING! I needed to drop the water level some 3" - 4" inches, which is a lot with a 20' x 40' pool, so out came the garden hose which I ran from the pool to, and down into as far as it would go, the varmints hole. Once in place I connected the hose to the sub pump and turned her on. It ran for well over an hour and the picture is the end result.

Of course this is not the only approach I am using in an effort to eradicate these F'ers. I won't get into details here to protect the innocent. For example, once the water leached into the ground I was still left with a hole, so I took advantage of this and "planted" another varmint in the hole. This particular varmint is said to be an adversary of the woodchuck and even known to kill young woodchucks, so what better place to bury said predator and mourn it's passing...

It's been almost a month now and the hole is still covered. Apparently, the rotting corpse is keeping them from reopening and reusing this particular opening.

Ah, but the story doesn't end there, no way no how, nope! Although, we've not seen the whistle pigs since that tearful afternoon when they decimated our gardens they're presence has been felt. Small indications that they're still around can be noticed if you look close enough. That all changed this past Sunday evening, just before dark when I noticed one of the youngster pigs slowly creep it's way onto the back lawn and into a patch of clover for a bedtime snack. And yes we have clover in our lawn, too much actually. I've been slacking in this department and need to get some lawn feed/weed/insect killer down but that's a story for another day. He was chased off - again, I'm not going to go into details here, suffice to say he took off like a bolt of lighting and prolly with a stinging in his keester. I've also set the Hav-a-heart traps and baited them with some nice, fresh broccoli but they're awfully hard to catch, my experience anyway.

They're still out there, so the battle still wages. Only time will tell who will come out the victor. Of course my money is on me. Who are you betting on?!

Batter Batter, Swiiiiiiiiiiiiing Batter!

JoAnne, Emilie and I went to the Pawtucket Red Sox game Saturday night. We met up with our neighbor, his two boys and one of their friends. The seats were pretty good between home plate and third base but closer to home. The fourth place (North division) Paw Sox played the First place (West division) Columbus Clippers.

Paw Sox games are a great take that doesn't break the bank with free parking too. It was a great night to be outside - warm and clear. The game was exciting and finished with a home team rally. The sox's, down 6 - 1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, scored 6 runs and went on to win the game 7 - 6. The place was loud and rocking! The kids loved it.

Oh, I also caught a David Gregory Huff (#12 Clippers) foul ball, left handed too. Got the BIG high five from the dude sitting beside me and a "nice catch" accolade from a passing female fan and of course the look of awe from the yutes.

That's my 15 minutes of fame and it wasn't even televised...

Mood Of The Day

My current mood is:

Why Didn't I Come Up With This Idea Darn It!

Silly Bandz, they're the Cabbage Patch Kids/Pokemon cards/Beanie Babies of 2010, egads!

Pulled from their website -
"The hottest new fashion accessory - Kids everywhere are going wild over Silly Bandz!! These colorful Animal Rubber Bands (Silly Bandz) are made of silicone and die molded in many different fun shapes. These rubber bands return to their original shape when you take them off the item they're holding (or off of your wrist). Pick from Zoo Animals, Pets, Fun Shapes, Sea Creatures, Dinosaurs, and our newest Holiday Pack! Comes in a pack of 24 assorted colors and shapes, Collect them, Wear them, or Trade them with friends."



and they're causing a rukus in schools everywhere. Many schools have banned them from the classrooms. Just do a Google search of, "silly bandz banned" and you'll see for yourself.

Anyway, this is a picture of the Emilie's latest acquisitions. Another collectible to add to her Frye-hoarding sickness. At least these can be put to use when the fad passes, unlike the previously mentioned items that are not only useless but also take up space. Now, where did I put my pet rock...

Ah, Fun With Cat Turds!

Hey you! Watcha look'n at huh?! You wants a piece-a-me?!



This is a picture of our cat Gracie. She's basically an indoor cat, however, since the pool area is fenced in we let her out during the days when we're home. Of course as cats will do she isn't happy with that and wants more - she wants outside of the fenced in pool area and is always looking for ways to get out.

Now, if I knew for sure that she'd take off I would have let her out a long time ago. I don't particularly care for, no scratch that, I despise the fact that she uses the flower beds as her litter box.

This reminds me of a funny little story - well I thought it was funny and still do, Emilie did NOT and prolly still doesn't, hehehe -

Earlier this Spring I was working on the pool area flower beds, you know edging and weeding and the like. Well, whenever I come across something interesting when working in the yard, which is typically insects or toads, I'll call Emilie over. I've gotten in the habit of picking the critter up and holding it in my hand so she can't see it. I then make her hold out her cupped hands at which time I will drop the critter in. Well, she's on to me now and usually VERY cautious of this move, however, on this day she dropped her guard. This time instead of dropping a cute little toad into her cupped hands I dropped a cat turd!! Again, I thought it was funny but I guess you had to be there...

