Get's My Motor Running, ERRR!

Topped off the windshield washer fluid in our cars this past weekend.  All three vehicles were running low due to the crazy amount of pollen that's coating everything, UGH!

Anyway, popped the hood of my car and this immediately caught my eye!  I knew instantly what this was and who's to blame - mice!

I was shocked to say the least.  Admittedly, I've not been driving much at all since the start of covid, however, it's not like my car has been in storage either.  Also, as I typically do and have done for years, is I set mice traps in the pool once the pool has been closed for the season.  I check them regularly to either dispose of or rebait the traps.  This past winter wasn't too bad in terms of the numbers of rodents killed, low compared to years past, but clearly not all rodents made their way to our pool house.

Guess I need to drive more often to avoid this.  In the mean time, I placed a dryer sheet in the area, which I've heard is also a deterrent. 

 

MUCH To My Surprise - UPDATE

Here is an update to my posting titled "MUCH To My Surprise" back on Sunday, April 11 - 

I was pleasantly surprised, shocked actually, to see that the town not only took my concerns to heart but that they actually took care of the issue and patched the problem area, see below.

Seems like they did a very nice stopping the erosion and patching the sidewalk, so no one gets hurt.

However, the work was done WELL within the wetland setback area, yet there are\were NO DEP signage hanging in the area, like there typically is when a project has gone through DEP approval.  Seems more of the "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" mentality...

Welcome To The Working Class!

Rock on!

I am happy and proud to announce that Ms. Emilie landed herself a job!

We're Officially Open For Business

I opened our pool yesterday.  

Actually, removed the cover, unplugged all the lines, installed the stairs and add the liquid shock, so I guess technically it's not opened (swimmable) yet.

Once the shock kicks in and kills all the algae, I'll fire up the pump with crossed fingers and hopefully in no time it will be swimmable!

New Rhubarb Home

Our Rhubarb is doing fantastic!  The seed pod was close to 6' tall!

This plant came from a clipping of my dads rhubarb plant many years ago.  It's always done terrific too, however, this is the first full year in it's new how in the big vegetable garden.  I was forced to transplant when I relocated the chicken coop and had to adhere to the setback requirements.  The move went well and as you can see this dude is thriving!

Peonies and Ants

We have oodles of flower buds on our Peonies!

Although, the flowers go by too fast, I can't wait for them to open.

As always the relationship between the peonies and ants are in full swing, as captured in the pictures below.  The different species are simply benefiting from the activities on one another. The peony provides food for the ants and in turn, the ants protect the blossoms from other floral-feeding insects.  There is NO truth to, it's a myth, that peonies require ants to bloom - simply NOT true.

Summer is upon us and trees, shrubs and flowers are bursting with blooms and color.  Site back, relax and take them all in, for sadly they don't last very long.

Connecting People & Possibilities My Ass!

Here is another perfect example of shoddy workmanship!

Although, not technically workmanship and not town specific this illustrates how lazy we've become as a society.

The picture above shows (circled in red) where the FedEx delivery person chose to put place the package that my neighbors ordered.  The package was NOT placed by the front door, it was NOT placed on the stone wall next to the stairs and it was NOT placed in front of or near the garage doors!  The package, as you can see, was obscurely placed in the grass along side the driveway about halfway down from the street.  

The other carriers, UPS and Amazon, do NO such thing.  They typically place the packages between the two garage doors.

Now a bit of history, from what I've seen - this one particular FedEx driver is younger, I've NEVER seen him wearing anything FedEx related; certainly NO uniform.  In the warmer months he's in shorts, often time a 'wife-beater' type t-shirt and some sort of brightly colored sneakers. He drives one of the larger FedEx trucks, which he drives like a sports car, super fast and always has the radio blaring some godawful crap music.  I've seen him drop packages off curbside, beneath mailboxes, against trees in front yards, in front yards, as shown above, and sometime where they should be placed. 

On two occasions, with packages for our house, he pulled the same crap.  Package #1 was a mini-fridge we ordered for Emilie's dorm room, so a big box that was awkward and heavy.  He double parked at the end of the driveway and proceeded to attempt to carry this box down the driveway.  Halfway down it slipped out of his grasp, fell to the ground and that is where he left it!  Package #2 was a small package but it was raining, so he drove his truck into our driveway, pulled down to the stone retaining wall where he positioned the truck such that all he had to do was lean out the door and dropped in on the wall AND he failed to put the box in a plastic bag to protect it from the rain.

The person is the epitome of laziness.  It's sadly a reflection of what I see as part of the problem with people today, he doesn't care.  He takes no pride in his job, nor does he care about what he's been hired to do.  How he's still employed is a mystery to me.  He has no business being customer facing.

I try to limit my online purchases from business that deliver via FedEx.

Gerber Daisey 2021

Going with Gerber Daisey's this summer!

Their colors are just too awesome and the blooms just keep coming and coming!

Sadly, the three Gerber's plants I attempted to over-winter didn't make it but these beauties are acceptable replacements and they're doing terrific!

Vegetable Gardening 2021

My veggies have been planted!

