Tag Archives: blogging

You can’t pick your neighbors…

 

But you can bitch about them on your blog, and that’s something.

When we lived down south we had a rental property next door. It was a revolving door of nightmarish neighbors, each one worst than the last. For 17 years we physically cringed when the moving van pulled up to unload the next batch of morons.

You think I’m kidding when I say morons?

One guy came over and asked my husband how to change a light bulb.

 

images1K4W0WYV

 

One never mowed the lawn.

One had wild parties every night (and never invited us, which is the definition of rude).

One brought cockroaches to the cul de sac.

One had to be evicted (she may or may not have been a hooker, tough call).

One shot pigeons for fun and left their rotting carcasses in the back yard.

One ran an errand for his wife and never came back.

One painted the house’s exterior trim Pepto Bismol pink.

Yes, in retrospect it sounds entertaining. But trust me, it was anything but.

So when we moved back to Maine and chose to live in the country far away from the morons? When we picked a house where you can barely see your neighbors?

 

68d733597083130cbe0dbb4a6a29a8cf

 

Anyway….

Life was good. Until a dumb ass neighbor moved in to the house behind us.

Have you ever Google Earthed yourself?

This is a shot of our place.

 

IMG_9814

 

With a giant blue dot for what must have been me with my laptop out on the deck.

We own a smidge over 3 acres and as you can see, mow most of it. Our property line ends a few dozen feet into the woods and the adjoining property runs down to the river. Sadly, it was all one massive piece 2 years before we moved here. Wish we had found it before it was split up… but if wishes came true? I’d be 5’9″, 120 lbs and have a summer home in Tuscany.

The previous owners of our home lived here for 2 years while they built a larger house on the water. They were great…. but moved away after 10 years. Now we have a college frat boy/trust fund baby whose daddy bought him the house (for $750,000), gave him a prosperous business, which he then sold for a fortune and “retired” at 35. He spends all his time playing with numerous expensive toys and traveling on daddy’s dime. Must be nice.

But the reason for this bitchy post?

One of his toys is a giant motor home….. that he parks on the outermost limit of his property so he won’t have to see the damn thing.

 

arrow

 

That’s us in blue, with our little 3 acres. We own a narrow patch of the woods past the fields….. his house is on the upper left of the picture.

He had all that wooded land in between….

 

IMG_9813

 

But he parked the stupid thing 2 inches from our property line.

 

survey-says-xwg9t2

 

You can’t pick your neighbors… but you can certainly waste 478 words bitching about them.

 

 

Wording.

 

I love to word.

I love to read them, write them, and learn them.

And I love weirdo words most of all.

When you travel you hear words unique to certain regions and words used in different contexts.

Words!

Ya gotta love them.

 

unnamed

 

So when I saw this the other day?

I knew I had to share.

 

IMG_2757

 

I admit I’ve been known to make use of dingleberry, dicombobulated and kerfuffle now and then…. although I’m not nearly old enough to drop whippersnapper into a conversation any time soon.

In Maine we tend to say things are wicked. As in “That margarita is wicked good”  or “That beer is wicked cold”.

We also can lose control of our cars and end up in the  puckerbrush.

Mainers say  ayuh  when we mean yes.

We call submarine sandwiches Italians.

If you’re cute? We’ll call you  cunnin’.

If something is the best? We’ll say it’s  finest kind.

If you live far away from town? That would be the willy wacks.

And if you live really far away from town? That’s  bumblefuckEgypt.

 

you-call-them-curse-words

 

So educate me.

What words do you use in your backyard?

 

h24E06476

Grocery store oddities.

 

Proof positive you can find blog fodder everywhere.

Not being a Slim Jim or pork rind fan I passed on these…

 

IMG_2914

 

I mean, hey… I like spicy food.

But not hot enough to make my pig squeal.

Then there was this –

 

IMG_2916

 

A clever ad gimmick for Walking Dead fans, but I can turn into a zombie by drinking just about anything.

No apocalypse necessary.

 

IMG_2917

 

I did buy these lemons.

Although I was little disappointed they didn’t have seed spitting lips.

