We enjoy our nightly skunk visitors, occasional air pollution aside. They’re comical to watch but their presence often involves residual piles of poo. That normally isn’t an issue, but this morning’s deposit has definitely crossed the line.
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What up skunk!
Three acres of grass, fields and woods and you have to void your bowels on our kitchen landing?
Not cool skunk, most assuredly not cool.
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Well that’s a unique wine review.
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And apparently not well received.
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Have you ever wondered what your cat is really thinking? Judging from this picture of Lord Dudley Mountcatten, I’ve done something unforgivable.
Lord Dudley Mountcatten…. walked. In the harness. On the leash. Of his own accord.
Be still my heart.
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After weeks of useless excursions when all he did was glance at me in disdain…. the other day he suited up and hit the door running.
Well, strolling is more accurate but I’ll take it. No fuss, no fight. He walked across the lawn, around the barn and woodshed, climbed the front stone wall, got tangled up in the bird bath and even lead me over to the apple trees.
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Which he found quite fascinating.
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I was happy to let him sit in the crook of the tree sniffing and scratching the bark, but then before I could react….
Bam!
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The little devil was scrambling up the tree with me still holding the leash. He wouldn’t come down, so I had to go up, and it wasn’t pretty.
Ever try to wrangle a leashed and harnessed cat out of a tree? It’s not a smooth process and I don’t recommend it.
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Upon retrieval, his Lordship was exhausted and happily plopped in the shade. I, on the other hand, examined my scratched arms, broken nail and twig infested hair.
And if that wasn’t bad enough? This morning I woke up with a wicked brown tail moth rash on my neck.
Needless to say we will be giving the apple trees a wide berth from now on.
As we were leaving our small town’s festival I saw a sign pointing to a local artist’s collection of folk art carvings.
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The man and his art are well known in my town with one piece of this collection featured and displayed every year in our town hall.
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Three of the pieces were bought by private parties before the town decided to acquire the collection and were graciously lent to us for this event. It was the first time the collection has ever been exhibited together. Except…
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There’s one missing.
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The widow of the artist doesn’t know who her late husband sold The Raven to, but there’s been an extensive search … with no luck.
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You really have to see these in person to appreciate the craftsmanship.
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And my poor pictures don’t do the beauty of the wood carving justice.
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All the creatures depicted are native to our area. They are depicted with the joy of, and reverence for, nature.
So if you ever see that Raven? Please let me know.
Our little town has an annual community celebration and more often than not we don’t go. But after a year of hermit like Covid living, travel plan cancellations and avoiding large indoor crowds… an outdoor festival seemed perfect.
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There was live music.
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And the prerequisite ugly craft displays. Bird baths made from repurposed antique glass? I’m picturing myself scrubbing the poo out of all those grooves. Hard pass.
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The husband lost me for a half hour at the library book sale. A dollar a book and we had to make two trips to the car.
After my husband cut the wood and dragged off the small branches from his apple tree butchering….
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We were left with a veritable apple graveyard.
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I filled buckets and totes and gave a large box to our friend but there were still hundreds on the ground.
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I love to bake and will occasionally dehydrate but I’m not a canner. Which means we had too many apples. I tried to gift them to our neighbors but they all have trees loaded with fruit this year as well.
Enter our town’s Facebook page.
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I was immediately flooded with messages and let 3 women come over and harvest the bounty. They all filled big buckets but there was still more on the ground.
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Perfect! The porcine owner showed up with her kids, buckets, totes, bags and a wagon. She totally cleared out the area and I thought how nice… their pet piggy will be happily munching on sweet treats. I asked her to send me a picture of the cutie and sadly realized that little piggy won’t be happy for long.
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*gulp*
I thanked her, but declined the offer. Come on, if you name him? You shouldn’t eat him.
After the landing rebuild fiasco, I thought my husband was done for the day….. but then I heard the chain saw.
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And went outside to find that he had cut off the fallen section of apple tree we just had an arborist look at.
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I wanted to pay a professional to trim the trees properly and what I got was this…
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I swear how that man hasn’t killed himself is one of life’s biggest mysteries.
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I sputter at him to be more careful all the time, to no avail…. but I figure I might as well video his escapades in case the life insurance company needs documentation for my claim.
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The afternoon was spent cleaning up the mess.
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And our poor tree did not look happy.
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But at least there’s a nice wheelbarrow full of applewood….
Many projects are underway at Casa River and much thought is being put into them.
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The little deck landing my husband threw together from leftover brick pavers years ago had heaved out of place and needed a little work.
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But instead of telling me about it so I could purchase new stones that actually fit and lined up properly…. he asked a friend to help while I was picking apples.
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It’s been a banner year for fruit up this way and our trees are bursting.
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I see….. pie!
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The downed section of tree was a bonanza.
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Back at the unsupervised project?
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Things were not going well.
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And now we have a landing with faded bricks that is just a bit less than square.
🥴
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 