I'm changing things up this year, so instead of planting 25 tomato plants in our big garden I opted to go with corn, potatoes and tomatoes.  So, from left to right and working down the garden, I planted my first (50) Silver Queen corn seed, then two rows of about (14) each Yukon Gold potatoes and then (4) Celebrity tomato plants.

Initial planting - May 15 - 

Progress - May 27 -

Here's a closer pic of first (50) corn seeds -

Two weeks later -

In another garden, a raised bed, I planted (8) cucumber plants and (4) California Wonder peppers -

All are doing fine and progressing along.  Fingers crossed it continues!

NO Pride In Ones Work Anymore..

Sadly, this appears how the town of Franklin represent itself these days - shoddy workmanship.  This is one example of many that are evident throughout the town, in my opinion.

I realize it's not snow or freezing temperatures and that it's only grass, however, it's still an obstruction the fire department would need to deal with it in an emergency, god forbid!  

Quite frankly, and again in my opinion, there is NO excuse for this, NONE!  Clearly the person doing the work takes ZERO pride in his\her work, has a terrible work ethic and is obviously LAZY!

What's even more telling, is that the school itself seems to have no issue with this.  These pics show a potential dangerous situation, however, there were plenty of other areas along the front of the school where the grass knee high in areas.

An email to the school principle went unanswered and this grass remains overgrown, taller even since it's been almost two weeks now since I first reported it.  No worries, it'll be dead come the winter...

Cooking Tip

 If you cook your kale with a little bit of coconut oil, it makes it easier to scrape it into the garbage!

Follow me for more cooking tips -

Looking Good!

Our Strawberries look fantastic!  The plants are filling out, getting big and have oodles of flowers.  Fingers crossed the deer and rabbits stay clear, as well as the sneaky chipmunks and Catbirds that steal the fruit...

They Sounds SO Cute And Cuddly, NOT!

We have two Hemlock trees, one nursery bought and one transplanted from Marshfield both years ago. They're both planted along the back corner property line and make a nice fencing to hide the neighbors shed and things. They're beautiful trees, messy too but a favorite of mine, and unfortunately covered with Hemlock Woolly Adelgids.

I'm well aware of the hemlock woolly adelgid, which is literally an invasive sap sucking aphid-like insect that attach Hemlock trees.  Their feeding severely damages the canopy of the host tree by disrupting the flow of nutrients to its twigs and needles. Tree health declines, and mortality usually occurs within 4 to 10 years.

This Sunday I mixed an insect killer and slow release fertilizer by Bioadvanced designed to kill the Hemlock Woolly Adelgids and revitalize the trees and slowly poured it at the base of the tree.  The premise is for the tree to absorb this product, which it will send up and out to it's limbs and needle ultimately killing the sap sucking adelgids.

Deck Vacancies - Update

An update to my Sunday April 25 postings titled "Deck Vacancies"...

Here's a picture taken Saturday of the Robin nest under our deck.

Goodness do little birds grow SO fast!  Of course the mother is constantly on the move foraging for these little mouths and doing a wonderful job.  There just now too big to all fit comfortably, which means they'll be leaving the nest soon.  Hoping they do so on their own terms and not get spooked into a premature maiden flight, as we come and go from the basement.

This pic shows (3), however, Emilie is claiming one of her pics has (4) babies...

Hidden In Plain Sight

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to sneak one by me, when it comes to critters anyway.  A pair of House Finches had been hanging around and eyeing this one particular dogwood-type scrub of ours.  When fully leafed, it's hard to make out the trunk and branches, however, I spied these dudes setting up shop as the leaves were starting to pop.

Anyway, they're tiny birds, that make a tiny nest with equally as tiny little blue eggs.  We're not sure how many eggs are in there now, guessing more than the one shown in the picture.  The mother blends in so well and she doesn't panic and dart off the next, rather she sits tights keeping a close eye.

Hoping well get a glimpse of the babies here soon.

A Successful Yard Sale Was Had!

We've been talking about it for a couple years now and thanks to JoAnne it finally happened this past Saturday - a yard sale!

Yup, we had a yard sale!

We've been piling "stuff" in the basement in anticipation.  We recently pulled a lot of "stuff" down from the attic. Some we kept, some was damaged and tossed and others were put out for the yard sale.

We had everything out well before 9 and was done by noon.  All in all there wasn't too many visitors, at least compared to some of the yard sales we've had in the past, but we sold a number of items, made a couple of bucks and cleaned out the basement.  Guessing about 95% of what was in the yard sale never came back inside, nope!  What didn't see was moved to the end of the driveway with a FREE sign on, and boy-o-boy did most of it go fast.

What was left took a ride in the trash truck today.

We're making progress at organizing things!

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the above photo of my niece?!

I'll give you a hint, he's name is "Murray"...

Reach For the Sun!

And we're off...

I planted two packages of Sunflower seeds this past Sunday - Pike's Peak and Incredible, both supposed to grow over 15' tall!

I certainly don't need 32+ sunflower plants (if all actually grow) but let's see what takes and what makes it.

