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The woodchucks are still hiding in their tunnel…
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And it’s proving to be quite an effective escape hatch.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten is undeterred.
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And extremely hopeful.
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Patience, thy name is cat.
🤣
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Hope springs eternal.
Tag Archives: backyard
What’s blooming?
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It’s daylily time.
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When we bought this house there were no gardens to speak of and very little in the way of plantings but there were two bunches of oranges daylilies .
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I can’t honestly say that’s where I would have planted them, but they thrive so who am I to complain?
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Orange seems to be the hardiest and most prolific color in my part of the world.
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And honestly they’re the easiest no fuss, no care flower there is.
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I’ve planted a few others over the years….
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But it really is a shame they’re true to their name. Each bloom only lasts a day.
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Stone garden border project day 3… aggravated husband day 3.
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Work is slowly progressing on my soon to be fabulous backyard perennial garden border.
Whether my marriage will survive it is another matter entirely.
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I’m not sure why my husband has chosen to take every single little thing I say about this endeavor as a slight, an insult or God forbid…. a question of his manly ability, but he has.
I go out and try to help, but somehow everything I do just ends up pissing him off. He’s sucking the joy out of the process with his attitude and moodiness, but I will not let him ruin it.
I will not.
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If you remember, I advised we buy at least two pallets of stone back at the start. I knew we would need at least two full pallets, but no. My husband knew better and we bought one.
So when he reached the end of pallet number one and wasn’t anywhere near finished?
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He was less than pleased to admit we needed the second pallet I had wanted since the beginning and grumbled that I was gloating.
Me?
No. That would never happen.
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BOGO
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Because when your local nursery has a buy one get one free geranium sale…
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You bogo the hell out of that and fill your car.
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And your kitchen counter.
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And drop geraniums everywhere there isn’t one.
Empty corner?
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Not anymore.
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Momma’s little stinker.
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I can no longer call our nightly visiting skunk he.
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She’s a momma and she brought her baby!
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This is too much cuteness, I can hardly stand it.
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So sweet!!
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A junior stinker.
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Be still my heart.
❤️❤️❤️
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Stone garden border project… day 2, disagreement 2.
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I was helping.
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In so far as the husband would let me help… with what was my idea to begin with. That’s usually how things go at Casa River. I want to do something and come up with a plan… then the husband gets involved and does it completely his way.
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Granted he knows more about stone wall building… but I had a vision ya know?
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I like weird looking rocks, like this bird’s head skeleton I placed in the corner ….
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And these two that look like ham steaks. I wanted them prominently placed to give the border some quirk and character.
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So of course the husband moved all three and buried them. When I said something? He got ticked off and told me I can let him build it or hire someone else to do exactly what I want… and believe me that’s tempting.
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I love my husband. I do. He’s a wonderful man. But it would be nice if we could a work project together… in harmony, like we used to. Whether it’s male menopause, adjusting to retired life or basic old man crankiness .. lately he tests my patience to the point where I just have to walk away. Why must every difference of opinion turn into a fight? It’s exhausting.
Do you work well with your spouse/significant other. Or do you have to take a hike as well?
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The one where His Lordship takes a dirt bath, battles a peony and checks out the man cave.
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I think he does it just to aggravate me.
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On every walk, he will find every patch of dirt.
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And roll until he and his harness are filthy. The spot underneath the bird feeders that’s mixed with empty seed husks and poo is a favorite.
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And when you can’t find a woodchuck to play with? Peonies have to do.
Hard to believe in the year since we adopted his Lordship, he’s never made it out to the man cave. There’s something about the barn which always gives him pause. Oh, he’ll walk around it and try to crawl underneath it.. but it took me a good 9 months to get him comfortable sitting on the porch. Then yesterday out of nowhere he scratched on the door….
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And viola!
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A whole new area to explore.
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I thought he’d enjoy it, but before long he was whining and pawing at the windows to get out.
He’s a strange little dude our Dudley.
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Breakfast with siblings.
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Morning brings the baby chucks in a group.
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They squabble a bit now and then but as long as the apples and carrots are plentiful they usually munch side by side.
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Momma has been leaving them alone more often now.
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It won’t be long before she boots them out of the den altogether.
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Stone garden border project… day 1, disagreement 1.
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Work began on the perennial bed stone border recently… though not without incident.
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The existing bed measured 10×20… and when I first discussed the project with my husband I told him I wanted to expand it by at least 4 feet due to the apple tree that took up residence a decade ago. He heard me, but clearly didn’t care.
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Because when I looked outside the other day and saw him staking off level lines at the edge of the dirt… I said something.
Big mistake.
Huge.
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He heatedly explained the stone needed to be laid on flat earth and if I wanted him to do it, they would be laid inside the bed border. Period. End of discussion. Numerous hours of anger to follow.
Ladies? Never doubt the existence of male menopausal mood swings. They’re real.
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His way means I lose a good foot on every side, making my garden bed 4 foot smaller instead of larger. Not what I wanted. Not what I’d planned.
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But apparently what I’m getting.
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It’s hard to argue when I’m clearly not the one doing the majority of work. And I’m sure it will be lovely when completed…
But it would be nice if just once, we could come to an agreement without acrimony.
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Random nonsense
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Have you seen the new yellow watermelons at the grocery store?
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I had to try one… and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed. The texture was a little strange and I don’t think it was nearly as sweet as the red.
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No wonder it always looks like dolphins are having fun. They’re high.
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I’ve had this houseplant on a window shelf for years. I can’t remember the name, but it’s always been a small steady presence…until this month when it decided to grow long tentacles and turn into an alien. If I disappear from WordPress suddenly? You’ll know why.
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Don’t think raccoons are accomplished acrobats? I beg to differ.
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We’re dry in Maine. Unusually dry for this time of year. As in parts of our lawn are crunching and half the state is in drought conditions. Me? I’m still dragging 300 feet of hose out to the back 40 to keep our new trees alive. It seems we just can’t win when it comes to picking a time to plant.
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Whaaat! Not my ice cream.
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Whew. Only Floridian ice cream.
Sorry Florida..
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River's world..... 