Paintball Contusion!!

Google defines "initiation" as follows -

noun

/iˌniSHēˈāSH(ə)n/

"The action of admitting someone into a secret or obscure society or group, typically with a ritual."

Well, this past Sunday I was initiated into the world of paintball, ayup!

My initiator was our neighbor Shane, aka "Junior Lollipops"

My initiation was taking a single paintball shot center mass

For months I've been able to postpone the inevitable but the pressure was mounting.  I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder, especially when working in the yard, for fear of being ambushed.  The yard work was suffering and I was a nervous wreck.  I was even fearful of going to the mailbox some days. I was living in fear; trapped in my house. A prisoner,

This Sunday it all came to a head. I was given an offer I could not refuse - take a single shot that afternoon or multiple shots at some other unknown time. I was tired of running.  The only thing left to do was give in and finally let Junior Lollipops take the shot he was so obsessed with.

So, I did...

OUCH!

#Man-Up, #ThankYouSirMayIHaveAnother, #NoMoreFear, #TeamValhalla,

Renny The Wren

Pleased to see "Renny" still hanging around the ole homestead!

She's seems darker than usual, perhaps her Fall/Winter color.

She didn't stay too long, just long enough to make her presence known, drop a poop on the deck banister and off she flew.

Everything Tastes Better With Bacon

Baked a pound of bacon the other morning, YUM!

Almost burned the house down in the process too, YIKES!

But, I had bacon...

Vroom Vroom

Riding season has come to a close here in New England.

Already looking forward to next year!

Our garden gnome is still cruise'n though!

BOO!

Trixie dog says...

Happy Halloween everybody!

Take Me Back In Time

I came across the following items when preparing the garage to store the lawn furniture.

I completely forgot I had these items.  They've been stored in a carton and tucked away in a typically inaccessible spot, well until this past weekend anyway.

These came from my farmer friend Tim.  His dad owned a building that housed an auto parts store in the front and an auto repair shop in the back many many years ago.  The back of the building, the repair shop, closed and sat empty for years and became a storage spot.  Many items from back in the day when it was up and running were still there.

Some 10, 12, 15 years ago my friend sold the building.  I helped clean it out at that time and saved a number of items, these cans being just a few.

The Shell cans are tin and with the exception of one all opened and from the early 60's.

The Oilzum are cardboard and also from the early 60's.

The Yoohoo can is steel and I'm guessing late 60's early 70's.

Interesting.

Commute Oddity

Something you don't typically see...ever, around here anyway.  Especially when driving 70mph on the highway.  A woman, driving a fancy SUV Mercedes with the windows up, wearing a surgical face mask!

Of course I don't know the reason or history behind why this person is doing such a thing and there could be a perfectly good reason but it still struck me as very odd.

Hmm, note to self - stock doomsday bunker with surgical face masks...just in case.

Who Goes There!

Picture taken by Emilie showing 3 of the 4 deer visiting and dining.

It didn't take the resident deer long to locate where I've been dumping all the acorns, behind the chicken coop.  The squirrel and chipmunks too.  They all seem to congregate and dine together.  Suppose with no more hosta and sedum and echinacea to eat they can't be too fussy.

What's All That Racket

Just passing through...

With Fall upon us the Blue Jay has become much more prevalent.  They're actually an attractive bird with their blue, black and white colors.  A skittish and a noisy bird too, always making a racket.  They've been darting in and out, here and there but never sitting still for too long.  They seem to enjoy the Bittersweet berries best but scrounge for other morsels as well. 

Entitlement, Alas...

Not sure to blame the school that poorly designated this as a valid parking space or the lazy dipstick who thought it was a good idea to park there.

Note: This was a large parking lot with plenty of available spaces to choose from.

Many, many people were using these stairs all day long, as they were the entry way to the main field, concession stand and bathrooms.  However, on this day, which has sadly become common practice by SO many, it was about entitlement versus common sense and common curtsey.

All Tucked In For The Winter!

Well, I finally got the chicken coop - rabbit pen winterized this past Sunday.

The resident critters approved and are all now ready to take on the coming New England winter and all that Mother Nature throws at us.

Oh So Pretty!

Some of our Fall - Halloween yard decoration

First Hard Frost of The Fall

Our hydrangea's still has/had several stunning flowers on them!

Here is one taken on the morning of 10/16 -

Here is the same flower taken on the morning of 10/19, after a hard frost passed through the area the night before - 

It's official now, the New England growing season has come to an end.

Stunning Rainbow!

Weird weather on Friday created this awesome rainbow off our back deck!

Multifaceted, Multiyear Marketing Partnership

Another Championship!

On October 1, my company announced a multifaceted, multiyear marketing partnership with the Boston Celtics!

On October 14, Wyc Grousbeck, Co-Owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Celtics, Leon Powe and the 2008 Championship trophy were onsite for coffee, donuts, a meet-and-greet, raffle and autograph signing

Exciting times!

Can't Get Any Fresher!

Waiting on breakfast...

Hibachi Fun!

Saturday night birthday celebration with friends at Ichigo Ichie, a local Franklin Japanese restaurant.

What a fun time!  We had a blast!

Roast duck, fried calamari and sushi to begin with then onto the feast above!

The beers were frosty cold and the food was fresh, delicious and plentiful!

"SUSHI"?!?!  Ah, yes!

Closed For The Season

"Sorry folks pools closed. The moose out front should have told you!"

Another season has come to an end.  The pool has been winterized, covered and is now closed for the season.  Always a bittersweet time of the year.

The Joys Of Snowblower Repairs!

With the help of my neighbor we replaced the engine plate on our Craftsman snowblower.

The difficulty rating for replacing this piece on the Sears parts website was 4 out of 5 wrenches, yikes!

Well, in some respects they were spot on.  Actually, it wasn't all that difficult but we did need to essentially take the machine apart.  Once apart all we had to do was remove the four bolts holding the engine to the engine plate.  Simply right?!  Um, nope!  Three came off with relative ease.  The forth, however, just would NOT come out.  We tried all kinds of tools, leverage tricks, sprays but she wouldn't budge!  In the end we ended up drilling out the old bold, which was threaded and instead installed a through bolt, pictured above.

The work was akin to the Gilligan Island cruise, you know a three hour cruise.  Instead of this taking us maybe two hours, it took closer to five!

She's in good shape now.  Hoping after putting in all this time and effort, the snow will stay away this winter.

Oh, Don't Mind Us!

Let me start but admitting that these are not the best pictures, I'm aware.

Emilie spotted the two young deer lying in our front yard the other evening, around 7PM.

We grabbed the camera and proceeded to open the front door every so slowly and make our way onto the front stairs.  The deer on the right, located just above the "g" in my watermark, stood up.  The other one wasn't concerned and didn't budge.  The one standing wasn't concerned either and began eating some acorns, which were blanketing the front lawn.

Here's a close up of the dude on the left - 

Here is Emilie sitting talking to them and trying to get them to come to her - 

I really do not want these critters in our yard, especially after all the damage they've done to our hostas, strawberry plants, sedum, etc.  Clearly, they're comfortable here and used to us, hence them not taking off.  However, for now with the Fall upon us, the more annuals they eat the less I have to cut back and cart off.