Congratulation Daughter-O-Mine!

My oldest daughter has graduated from high school, class of 2010!

She was voted the "Outstanding Female Athlete of 2010" of her class. The award was chosen by the high school faculty and staff. She was awarded a very nice trophy, which was presented to her during the graduation ceremony.

She's attending Sacred Heart University (SHU) in the fall, class of 2014 and moving on to play Division 1 field hockey for the Pioneers, #15.

I couldn't be more proud of her!

Our Chrysalis Surprise

This is one of the Black Swallowtail butterflies that recently hatched for us, also know as the American or Parsnip Swallowtail. We caught a couple caterpillars in the fall that spun their cocoon in the container we had them housed in. We kept them in the garage throughout the winter where it's nice and cold. Once Spring arrived and the weather warmed we moved them upstairs into the kitchen and shortly thereafter, walla this beauty hatched.

This is a male and he's perched on a flower of our salvia plant. We kept him loose in the bathroom for a couple days because it was rainy and wet outside and then transferred him outside once the weather cleared. Emilie befriended him and was able to hold him and carry him around. When it was time she carried him out by the pool and placed him on one of the many blooming flowers we have. He hung around for a couple days and then off he went.

Hopefully, he'll be back for a visit and to increase our chances we've planted some parsley and dill in our gardens, which these and other butterflies happen to love. Another favorite of theirs is Queen Anne's Lace that we have growing through our yard too, not to mention the endless flowers, so I'm guessing we'll see him again.

Le Pew

FYI -

Dead skunks can still spray! Trust me, it's true and that's all I'm saying.

Hawaii Eat Your Heart Out

Take a gander at the awesomely, stunning sunset we had a couple weeks ago right outside our back door.

Just wanted to share and make you all jealous. That's all and in the words of our friends son "bubba-night-night".

Car Remotes Quirks

Tell me if you do this too or is it just another one of my OCD type quirks:

As you're walking to your vehicle do you repeatedly check your cars remote (key fob) to make sure you have your finger on the correct button to lock or unlock the doors?

My remote has only two buttons - lock & unlock and they're in the same location EVERY TIME. Yet, when I have the keys in hand and I'm making my way to the car, I check the buttons again and again and again. each time positioning my finger on the button I'm gonna use.

Weird huh?! Do you do this? C'mon help me out here and tell me you all do the same thing too, please...

Rucking Fabbits

Okay people, Stephan is NOT happy. Nope, not happy AT ALL!

As you can see from the below pictures our garden has been violated. Some %#@&! varmint critter helped themselves to our young and tender veggies. Oh, I am soooo mad. I'm fit to be tied and on the war path, stand clear it's gonna get ugly and messy.

I had (4) nice broccoli plants coming along and doing well. I planted them out, by design, two weeks apart so that they wouldn't all come ripe at the same time. The first couple of plants had to be covered each night when first planted due to the wacky weather and frost that would pop in and out. I had also planted (3) kale plants just this past weekend. They were awful tiny but seemed to have taken hold. Then there's the nice red leaf lettuce that was taking off, with some ready to be picked. The picture below shows only one of the plants eaten, however, that all changed the day after I took the picture. Seven of the eight plants have been eaten down. I had such high hopes for all these veggies, errrr!

So, as the title of this posting reads one might make the assumption that the Taliban wild rabbits were behind this, I certainly did. They seem to be all over our yard, the neighbor to our rights yard and even the neighbor to our lefts yard - too many of them for sure.

However, I humbly stand (actually I'm sitting on my ass typing but you get the idea) before you to admit that I was wrong, at least in this case. Yup, I was home early from work yesterday and when I peered out the upstairs windows, low and behold there they were a whole family of Al-Qaeda Whistle pigs!! A mother and four babies, that's F O U R, four babies in tow making their way up towards our raised veggie beds! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

For you non-Tennesseans out there Whistle pigs is a fancy word for woodchucks, ground hogs, marmots and to some land-beavers. Regardless of what they're referred to, at the end of the days they're nothing more than rodents.

In an effort to over come this veggie set back I must now transform myself into the one and only Carl Spacker and take on his mantra, " I have to laugh, because I've outsmarted even myself. My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one. I've gotta get inside this guy's pelt and crawl around for a few days."

I'll see you all on the other side, "Au revoir, gophers"

"Repugnant, Disgraceful, Shameful & un-American"

"Wisconsin Veteran Must Remove Flag After Memorial Day, Wife Says"

Political correctness runs a muck yet again. Heaven forbid if someone gets offended, we can't have that now. Let's be fair to everyone; everyone gets a trophy too just for participating. We'll build a mosque at ground zero but a veteran can't fly the American flag?! It just isn't right, not right at all!

