More Veggie Garden Space

Happy Easter weekend everyone!



Added approximately 80 square feet of additional garden space this past weekend - all done by hand!. The Robin is looking for worms in the new area above. I'm not sure yet what we'll be planting in this additional space but rest assured it won't go to waste.

Lesson Learned - Always Wash Your Hands!

Had a hankering for a toasted bagel the other morning, so once I arrived in the office and got settled I made my way to the cafe.

Getting into the office early has it's benefits. For example, I'm able to get a parking space close to the building, choice of fresh bagels and almost no lines at the toaster. This morning I scored all three.

So, while toasting my everything bagel, a coworker was making his way over to the "spreads" section to top his English muffin - you know, butter, margarine, cream cheese, jelly and peanut butter. Now, this particular person is typically grumpy most of the time anyway, my experience with him. Well, he proceeds to pick up the butter knife which had fallen over into peanut butter and now had a peanut butter coated handle. Apparently, the knife was placed back into the butter tub without the handle being cleaned. Where has common courtesy gone?!

Well, don't you know this person was NOT a happy camper! This look of disgust immediately comes to his face as he beings to look around for one of the cafe workers. Alas, there are none to be found, nor are there any napkins. The disgust now turns to anger and he's pissed! What he does next blows my mind - he licks the peanut butter off his hands AS WELL AS off the handle of the knife, eewwww, then proceeds to butter his English muffin. When done, he put the knife back in the tub of butter and storms off mumbling towards the cashier...

Needless to say I stayed away from the butter knife!

Like a "Rhizomes" Cowboy, Not

It's looking like our Tropicana Canna Lily rhizomes survived the winter and are poking their heads up. They have perked up with the longer days and warmer temps for sure.

I would have been very disappointed had they not made it since I dug them all up in the late fall, transferred them into an extra large flower pot and lumped them into the garage for hibernation.

When they're in full bloom is when I will truly appreciate the extra effort.

*** A bit of 411 on the Tropicana Canna Lily:
It has beautiful burgundy leaves with streaks of yellow, orange and green. Its flowers are bright orange. The Tropicana canna lily is one of the tallest varieties, growing up to 60 inches tall, SHAZAM!

XBX or 5BX Let's Do It!

I don't know about the rest of you but I may have put a pound or two on over the winter and maybe even added a couple of inches to the old waist, and then again maybe not...

However, if you have and if you're interested, I've come across this wonderful 1962 exercise gem - "Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise Plans For Physical Fitness"!

Front Cover -


And if the words on the back cover by Charles B. Wilkinson, consultant to the President on Youth Fitness, doesn't get you up off the couch I don't know what will!

Back Cover -


Who's with me?!?!

P.S. the P90x Workout system pales in comparison...

Scrabble For Juniors - Edition Three

1968 Vintage "Scrabble For Juniors" edition three game by Selchow & Righter Company.

Given to me on my birthday in 1973 by my wonderful Johnson City, TN Aunt, Uncle & cousins!

I'm Ready For School!

Parked first in line to drop Emilie off at school and about 15 minutes before the morning chaos was to start. The calm before the storm - before the buses begin to arrive to unload kids, parents start dropping off kids and the walker & biker appear.

When, look, out of the sky - it's a bird, it's a plane, it's superman...nope it was a duck. A male Mallard swooped in and landed in the middle of the parking lot! Weird, since there isn't a pond nearby within walking distance, hmm.

He slowly waddled his way towards the side of the school, where the scrubs are and what to my wandering eyes should appear but his mate, a female Mallard.

Then the two decided to skip school and off then flew into the wild blue yonder.

The End

Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick...

According to the Wall Street Journal article tittled This Season's Ticking Bomb, 2012 is expected to be a high alert year for tick activity.

Warm winter temperatures and decreased low field mice population are two of the primary causes of the increased potential for finding a tick on yourself or your pets. Ticks Will Be Out Early; A 'Horrific' Season for Lyme and Other Diseases.

So, consider yourself warned and be careful out there!

The Urinal Dance

zip·per [noun]

A device consisting of two flexible strips of metal or plastic with interlocking projections closed or opened by pulling a slide along them, used to fasten garments, bags, jeans and other items.

Where would we be without the zipper today? What a great invention for sure!

