Monthly Archives: October 2020

Uncategorized

CSA and grocery store horrors.

25 Comments

.

Another veggie bonanza.

.

.

Tomatoes, beets, leek, basil, carrots, parsley, squash, radish, chickory, spinach, Korean melon and yes… the dreaded kale.

It’s lovely having fresh organic veggies right out of the ground and buying less at the grocery store’s produce section.

.

.

Tastes like an artichoke. Then why not buy an artichoke? I’m so tired of wannabe food.

Be what you are…. and be happy!

.

.

No.

Burgers are not made from plants! Not in my world anyway. But did you notice the oh so cleverly named Incogmeato only has 32% less fat than the real thing? Where’s the other 68% come from… lard coated arugula?

I’ll pass.

.

.

Right Rice made from vegetables is wrong.

So wrong in fact, check out the bottom left corner of the package. It’s made from chickpeas, peas and.. rice.

Rice made from rice.

What a novel idea.

And then, because I live and shop in Maine? This was also available for purchase:

.

.

A map of mooses.

(Meese?)

Big goofy looking things with horns, often seen in the company of a squirrel.

You can’t miss them.

.

Uncategorized

The nightmare continues.

27 Comments

.

.

We thought we’d found the perfect used car for our 19 year old niece. A 2008 Hyundai Sante Fe with only 60,000 miles. It was clean, had new tires, brakes, struts, alternator and battery. It rode well and shifted smoothly.

.

.

It was a one owner car with a clean record.

.

.

The price was on the low end of a fair market range.

But because I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t trust anyone, we took it to our trusted mechanic/old friend for a once over.

.

.

He crawled under it to check for rust.

.

.

He put it up on the lift to check whatever you check when you put a car up on a lift.

.

.

He checked the engine and fluids and belts.

He even test drove it.

.

.

We were pretty sure it would get his seal of approval until we pulled back into his garage …

And the dreaded check engine light came on.

.

.

Hooking it up to his handy code reader…. it said error POO18.

Poo is rarely good, but no one wants to spend thousands of dollars on an engine full of it.

P0018 is the OBD-II generic code indicating that the camshaft position sensor A for bank 2 does not correlate to the signal from the crankshaft position sensor.

The bank 2 intake camshaft is out of position compared to the crankshaft position. The bank 2 camshaft phaser is stuck in one position or will not move.

So, poo!

Back to the dealership she went along with my hopes and dreams of ending the month and half long car search we’ve been on for a 19 year old’s first car.

In my day unscrupulous car dealers used to roll back the odometer. These days that’s too difficult, so they just switch off the check engine light instead.

Grrr.

.

Uncategorized

Motherhood can be rough

13 Comments

.

We hadn’t seen much of mother red squirrel lately, which after the last pregnant photo I took of her.. was a very good thing.

.

IMG_3260

.

But she showed up yesterday…

.

IMG_3262

.

Looking kind of rough. Motherhood must be taking its toll this time around.

.

IMG_3265

.

Now if only I could coordinate her visits with this new addition to the backyard wildlife sightings….

.

IMG_3257

.

He could solve all our squirrel problems in one fell swoop.

.

IMG_3256

.

Uncategorized

Used car shopping during a pandemic is not for the faint hearted.

30 Comments

.

My husband’s niece just started college and is in desperate (or so she’ll have you believe) need of a vehicle. Being the cool aunt and uncle we offered to help, physically and financially.

So began the weekend from Hell.

.

.

Said niece doesn’t want just any old car, no.

She wants an SUV.

.

.

Have you ever priced decent used SUV’s during a global pandemic? I’m not exaggerating when I say our minds were blown.

.

.

My idea of buying a 19 year old girl her first car does not include taking a mortgage on our house.

.

.

The used car market in Maine is insane right now. They’re all selling for more than they’re worth and every vehicle we test drove had major issues the sellers weren’t interested in fixing.

.

.

If we did see one we might consider buying?

It was gone 5 hours later.

.

.

We spent 2 full days, visited countless dealers, scheduled numerous private seller appointments and logged over 600 miles.

The result? One possible we’re going to bring to our trusted mechanic for a thorough going over. It’s $2,000 more than we wanted to spend, but right now it’s literally the only option.

Is it any wonder that after bringing our niece back to school we ended the weekend at our local pub?

.

.