I call BULLSHIT!

F the management company and keep flying the American flag!

Fun Fact

FUN FACT!

Memorial Day remembers all those who died in service of our nation.

Oxalis (oks-AL-iss)

Oxalis - Charmed Wine (Shamrock)

Known as a weed, Oxalis does make a nice potted plant. We've had this one pictured below for several years now. We bring it in the house during the winter and set it out once the warm weather arrives. It's become somewhat stretched sitting in the house and reaching for what daylight it can get via the window, so it really needs to be transplanted, have some new soil added and fertilized - all on the "list".

I thought it was interesting to see how the shamrock-shaped leaves, when it's soaking up the sun, open up and spreads but when the sun goes down and evening approaches it folds itself up.

New Editions - Pee & Wee

Here are the latest editions to the homestead menagerie.

These are supposed to be Lion-head rabbits but the jury is still out on that - I don't think so. They're also two males, uggh. However, they came with an indoor cage and a very nice outdoor hutch, feed, hay shavings, toys, dishes and supplies all for FREE, so how could we refuse.

However, they also came with baggage; the black one is a biter and got me good, real good. They're mounting and humping each other constantly and they're "sprayers"! Don't know what a sprayer is? Well good for you, you're lucky. Come on over and spend a couple minutes outside their cage oooing and ahhhing at how cute they are. Then get back to me, hehehe!

Spraying or scent marking is urine and it's something male rabbits often do. It's goes everywhere since the rabbit is usually jumping and turning when "going". So now imagine your outside their cage peering in oooing and ahhhing and BAM you get pissed on - NOT GOOD! This is a hormonally driven behavior that can be addressed by having the animal "fixed" but that's too expensive.

However, there is also another way to resolve this issue and I can assure you that if I get sprayed I WILL be applying this fix!

Anyway, they're NOT staying. They've only been here 4 days and already worn out their welcome. If interested, pet or pot, please let me know!

Find the Critter

Can you find the critter in the above picture?

This is a deer tick. Thank goodness this SOB chose my forearm as it's feeding spot, otherwise it might have dinned longer. Not sure how long it was in there but you can see the redness already beginning. Emilie was able to pull the sucker off using a pair of tweezers and down the drain it went. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come this Spring and Summer.

You're Forbidden To Use The "B" Word!

Okay, it's been a couple days since the collapse and I'm ready to make a statement. Once made, however, we'll not speak of this for the foreseeable future.

The use of the "B" word is now forbidden to be spoken here at the ole homestead! It's much too early and the wounds are far from healed. It's gonna take a loooooooong time. 40+ years of being a Bruins fan without experiencing a championship and downtown Boston parade is frustrating at best.

Just so we're all on the same page, the "B" word refers to the Boston Bruins. Our New England NHL team that has been and is still VERY frustrating to watch and root for, especially after this past seasons inconsistent play during the regular season and the history making post-season collapse they allowed.

Note: I have made the decision that all of the Boston Bruins clothing I own will be going into storage indefinitely. NO hats, t-shirt, sweatshirts. etc. shall be worn by yours truly, including the coffee mug I use for my morning coffee - all put away for now, alas...

Testing 1, 2, 3

We had our chickens tested for Salmonella Pullorum and Avian Influenza the other morning.

It's a free test provided by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

The inspector arrived, put on a fresh pair of white disposable coveralls, hat, booties and rubber gloves and off we went. This was all done in the driveway. I can only imagine what the neighbors and passer-bys were thinking, especially in this day and age. Some vehicles will tell you who they are when their sitting in a driveway, i.e. plumbers, electricians, etc, but this dude was in an unmarked Chevy Impala. Even if you spotted the Mass. state license plate you'd still have no clue why someone would be dressed like he was - too funny.

Rules state that I am responsible for catching the birds, so I'd catch one and hand off to the inspector to have a throat culture/swab performed, a blood sample drawn and a identifying band applied to the birds left leg. Of course with the small number of birds we have this didn't take long and the girls were pretty good too.

The samples will be sent to and analyzed at the University of Connecticut. We should receive the results in the USPS in approximately a week. Just airing on the side of caution and want to make sure they're safe since we've been handing out eggs to family and friends.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

C'mon enough already!

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

The potato is the most consumed vegatable in the United States.

Things that end with 'tor'

A teacher asks her class to name things that end with 'tor' that eat things.

The first little boy says, "Alligator."

"Very good, that's a big word."

The second little girl says, "Predator."

Yes, that's another big word. Well done."

Then little Johnny puts up his hand and says, "Vibrator."

After nearly falling off her chair, the teacher says, "That is a big word too, but I don't think we can count it because it doesn't eat anything."

"Well my mum has one and she says it eats batteries like there's no tomorrow!"

Past Posting Updates

I thought it would be nice to provide you all with updates to some of my more recent posting, as I'm sure you've all been chomping at the bit to know...