Well, I have this new pair of jeans that when the zipper is unzipped all the way down it's next to impossible to zip them back up and man is it frustrating. Now, it's not because of any defects in the zipper itself but rather how the zipper's pull tab gets stuck in the down position and gets lodged. When this happens it's all I can do to get it free so I can zip up!

Makes for an embarrassing urinal dance!

Move To Beat Parkinson's

Did you know that April is Parkinson's Awareness Month!

Visit the National Parkinson Foundation for more information on the disease and what you can do to help!

Massachusetts "Move Over Law"

So, the state of Massachusetts has a law, often referred to as the "Move Over Law" (Massachusetts General Law Chapter 89, Section 7C), in which it requires operators of cars and other vehicles to pull into the left lane (when travelling on roads with 2-4 lanes heading in the same direction) if "practicable." If it is not practicable to change lanes, the law require drivers to reduce speed and "proceed with caution."

I think we can all agree that this is a well-intended law designed to save lives. I would argue that the law is vaguely written and I would think difficult to enforce, however, that's not why I am writing about it here.

I am writing in an attempt to illustrate just how stupid and dangerous and dangerously stupid some drivers can be! In general, some of the things I've seen during my commutes to and from work are scary! It's funny how some drivers take things so literal and then there are the ones who are completely clueless.

Let me try to paint the scenario:

Mr. Big Rig Truck driver is cruising in the slow-lane and traveling at 70+MPH.
Mr. Big Rig Truck driver sees blue flashing lights up ahead. The State police have someone pulled over and they're pulled over in the breakdown lane.
Mr. Big Rig Truck driver (assumption here) is aware of the states Move Over Law, so, and if your lucky, his left directional comes on and here he comes moving his big rig into the center lane!! It doesn't appear to matter to Mr. Big Rig Truck driver that Mr. Small 4-Cylinder Automobile is occupying the center lane at that point, nope. After all, I must "Move Over, it's the law" (being literal and NOT practical), DAH! What about the slow down portion of the law, hmm?!?! So, just get out of his way, he's not gonna slow down otherwise he'll run you over!

In the end Mr. Big Rig Truck driver doesn't want to risk getting a $100.00 ticket for not abiding to the law, so he's moving over. It doesn't matter if he runs Mr. Small 4-Cylinder Automobile off the road, or causes an accident in his wake. He must move over!

So, although the law has good intentions to protect anyone pulled over on the highway from getting run over, it fails in terms of the dangers it introduces when these BIG trucks decide to change lanes at high speeds because - wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...it's the law!

Word to the wise, stay alert out there!

Trixie Patient

Here's the lady of the house, Miss Trixie, stretching out and trying to catch a nap. As you can see she's wearing a lovely blue soft collar, size XS. The ladies of the house just love to accessorise!!



Actually, dog-dog here had a Monday morning vet appointment and went under the knife; we had her spayed. While "under" the doctor had to pull her last baby tooth to make room for her new, big girl canine tooth that was already on it's way in. She did very well but the poor thing was listless and just plain blah when we got her home. Here we are a couple days later and she's doing just fine and almost back to her old self. Still wearing the collar though so she won't fuss and pull at her one stitch.

2012 Garden Tilling, Done!

I spent last Sunday (manually) turning the soil in our BIG vegetable garden. The Winter Rye I planted in the fall was growing too tall and thick with this fabulous weather we've been having, so it was best to get this all tilled sooner rather than later. Our gardens have all been turned and are sitting ready for when it's planting time.



I uncovered a wild rabbit nest dug into the ground and perfectly hidden in the tall Winter Rye, see picture below. I suspected I might find one, as I came across one last year (at least I think it was last year but as I write this I'm having some doubts. It very well could have been two years ago, yikes...). The one last year didn't fare too well. I only learned of it by the squealing of the kits that I had tilled, and which ended up being compost.

This years nest meet the same fate as the one before and was tilled under too. However, this one didn't have any young it, which is good since it spared me from having to compost baby bunnies again.

Spring Has Sprung!

What a day! 73 degrees this afternoon here at the ole homestead!

At this point I don't think there is anything still in it's winter dormancy - everything is bursting or getting ready to pop.

Here is a lone yellow crocus that sprang up in the middle of our lawn -


Here's a cluster of our Snowdrops wide awake and in full bloom -


Here's a nice light purple crocus bunch with a couple Tulips poking their way up -

So Long Ladies, Thanks!