The one's that grow, once big enough, I'll transplant outside in the garden.  They make a great backdrop to the garden, bees love them and so do the Gold Finches, come fall.

Plastic Bad

This is why we must do away with plastic!

Seems that this plastic market bag, ironically, blew into and blocked the opening to one of our bird houses and completely block the hole.  Unfortunately, the House Sparrows that had taken up residence, unwantedly and who refused to take the hint, are the ones who lost.

On a happier note, our other similar bird house along the same fence line is home to a thriving Bluebird family again this spring!

Pink Blossoms

Another early bloomer is our peach tree, always beautiful!

Sadly, there isn't too much of this tree left.  I've had to prune dead and infect limbs each year now.  However, it proudly blossoms each spring and continues to produce fruit, although smaller and fewer.

A Welcoming Spring Sign

One of our Spring early bloomers, Grape Hyacinth!

A 90s Throw Back of Goats Licking Cars

Here's a through back picture from the 90s

My farmer friend used to raise goats and always had a dozen or more.  They would roam free and always stay close to home.  During the winter and spring months when I would visit the goats would spend an hour or more licking the road salt from my Explorer, as you can see one pictured above.  

I always left with a uniquely custom (licked) designed vehicle.

Vegetable Garden Prep

Pulled up the old boot straps and tackled the garden last weekend!

Removed (6) 5-gallon buckets of bedding from the chicken coop and (5) more from the compost bin and spread on top of the garden.  Then it was time to grab the shovel and hand turned the compost into the soil, giving it some much needed nutrients!

During this tilling process I caught over 30 grubs, which I collected then feed to the chickens who absolutely devoured them!

I've decided on what I plan on planting in this garden and where each will go - 1 row sunflower, 1 row corn, 2 rows potatoes and 1 row tomatoes, in that order from top to bottom.

I planted (40) sunflower seeds indoors, two different types, yesterday and picked up two 5lb bags of Yukon Gold potatoes from our local Agway.

Exposed!

Similar to a strip dance where the cloths come off, our chicken coop is slowly taking her winter protection off too, hubba-hubba!

The door plastic was the first to be removed about 5-6 weeks ago.  Last weekend I removed the rest of the protection along the lower section, as you can see in the photo above.  

The girls seem to be happier since they can now all see out without jockeying for a spot at the door and there's fresh air blowing in.  I'll remove the the remaining protections in the coming weeks.

One of the downsides to exposing the girls is they're now also easily seen by predators.  We had a big beautiful fox out there yesterday morning, excitedly running back and forth along the front of the coop.  Foxes won't typically try to get in, as they get too excited, rather seems they try to scare them out.  Either way chickens aren't the brightest and are easily spooked, so needless to say they were squawking and running and flying with each lung from the fox; feathers everywhere.

The Kindness Rock Project

I guess it's a thing, even Google know about it.

Here is a picture of spot along my walk that has been deemed a Kindness Rock project spot, which seems to be monitored and refilled from time to time when running low.  

I've often seen these rocks hidden alone the way too, so they're not always found in one location.

In the end, if kindness fails you always have a pretty weapon at your disposal...

Deck Vacancies

We have Robin that has made a nest under our deck, again.  It was made in just a couple days too!  Seems like the word is out that this is an idle place, however, they soon learn that although protected nicely from the elements the disruptions are constant, especially on the weekends. Our trash and recycle barrels are under the deck too, so we're constantly in and out to toss one thing or another.  The back door to the pool area is right there too, so the numerous treks out to the chickens has the mom flying off and on, off and on and we haven't opened the pool yet.

Once Upon A Time...

We were living large back in 1968 with this black and white console television!

Years later the TV and all components were removed from this unit making for a place for storage really but at one point I believe it served as a liquor cabinet.

Ah, the good old days!

TGIF!

Friday afternoon was just to awesome to not sit outside in the sun with a frosty, cold beer...

Spring Love

Hard to make out with my watermark in the way but this Downey woodpecker red head feathers were in the shape of a heart ❤

MUCH To My Surprise!

I took and emailed the before pic below to the Franklin DPW, to give them a heads up of an issue that's actually dangerous and just waiting for someone to get hurt in.

It's about a 20' section of sidewalk that is being undermined and washing away.

Very much to my surprise I received a reply thanking me for brining this to their attention and was told they would be sending a crew out to inspect, WOW!

The after picture below show's what they've done to A-acknowledge the issue and B-bring to everyone's attention the potential hazard.  Hopefully, this isn't their permanent solution and they'll get something scheduled to address, sooner rather than later.

Before -

After -

You Know What They Say...

The early (Blue)bird gets the (Army) worm...

Here's the proof

<drops mic>

It's difficult to tell but my guess is he's enjoying some type of army worm, which pleases me.

Shhhh, Sleeping Dog

A dogs life...

This is what my work companion does while I slave away at my computer.

All day every day.

This particular day was chilly so I covered her, where she contently stayed for over an hour.

Cristos Anesti!

Ironic how the design of our pool cover looks just like a bunny today and here it is Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter everyone!