"Whitey" Update:
Whitey remained on premise with us for a full week before being relocated. He behaved during his stay but more importantly during his transfer and release! He happily made his way out of the trap, checked out the area and scampered off. Hopefully we took him far enough away that he won't be back.

"Freeze / Frost Occurrence Data - Potatoes" Update:
Our Yukon Gold and Red Norland seed potatoes have been removed from the refrigerator and placed in a warm window. They'll be ready to plant outside in about a week.

"Spring Gardening Itch" Update:
Our tomato results are appalling. If you recall we planted a total of 100 tomato seeds approximately 6 weeks ago. Well, of the 100 only about 30 sprouted of which we have about 12 remaining. Of the 12 only 4 have grown their second set of leaves - the plants are tiny, tiny - pathetic. They're just about to receive their walking papers to be relocated to the compost bin. Lesson learned - waste of time and royal pain in the ass to start seeds in doors unless you're equipped to do such things, which we're NOT. Local nursery here I come!

"Colored Easter Egg Egg, Our First" Update:
Only one of the two Americana pullets I bought last fall lays blue eggs. The other is laying a whitish colored egg - she's defective. However, on a positive note we're getting on average one blue egg a day now, bringing our daily egg total anywhere from 4 to 7 eggs a day now. Gonna need to up my cholesterol meds real soon. I sure would hate to be relegated to Eggbeaters...

"Chain Link Kennel" Update:
The pair of Muscovy ducks have been sold. Although, we carried and cared for them throughout the winter they had to go. Ducks are messy and stinky critters, which I new but under estimated. The latter wasn't too bad during the cold winter months, however, with the arrival of Spring and warmer weather this was changing. We decided to air on the side of caution and find them another home before becoming a BIG, stinky problem.

Oh My Ach'n Back

After 8 years of living here at the ole homestead, I finally devoted some time and tended to our raspberries in a way that should have been done years ago. I edged the beds, pulled out the previous owners soaker hoses, tightened the cloth line supports and spent many hours on my hands and knees weeding. Once this was completed I spread two heaping wheel barrels full of rich, dark compost on the beds.

The wild critters, i.e. wild rabbits and slugs (insects), have almost no place to hide now. The new raspberries plants can sprout and grow without competing with weeds, flowers, rocks and other obstacles.

I'm hoping this all means a bumper crop of delicious raspberries this year, as well as years to come - mmm mmm good!

The "Egg Beater"

Here is a picture of my new (new to me) commuter vehicle!

2003 Toyota Corolla LE Sedan

28mpg City - 36mpg Hwy

*******

Bought Saturday 4/17.
Picked up ready to roll Monday 4/19.
First trip to and from work Wednesday 4/21.
Priceless!

Today's Commute Experience

Today's morning commute to work -

Once I made it to the highway I set the cruise control at 68MPH, turned up the radio and settled in for my 70+ minute commute to the office.

At 6:45AM, for some reason, there was an unusually high amount of traffic on Rt. 495, especially since it's April vacation for the grade schoolers here in New England. The traffic also included more 18-wheeler type trucks than I'm used to navigating through. Okay, so the ride was gonna be a little more stressful than I'm used to; I turned up the radio.

At one point I moved into the high speed passing lane to do just that, pass. There was a string of trucks all queued up and taking over the middle travel lane - they're forbidden to drive in the high speed passing lane, and there's just too many vehicles making there way onto the highway via the on ramps, so the big trucks are better off staying in the middle lane; I get that, I do but still hate em.

Anyway, even though I'm now in the high speed passing lane, I'm NOT going to punch the accelerator, why? So, like the little engine that could I was making progress at passing the big rigs. When, low and behold, what to my wandering eyes should appear but some banana eating douche bag in a big gas guzzler, half SUV half pick up type thingy-ma-bob, riding my rear bumper! C'mon dude, where the "F" do you want me to go? Can't you see I'm stuck here and riding my ass is NOT going to help matters? You can get as close as you want, still not gonna move over - I can't!

After a mile or two of this rump riding I HIT the brakes hard. Two things I'm certain happened immediately after that - one, the banana this jerk-off was eating got jammed down his throat as he reacted and hit his brakes. Second, that he shit himself, if even just a little bit! Yup, I woke his sorry ass up. He backed off immediately at that point. You see it was a matter of will and I was NOT moving for that pencil-neck-geek, I was determined to stay right where I was. He'd need to wait till the opportunity presented itself to him so he could GO AROUND ME, which is exactly what happened and off he went. At that point, I signaled and moved into the middle travel lane.

What an ass-hat! I was hoping to see him on the side of the highway in some ditch but no such luck. Just glad he had to sit in his soiled panties all day :-))

**NOTE: I'm NOT advocating violence, nor am I condoning this type of behaviour. Actually, pretty dumb especially at 70MPH but very satisfying just the same.