So, I pulled the plug and sold our (4) older hens; the non-buff ones, the other day. And what a difference that makes in the hen house and with their food consumption. They were great ladies. We had a lot of fun with them and they rewarded us with plenty of eggs. Sounded like they were going to another nice home, so it's a win win for all.

Vintage Bottle Finds

Here are some pictures of old, vintage, antique bottles that Emile has found recently. Several were found at my dads house. She's had to do some digging to get them out of the ground but enjoys it. They all cleaned up pretty well and are kinda cool. Just need a way to date them and try to determine what they were used for back in the day.

Playskool Old Woman's Wooden Shoe game

1960s vintage Playskool Old Woman's Wooden Shoe game

"Farmers Market" - #5 of 2012

Another 1000 piece puzzle completed.

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk Hard Way to Learn

I hit some traffic on my way into the office yesterday, which was a result of a 3-car, high speed lane accident on Rt. 495. Since I was closer to the accident the delay wasn't too bad but I'm sure it had a terrible effect on the commuters behind me.

Naturally, traffic was stop and go until I got past the accident scene. I find this the worst type of traffic to drive in, as you need to pay attention and stay alert plus you don't want anyone cutting in front of you - it's my space so back off, GRRR

Back in September 2010, Massachusetts became the 30th state to ban texting while driving. However, I can tell you with 100% certainty, as I see it EVERY day, that most folks do NOT adhere to this ban. I see drivers ALL the time driving and texting away. What's even more scary is that I see this occurring at speeds of 65, 70, 75+ miles per hour.

So, as I'm sitting in this stop and go traffic I see a dude to my right in a white Toyota Camry texting away. He was not paying attention because when traffic began to move he hit the gas, however, the traffic only moved 15 feet or so. Can you take a guess at what happened next...BAM he hit the car in front of him. It was funny to watch, (of course it's funny when it's not happening to me), as if the entire event was happening in slo motion. It looked like he hit the brakes about the same time as the accelerator. The front wheels locked up and his car learch forward trying to stop but there wasn't enough space. What makes it even funnier is that he rear-ended a fancy newer white Mercedes.

From what I could see there was minimal damage but I've learned first hand that doesn't matter and the dude is in for an insurance rate increase and perhaps even more.

What a #jackwagondipshit! That'll learn him...

Mystery Solved

So, last night Emilie and I were searching hi and low for the house cordless phone handset but it was no where to be found. The unit has a handy "locator" button that is used for just a situation, so we pressed it. All that did was tell us that the living room handset was in the wrong base up in the bedroom. Therefore, the bedroom handset was still missing.

The ironic thing is that when I called the house on my way home from work, the call was answered using the bedroom handset...

So, where in the world is Waldo the phone handset?!

Good news folks, JoAnne found it this morning...in the refrigerator's cold cut drawer, under the bag of American cheese, go figure! That's going to be a "chilling" next call...

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Pretty much says it all...

"The Supervisors" - #4 of 2012

Now we're talking challanging! This bad boy was a 1000 piecer, WOW!

A Fish-cicle!

Think I may have found yet another source of "fishy" odor at my dad's house last weekend. And this time it IS a fish...

Now mind you I'm no Paula Deen, Gordon Ramsey, Bobby Flay, Julia Child, etc., yet, I'm pretty sure that this is the incorrect way to store fish in the freezer.

However, not to ruffle any feathers, or in this case scales, I put the little feller back where and how I found him.

"Hanging Out" - #3 of 2012

Banged out another 550 piece puzzle. Number 3 of the year.

The Harlem Globetrotters Game

1971 vintage "The Harlem Globetrotters" game by Milton Bradley.

Why?

It's 2:05PM on Thursday, February 2nd and currently a chilly 39 degrees outside.

A dude just drove by the house on a motorcycle.

What a #dimbulb!

Beware of Nasty Spyware!

So, went to use our home computer the other night only to find it infected with a Spyware product called "System Check". Of course at the time I didn't know that and things didn't look good at all.

There were numerous pop-up messages about file corruption, RAM memory failure, damaged hard drive clusters, etc. This spyware also produced this official looking System Check utility that displayed the "PC Performance & Stability analysis report", which was dire at best.

