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I love a lot of things about living where we do, but the geographic placement of our house has to be at the top of the list. In the evening we have lovely sunsets out our front door, and in the morning?
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Well…
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The sunrises over the back deck aren’t too shabby either .
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😊
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Note- photos were taken the beginning of last week, after our largest snow dump of the season. 4 inches, big whoop.
We’re back to green grass now, which is crazy wrong for winter in Maine.
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A little molasses flavored grain is always a welcome treat.
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Two bowls…
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First come, first serve.
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Unless you’re small enough to sneak underneath.
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😊
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Our local deer herds wax and wane.
Some years we have 3, some years we have 10. Our record is 21.
This year?
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It started with 4…
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And has now gone up to 6.
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Sadly we haven’t seen the big beautiful buck from last season.
I hope he’s just moved on and hasn’t fallen to a hunter’s bullet.
😰
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The plastic was attached to one of the greenhouses across the road the other day, and then…
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We had a wind driven rain.
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Which made for an interesting show.
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It was almost hypnotic.
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And proved a little more attachment work was needed.
🥴
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So much beer, so little time.
The husband and I like craft breweries and since our state seems to have one on every corner, we’ve made it our life’s work to try them all.
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This satellite location of the popular Definitive brand in Kittery left us a bit underwhelmed.
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And after doing a flight of four mediocre brews including a dishwater Helles and two strange milky sours…
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There wasn’t much to keep us from moving on.
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Atmosphere and a friendly bartender are important to my husband…
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Sadly this brewery had neither.
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Neither can be avoided, though I’ve done a good job dodging the first so far. Unfortunately the latter keeps clawing its way into my checkbook like the greedy bastard it is.
Last year our property taxes went up $1,200. This year? Another $1,400. WTH!
I live in a small rural town that has no police force, or ambulance, a completely volunteer fire department and a consolidated school system that shares costs with 3 other towns.
WTH are we paying for?
Our home is a comfortable 2,000 square feet with a little over 3 acres. But we don’t have a pool, a guest house or a professional chef’s kitchen.. so what gives?
I know everything goes up, but $2,600 in two years seems a bit extreme. And the worst part? The assessor hasn’t reached our area yet and doesn’t know the barn is now a fully insulated and heated man cave.
And if I have my way?
He never will.
🥴
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On a bright and sunny afternoon, we headed west.
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To a small craft brewery called Ambition.
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To be honest I think it was misnamed. Not only was it small, but the barkeeper was more interested in talking with his friends than introducing new customers to his beer. We muddled along on our own, ordered and picked up our own flight…
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And were quite underwhelmed. The only brew that any flavor? Burned your throat too much to drink.
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With this many breweries in our state… we won’t be returning to the ambitionless Ambition.
Tasting complete, we headed across the street to a favorite restaurant.
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Housed in an old shoe factory with an original boiler door that fascinates my husband..
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Calzolaio Pasta Co. never disappoints.
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An apple cider mule with a garlic, chicken, broccoli Alfredo pizza on fresh basil dough for me.
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And a fabulous ravioli special for the husband.
Sautéed shallots & local Macintosh apples finished with baby spinach in a sherry & sage cream sauce over butternut squash & pumpkin filled ravioli.
All the flavors of fall right there!
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It is said man cannot live on bread alone.
I beg to differ.
We dropped in to one of our favorite restaurants the other day for a quick lunch.
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Royal River Grill House rarely disappoints.
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One cranberry margarita in…
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We enjoyed the views and the virtually empty space.
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It was a beautiful autumn day, everyone must have had outdoor plans.
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A new item had been added to the menu recently and we took full advantage.
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You can have your charcuterie boards filled with meat…
I’m all about the bread and butter.
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With a cup of creamy herbed clam chowder?
Damn near perfect.
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Having only had cats as pets for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware the following service was available for dog owners.
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Yes, there’s a company that will come to your house and dispose of Fido’s waste for a fee.
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After seeing this advertisement and having a good chuckle?
I did further research.
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Poopocalypse?
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Kudos to the marketing teams.
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Free belly rubs.
Who doesn’t love that?
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Yes, there really is a company called Doody Calls.
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They even have a truck.
🤣
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Having driven by this tiny brewery multiple times, the husband and I decided to drop in and try it the other day.
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It’s small, and colorful.
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Even their creative tasty beer is color coded…
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To the colorful flight tray.
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We spent a pleasant 2 hours sampling, drinking and chatting with the owners, a very nice young couple… who happen to live in our town.
They’re beer lovers and dog lovers.
Unfortunately the brewery’s mascot wasn’t there that day.
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But his picture was.
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And I came home with some fun pug inspired swag.
❤️
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