Monthly Archives: October 2025

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A hoppy occasion.

26 Comments

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We attended a dual retirement party recently. A husband and wife were calling it quits at the same time and their kids threw them a celebration.

At a brewery.

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It was like old home week for my husband as he had worked with M. at the FAA.

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Yes, my guy is a 22 year Marine and the recent retiree did 20 years in the Navy…

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So deep conversations ensued.

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But my guy did that pretty much all afternoon.

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And into the evening.

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I’d never been to retirement party at a brewery before but it was laid back and quite fun.

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No boring speeches. No power point presentations of careers. No stuffy presentations of plaques or watches.

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Just friends, family and co workers getting together for a good time.

We went home with a wood fired pizza because they were floating in it.

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And stayed well after the official end time.

But the best part about a brewery retirement party?

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Wrist bands for unlimited free beer for every guest.

👍

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News you can’t use.

30 Comments

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Your number one source for stupid headlines.

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Did she have to?

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Ugh.

She did.

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I didn’t think it was possible to eat that many beans, but okay.

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I wish the media would stop saying things like this. They’re not unrecognizable, they’re older. It happens to all of us who reach a certain age. Things sag, they wrinkle. Get over it.

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I’ve been married to a Marine for 41 years. I’m well versed in the meaning of Snafu.

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Trash pandas and friends.

17 Comments

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The skunks beat the fox.

Now the raccoons are beating the skunks.

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It’s first come first serve at River’s critter buffet.

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Though the deer are lucky… as no one else wants their grain.

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Three deer and three raccoons.

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All are welcome.

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But I really enjoy watching these little devils tussle and push each other out of the way for the best spots.

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❤️

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Random rambling

41 Comments

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I grew up in New Jersey and had many Italian friends. These Italian friends had Italian mothers who cooked. Boy howdy, did they ever. So when I saw this list the other day I knew I would do pretty well…

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Though I do have a tendency to make my bruschetta a soft middle consonant instead of hard.

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It’s bush hogging season in the country and when the man comes to do our neighbor’s field …

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We have him do our back half acre to the woods as well.

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Our backyard leaves have turned, but like the rest of the state not vibrantly.

Are you thinking about moving? Maybe into a slightly larger home?

If so, I’ve got your back.

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And if the high cost seems out of reach, just know it’s the house where Dark Shadows was filmed years ago. Walking the halls with Barnabas Collins? You can’t put a price on that.

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Am I the only one who does this? You’re driving down the road when you hear a song you want to add to your iPod so you take a picture of the radio for future reference?

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Considering no one uses iPods anymore, I’m going to guess yes.

I’m the only dinosaur who does this.

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I’ve long considered myself a tree hugging liberal without ever giving much thought to actually hugging a tree.

Until I read this..

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Who knew?

😉

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Cows, wooden hangers and funghi pizza.

27 Comments

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On our way out to lunch the other day my husband saw a yard sale sign and had to follow it for miles and miles… and honestly? Too many miles out of our way.

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Yes we passed cows, which is always nice. But the sale was a disappointing collection of junk no one would want …

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Except my husband who found a box of old wooden hangers.

Can you see my eyes rolling from there?

Hangers in hand, he turned around and headed back towards the restaurant but found a small flea market on the way and had to stop.

I swear… even though we made a nice amount of money at our yard sale this summer? The success of that weekend has rekindled the bargain shopping flame under my spouse that I spent years putting out.

Damn it!

Thankfully he didn’t buy anything worthless there and we did find a wonderful local woodworker who customized a nice multi grain board we’re going to give to our daughter of the heart’s southern husband for Christmas. He fell in love with Maine on his first visit and we constantly promote the idea of them moving here.

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From left to right the woods are:

Red oak, Purple Heart, Hard Maple, Sapelle (mahogany family) and Black Walnut.

After that it’s more of the same mixed and alternating.

When the husband was finally done shopping?

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I needed an apricot sangria.

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We split a big spinach salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts and a lemon poppyseed dressing..

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As well as a fabulous garlic white sauce mushroom and spinach pizza.

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The crust was amazing, and yes we ate it all.

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Exactly!

🤣

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It’s about damn time!!

27 Comments

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It only took 23 years…

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But Casa River finally has fiber optic high speed internet.

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When we moved to our house in the country in 2002, the only option was dial up. Anyone out there old enough to remember that screeching nightmare?

The next step came ten years later, but it was only Broadband and if a few of our neighbors were online at the same time? It was buggy and slow as molasses.

When streaming became popular, we were out of luck and I ended up watching shows on my 7 inch cell phone screen. Not great, but better than nothing.

And then Fidium came to town, laying their magical lines and hooking up all us speed deprived residents.

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To be honest, Fidium would not have been my first choice. Their website and apps are shite, full of error messages and links that go nowhere. Their customer service is awful, with wait times of an hour to speak to a human. The installers were supposed to bring a WiFi extender so we could connect the man cave /Barn Mahal tv… but they didn’t.

Is it perfect?

No. But it’s the only game in town ….

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And I can now watch AppleTV on an actual tv!

So it’s progress.

🤣

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When your cat really loves David Ortiz.

21 Comments

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We live in Maine, hence our home is part of Red Sox Nation. We’re loyal and devoted fans, though the team breaks our hearts more often than not. And while we tend to think of Lord Dudley Mountcatten as a full fledged member of the family, until recently we were unaware of his affection for David Ortiz.

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Case in point –

The other night my husband was watching an interview with one of the most beloved players in Boston history and as soon as Dudley heard David’s voice?

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The silly cat was mesmerized.

Up on the television stand (where he’s not allowed) for a closer look.

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He even checked around back searching for his (heretofore unknown) favorite player.

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When the show went to commercial and David disappeared?

So did Lord Dudley.

⚾️❤️⚾️

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News you can’t use.

32 Comments

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No one can use it, but here it is all the same.

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Can’t say I’d find that attractive, but who am I to judge?

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If you’ve watched The Last Of Us? You’ll know this does not bode well for the future of the human race.

😳

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Being a cat lover, I literally snorted at this.

🤣

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No!

Not the cheese…

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Never was a Guinea pig so aptly named.

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That was one busy little guy.

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