I couldn't do much of anything - I was unable to launch the Task Manager, open Explorer, the registry editor, etc. When I was finally able to get Explorer opened most of the files and folders were gone or so it appeared. Although, I do a pretty good job of backing up our important data and pictures, I've not done it in a couple months, so we were concerned and upset at what looked like a complete loss!

Like a special ops person my training in this area allowed me to overcome these obstacles and triumphantly rid our computer of this nasty spyware - WINNING!

This nasty program modified the computers registry in numerous places. For example, it flagged all files and folders as hidden (which is why they appeared to be gone), it hide Task Manager and the desktop and added "CyisMyTSAH.exe" to the Run section of the registry. Any and all items listed in the Run section get executed each and every time the computer is rebooted - very sneaky and very nasty.

The premise behind this attack is to get the infected users to purchased the full version of this fake utility, which they claim will "fix" all the problems. BEWARE, this is a scam! All they want is your money!

YUK!!

These are either cucumbers or zucchini squash or perhaps one of each. I was too disturbed at finding these and having to remove them to really care. I found them in the vegetable drawer of my dads refrigerator. Notice the state they're in now, and he just left on vacation for six weeks. Still not sure if the horrendous odor coming from the fridge was a result of these dudes or the half dozen other items he left in there, which were already spoiled.

I REALLY wish I had it in me to leave these items, as well as the other rotting and expired items, right where I found them. To let my dad return home after six weeks and take care of it himself. However, and perhaps it's my OCD, but I couldn't. It would have bothered me too much. So, I removed it all.

Hmm, I wonder if the folks who have attended his open houses have noticed?! I don't believe anyone has opened the fridge, but you don't have to, the smells hit you as soon as you walk in the door.

Minnie and Lulu - #2 of 2012

Okay, we stepped it up a tad and banged out the above 550 piece puzzle. This was one of the more difficult puzzles that I've done. And we're now onto puzzle number 3...

Alaska's Puffins - #1 of 2012

Well, it's that time of year again when daylight is shortened and it's too cold to do much of anything outside, which mean jigsaw puzzle time at the ole homestead.

We started with the above 500 piece puzzle, our first of 2012.

Chocolate Snow!

Following last weekends snow storm, Emilie had a brainstorm and made herself a cup of chocolate snow. Doesn't look appealing to me but she loved it. I tend to stay away from both yellow and brown snow but that's just me. We'd invite you over to sample some but most of the snow has since melted with the temperature rise and warm rain we had. Maybe next time...

Go PATS GO!!

BIG game this afternoon! New England is all abuzz about our New England Patriots!

It's a great time to be a New England/Boston sports fan!

GO PATRIOTS!

Round Is A Shape!

So, JoAnne came home from the market yesterday with oodles of stuff and in the first bag I unpacked, a box of Kellogg's Special K cereal. I'm thinking okay we're gonna do a better job, the two of us, and start watching what we eat and get back in shape.

However, subsequent bags I unpacked produced: Nacho Cheese Doritos, Lay's Potato Chips, Heluva Good! White Cheddar & Bacon sour cream dip and a box of Cheez-It's (new flavor mozzarella - does sound good!).

I'm now convinced that the Special K was inadvertently added to JoAnne's bags, perhaps left behind from the person ahead of her at check out but if you talk to her please don't tell her I said this, shhhh!

My First Haiku...

So beautiful as it falls
A blanket of white covers all
Shoveling blows

Baby It's Cold Outside, BRR!

As you can see from the above pic it was only 7.8 degrees outside this morning at 8:23AM, YIKES!

What you also might notice is that the weather girl is sporting her summertime attire. Looks like the batteries might need to be replaced to correct this. However, so long as the temperature is being reported correctly, which it is, then no need to fuss with it...if you know what I mean ;-)

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble...

The wild turkeys have been visiting more often these days and boy are there a lot of them, as you can see in the above picture - over 20! These dudes were just hanging out in the next door neighbors front yard. It had rained the night before and all that morning, so they were stationed there pruning themselves and trying to dry off. Pretty content they were for the longest time before slowly working there way into the woods.

Better Late Than Never!

