And Here's Your Explanation!

Feeling Nostalgic

I stopped by the ole Frye family house in Westwood yesterday, walked the property and took a handful of pictures.

Sure do miss the old place and the old times.  Memories came flooding back of times gone by; wonderful memories.  Such a quiet and peaceful lot, much of it created but our hard work and labor of love over so many years.

Where's my time machine?!

But I Love You! Come Back...

It's that time of year again, Spring, when love is in the air...and the wild turkey's take over the roadways.

Whether you can see them or hear them off in the distance they're everywhere!

The Tom's are relentless in their pursuit of love and affection from the tired and weary hens.

There were about 5 or 6 Tom's in the pics below, each trying to out do the other, with their dancing and puffing and strutting.  As the hens would scoot off, the Tom's would follow, often stopping in the middle of the street to prance around, most of the while bring traffic to a complete stop.

I am noticing that some vehicles no longer stop or even slow down when approaching a love struck Tom in the roadway.  Seems they're okay with running them over.  No question their appeal is waning, as these are common sights now and people are in too much of a hurry to get to where they're going.

Where's My Ice Scraper?!

A frosty morning in mid-April!

UGH, c'mon Spring where are you?

Even the Robin, standing on one foot and shivering, wasn't too happy.

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the above photo?!

Something startled this young lady and off she flew up some ~60 feet or so.  Seems she startled herself too and appeared to be unsure about what to do and how to get herself down.

Eventually, she made her move and off she went...

A female turkey.

Sad Sign of The Times

The work on our street has been finished now for a couple years, however, as you can see in the below picture there's work remaining to be done.

Sadly, this type of workmanship seems to be typical in this day and age, especially from the Franklin DPW crew.  No one cares to take pride in their work or cares to take the time to do the job right.

What's The Deal Mother Nature?!

Hey, what gives, it's April 6th?!

Enough's enough!

Our patio furniture isn't too pleased to be covered in a layer of cold snow. 

Spring Is Here!

Speaks for itself!!

Knock Knock, Anybody Home?!

A lone Bluebird visiting and checking out our birdhouse accommodations.  Last Spring we had a pair of Bluebirds that took up residence in the house shown in the top two pics below.  Maybe same one from last year, or perhaps one of their young'n?!

A Bluebird and Finch waiting their turn to checkout the local bird house accommodations. However, it looks like the male House Sparrow has other thoughts and not budging -

I can tell you with 100% certainty that the House Sparrow will be evicted eventually!  If the Bluebird doesn't do it, I know the home owner is a dink and he'll see to it personally...

Pillow Pet

The resemblance is uncanny...

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

Spent this past Saturday in the yard - welcome Spring!

Pulled the lawn and patio furniture out of storage and washed, did some raking and turned our raised garden beds.

Love this time of year, and once I can stand straight again and tie my boots I'll be back at it...

Distance Cousin of Punxsutawney Phil?!

DRAT, my summer time, garden plant eating nemesis!

I don't care for or about Punxsutawney Phil, nor do I care for or about this rodent making a March appearance in my neighbors yard.  Too close for comfort.

It's early but game on. 

Hello ACME I'd like to order an anvil and a rocket...

Trying Something New

I tried something new this past Saturday.  Instead of donating blood, I donated platelets!

Platelet donation takes about 3-hours, so much longer than donating blood.  Also, with a platelet donation they insert 2 needles, one in each arm.  The problem or challenge, depending on your view, is that you're not supposed to move your arms once the needles have been inserted.  So, that crazy, mad itch that all of a sudden appears on your forehead, well that goes unscratched...

Full disclosure - I got a pretty good public reprimanded for taking the above selfie!  Apparently, some silly possibility of driving the needle out the other side of my vein when bending my arm.  Who knew.

"Pregnant" Building Here We Come!

Our downtown Boston (Financial district) corporate office is moving this fall.  Renovations are underway with construction and progress happening daily.  I got my first tour and snapped the below pictures from the 26th floor.

The Massachusetts state house, with gold dome, off in the distance -

A view of Boston Harbor -

The Harvard or Mass Ave bridge off in the distance (to right) -

Looking down on Post Office Square, which resides at the intersection of Milk, Congress, Pearl and Water Streets -

The building we currently occupy, which as you can see is only a stones throw away, just across PO Square -

The Morning After

Post Nor'easter number 3 pictures from last week.

Emilie heading to the bus stop with almost waist high snow -

Most trees and shrubs were covered and bending every which way -

A beautiful uninterrupted, morning shot -

Blue sky and sunny morning -

The storm has come and gone -

What Was I Thinking?!

Care to take a wild guess at what's pictured below?!

This is Oliver's attempt at making his way to the pool house.

He made his way down the 3 steps leading to the concrete pool deck and even began his trek, however, looks like he quickly realized he was going nowhere fast.  The snow was about 20" deep and as you can see he was sinking in as he walked.

A+ for the effort, and a wise choice to turn around.

Loner

A lone leaf atop one of our Red Oaks.

All others have long since fallen, however, this one is hanging on for dear life...

Very Conspicuous, Yeah

He sure sticks out like a sore thumb, especially during the winter when there's no bright colors to be found.

Suet Love

A Downy Woodpecker, a female I believe, filling up on suet during the early stages of our last nor'easter last week -

A week later she's back, and what a difference a week makes -

Black Masked

A flock of Cedar Waxwings from back in early February.  The trees were filled with these social birds.  Most were perched taking the sun on a chilly day, however, others were foraging for berries from the Bittersweet vines, which had long been stripped clean.

They sure are an attractive bird!