"Whitey"

Nope, I'm not referring to James "Whitey" Bulger, the reputed mobster who's on the lamb, and also on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

I'm referring to monsieur skunk, pictured above, who's attraction and love of peanut butter has landed him in his current dilemma. I don't believe that white skunks are rare these days but certainly unusual and quite attractive.

I'm sure this dude has some counterparts, or partners in crime if you will, still on the loose but that'll come to an end soon enough.

You see these foraging critters have been doing a terrible number on our lawn - holes dug everywhere in search of one of their favorite morsels! They're after grubs, which apparently we have a lot of and have been raising unbeknown to us. Now, some might argue, get rid of the grubs and your skunk problem goes away. Although, this is true the damage they're causing now needs to be addressed now before they ruin the entire lawn, so we don't have the luxury of waiting until the grub solution kicks in.

Now comes the tricky part, the "skunk relocation" program. Keep your fingers crossed that Pepe here doesn't decide to give me, and the surrounding areas, a parting gift...

When Flour is NOT a Flower

While attending a Marriage Weekend, Walter and his wife, Ann, listened to the instructor declare, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other."

He then addressed the men, "Can you name and describe your wife's favorite flower?"

Walter leaned over, touched Ann's arm gently, and whispered, "Gold Medal All-Purpose, isn't it?"

And thus began Walter's life of celibacy.

Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by circumstances.

Thank you sir may I have another

For those of you who do not realize -

"It’s time once again to pay the man -- the taxman, that is -- and many noncustodial parents have more reason than most taxpayers to dislike April 15. That’s because, according to the Internal Revenue Service, child support payments are NOT deductible expenses to the noncustodial payer. Nor does the IRS classify support payments as taxable income to the custodial parent who receives them."

"Thank you sir may I have another"

In the rated PG version of this saying - Chip (Kevin Bacon), while being paddled as part of his Omega initiation in the oh so famous movie Animal House, says "Thank you sir may I have another" after each spank.

Of course in the noncustodial parents scenario we're not being paddled if you know what I mean!

Not Handy At ALL!!

Came across this vehicle at the local playground the other day. Although I am only somewhat handy, I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that is NOT the proper way to fix a broken side view mirror, right!!

C'mon, anyone in the somewhat handy category, would know that the proper way to fix this side view mirror is with Duck Tape, daaaaaah!!

Freeze / Frost Occurrence Data - Potatoes

Trying to determine the recommended planting time for your climate? Looking to plant potatoes for example? Since it takes potatoes two to three weeks to emerge from the ground, the earliest you should plant seed potatoes is two weeks before your last anticipated freeze date of 28 degrees.

Click here - Freeze/Frost Data for the Freeze/Frost probability tables for your state.

FYI regarding potatoes since we're on the subject - Seed potatoes should be stored in the refrigerator. About a week before your planting-out date, bring the seeds out of the fridge and place in a bright warm window for about one week. This will help break the spuds dormancy and assure they will grow quickly when you put them in the cool ground.

Also note, buy certified disease-free seed potatoes. Planting potatoes from the market is a gamble. Besides the disease problem, potatoes, are often treated with chemicals to inhibit sprouting, so they may not grow well.

Grow your potatoes in soil with a pH between 5.0 and 6.0. Don't plant your potatoes where tomatoes or eggplant were grown the year before. These are in the same family as potatoes and can attract similar pests and problems.

We have two kinds of potatoes we'll be planting this year - Yukon Gold (my favorites) and Red Norland. Getting excited, can't wait!

Pimp'd My Ride

I installed a fancy brush bar on the front of my lawn tractor yesterday. Cool right?! Be honest, you're jealous ain't you?! Now I can't be stopped if the lawn gets too high.

Lawn cutting #1 of the season has been completed...

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

According to the Humane Society, there are 77.5 million dogs owned in the United States.

Springtime Gardening Itch

The gardens have been turned and are ready for planting once the weather warms. The winter rye that we planted in the fall is no more and has been mixed into the soil along with the compost I spread on top of the snow just a few short months ago.

I've also built and added a fourth 4'x8' raised bed yesterday. Not sure what I'll plant in it or if it'll even be ready for planting this year. I don't have too much soil to fill it with. I did, however, clean the animal pens and cages yesterday and added that "stuff" but that's really too rich for planting in now.



Since we got hit, and hit hard, last year with tomato blight I've decided to take a different approach this season. Instead of buying tomato plants from the local nursery Emilie and I planted 100 Burpee tomato seeds, of four different varieties, indoors one week ago today. We certainly do NOT need that many plants, just planted all the seeds in each packages. We'll see how successful we are and how many actually come up. I'll be happy with 50%. If this doesn't work then I'll fall back and punt and head to the nursery...



