Tag Archives: maine

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Apple graveyard

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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.

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Worst gift I ever gave him.

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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….

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Of landings and apples

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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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It’s official..

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Hooray!

We are now officially a two keg family.

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Yes, I finally chose a beer to tap. Naturally it was the most expensive one out there at literally twice the price of my husband’s.

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But look how much more fabulous my tap handle is.

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Duchesse de Bourgogne…. a richly textured sour red Flemish ale with a chocolate top note and wild cherry undertone. Brewed in Belgium and aged in oak barrels for 18 months, it’s pure heaven!

And the husband hates it so it’s mine. All mine.

*cue the evil laugh*

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Look at this handle. I mean really, it doesn’t get much better than that.

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Except for the fact mine towers over the husband’s. That’s pretty sweet as well.

👍

And in case you’re wondering…

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Natural born killer…. almost.

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We had a little excitement here at Casa River the last time I took Dudley for a stroll. While rounding the corner of the garage his Lordship pounced… and came up with a mouse.

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I hadn’t seen or heard it…. but His Royal Highness was on it like white on rice.

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And yes, it was a violent attack.

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Problem is, once the instinct to chase and catch faded…..

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He had absolutely no idea what to do next… looking to me for guidance.

And while I normally save all captured creatures… we’ve been having a slight mouse issue. Winter’s coming and I’m sorry, but I don’t want the little devils nesting in my warm car or house…. so I instructed Lord Dudley Mountcatten to finish it.

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The poor thing was mortally wounded and dragging his little back feet anyway.

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In typical I will enjoy torturing you by tossing you into the air cat fashion, Mickey was flying to and fro.

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But finally, the deed was done.

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Live mice? Fun toys.

Dead, non moving no matter how much you bat at them, mice?

Kinda boring.

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I informed you thusly.

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My husband doesn’t like it when I say I told you so. And oddly enough he doesn’t like it when I roll my eyes at him either. So from now on I shall be channeling Sheldon Cooper and saying “I informed you thusly.”

I uttered this phrase repeatedly yesterday when I walked out to the barn after a rain storm and saw this:

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In case you aren’t aware, apple trees limbs are not supposed to be lying on the ground.

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When we moved to this house 20 years ago, there were two gorgeous mature apple trees in the backyard.

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I put furniture under them, kept trimming the lower branches and spent long lazy summer afternoons reading in the shade. Then, out of nowhere… the husband decided I was hurting the trees and refused to let me prune them. I fought against this ruling for a few years and then gave up. This was the result:

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Every year the trees were so laden with fruit they hung to the ground. It drove me crazy but the husband wouldn’t let me near them with shears. I kept telling him he would regret it, but he wouldn’t listen.

So naturally, this happened:

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A major branch, basically half the Granny Smith tree… cracked and split off.

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I contacted a licensed arborist and he’ll be here in a few days to give us an estimate for structural pruning to save the trees from further destruction.

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And after we’ve paid a small fortune to someone we didn’t really have to?

I shall inform him thusly one more time.

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Goodwill is good for the soul.

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A girlfriend and I hit Goodwill the other day and if nothing else, it’s a great place to pick up cheap books.

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16 books for $21? A little slice of heaven right there.

Of course, even thrift store shopping isn’t immune to politics these days…

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And while I didn’t buy that tee shirt, I did buy this one. Because, honestly…. I had to.

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I shall wear it and point at myself the next time my husband disagrees with me. That should go over well.

My girlfriend was in the mood for Cracker Barrel so that’s where we headed for lunch. The restaurant was almost empty but the hostess told us there would still be a 20-25 minute wait to be seated due to short staffing. (I’m seriously tired of waiting for meals… have all the pre Covid waiters and waitresses been abducted by aliens and given the anal probe? If not… please go back to work. River be hungry. )

Since it was raining we chose to wander the store instead of sitting outside on the rocking chairs, and that’s where I saw this:

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For which I have no logical explanation.

But perhaps the biggest surprise of the day?

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Alcohol… at Cracker Barrel!

When did that happen? Granted it’s not a favorite restaurant of mine and I probably haven’t stepped foot in one since my mother passed but it seems like I would have noticed such a momentous event.

Since their beer was dishwater I opted for a mimosa, which was close to dishwater only fizzy… but yes, it was alcohol!

At Cracker Barrel!

The world really has gone mad.

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The price of visiting woodchucks?

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I can’t say this with any certainly, but I’m guessing the demise of our cedar tree was woodchuck related.

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It stood in that corner for almost 20years with no issue and then, wham! It was dead. Upon removal we found this…

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A hole, next to the trunk. And on further examination…

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A hump of dirt with a strategically placed pile of poo. On the other side of the hump?

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Another hole, which meant woodchuck tunnel. I figured they must have destroyed the roots of the tree with their digging, but in actuality the tunnel goes under these other bushes that weren’t affected at all.

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So it’s a mystery, but either way? I’m left with an empty space and a stump.

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Because while my husband loves to cut things down with his chainsaw? He could care less about the mess he leaves behind.

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