Wake Up!!

I was awoken the other morning at 12:30AM to the sound of smashing and breaking glass!!

Not sure what was going on I chose to sit quietly for a couple minutes and waited for Trixie-dog,who sleeps in the kitchen, to give me a sign.

I begin to hear a low, steady growl!

Oh boy, but no other noise, crashing or otherwise.  So, I ruled out a break-in, got up and made my way downstairs.

Low and behold, the picture, which had hung over the mantel for some 12+ years, had given way.  It fell of the wall, hit the mantel, which in turn took our a half dozen framed pictures and a couple nick-knacks.  All fall and crashing on the hearth.  Glass was everywhere, what a mess!

An hour and a half later with the use of a Dyson push vacuum and a Sears shop-vac all the glass was cleaned up and a resemble of order restored.

The picture, which is all scratched from the broken glass and it's trip to the floor, now hangs in our garage.

The Earthworm That Could

Hmm, is that what I think it is?  Well, that's odd!

Yup, it's an earthworm making it's way across our deck

Seeing an earthworm around here isn't odd at all, see them all the time.  What's odd is that our deck is some ten feet high off the ground!  So, not sure where this dude was headed...

Happy Birthday Mom!

Wishing you a Happy Birthday Mom!

Sure do miss you something terrible.

Welcome to Casa De Stephan!

Home alone for a week and I did not starve.

Rather, spoiled myself here!

Yummy!

NOT For Rent! Move On!

Interesting picture of this male House Sparrow poking his head out of the birdhouse.  The sparrows can visit so long as it's a short visit and they move on.  There will be NO sparrow family raising occurring in our birdhouses here, that I can assure you of!

Bee-Boppin Nuthatch!

This White-breasted Nuthatch was bee-boppin up and down, round and round and from tree to tree.  Here he is foraging on a Boxelder tree and stopping to pose for this picture.

Spring is in the air!

Das Boot!

Not your typical Rt.495 vehicle but very cool!

The oddities I see during my commute!

2017 Spring Yard Improvements Underway

I figured it was time to address the bare spots in the front yard and take advantage of the spring showers.   This area was home to two spruce that we took down back in the fall of 2015.  They were getting too big, both tall and in circumference, and growing up into the electrical and cable wires running to the house and taking up too much area, so down they came.

Before -

(3) yards of loam delivered, which worked out to 15 heaping wheelbarrows full, and a sore back -

 (15) wheelbarrow loads piled -

 Raked smooth and level and Pennington grass seed sowed -

C'mon spring rains and grass sprouts!!

Chilly Soccer Game At Gillette Stadium

Scored (4) Putnam Club tickets to the New England Revolutions third game of the season.  A home game at Gillette Stadium against the Houston Dynamo.

It was a chilly, overcast day but a good take nonetheless.

Emilie and her friend braved the cold and grabbed a couple great front row seats overlooking the field, while JoAnne and I wisely sat inside, warm, and took it all in from a comfy pub table 

Not only did the Rev win 2 - 0 but I found a ten dollar bill and Emilie found twenty-five dollars!!  A win win for all!

Birds of The Snow

Our March snowstorm caught everyone by surprise.  Many birds were our during the storm to visit the feeders and fill their bellies - 

Crows foraging beneath the feeders -

A Morning Dove waiting for the crows to leave -

A Blue Jay darting in an out - 

Crazy Pool Cover Designs

The above picture is not only cool but also a good sign.  The snow is not sticking to the section of cover that is laying atop the water underneath.  This makes for some unique designs and means that all precipitation we've received since I lowered the water level to close the pool back in the Fall has so kindly refilled it to the brim!  This also means we don't have any leak issues, phew!

Backyard Critter Shenanigans

All kinds of activity in the backyard in early January.

This black cat was attempting to stock these three turkeys.  The turkeys didn't seem too afraid of the cat rather more curious. They'd take turns approaching one another as they moved from right to left.

At one point the turkeys chased the cat up a tree.  Watching all the shenanigans from a safe distance high above was a crow  -

Two On A Roof

The Blue birds are back!

They've been visiting off and on since early January.

