Tom

I was not the only one visiting my farmer friend last weekend. However, these turkeys are regulars on his lands and have actually grown accustomed to my friend and typically allow him to mingle and work amongst them.

This is a Tom

Come spring and summer time the hens will emerge with their clutches of babies and a turkey-boom will occur. However, there are simply too many predators (coyotes, owls, hawks, foxes and raccoons. There is also a new predator on the block or actually one that's making a comeback; the Fisher) and only a handful of the new chicks will make it to adulthood.

These are some of the hens

Click here to learn more about turkeys, "MassWildlife Turkey Learning Kit".

Click here to learn more about Fishers, "Wild Things Unlimited - The Fisher".

Pig Pile, Perhaps

I took advantage of some free time and drove down to my farmer friends place yesterday. I hadn't visited or spoken to him since just before Thanksgiving, so a visit was long overdue.

The weather wasn't too bad;cold and a little windy but bearable and as it turned out I was put to work not long after I arrived moving and stacking bails of hay, which kept us warm. We also had a burning barrel going, so when we'd take a break we would gather around it to keep toasty warm.


Burning barrel -

We used the burning barrel to keep warm but the pigs used a different method. These particular pigs are penned with an enormous pile of compost, which is by design. Pigs are rooting-type animals therefore in their search for tidbits of food they'll root through this pile of compost in short order. This accomplishes a number of things; the pigs are kept busy doing when they enjoy, they're able to find snacks for themselves and the pile of compost is constantly rotated and turned, which aides in the composting process. Also, the composting process keeps the pile itself hot and the pigs take advantage of this and dig themselves in to keep warm.


Steaming compost pile with napping piglets -


The same steaming compost pile with napping piglets, only a close up -

January Nor'easter

We got hit by the first Nor'easter of 2008. It started sometime after midnight on Sunday and went well into Monday. Most of the area towns were ahead of the storm and issued school cancellations Sunday night. Emilie's school was one of them, so I worked at home and got to spend the day with her and shovel too.

Here are a few pictures of Emmie enjoying the snow -



Here she is looking over the porch railing into the backyard. You can get a good idea just how much snow we had by how much has accumulated on the railing.



Here she is eating and licking some of the snow she just had to throw at the door, mmmm yummy!


And here she is stretching out and rolling around on the porch.

First WIN of Season!!

This just in...

"Walpole center Stephanie Frye (aka, “The Frye-alator”) took a long pass from Duffy with just under five minutes remaining in the game and broke into the Norwood zone with only Walsh (goalie) standing between her and the net. When Walsh came out of the net to cut the angle off and play the puck, Frye juked left, slid the puck into an open net, and sealed Walpole’s first victory of the season."

What the article doesn't mention is that in the first period Stephanie collided with an opposing player as they were both charging for the puck. The end result was Stephanie slamming her head on the ice when they fell. Although she played the rest of the game she was hurting; she had a terrible headache, as well as very dizzy and lightheaded, both of which persisted after the game. A trip to the local hospital emergency room for a CAT scan, thankfully, showed NO signs of a concussion.

You can read the entire article here, Walpole girls hockey grab first win of season.

Vasilopita 2008

In keeping with our family tradition we all gathered at my aunt and uncles house on New Years Day for a nice diner followed by the cutting of the vasilopita (dime cake). My Uncle has been cutting the cake for as long as I can remember. In that time I can't recall if the dime was ever found in any of his pieces over the years. Well, this year it was, well sort of. The dime was actually in the middle of the cut between his piece and my aunts, so they get to split the good fortune for 2008 (five cents a piece hahaha).

Happy New Year!

The picture above is the actual piece showing the location of the dime.

Click here to see last years Vasilopita posting...

Second Opinion

The doctor said, "Bill, the good news is I can cure your headaches. The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition, which causes your testicles to press on your spine and the pressure creates one hell of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles.
"Bill was shocked and depressed. He wondered if he had anything to live for. He had no choice but to go under the knife.

When he left the hospital, he was without a headache for the first time in 20 years, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself. As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life. He saw a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need ... a new suit."