Next time I’ll look for the GMO versions.

They’re always more interesting.

 

gmoderp

 

And finally, back to the liquor aisle.

While the name Screwball caught my attention….

 

IMG_2915

 

I could come up with no reasonable explanation for adding peanut butter to a perfectly good whisky.

That’s just wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 16…. the trip home.

 

As we were leaving the resort for the 12 hour plus drive home, I found this behind a door.

 

IMG_2353

 

Clearly the previous tenants vacationed in the coat closet and didn’t want to be disturbed.

And yes, you read that correctly. This will be my last blog about the Williamsburg, Virginia vacation.

 

 

To think it only took me 60 posts to get here!

So…. it was a grey overcast morning the day we left.

 

IMG_2428

 

And I have absolutely no idea what this was.

 

IMG_2429

 

But here’s the Washington Monument….

 

IMG_2432

 

And the entrance to a tunnel.

 

IMG_2431

 

Was my husband obeying the speed limit?

No.

 

fast

 

He never does, but when you’re riding in a rental Brontosaurus and the lanes get smaller due to construction? My blood pressure ruses when he approaches 100 mph.

 

IMG_2434

 

I also look out the side window a lot.

 

IMG_2437

 

 

Although it’s hard to focus properly at that speed.

 

IMG_2440

 

Playing with my phone helps…

 

IMG_2441

 

As does laughing at some slightly painful road names.

 

IMG_2442

 

Here’s the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

 

IMG_2446

 

And the toll ticket that cut off our George Washington Bridge exit price on the bottom.

 

IMG_2471

 

For those of you who have never seen the New York City skyline on an overcast day from the New Jersey Turnpike at 90 mph?

 

IMG_2473

 

Here you go.

 

IMG_2474

 

 

IMG_2478

 

Next up was the George Washington Bridge, where I usually close my eyes and pray to the God of Tequila that I’ll live to see another margarita.

 

IMG_2488

 

Ironically… as soon as I started filming, the husband slowed down. Which is a good thing since the roads were potholed and in horrible shape.

 

 

Traffic was a nightmare.

 

IMG_2495

 

But it always is.

 

IMG_2498

 

And every time we pass these massive apartment complexes….

 

IMG_2500

 

I realize how blessed we are to  live in the country.

 

IMG_2501

 

Was this water blowing off the top of that truck?

No. It was smoke, because something was probably on fire. When we crept up next to it and signaled the driver there was a problem?

He flipped us off.

 

213yel

 

Ya gotta love New Yorkers.

 

IMG_2505

 

The rest of the trip was long, traffic laden and uneventful.

We were even too pooped to make our normal pit stop at the tax free New Hampshire liquor store.

 

pregfunny-fitbit-548x500

 

Technically I took a few more…. but still.

Why is sitting in car doing absolutely nothing for 13 hours so damn tiring?

 

Lead, follow or….. well, you know the drill.

 

I think we’ve had this conversation before, but if you’re a business…. hawking vitamins, web design, crptyocurrency, pet meds and/or ways to increase my readership…. I will drop your follow-ship like a hot rock.

 

338qrh

 

I don’t need an inflated follower count and am perfectly happy with old fashioned bloggers who rather read and interact than sell me something.

So, yay me.

 

IMG_2976

 

I’ve been zapping people left and right lately, and I’m sorry…..

 

IMG_2975

 

But sex young girls love you can find here?

You didn’t make the cut.

 

images

 

No, not really.

InTheNameOfSeitan gave me pause…..

 

Untitled

 

Until I learned Seitan just means wheat gluten.

Phew!

That could have gone bad quickly.

It’s official….

 

The end really is near.

 

L.L. Bean closing all U.S. stores amid coronavirus concerns

This is the first time in history that the Flagship stores in Freeport will close for more than 24 hours

L.L. Bean is closing all U.S. retail locations beginning midnight Monday through March 29 out of precaution for the spread of coronavirus, COVID-19, L.L. Bean President and CEO Steve Smith said in a press release Monday. 