JoAnne picked up the above bulbs packages several months ago. They were marked down and she got them for next to nothing, winning :-)

Getting them planted had been on my "list", and for the longest time the weather had been cooperating too. However, call it forgetfulness or procrastination or whatever, I didn't get them planted. Last weekend that changed - although the ground is now frozen I ran the risk of losing all these bulbs if I didn't do something with them. Some were starting to get soft and punky and some were starting to sprout. So, I went to plan B and simply planted them all together in the compost pile. It too was frozen on top but I was able to dig down deep enough to get them all in and covered nicely for the long winter ahead.

The plan now is to keep my fingers crossed and hope they all survive, best case scenario, and then transplant them come Spring time when they start popping through the soil. Worst case, they become compost...

(2) Battleship Games

1971 vintage "Battleship" game by Milton Bradley.



1967 vintage "Battleship" game by Milton Bradley.

Barbie Benton (Barbara Lynn Klein)

I acquired a couple vintage Barbie Benton playboys the other day:

July 1969 and May 1972

For the article of course!

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty...

Gracie, pictured above, has gone missing?

I need to take the bullet on this one. You see, last weekend I came across another, yes another, pile of cat puke in the basement and I saw red, so I chased her outside and she's yet to return.

Honestly, I'm OK with it. However, Emilie is NOT and I full understand and that is what bothers me most.

So, if in your travels you happen to come across this feline, please let me know - NO substitues please.

Vasilopita 2011

Well, another year has come and gone - where does the time go? With it, so does another family tradition, the cutting of the Vasilopita otherwise known as the dime cake. As always the cake was delicious. This years winner of the baked in dime - my dad!

Go To The Head Of The Class Game

1967 vintage "Go To The Head Of The Class - Series 16" game by Milton Bradley

Crooked Toes, Ouch!

When visiting my Farmer Friend the other day I got to see several of the chickens that we gave to him when they were just chicks. One of them was the Barred Rock Rooster (see previous post) - what a handsome dude! I adopted him thinking that the person who advertised him had incorrectly identified him - I thought that it was a little pullet (girl), oops.

Anyway, back when he was a chick his toes on both feet were very crooked. This is usually caused when the humidity during incubation is too low. This can sometimes be corrected by splinting the toes if identified early on. That was not the case with this guy, as you can see from the picture above. Although grossly crooked on both feet, he's doing just fine. He's adjusted well and does everything a chicken with normal toes would do and rules his pen with a iron beak. Don't turn your back on him either or he just might give you a what for!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

This is my Farmer Friends greenhouse. Looks kinda lonely sitting there all by itself. She's still holding up just fine and has made it through the recent hurricane and wind storms without issues. However, that being said, my friend is definitely pushing his luck and keeping his fingers crossed too that she makes it through this winter. You see we covered her back in 2006 (I think) but with only 4-year plastic. The saving grace and what's making the difference is that we double it, so there are two layers. Although it still looks fine there are some holes in the outer layer and it doesn't hold the heat nearly as well as it should be. He's been struggling but has been able to keep the temperature inside above freezing, thus keeping the plants inside alive.



To help accomplish this he purchased a second wood stove, pictured below. So, he now has two wood stoves up and running now; one at each end of the greenhouse. Sounds warm and cozy but in reality it's anything but - the new stove runs about 5-hours before it needs to be filled again, so it needs constant attention. It's difficult to keep a 60' long x 12' wide x 10' tall greenhouse toasty with only wood stoves and without a lot of effort.



I just hope that Mother Nature is kind this winter, so that he makes it to Spring without incident and without taxing him too much. After all, he's no sping chicken...

Nom Nom Nom Nom Yummy!

"Just a squirrel trying to get a nut"
- C+C Music Factory's song Gonna Make You Sweet (Everybody Dance Now)

Actually, it's a Red Squirrel dining on pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. What a nice way to recycle and compost. Especially, enjoy seeing more of the Red Squirrels versus the annoying Grey ones.

Bounce Bounce No More...

The high winds we had several weeks ago got a hold of the neighbors trampoline and bounced it around some. It doesn't look too good does it? Surprisingly, it survived the hurricane that passed through last year, so it's odd that the smaller wind storm had it's way with it this time around. However, that being said and from what I could tell, the neighbors didn't do a thing to prevent this from happening. If it was mine I would have dismantled it and stored out of harms way or at the least I would have secured it to something solid.

Happy New Year 2012!

Wishing you all a Happy, Health and Prosperous 2012!