It’s happening.

Red squirrel.

And woodchuck.

A common goal.

A shared food source.

An alliance.

Partners….

Synchronizing positions.
I’m doomed.
It’s happening.

Red squirrel.

And woodchuck.

A common goal.

A shared food source.

An alliance.

Partners….

Synchronizing positions.
I’m doomed.
These two cuties came running up from the woods the other day while I was reading on the barn porch.

They’ve grown so quickly.

Getting taller every day.

We have a total of four fawns who visit.

But I’m guessing these two are twins since they’re always together.

Mom wandered up shortly after.

And kept an eagle eye on me and my camera.

No worries momma.

Bambi is safe with me.

Still stealing deer food.

And when it’s too big to finish in one sitting?

They’re still planting.

And I’m still cleaning up scattered dirt.

And squirrel poo.

Help me out with this…
Aren’t teenagers supposed to grow up and move out?
It’s a conspiracy.
I know it.
Those damn red squirrels have been plotting and now they’ve got corporate behind them.
How do I know this?
Because yesterday I got this box from Amazon:

Race cars….
For squirrels!
I’m doomed.
Ever since we installed the new deck railings we’ve needed to re-stain the deck. And by we, I mean me… because while he’ll constantly remark it needs to be done? The husband never does it. Not once in 18 years.

Problem is, we needed to buy a new pressure washer to clean the siding and I didn’t want to stain until that happened.
So I waited. And waited….. and waited some more.
( Never nagging. No. Not me.)

But after the husband saw the prices of a new Honda pressure washer?
I feel confident saying it’s not happening anytime soon.
So I moved things to the lawn, grabbed my brush and went to work.

Many holy hell why is it surface of the sun hot hours later…

I was done.

And pretty pleased with the results.

Dirty siding aside, it looks nice.

Clean, fresh and ready for the red squirrel family’s onslaught of poo.

Next morning fog shot just because.
A slightly smaller bounty this week as the neighbor we split with liked more of the offerings than we did.

But there were fairy tale eggplants, so I should probably start this blog with Once Upon a Time.
Once Upon a Time in Maine…. a local grocery store advertised their weekly ware.

Squid jigs at the grocery store.
You know you’re in Maine when….

And meanwhile down at the River ranch, there was pie.

Glorious lattice crust fresh blueberry pie.

No, I couldn’t wait for it to cool completely.

And yes, I had pie for breakfast the next morning.
If that’s wrong?
I don’t want to be right.
Because laughter is the only contagious thing I want to catch.

That sounds about right.

We didn’t.
We really didn’t….

I’m all for this.
As hard as lock down has been, there are some people I’ve been quite happy to avoid.

I could totally rock that look.

Yeah.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it with the conspiracy theorists.

That’s so wrong.

Tight pants.
A pandemic symptom I can totally relate to.
Which brings me to the new anthem for the Covid age.
Sing it sister!
We’re extremely blue at Casa River.

And loving every minute of it.

Our bushes are full of ripe fruit and we can’t pick fast enough.

The neighbors get a bowl.
The postman gets a bowl.
If y’all lived closer, you’d get a bowl as well.

After picking, it was time to dig out my favorite blueberry recipes.

The coffee cake was wonderful.

Bursting with fat juicy fruit.

Unfortunately, the cobbler didn’t cobble.

The berries were so big the batter didn’t squeeze up through, but sat at the bottom and made cake instead.
Of course, now that I think about it….

There’s nothing wrong with upside down cobbler.
It still tastes fabulous.
So if you care to share your favorite recipe…. I’m all ears.
And blue fingers.
For Boo, as requested.


The husband stopped for gas the other day in his truck. Since I wasn’t with him, he opted for a little haute cuisine a la convenience store.
Pizza slices in hand…. he settled into the truck cab to munch.
And then?
This:

A seagull spotted him. ( Or more likely his pizza )

Husband said the silly thing squawked up a storm, pacing back and forth on the hood.

When that didn’t earn him any pizza, he attacked the windshield wipers.
Husband said it was such a spectacle, people were taking pictures and one woman asked if she could put it on Facebook.
So if you see a retired Marine in a black Ford truck looking like Tippi Hendren on your news feed?
That’s my man.

And his new seagull friend.
But the ever dwindling woodchuck family is now down to three.

Momma chuck and two children.

The sextuplets are now twins.

And even more outnumbered by the starlings than ever.

But they’re growing quickly and packing on the pounds for winter.

So much so, it’s getting hard to distinguish them from their mother.

Until…

She stands up.

No doubt about it then.

Does anyone know where I can get a woodchuck girdle?
Asking for a friend.