 

Yes… the store that’s open 24/7 seven days a week, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas…. is closing.

 

VSH2-C0177-1

 

 

For those of you who don’t live in Maine? ( I’m sorry, you really should.)

Or are unfamiliar with L.L. Beans? (Where have you been, under a rock?)

THEY NEVER CLOSE!

Ever.

It’s kind of their thing.

They don’t even have locks on their doors!

Of course this is huge news up here as they employ like half the state…. so I can only surmise one thing.

We’re doomed.

The end is truly near….

It’s been nice knowing you.

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Chat!

 

So a blog friend of mine has time warped me back into the ’90’s.

 

video_control1

 

No, not that far.

Although the hair is close….

He’s started an old fashioned chat room and we’ve been playing around with it for the past few days.

 

chat room

 

Damn.

Now that I think about it… he does have a Golden.

But if you have a minute and want some less than stimulating conversation, drop by and say hello!

Arionis’s time warp.

Product Hell.

 

Have you ever walked through a store and spotted products that make you do a double take?

I do it quite often and always stop to take pictures to rant/blog/post about later.

Here are a few of my latest finds:

 

IMG_E9851

 

Pickle In A Pouch.

Unrefrigerated and languishing for God knows how long by the cash register?

That’s just wrong.

 

IMG_E9854

 

But Big Papa anthropomorphized Pickle…

The Portly Pickle who’s arms are open wide and ready to wrap you in his pickley goodness??

So very, very wrong.

 

 

Then… there was this:

 

IMG_E9847

 

A remote control Tom Brady helicopter.

Maybe Bill Belichick will use these to spy on opposing teams from now on,  who knows.

But I have to admit…

 

IMG_E9817

 

I think they got Tom’s shade of lipstick just right.

 

 

And finally, there was this wireless keyboard and mouse I ordered from Amazon for the husband.

 

IMG_E9819

 

Which looked great until we opened it and found it didn’t include a dongle. I went back to the Amazon listing and it said “Just plug and play”, so where the hell was it?

Let’s check the instructions.

 

IMG_E9821

 

“Keybord”?

 

IMG_E9820

 

Yeah.

Shame my Japanese is a little rusty.

 

a2d33dfdc0a323ef11ba8754db0c143cc7924f97_hq

 

P.S.   The dongle?

Hidden in a compartment on the back of the mouse.

It’s always the last place you look.

 

 

 

Home.

 

We’re back from 2 fabulous weeks in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Safe, sound and buried in dirty laundry.

 

laundrypilepitt (2)

 

It was a wonderful trip…. and yes, you’ll hear about it ad nauseam in the near future.

But while I tried to keep up with comments on my mobile, I’m afraid I didn’t have the time ( Or the inclination, let’s be honest! ) to read all your blogs while we were gone.

Apologies.

I was busy biscuit and gravy-ing my way across the south….

And that requires dedication.

( Not to mention larger pants. )

 

the-doctor-says-5b65b4

 

So here’s hoping you all ring in the New Year with the ones you love!

(Or the ones you can tolerate with a few drinks under your belt… whatever works. )

 

new years

 

 

 

No funny business….

 

Just a heartfelt Merry Christmas to my loyal readers.

 

video-christmas-background

 

Wishing you joy…

 

Awesome-Christmas-Tree-decoration

 

And a Christmas Day filled with everything that makes your heart sing.

 

1420687924467

 

May your tree stay vertical, may your outdoor lights stay lit…

 

3681-christmas-wreath

 

And may the birds not strip your wreath down to the wire.

(Speaking from experience)

 

post-page-header-christmas-service

 

And now seems a perfect time to say thanks….

Thanks for being there when I log in.

Thanks for putting up with the 112 part series of my vacations and my endless photos of rocks.

Thanks for the laughter, and the snarky banter.

But most of all?

Thanks for not posting those sickeningly sweet pictures of Elf on a Shelf.

 

53fc5689d787716830e2db123e78f887

 

I really hate that little bastard.

 

929a410cbdac8756a4811ba2bddd7256

 

(Okay, there was a small amount of funny business.

So sue me…)