1 - Burpee Big Boy Hybrid (78 days)
2 - Burpee Delicious (77 days)
3 - Burpee Super Beefsteak (80 days)
4 - Burpee Summer Choice (73 days)

When Is A Hole A Door?!

So here it is a beautiful 60+ degree Saturday. The birds are singing, the sun is shinning, the cats have been tossed outside to enjoy the day and Emilie is outback playing.

Now the problem with tossing the cats outside is that they don't want to be there, so they're usually trying to sneak back in any chance they get. Well, back several years ago our dog thought it was okay and a good idea to take a tiny rip that was beginning in our sliding screen door and make it BIGGER. Yup, we'd catch her chewing and pulling on it - I guess she was prolly trying to tell us something. Well, the dog is long gone but the hole still exists and is about the size of a volleyball now or was - damn I curse the days that I am only somewhat handy, otherwise I would repair it, damn!

With the beautiful weather we opened up the french doors to let in some fresh air. Well, this poses a problem because now the cats use the hole in the screen as their little kitty door, uugh!

So, in an effort to prevent the cats from coming back in the house, I prop Emilie's placement against the hole and then use a pair of sneakers to secure it in place. OK, admittedly it's not the prettiest but it's a temporary solve - damn I wish I was handier.

Since Emilie loves to do the in and out thing, she is constantly opening and closing the screen door. You can now see another flaw in my temporary fix for the hole, opening and closing the door. The fix for this was to lock the screen door, hooray problem solved right?! Nope, now how is Emilie going to do her in and out thing with a locked door?! She was instructed to use the basement door but cmon she's only eight and wasn't about to walk ALL the way down the deck stairs, into the basement and then up ALL the stairs into the kitchen, nope.

She had something else in mind; a work around if you will. Can you guess what she did and what I heard, hmmmm?!? Like the dog who thought she had a good idea too, I hear the distinct ripping noise of screen (it does make a unique sound, really it does. If you don't believe me take out one of your window screens and tear a small piece and you'll see or rather hear what I'm referring to. You can always prompt something in front of the hole to "fix"). I jump up and come into the kitchen in time to see Emilie crawling through and half wedged in the screen hole. The ripping sound was of course her making the hole bigger so she could fit; it was simply too small for her to get through, AAAAAAHHH! So, I rolled up a newspaper and administered punishment as you would a dog - when in Rome right! I believe we've corrected her and this behavior. Now, if I was only handy enough to repair this hole properly, curses!

Here Are Some Asses For Yeah!

Enough said!

Chimney Inspection?

Notice anything unusual atop the neighbors chimney, hmmm?

Yup, right on, it's a grey squirrel. Otherwise known as - varmint, nuisance and general pest, at least that's how I view them. They're no good; good for nothing and not very good swimmers either, hehehe!

Unlike the grey squirrel that for some strange reason fell or jumped or slipped down the chimney at my dads house and who eventually croaked in the fireplace (good thing there's a door on the fireplace), this one just poked around for a little while and then moved on.

Give it time, he'll be back and end up taking a similar plunge. However, the outcome will be different, as the neighbors do NOT have a door on their fireplace. The chase that will ensue will be similar to the John Candy (Chet Ripley) and Dan Aykroyd (Romain Craig) scene in the movie The Great Outdoors where they chase a bat around their cabin in an effort to catch.

Fun Fact

FUN FACT!

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most leaves on a single clover was eighteen.

Can You Spot The Difference?

Before:


After:


Can you spot the difference between the two pictures above, hmmm? I'm not referring to the angles at which the pictures were taken at either.

SPOILER ALERT! Okay, here goes - it's the banister, DAH!

Yup, I finally got around to installing our new basement stairs banister. It needed to be sanded and stained and polyurethaned x 3 and looks very nice if I do say so myself. One item of frustration and an item that will forever bother me, is that the banister brackets are different - yup, two different kinds. Of course I didn't notice this when I purchased them but why would I? Live and learn, next time I'll know. They were individually wrapped and came out of the same carton so of course they'd be the same, right? NO! Naturally I noticed this after the packages were opened and I was in the midst of installing the sucker. Fortunately, they're similar, so they'll work. Sumbitch!

I removed our old banister, the original that came with the house, to install at a friends house. She needed the extra support for her treks up and down her basement stairs. So we went without for a little while. However, we had some aged challenged relatives (is this the proper politically correct reference) over the house and not having a banister for them to hold onto really highlighted the need and the danger. Now, if I only had video of them ascending the stairs, I'm certain it would have made Americas Funniest Home Videos and perhaps even qualify for the end of the season hundred-thousand dollar drawing it was that entertaining.

