Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

Pomegranates are a good source of vitamin C and potassium.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Despite the short days and cold temperatures the pullets are finally beginning to lay, hooray!! Although, not consistently yet and not all from the same birds each day. There are seven ladies and we're getting from one to three eggs a day with some days none but again due to the current New England conditions this is to be expected.

The picture above shows an extra large egg in comparison to one that didn't even register as a small. There's one pullet that has been laying these extra large, monster eggs - yum yum! The small egg was more than likely the first egg laid by a particular pullet. This is normal and not to worry. We have the following egg scale that grades the eggs for us, although it's not an antique, it works just fine and the majority of our eggs to date are on the large to extra large size!

Once the girls begin to lay on a regular basis we'll be selling them by the dozen - interested?! You just can't beat (no pun intended) farm fresh eggs! They're no Egg Beaters either...

State Birds

Here is a cool 1000 piece puzzle that I got for Christmas. It has a picture and the name of each state's bird. It didn't take us too long to put this gem together and as you can see it just fits on the table with Florida it's own island of sorts. Next...

Find the Critter

Can you find the critter in the above picture?



Here is a better pic of our visiting Cooper's Hawk. He is sitting in the peach tree, which just so happens to be within a few feet of the previously posted 'Kill Zone". You can also notice a couple of our chickens cautiously watching this dude from the safety of their coop.

Kill Zone

A blanket of snow on the ground can be very telling. In many respects it give you some insight to the ongoings in your yard, aka a map; the visitors and who they are, what direction they come from, where and what they visit and how they leave.

For example, one walk around the yard and it's plain to see that the neighbor's dogs visit! Now one possibility is that their Invisible Fence® is not working. However, since they're inconsiderate my guess is that they simply can't be bothered to put the Invisible Fence dog collars on the animals before letting them out - but I digress.

OK, back to what I was saying - any idea what this is a picture of and who or what may have made it?

Well, this is a "kill zone" for lack of a better term. This is where a bird of prey, which I can say with a very high degree of certainty was a Coopers Hawk, took down it's victim/meal (bird). You can make out the wing marks in the snow, perhaps due to a bit of a struggle and, as one might expect in such a conflict, the blood stain of it's victim.

Interesting, yes?!

My next posting, another installment of "Find the", just might contain a picture of said Cooper's Hawk - Oh, the anticipation!!!

"Awnya" "Awnya"!!

So, I went to watch Stephanie's varsity ice hockey game Wednesday night. It was an exciting game. The Walpole Rebels carried the play for most of the game but unfortunately found they themselves trailing 2 - 1. With about a minute and a half remaining in the game Walpole pulled their goalie for an extra skater and with just 15 seconds left Walpole scored - the place went wild! They were fortunate enough to walk away with a tie 2 - 2.

NOTE: Stephanie got the assist on the game tying goal. She is also the Walpole Rebels girls ice hockey program's all-time leading scorer to date!!

On a side note - throughout the entire game, one of the dads was rooting and yelling words of encouragement to all the WHS girls. He was constantly yelling "Awnya" "Awnya". The name didn't sound familiar to me. I didn't know of any girl on Stephanie's team named Awnya. I checked the program they handed out at the door; went down the list and sure enough there was no Awnya. I was puzzled and thought to myself to ask Stephanie about this girl Awnya after the game.

All of a sudden it HIT me, daaaaaaah! He wasn't yelling Awnya, a players name, but rather "on yeah"! He was yelling to let the girls know that an opposing player was "on yeah" and to be careful with the puck.

It was a long day...

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

The United States Census Bureau estimated that 36 million children between the ages of 5 and 13 trick-or-treated in the United States in 2008!

Snow Cover Visitors

With the recent snow fall mother nature dumped on us you can get an idea of some of the visitors that pass by. It's easy to see where the blanket of snow cover is disturbed and who's lurking around -

Here is a single bird's foot prints, just hoping along -

This is a picture of the ground beneath the post holding our bird feeders, which are shadows. You can see that we've had a lot of birds looking for a bite to eat in just a short while -

These are squirrel foot prints. Yup, we still have some of these varmits around -

These tracks were made by a deer. They come across our front lawn, across both our driveway and the neighbors driveway, their front lawn and into the woods beyond their house. It's been a while since we've seen the deer but as these tracks show, they're still out there...

