I love my town.

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Headline news is a little different in my small Maine town.

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Record breaking pepper? Someone call CNN!

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While I do have experience in caretaking bossy, moody diva cats and I seriously love me some chickens… fish? They’re just too needy.

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Momma Mia! That is one huge wasp domicile.

And finally, I saved the best for last.

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I’m crossing my fingers and toes this idea becomes a reality… and shall donate accordingly.

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When the world hands you giant zucchini…

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It’s zucchini season and it seems like everyone we know is giving us zucchini.

Some very large zucchini.

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Which sent me searching for new recipes.

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Last night it was this one.

( If you’re not overflowing with gifted squash, feel free to skip the next section )

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And because I was already in the kitchen?

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Yummy lemon cookies that admittedly, look more like biscuits.

But trust me, they’re tasty.

And oh so easy to make.

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It (unfortunately) never disappoints.

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Gather round boys and girls…. September’s Cosmo, aka the worst gift subscription ever, is here.

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On first glance I thought maybe, just maybe…. I could flip through it without being stunned this month.

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Yeah.

No such luck. And as I’ve said before, I’m no prude… but the in your face sexual content of this magazine never fails to surprise me.

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Greatest sex position. Wouldn’t that be a personal choice?

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Not according to Cosmopolitan.

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And… apologies, but I’m not going to discuss the Venus butterfly technique. Cosmo did, so if you’re curious, get your own friend to give you a year’s worth of this trash.

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OSHA who…?

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My husband finally fixed two of the three leaking gutters he put up a while back. Although gerry rigged would be a more apt description.

The repairs involved rolled metal sheeting and so much cursing I disappeared into the house for most of it. But when I went to check the progress on the barn a few hours later….

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I marveled at the non OSHA approved stabilizing device he had employed.

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Extension ladder in fear of falling over?

Tie it to a post.

🥴

When that repair was complete, he moved onto the section of leaking gutter on the garage and gathered his tools.

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When I followed him over and saw a section of tree limb was involved? I did what any self respecting spouse would do… and went back in the house.

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Because I’m full of random nonsense right now.

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I bought this for the man cave bar, mainly because Amazon is evil and it’s entirely too easy to satisfy impulse shopping cravings.

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It looked like a great idea, but in reality… was a royal pain in the patoot. The inner chamber would never seat properly and every time you painstakingly filled the outer, the water would leak through and pop the inner chamber up like a cork.

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Solution? Weigh down the inner chamber with frozen fruit.

I refuse to be beaten.

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The next time my husband refuses to listen me? That is what I’m going to show him.

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Cheaters chicken and dumplings. Easy, creamy and quite tasty. What’s not to love?

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In case anyone is interested.

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I use a family size rotisserie chicken, low sodium broth and lite salt with half the sodium. It’s still savory.

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For those of us who love our cats?

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This is probably very close to the truth.

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A new look.

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The Barn Mahal has undergone many transformations in recent years… from crap filled storage building to man cave extraordinaire being but one.

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And along the way…. the porch my husband didn’t want, the one he bitched about building but now loves because yes, I am always right…. has changed looks as well. When the siding was untouched natural wood?

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The old barn red furniture cushions were fine. But when the barn turned red?

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The cushion color needed to change as well. And if you remember… chipmunks, red squirrels, woodchucks and birds helped make the decision to recover a bit easier.

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So off to the seamstress they went… because no. River don’t sew.

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I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. And am hoping the critters give me at least a year or two before they tear these to shreds.

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Interior design fails.

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Have you ever driven by a house and thought… I bet the owners designed that themselves. Most people don’t have an architect’s eye…. and if the following photos are any judge? They don’t have interior decorating skills either.

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And look, they even mounted it on a rock.

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I can conceive of no floor plan that makes this a good idea. And if the toilet is where you get your inspiration? I’m not humming your tune.

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I can’t even….

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Sorry, but this last one is absolutely something my husband would do. And the sad thing is…. he’d think it was a great idea.

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Just a little grumble.

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We all know what passes for news these days is a joke. Gone are the days when reporters simply reported the facts and let you make up your own mind. Now there are left leaning stations and right leaning stations and we only listen to what we want to hear from those who reinforce views we already hold.

It’s a sad state of affairs.

And who determines what’s newsworthy? These days it’s probably based on the number of clicks… and that’s sadder still.

A while back I was scrolling through articles on my phone and saw this:

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Yes, this is what passes for news. A mother might have been scolding her child.

Alert the media!

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I think anyone who has had to deal with a teenage boy can relate to the “judgmental finger” but honestly…. did I need to know this? No.

Is it newsworthy? Not even close.

Am I done ranting?

Yes.

Yes I am.

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