Not Yet Beach Weather In New England

It was a beautiful day last Saturday, so JoAnne, Emilie and I decided to take a drive and headed south. We figured we'd kill two birds with one stone; visit the beach and stop in to see our farmer friend Tim who lives along the way, so we pointed our automobile towards Marshfield, MA - Humarock Beach.



It was chilly once we arrived but nice and peaceful with the sounds of the waves crashing the shore. Come summer time this beach will be absolutely mobbed with hardly a spot sit but as you can see there weren't many people last weekend. This beach is different because there are more rocks than sand, unless you're at the oceans edge, but that doesn't seem to bother the sun bathers come summer.

Below is Miss Emilie engrossed and in her glory collecting rocks. - we left with a bucket full. We hung out for a little while, took some pictures than headed off to see Tim.




Come on summer!

US Census 2010

I got a letter yesterday telling me I’m going to get a census form next week. It asks me to fill it out and mail it in promptly.

WTF?!?! What did that cost the taxpayers?

Couldn’t they have put that on the form itself instead of mailing this letter?

Dig'n and I'm Not Referring to Gardening

So, I'm driving to work this morning and notice this dark green Toyota Camry approaching who then proceeded to pass me. Okay, no big deal most cars are passing me by in the morning. I've got the cruise control set, I'm listening to the radio (WAAF) and I'm relaxing so pass away.

However, this particular car, once it passed me, then got in front of me in the middle lane. Typically, I wouldn't care as most of the times the person scoots on and is gone. But, NOT this Pecker-Head (PH). For some unknown reason, which surprisingly happens more often than not, he slows down; slows down to the point that if I want to maintain my cruise control speed I need to pass him.

So, off I go and pass him.

As I'm passing this PH I realize the issue of which there were two -

#1 - The dude suffers "DWO". There's nothing that can be done to correct this.
#2 - The dude had his index finger, at least knuckle deep up to the middle phalanx, in his nose and was digging away, and I mean digging, really working it, WOW!

Perhaps, the PH suffers from rhinotillexomania, which I believe could be corrected. However, as I stated earlier, there's no fix for DWO. Now, here is it hours later, at the heals of my evening commute home, and I'm still not sure if I was amused or disgusted by what I saw. You know, some things can't be unseen.

I'm Getting the Gardening Itch!

Two new house plants and a hold over from last year:

NEW - Mexican Hat plant, also known as Mother of Thousands (Bryophyllum crenatodaigremontianum). So named because of its unusual production of tiny baby plants all along the edges of its leaves. These baby plants drop to the soil below and easily take root on the surface of the soil. Given to us by our farmer friend Tim.



NEW - Sansevieria or Mother-in-Law's Tongue (Sanseveria trifasciata) not to be confused with the Snake Plant, which is all green, while the Mother-in-Law's tongue features a yellow border. Obtained as a "clipping" from one of the many planted throughout my office.



HOLD OVER - Amaryllis (Hippeastrum). This is the same bulb that we enjoyed from last year. It looks just as striking today as it did last year - two flowers wide open with two more about to burst. I kept this dude outside for much of the summer so it could soak up the sun and feed the bulb. About the August time frame I cut back the leaves and moved it into the basement behind my toolbox where it's dark and cool. Then in November I brought it upstairs, placed it in the window and began watering it. WALLAH!

Spring is Springing Here in New England!

The New England weather is changing (for the better)! The days are longer and the temperatures are warming up. We've had three consecutive days of 50+ temps with the sun shinning away. The critters and bulbs are awakening and the song birds are singing. The chickens and rabbits are also enjoying the warm weather and fresh air now that I can leave their pen doors propped open. The ducks too; I saw them mating this morning for the first time - all signs that Spring is in the air, hooray!

I was out in the yard for a couple hours yesterday picking up sticks, raking and edging. The picture above shows a clutch of our crocuses already a bloom. This itself isn't unusual for this time of year, however, if you look closely you'll see what IS unusual. Do you see them? There are two honeybees busy at work gathering nectar. Now, I don't know if this is unusual to see honeybees out this early but what I can tell you is that I didn't see my first honeybee until July 20th last year! I would say that one of the two events is unusual - you decide.

Anyway, it's reassuring to see these bees so early in the season and hopefully it's an indication of things to come.

Kids Do The Darndest Things

So, my youngest had one of her little friends over the house this past weekend for a play date. Emilie couldn't wait and was SO excited in anticipation. Sadly, the play date didn't really go too well from the get go. Her friend was a bit too bossy and dictative and only wanted to do what she wanted with no concern for what Emilie wanted - this was problem 1.

I guess that's to be expected to some degree at eight years old. However, as it turned out that wasn't the worst part, read on...