Yes, those were all my dead and near dead soldiers. A tarantula margarita, a Moscow mule and two seasonal beers later?  My mood had vastly improved.

Don’t judge. Car shopping is exhausting.

.

Uncategorized

A dear-able.

14 Comments

.

The late season Bambi is back and not looking quite so evil this time.

.

.

Eat up little one, winter is coming and you’ve got a lot of pounds to pack on before the white stuff falls.

.

.

The big buck was here as well.

.

.

As was his son from last year whose felt is starting to shed.

.

.

Hard to believe we still have a spotted fawn this late in the year. Makes me worry.

.

.

Fall is here and with such a terribly dry summer the pickings aren’t good.

.

.

The rut will be here shortly.

.

.

And this guy will be very busy.

.

Uncategorized

Cosmo-what?

66 Comments

.

#2 in the series of ‘I’m definitely not young and single anymore’. Otherwise known as Cosmopolitan magazine highlights.

Or lowlights, you decide.

Gentlemen?

You’ve been warned.

.

.

First up, a strawberry vagina.

.

.

Magical?

Yeah, I must be doing something wrong. And because there are probably other women like me?

Products.

.

.

Am I surprised they are named Honey Pot and Fur?

At this point, I am not.

.

.

This explains a lot about the current generation. I enjoyed moving out of my parents house, but maybe that was just me.

.

.

What brownie abomination is this?

No. Just…. no.

.

.

Wow. And I thought breaking up via text was bad….

Finally there was this:

.

.

Strategically placed mirror aside…. FaceTiming your gynecologist? I’m beginning to relish the fact I’m not in my twenties anymore.

P.S. … don’t be surprised when that cat starts having nightmares.

.

Uncategorized

Risking life and limb for my blog.

26 Comments

.

Never let it be said I don’t put myself in harm’s way for my loyal readers.

.

.

Yes, I drove home from the store one handed the other day just so I could share a few shots of our beautiful fall foliage in Maine.

.

.

We had a very hot dry summer…

.

.

So the leaves aren’t as vibrant as they could be.

.

.

But it’s still a pretty sweet show.

.

.

Minus the spots and streaks on my dirty windshield that is.

.

.

No small animals were killed while I swerved left for that burning bush…

.

.

And swerved right for that perfect sugar maple.

.

.

Good thing we don’t get much traffic on our road.

.

.

Or police cruisers.

.

.

Ah, autumn in New England.

.

.

If you’ve never experienced it….

.

.

What are you waiting for?

.

.

Uncategorized

I still love my town, but…

31 Comments

.

.

Remember Mr. H?

.

.

The charismatic donkey that was built as a parade float but had recently been traveling around our town?

The one a local artist spent two years designing and building?

.

.

Mr. H was well loved in our small rural community and people looked forward to seeing him cruising from place to place. Homeowners could request a Mr. H visit and he would happily park on your lawn for photo ops and climb aboards.

And then?

This:

.

.

An event that’s shocked our close knit little town.

.

.

The following is a statement from our town’s state representative –

.

.

.

The artist donated this cat sculpture to our local elementary school and he happily greets children every morning as they start their day.

.

.

I wish I’d known about the little memorial gathering. I would have attended and mourned his loss.

.

.

As well as the loss of civility and common decency we’re currently experiencing in this country.

.

.

Rest In Peace Mr. H.

I’m hoping everything you and the flag you stood for isn’t dead as well.

.

.

Uncategorized

That’s one way to wake up.

25 Comments

.

We had a bit of excitement the other day.

Yes, that’s the husband walking our road with a policeman.

.

IMG_3283

.

They were picking up debris from an accident that happened right in front of our house.

.

IMG_3284

.

A woman fell asleep at the wheel, went off the road, drove at least 500 feet in the ditch…

.

.

Took out two mailboxes…

.

.

Spun around and landed in our farming neighbor’s field.

.

.

Thankfully she wasn’t hurt.

.

.

But if you know anything about small town volunteer fire departments, you know everyone showed up.

.

.

She was checked out by paramedics and given the okay to leave.

.

IMG_3292_LI

.

And I hope she realized how lucky she was. Lucky she didn’t hit any of the 5 telephone poles in her path, lucky no one was driving on the other side of the road, lucky no one was walking their dog and lucky she entered the field on level ground instead of the small hill that would have flipped her.

.

.

A broken windshield and busted mirror could have been a whole lot worse.

.