He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit."
The elderly tailor eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... Size 44, long."
Bill laughed, "That's right. How did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years!" the tailor said.
Bill tried on the suit, it fit perfectly. As Bill admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?"
Bill thought for a moment and then said, "Sure."
The salesman eyed Bill and said, "Let's see, 34 sleeves and 16-1/2 neck."
Bill was surprised, "That's right. How did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years."
Bill tried on the shirt and it fit perfectly. Bill walked comfortably around the shop, and the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?"
Bill thought for a moment and said, "Sure."
The salesman said, "Let's see... size 36."
Bill laughed, "Ah ha! I got you, I've worn size 34 since I was 18 years old."
The salesman shook his head, "You can't wear size 34. Size 34 would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one hell of a headache.

"New suit - $400
New shirt - $36
New underwear - $6
Second Opinion - PRICELESS

Happy New Year 2008

**Warning **: For the adult male readers of SFrye732_blog, Happy New Year! -
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/re-werx/HappyNewYear.jpg

The Apprentice

How bout some post Christmas plumbing?!

Not only did Santa deliver endless pairs of shoes to Emilie "Imelda Marcos" but he also left a brandy new kitchen faucet for my dad. More proof that he'd been hitting the sauce I'd say. Oh don't get me wrong that was a nice gift, a needed gift and very thoughtful of the jolly ole feller BUT what he failed to include was installation. Well doesn't that pose a dilemma...?

As you can see from the picture above, dilemma solved.

Emilie gave me a hand removing the old faucet and installing the new. Of course I had some trepidation going into this project for fear that it would turn into what I affectionately refer to as a "Frye project". A "Frye project" is one that should be straight forward but turns into anything but. Although we ran into a few minor challenges removing the old one, once out, the new faucet installed without a hitch with the end result being a success.

Emilie "Imelda Marcos"

Here is a just small sampling of Emilie "Imelda Marcos" footwear collection. Santa must have been dipping into some spiked eggnog when making out his naughty or nice list, as well as during his Christmas eve deliveries. It seemed as though every other present Emilie "Imelda Marcos" opened on Christmas morning was a pair of boots or shoes or sneakers or slippers. It only makes sense, after all Emilie is the First Lady at 732 Lincoln Street...

Imelda Trinidad Romualdez-Marcos

Snowman 2007

Emilie's first snowman of the season!

Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans for this dude, perhaps a higher calling. Hours after making this snowman the weather warmed and the rained moved in. Needless to say his stay was short and Emilie was upset but it's only December and we have a long winter ahead of us. We'll be making more for sure.

We just need to make sure that we build our future snowmen in a safe location. A safe location being one that my brother can't access with a Honda Civic. Ah, memories...

Miss Lila II

Merry Christmas Miss Lila, ho ho ho and a HAHAHA...

If you recall Lila is our declawed, indoor cat. Here she is reluctantly trying on one of her Christmas presents from Santa; a cute giraffe head piece thingy. As you can tell from the pics, she wasn't too happy. I can't imagine why, perhaps she doesn't like giraffes or maybe it was too small or possibly too tight but since I didn't put it on her it wouldn't be the latter. Anyway she'll just have to get used to it...







See previous post, "Miss Lila"

Wake Up Call

Here is a 1000 piece, 3' long rooster-shaped puzzle titled, "Wake Up Call", that Stephanie opened on Christmas eve night and had completed by noontime on Christmas day. We knew going in that this puzzle would not fit on the table when completed, hence the reason the roosters feet are where they are.

For unique gifts, creative games, unusual toys and original puzzles visit online Spilsbury Speciality Toys

Loud Monkey Sex

This just in from Foxnews.com...

Counting monkey pelvic thrusts, crikie! I wonder at what point in one's adolescence does one wake up and say, "mom and dad, I want to go to college to study animal science and one day I'd like to count monkey pelvic thrusts"! Who would have thunk? Had I only known this was an option, alas...

Study Reveals Why Monkeys Shout During Sex

For when the above story is no longer available, here it is below -

Female monkeys may shout during sex to help their male partners climax, research now reveals.

Without these yells, male Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) almost never ejaculated, scientists found.

Female monkeys often utter loud, distinctive calls before, during or after sex. Their exact function, if any, has remained heavily debated.

To investigate the purpose behind these calls, scientists at the German Primate Center in Göttingen focused on Barbary macaques for two years in a nature reserve in Gibraltar.

The researchers found that females yelled during 86 percent of all sexual encounters. When females shouted, males ejaculated 59 percent of the time.

However, when females did not holler, males ejaculated less than 2 percent of the time.

To see if yelling resulted from how vigorous the sex was, the scientists counted the number of pelvic thrusts males gave and timed when they happened.