Happy New Year!

2010

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!

The picture above is the vasilopita ("βασιλόπιτα"), also referred to as the dime cake, that JoAnne made this year and which was very tasty - my mother would be proud! Emilie and Ryan were the lucky ones who's pieces contained the dime, yippie!, which is said to bring good luck in the coming year.

*** Note ***
The name "βασιλόπιτα" comes from two Greek words: βασιλεύς 'king' + πίτα 'pie'.

You Know You're Getting Old When...

So, I stopped at the medical center, where my primary care physician resides, yesterday morning to have some blood drawn for my up coming yearly physical. I was in the area and hadn't eaten anything since the night before, so the fasting requirement was met, and wanted to have this taken care of before my appointment. This way my doctor has the results in hand at the time of my checkup.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older or softer, maybe both, but this blood draw REALLY HURT!! - more than I remember or expected! Not to mention the bruise that was left behind. Yeah I know, weenie!

Since we're on the subject of getting older and softer -

This medical center has two racks hanging in the lobby that contain 2"x6" information cards of the doctors that practice out of that facility along with their expertise, medical background and picture. A nice value add that puts a name to a face. However, as I was looking at these cards it hit me and I realized that I recognized and had been seen many of those doctors at one point or another! YIKES!! - You Know You're Getting Old When...

Merry Christmas 2009!

Καλά Χριστούγεννα

I would like to wish a VERY Merry Christmas to my family and friends!

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

The world's largest gingerbread house was made with 14,250 pounds of gingerbread and 4,750 pounds of icing, and is approximately 1,496 square feet.

Eeewwwwwwww

Before -

After -


Other than a public service message about how keeping the fridge coils cleaned improves refrigerator efficiency, means the motor doesn't work as hard, so the unit lasts longer and will also saves energy. I got nut'n to add. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. See we're striving to be greener!!

Find the Critter

Can you find the critter in the above picture?

Bbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

"When the frost in on the punkin..."

Well, you can rest assured that the frost in on the punkin here in New England and then some, yikes!

As you can see our thermometer registered 9 degrees outside the other morning; Thursday (12/17). It was very cold and that was without the windchill, which lowered the temps to zero and below and it's only December. I'm fearful of what February has in store for us.

As luck would have it too (that dam Murphy's Law, I curse you) I was scheduled in the Boston office on this frigid day. I took the commuter rail into the city, which wasn't too bad, as far as the commuter rail goes. However, the walks to the train stations and to and from the office were incredibly cold I tell you. Especially in the city where the winds do some amazing things as it zips between the buildings.

Fun Fact

Fun Fact!

There are about 2,500 different types of apples grown in the United States and more than 7,500 types worldwide.

Find the Critter

Can you find the critter in the above picture?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

The first snowfall of the season has come and gone. Well, the storm is gone, not the snow, alas - it's shaping up to be a long winter. Here are a couple pictures taken the morning after the snow - pretty yes?!





I'm also happy to report that my brother, who was visiting from Miami, still knows how to use a snow shovel. I guess some thing you just don't forget, like riding a bicycle.

South Division 1 Field Hockey CHAMPS!

The Walpole High School varsity girls Field Hockey team, also known as "The Porkers", won the Massachusetts South Division 1 championship, HOORAY! Including the playoffs the girls had an 20-0-2 record.

Stephanie, a.k.a. "The Frye-A-Lator", finished the season with 16 goals and 11 assists to lead the division. She was also selected to the Massachusetts girls field hockey 1st team All Star and the division 1 Best of 60 All Star teams. Quite the accomplishments for both the team and individually for Stephanie!



The picture above was taken at the end of the semi-finals game. The entire game was played under a VERY heavy fog. From the bleachers, at times, you were unable to see the girls on the far side of the field. They had no problem seeing on their way to an 8 - 2 final.

"I didn't want to let go of him" - Paige

There's nothing more to add to this story other than it brought tears to my eyes!

"Little Girl Can't Let go as Sergeant Daddy Leaves For Iraq"