They're Spreading! You've Been Warned...

This weekend a small infestation of Asian longhorned beetle was found in Jamaica Plain (Boston). The site is at Faulkner Hospital, just across from the Arnold Arboretum. Six infested maple trees were found so far, in close proximity to each other, and have already been removed by USDA/DCR. Surveys will continue this week to determine the extent of the infestation.

It is extremely important that we get the word out ASAP to everyone in the Boston, Brookline and Newton area to be on the lookout for:

1. Adult Asian longhorned beetles (shiny black beetles with white spots and long, banded antennae)


2. ALB exit holes (dime-sized, perfectly round holes, especially in maple, but also in birch, elm, horse chestnut, willow and other hardwood trees.but not oak)


3. ALB egg-laying sites (divots in the bark ranging in size from 1/4 to 3/4 inches across - fresh pits often have oozing, foaming sap)

Anyone seeing anything suspicious should report it immediately at MASSNRC or call toll-free: 1-866-702-9938. Take photos if you can.

pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!

and this is pretty much how I'm feeling right about now.

more hotter and humid temperatures expected tomorrow, YIKES!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday America!

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.