This little "friend" was sneaky. She came over toting a backpack with some toys to play with, okay that's fine. I mean after all she wasn't going to the Superbowl for example, just to our place, so we paid no attention to the backpack. What we're we supposed to do search the backpack before letting her enter the house? Mental note to self, check all backpacks and packages before letting them into the house! However, this "friend" wanted to play hide-and-go-seek or rather what she wanted was for Emilie to go hide. When she did guess we saw her do?!?! Well, this little "friend" proceeded to fill her backpack with Emilie's American Girl doll cloths and accessories. Now for those of you who are not familiar with American Girl Dolls and their stuff you're missing out on, well, umm, err, well you're just missing out. The bottom line is that this product and associated accessories are VERY expensive! Nothing like GI Joe and Barbie and Ken back in the day. This was problem 2!

Of course we were in SHOCK and not quite sure how to handle it. So, when the girls went outside to ride bikes we removed all of the stowed items from the backpack and said nothing. Well, guess what? When the girls came back inside and this "friend" noticed that the items had been removed from her backpack she proceeded to pull the same stunt, chase Emilie off, and stuff the goods back into her backpack! "No way" you say and I say "Way"! Can you imagine?! Wouldn't you think that some sort of red flag would go off in her 8 year old melon giving her an idea that someones on to her game? In my humble opinion the answer is yes. Let's hope that she doesn't decide to make this a career, as she's gonna fail and fail hard.

Still shocked and still not sure how to handle this disturbing situation JoAnne just asked her to remove the items the second time, made sure that she did, made sure that they were NOT taken again and left it at that.

Since this would be this particular "friends" last time visiting we decided not raise the issue with her parents and dropped it. You never know how parents are going to react these days and we don't really know these people at all so, we chose to ignore it. I think there's a much BIGGER issue there.

YIKES!

A Chapter Closes

My daughter and team co-captain, Stephanie, played her last high school varsity ice hockey game last night, (BIG sigh) alas :-(

They were ousted in the second round (quarter finals) of the 2010 MIAA tournament. Although the team they faced finished 2nd in division 2 this yead and who are last years defending state champions, Walpole who finished 10th are the better team. You can take that statement as you'd like - from a biased dad who's daughter plays for Walpole or as fact; I'll let you decide.

It was an exciting and fun season. The girls finished 11-5-4 and ended the season in a three-way tie, getting a share of the Bay State Herget title for the first time ever in their brief, five-year existence. However, it's equally as disappointing having it come to an end, even though we all new it was inevitable.

There are seven seniors on the team that are graduating this year but they graduate knowing they were the building blocks that turned the Rebels from another brand new team into a division 2 powerhouse in just a short five years.

The end,
- A Proud Father!

Snowmen Making

Emilie and I made some snowmen, or perhaps snowpeople to be politically correct, yesterday afternoon. The picture above was taken some 15+ hours later, so you can see what the 50+ degree day has done to them. Although, the one on the far left has been named Ghosty and therefore was never decorated. The others, well they're in various states of melt - you can see some of their parts lying on the snow in front of them.

Fun Fact

FUN FACT!

The graham cracker as we know it today was developed in 1829 by Sylvester Graham.

Colored Easter Egg Egg, Our First!

A pleasant surprise was awaiting me when I went out to tend to the animals this morning. There were three beautiful eggs waiting in the nest box. However, more than that was one of them was our long awaited Americana blue-green egg!! Yup, our very first one to date. It only took 162 days from the day I purchased them and they were presumably nine weeks old at that time. Good grief!

We have a total of 7 chickens, 6 different breeds, so we're getting a nice variety of eggs - size, color and shape. It being winter still, the weather has been effecting their production but that should change once it starts to warm up and the days get longer. The pictures below show some of eggs that we've been getting -

500 Piece Jane Wooster Scott

Another one done, boo-yah!

Not KFC...

These are leftover chicken wings that we had the night of the superbowl - you'll just have to trust me on this! We had (2) flavors; spicy buffalo and teriyaki, which are easy to identify in the above photo. They were both very tasty and went down nicely with a cold beer or two.

We didn't want to waste them, so we threw the leftovers in the oven last night to heat them for dinner. Mmmm, the smell was great as they were heating up and we couldn't wait to dig into them.

Now this is where the story takes a turn... You see Emilie was given a Wii for her birthday - thank you grandma! Once the wings were in the oven Emilie and her mom began playing one of the games - tennis or golf or bowling, I'm not sure which and it really has no bearing on this story but I digress. Anyway, they were in the other room playing away and having a good time. I on the other hand was in another room working. You guessed it, who was watching the oven, hmmmmm?!?!?! The answer, no one - doah!

The end result is pictured above, which actually look worse than they really were. We were able to salvage most of them and they were still pretty tasty.

The end.

New Kicks

Emilie's new birthday sneakers; cool, rad, kicks otherwise known as Skechers.

Rock on!

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Parents often tell their children that eating too much candy will rot their teeth; however, cacao is said to have antibacterial properties that can actually fight tooth decay!