Rhubarb time. When everyone who grows the noxious plant tries desperately to pawn it off on unsuspecting strangers. This rarely works, but if you’re visiting Maine in June, be warned.
Our small town has a wonderfully inventive food bank and is supported by many of our organic farmers. You never know what they’ll whip up next.
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Lots of items are advertised for free around these parts.
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No free turtle? I’ll pass.
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Believe me when I say you don’t want this fellow nibbling on your toes.
I saw something interesting advertised on Facebook the other day.
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It’s some kind of fruit filled bubble that bursts when dropped in cocktails and I thought hey… that might be fun for the man cave bar. Until I saw they were $25 per plus tax… and $24.95 shipping. Undeterred, I sought them on Amazon.
While I was a bit disappointed they didn’t have the same brand, I was tickled by the imposter bubbles’ name.
Eight years ago the flowering pear tree we’d planted by the bird feeders when we moved to this house died. My late mother, who loved nothing more than sitting on the deck watching our fine feathered friends, told me we needed to replace that tree because the birds missed it. Sadly, she passed two months later… and because she wanted me to make the decision what to do with her ashes, I laid part of her to rest with a beautiful tulip tree in that very spot.
Unfortunately the tree wasn’t hardy enough for the rugged Maine winters and croaked two years later. As did the flowering dogwood we planted after that and the Rose of Sharon after that. Two years ago when our neighbor gave us a few river birches to plant in front of the man cave/barn, we transplanted a flowering plum to my mother’s spot. It did well, for two years.
But now….
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There it goes.
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Undeterred and very determined to give my mother the tree she wanted… we went to an extremely expensive nursery where I paid an astronomical sum for a flowering crabapple.
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It was a beautiful specimen. Tall and bursting with good health.
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So in it went, with my mother.
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My fingers and toes are crossed this one makes it more than two years.
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Because if this one dies, I’m really going to wonder if my mother is trying to tell me something.
When the weather turns dry and hot I always wonder how wild creatures find water. And since I was throwing apple pieces out to momma woodchuck and her brood, I thought I would try something new.
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A large container of fresh cool water.
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Unfortunately it sat there all day… untouched. She had no interest whatsoever.
A woman answered a Craigslist ad and brought home a free couch. She noticed it was lumpy on one side and when she unzipped the cushion she found $36,000 in cash. The remarkable part of the story? She called the owner and gave it back. Turns out the furniture they were giving away was from a deceased relative who was notorious for hiding money. The owners were so pleased, they bought the woman a new refrigerator.
What say you? If the money was in your free couch cushion…. would you return it?
In other news, some interesting critters have been spotted on our road.
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This fellow was right around the bend.
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This guy was a little farther down. In all the years we’ve lived here, I’ve never spotted a moose. I’m hoping he’ll make his way to our backyard buffet soon.
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Two ostriches for $880 or three for $190. Someone needs to check their ad copy.
Walking Lord Dudley Mountcatten has been interesting lately.
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Woodchuck babies are on the move and seem to pop up every time we turn around. Add a few grey squirrels and his Lordship doesn’t know who to chase first.
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That’s one confused feline right there.
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The woodchucks may be more plentiful right now….
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But it’s the squirrels that drive him to distraction. After 30 minutes of active stalking and cackling ..
River's world..... 