Not sure if it's the Red squirrels or woodpeckers that have been working on widening the bird house entrance hole.  Whomever, they're doing a fantastic (destructive) job at it.

Feed The Bee!!

Received, in the USPS, yesterday my free package of bee friendly wildflower mix seeds from Cheerios.  Not sure yet what wildflowers seeds are in this package but I'll get them planted soon and we'll see what pops up...

Good News Bad News?!?!

We began the Fall with four visiting deer but looks like we're down to a lonely single this Spring.  I'm sure there are others out there, but we had the same two mother daughter pairs for quite some time.

Although, as compared to other Winters it wasn't too bad, apparently the conditions were ripe for Mother Nature's thinning of the heard.

It's a good new, bad news kinda thing.  I enjoy watching them visit especially in the early summer when the babies are frolicking and darting in and out without a care in the world.  However, they wear their welcome out when they start eating our plants.  Hoping that since we're down to a single visitor the damage won't be as bad but only time will tell.

Garden Prep 2017

This Friday and into Saturday was hovering around the freezing mark with rain turning into snow and back again.  A rather miserable, blah kinda day.

However, Sunday bounced back and was near 60!

I took advantage of that and the long winter we've had and got out in the yard for some R&R.  One of the last chores I completed was the turning (tilling) of our BIG garden.  I tackled this task while I still had some energy.  Turned the winter rye and chicken coop compost into the soil and raked smooth. A good couple of months of composting and enriching the soil just in time for tomato planting!

Of course it's Tylenol every 4-hours on the hour.  This is allowing me just enough relief so that I can stand (eventually) and get moving.  Ouch, man am I outta shape...

The Frye Loads...

Oliver has hit the wall...

and so has Trixie dog!

Wonder what they do all day that tires them out?!

Good Morning Spring!

Not a bad commute into the office!

Bath Time

HAHAHA, Oliver's not a fan of tubby time in the sink.

Bunk Buddies?!

Don't be fooled by this picture.  Trixie is NOT happy with sharing her crate and bed with Oliver.  However, he doesn't care what Trixie thinks!

Here We Go...

alas, we're heading back to snowy, cold Massachusetts...

So long Miami.

Thank you Florida Frye's!  We had a great time and miss you all already!

My New Brooch

These critters are all over the place in Miami!

Fun to watch and catch...

Pink Nail Critters of Miami

Some critters Emilie caught in Miami -

Here We Come!

Emilie and I heading to Miami for a long weekend to visit the Florida Frye's!

A MacGyver Fix

Hmm, I'm fairly certain this is NOT to code...

Doggie Spa Day

Trixie had herself a spa day!

A bath, haircut and nail trim.

Bag O Turd?!

Hmm, why is there a cat turd, in a plastic bag, on my work bench in the basement?!?!

Oh, Emilie!!!

Happy 80th Birthday Dad!

Happy 80th birthday day!  Quite a milestone!  Stay strong and keep fighting the fight!

Happy 21st Anniversary My Dear!

Heading Back to School!

Well, I've decided to go back to school.  Apiary school that is!

Classes started the end of January and are scheduled to run ten weeks to the second week of April.  Every Tuesday evening 7:00 - 9:00PM at the local agricultural school.

Fascinating to say the least!

An expensive hobby to get started, and one that requires quite a bit of time.  I can handle the time requirements, it's the cost that I'm not so sure about.  Me thinks I need to find less expensive hobbies.

A New Pecking Order

Oliver the king!

At just a mere 8-weeks he's already taken over and rules the roost.  Poor Trixie-dog, doesn't know what end is up...

Calcium Supplement

We continue to save our egg shells, and once dried, smash them up to be added to the chickens diet.  What a great way to re-purpose and reuse, not to mention the calcium benefit the ladies will get from them too.  It's a win win for everyone!

Spring Signs

The weather here in New England has been as crazy as ever!  We've hit new record highs in the mid-sixties and near record lows, all within a couple days of each other.  Ah, good ole New England!

The warmer temps have certainly had an effect on everybody and everything!

Two nights ago, when the temps were in the 50's, you could hear the Spring Peepers singing away down back.  One of my all time favorites!

The Snowdrops have popped up too, seemingly overnight, and dot the drab winter colors throughout our property.