All posts by Rivergirl

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A man and his ditch.

24 Comments

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My husband is not happy.

Not in any way, shape, or form.

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Every time he goes outside he gravitates to the hideous Grand Canyon we now have at the edge of our property.

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Talk about an eyesore. People are literally walking by with their mouths open. A few have even stopped in to ask… why?

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What a mess. And aside from the fact they took a good two feet of our lawn? They couldn’t even be bothered to do it uniformly, and that rankles.

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Let’s forget that it looks like a giant gaping maw…the whole purpose of the project was to stop the caving in and erosion.

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See the stripes? That’s what happened after the first rain. All the seed and hay flowed to the bottom…

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And we had intermittent washouts. Which is exactly what we had before.

It’s maddening.

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In case you’re wondering, it’s three feet in that spot. In some places it’s three and a half. Won’t that be fun to mow…

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Assuming we can ever get grass to grow there again.

Sigh…

😫

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Marry me.

21 Comments

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No, I’m not proposing…

Although after all these years my husband might be more than willing to share the pleasure of my company.

No, I’m simply sharing a recipe called Marry Me Chicken.

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This sounded yummy so I gave it a spin.

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Mine didn’t look anywhere near as brown so maybe I didn’t sear the meat long enough… but let me tell you it was damn tasty all the same.

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I did add a bit of flour to the sauce at the end since it was too thin for my taste, but this is a keeper.

Instructions are a little vague, but don’t be afraid to be heavy handed with the seasoning and tomatoes. .

👍

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The one where His Lordship investigates the deck project…

12 Comments

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Work has been progressing on the deck and the other day it was finally time for Lord Dudley Mountcatten to check things out.

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He approached warily, and then took a detour.

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To the stack of unused boards

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And then to the stack of extra wood, which he promptly climbed on and knocked over scaring himself to death.

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I laughed, so he jumped back on the deck boards and gave me the evil eye.

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When he finally ascended to the half finished deck, he explored a bit…

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And plopped.

We tend to do more sitting than walking on our outdoor excursions. His Lordship does not like to waste energy unnecessarily.

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But when he’d had enough fresh air?

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He paced back and forth in front of the door….

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Not understanding why I wouldn’t jump across the divide to open it.

So instead…

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He plopped, and seemed to approve of the new decking materials.

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I still haven’t forgiven him.

52 Comments

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54 years ago this week my husband drove to upstate New York for a concert.

But not just any concert, no.

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He went to the greatest single musical event in rock and roll history. And since my husband is my husband, he took a look around, breathed in the heavily herbed air, didn’t like what he saw… and left.

Woodstock.

My husband went to Woodstock… and left.

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He didn’t see the Dead, Santana, or CSN.

He didn’t see Hendrix or Joplin or CCR.

I still can’t wrap my mind around it. And I swear if I had known this before we married it might have been a deal breaker.

🥴

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Life’s a ditch… the nightmare result.

40 Comments

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After arguing with state officials for a month and pleading with them to let us fill in our collapsing ditch, this was their answer.

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A veritable Marianas trench at the end of our front lawn.

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It’s huge.

More than twice as wide than it was.

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It’s ugly.

A massive scar on the landscape.

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See the gravel? They were supposed to replace that with dirt and seed it.

They didn’t.

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See the sloping sides on which the temporary mailbox they refused to move sits? They were supposed to build those up so they wouldn’t collapse.

They didn’t.

This is worse than it was before.

A total nightmare.

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Deck replacement day 5… it looks like a deck!

23 Comments

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It’s been a long time coming, but things are finally starting to coalesce.

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I peeked out back at noon and saw almost half the deck boards had been laid.

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When the husband got home at 5:00pm, two thirds were done.

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Apparently with the help of a wooden mallet.

But because nothing ever goes smoothly here, it was then we learned the contractor had misjudged the width of the boards and would be two short at the end of the project. And since this is a special color no one keeps in stock, we’ll have to live with an unfinished deck for at least two weeks while we wait for the order to come in.

Sigh…

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But if I take a photo from this angle, I can pretend all is well.

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Life’s a ditch… part 3.

18 Comments

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The final part of this nightmare project was a total waste of time.

Remember the dry grass seed the crew spread, and then dispersed with a leaf blower?

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Up next was the hay tube.

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I knew it would be bad, and it didn’t disappoint.

Or rather it did. It was all disappointing….

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Dry hay particles , on a windy day.

What could go wrong?

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The air was choked with the stuff.

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Sigh….

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You have to love the state of Maine…

29 Comments

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I’m going to share a few more reasons I love my state.

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Maine police are searching for a child’s stuffie. You don’t get that kind of service in NYC.

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Yes. This is for real .

She’s 103 and still hauling traps. Maine women are built to last.

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Oh yeah, this is real too.

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If only I could talk the husband into going.

You know the tee shirts are going to slay….

🤣

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Life’s a ditch… part two.

19 Comments

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Later that afternoon the crew moved to the other side of the property. After much deliberation, discussion and dawdling.

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It was smooth sailing until the time came to replace the culvert over what we call the auxiliary driveway.

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Where massive roots from the neighbor’s old weeping willow trees were proving problematic.

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This was cause for more serious discussion, deliberation and dawdling.

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Turns out our two neighbors to the left were also getting new culverts.

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Surprise!

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And if you’re wondering how many state DOT workers it takes to stand around and watch one of them tamp down dirt?

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The answer is nine.

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Though when it came time to smooth the dirt by hand? They all disappeared.

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Some gathered beside a trailer, surrounding the temporary mailbox they wouldn’t move.

🥴

To he continued…

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