Monthly Archives: January 2024

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The furry, four legged escape artist.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten likes to look out the back door and that hasn’t been possible with the plastic barrier in place.

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His Lordship was not pleased.

Just after it was erected, the old door was removed…

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So of course, it snowed.

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We haven’t had snow all winter… but let our contractor start working and bam. White stuff.

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The rotted sub floor and framing was replaced and as work continued with a giant hole in the living room …

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Lord Dudley plotted.

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I guarded against it and tried to keep a close eye on him, but naturally the little devil found a weak spot and made a run for it.

Thankfully His Lordship is not a fan of snow and after a few cursory steps that resulted in wet feet… he just sat on the doorstep and watched birds.

After hustling him back inside?

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He decided a warm sunny spot was more to his liking.

And at least someone was using the treadmill.

😉

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It’s the Amish for the win…

30 Comments

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Though I really wanted to purchase living room furniture first, we seem to have put that on hold (due to ugly ass fabrics) and moved on to the dining room.

This is what my husband fell in love with.

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An extremely high quality, Amish made, Mission style table and chairs made of elm and maple. He surprised me by liking the black contrast but was so impressed with the quality he may not have even noticed.

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A feature he really liked? The leaves store in the table itself.

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He also like the table base which has an odd… shelf? Place for tablecloths? I don’t know what it is but I can totally see Lord Dudley Mountcatten claiming it for his own.

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This is the arts and crafts style hutch we also purchased, though it will be in the darker stain like the table and have glass sides on the top cabinet.

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It’s unusual to see my husband so thrilled with furniture… but the man couldn’t stop rubbing his hands all over this so I guess it’s worth the jaw dropping price.

Delivery in 12 weeks.

😊

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The fishing life.

28 Comments

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Maine is a coastal state and has a rich fishing heritage. Lobsters are our mainstay but we also harvest scallops, crabs, oysters and numerous deep sea fish.

The men who work the ocean are a hardy bunch. Strong, stoic, and weatherbeaten. They also have a quirky sense of humor.

So when a local apparel outfitter started a big catch contest giveaway and asked fishermen to submit pictures, you know it was going to get interesting.

Here are a few of my favorite entries.

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This is the son of a friend…. with an extra large lobster roll.

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In case you ever wondered what scallop dragging looks like.

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And that is one monster scallop!

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I believe this is a Mahi…

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I have no idea what these are, but they’re definitely plentiful.

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This is your typical – man with fish – proud catch photo.

This, on the other hand….

Is not.

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🤣

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Random rambling…

22 Comments

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In case anyone was wondering I didn’t buy one of those pooping animal calendars I blogged about earlier, no…

I went with hedgehogs instead.

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Life is good.

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And if you’re Lord Dudley Mountcatten, it’s better in a box.

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Yes, the wicked witch of the west in the original Wizard of Oz movie, Margaret Hamilton, lived in Maine…. and now they’ve written a play about her.

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Another beautiful sunrise at Casa River.

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It almost makes waking up early worth it.

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No.

And again, no.

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Can nothing be easy in this cursed house?

29 Comments

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Work began on the living room door replacement and a plastic barrier against the cold was erected.

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And as with every simple repair or renovation in my cursed housed, it didn’t go smoothly.

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I was shooting through the plastic here, but you can tell once the carpet was pulled back, the sub floor was wet and damaged.

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And once that was ripped up, it looked like the mice had been busy in the insulation.

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Black mold?

Yup. That too.

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On both sides of the bottom of the frame..

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And on the top left.

More work. More time. More money. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but I always am.

Sigh.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten?

He’s plotting how to get around the barrier and out the door to freedom.

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News you can’t use.

18 Comments

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Never useful, but hopefully entertaining.

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Trying to process a quickie divorce is my guess.

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I was disheartened to learn this was happening in Portland, Oregon instead of Portland, Maine. I could definitely use a little llama lovin’ when I fly.

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If it’s considered humane for Fido… why not for Florence?

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It’s not like they’d ever run out.

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Damn. That’s a lot of poo.

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Florida.

Nothing surprises me about that state anymore.

🤣

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Is a little color too much to ask?

40 Comments

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Remember how thrilled I was that my husband found a living room set he liked?

Well, I went back to the store to pick out the fabric before ordering, and sadly …. I wasn’t thrilled for long.

Oh, they had plenty of decent solids, but when it came time to choose a pattern for the coordinating pillows, chair and ottoman I was seriously underwhelmed.

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They were ugly.

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They were colorless.

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And I didn’t want a single one of them in our house.

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WTH?

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These were the only two out of what seemed like hundreds that even came close…

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But neither of them gave me the warm fuzzy I need.

Matter of fact… the only real color in the entire store was this pillow of what looked like grass.

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Lazy Boy doesn’t allow fabric substitutions so I can’t buy material elsewhere and bypass their awful selection.

This is not good news.

We finally found the furniture… but we hate the fabrics.

Damn it. The search continues….

😩

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Let’s play.

44 Comments

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Because it’s better than whatever else you’re doing right now.

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That’s easy.

I’m a constant straightener.

You get up from the couch? I’m straightening the pillows.

You get up from the table? I’m straightening the placemats.

You leave work on the desk? I’m straightening the papers.

You turn off a lamp? I’m straightening the shade.

I straighten books on the shelves, paintings on the wall, knick knacks on the table, towels in the bathroom. If it’s there, I’m straightening it… which I can imagine, would quickly become annoying.

How about you?

What’s going to annoy your roommate …

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And to think it only took 6 months.

15 Comments

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We have two fully installed, functioning, trimmed with the right color stain windows and I have to admit I was beginning to think it would never happen.

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It’s hard to tell in the photos but they look quite nice.

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I had my doubts about the color but it blends really well with the existing trim…

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Two down, three to go.

I hope I live long enough to see it.

🥴

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