They found when shouting occurred, thrusting increased. In other words, hollering led to more vigorous sex.

Counting monkey pelvic thrusts is admittedly "quite weird, but it's science," researcher Dana Pfefferle, a behavioral scientist and primatologist at the German Primate Center, told LiveScience. "You get used to it."

Male and female Barbary macaques are promiscuous, often having sex with many partners. This means sperm levels can get quite drained.

The females shout when they are most fertile, so males can make the most use of their sperm.

Pfefferle noted her research suggests these calls might also make females more attractive to other males. She added these shouts might play different roles in other species.

Pfefferle and her colleagues detailed their findings online Dec. 18 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Copyright © 2007 Imaginova Corp. All Rights Reserved.

Pool Season's

This December will go on record as the second snowiest, in terms of snow fall amount, for New England. According to the National Weather Service, the record for December snowfall in Boston is 27.9 inches set in 1970.
We've actually received more snow this month than we did for all of last winter! So much snow in fact that I'm worried about the weight of it on our pool (cement pond) cover. Although, one of the selling points of this particular pool cover is the add the company put together; the ad shows a full grown elephant standing in center of such a cover. Unless there's a bit of false advertising we shouldn't have any problems, right?!

Winter -

Spring -

Summer -

Fall -


Think SUMMER!!

Feeding Station

Here are a few pictures taken in our backyard just the other day. The first picture is of our backyard bird feeding station. It's been a popular spot since the last snow fall with plenty of feathered visitors, as well as some furry ones too (ugh). The birds appear to have the ability or premonition of knowing when a storm is coming, as the number of visiting birds increase just prior to the storms arrival. They're filling their bellies in preparation for time spent hunkered down waiting out the storm.

The feathered visitors in this picture are: (2) male Cardinals, (2) Juncos and (2) Sparrows. Other birds that we've seen visiting so far this winter: Morning Dove, Nuthatch, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, Starling, Common Grackle, Downy Woodpecker and Northern Flicker -

Feeding station

Two female Cardinals resting in our Weeping Pussy Willow tree with passed snow covered sedum below.

Admittedly this isn't the best picture, especially if enlarged. However, with that said can you identify the furry critter than made this set of prints?

'Winter' Poem

I send this poem every winter and every winter I love re-reading it. Its a beautiful poem and very well written.

Thought it might be a comfort to you, it was to me. ENJOY!

' WINTER '

Fuck!

It's cold!

The end

Poinsettia Care

With the Christmas season in full swing I thought I'd pass along another tidbit of info; the Poinsettia -

Q: What is the best way to keep a poinsettia alive from year to year?

A: Treat it as any houseplant, but don't over water it or subject it to too much sunlight. To encourage it to bloom for Christmas, make sure the plant has at least 12 hours of darkness, with nighttime temperatures between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the plant under these conditions until buds develop and the bracts (petals) begin to color. When they bloom, take the plant to a sunny, draft-free room. The bracts will color up within 6 to 10 weeks and may continue to bloom until Easter.

The Old Farmer's Almanac new gardening question of the day.

Suicide Outsourced

I was depressed last night so I called the crisis hotline.

I was connected to a "Call Center" in Pakistan.

I told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked me if I could drive a truck.

Blonde Cowboy

The Sheriff in a small town walks out in the street and sees a blonde cowboy coming down the walk with nothing on but his cowboy hat, gun, and his boots; so he arrests him for indecent exposure.

As he is locking him up, he asks, "Why in the world are you dressed like this?"

The Cowboy says:

"Well it's like this Sheriff ... I was in the bar down the road and this purdy little red head asks me to go out to her motor home with her. So I did. We go inside and she pulls off her top and asks me to pull off my shirt so I did. Then she pulls off her skirt and asks me to pull off my pants so I did. Then she pulls off her panties and asks me to pull off my shorts so I did. Then she gets on the bed and looks at me kind of sexy and says,"Now go to town cowboy"!

And here I am...

Winter Wonderland

Well, we've had our first 'Nor'easter' of the season. A lot of snow, a lot of shoveling, a lot of slipping and sliding but beautiful none-the-less! Here are some backyard images -


Raspberry patch bird house, for rent -


Snow has taken up residence is this Robin's nest -


Duplex, recently vacated, move in condition -


A sleeping Hydrangea with blooms gone by -