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It isn’t often we see a Pileated woodpecker at Casa River…
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But this big guy flew in the other day and had a nosh on the suet nugget cage.
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Pileateds usually stay in the woods and rarely venture into our wide open back yard.
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Good thing I had my phone camera handy.
❤️
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One last cuddle on the old chair.
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One last before picture…
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After that, our farming neighbor and his field hands carried the old furniture out the door and over to his house.
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It’s funny because we gave him the living room set we had before this one as well.
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It was a tight fit…
And made my husband wish our back door was just a little wider.
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One large scratch on the paint later…
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Empty echoing space.
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I love stumbling on a new place to eat.
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And while this seemed like your run of the mill sports bar, the blueberry margarita was quite tasty.
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And my husband’s go to French onion soup was anything but ordinary.
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It was served with its bread on the outside which we thought was odd, but the deep wine flavored beef broth was so full of onions and herbs and melted cheese you didn’t even miss it.
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My appetizer? Loaded tater kegs.
I’d never heard of such of a thing… and not being a tater tot fan, I almost passed. But these were delightfully crunchy on the outside and creamy, cheesy, bacon filled pillows of potato-y goodness on the inside.
Being a sports bar, all the televisions were tuned to this show. I paid less than zero attention until I happened to glance up and see this…
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Thinking it was just a typo, I grimaced and moved on.
Until this popped up on the screen a few minutes later.
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Ugh.
Not a typo.
Good thing the food made up for it.
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Baked haddock and Parmesan herbed potato rounds for the spouse.
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And a massive chicken, broccoli Alfredo (I ate for three days after) for moi.
Poor grammar aside, it might be worth a return trip.
😉
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Now that the weather is warming and the grass is turning green…
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Our resident woodchucks are showing up more often.
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There’s not much for them to eat yet and since I want them to leave my garden beds alone?
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The buffet is being laid.
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😉
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Shopping for bedroom carpet continues.
And you can tell one of us is not having a good time.
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This is not my fault as I found the perfect carpet on day one… but my husband swore he could find something comparable for less money so we kept shopping.
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This was an interesting display.
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Made even more so by the fact it opened for samples.
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After another whirlwind weekend tour of flooring stores, my husband chose carpets he thought were close to the shade we wanted. Even though I (and numerous salespeople) assured him they weren’t.
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Ironically the two large sample boards he brought home were very close to the price point of my original choice which kind of defeats the purpose… no?
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And since none of them were the right shade (again), my spouse is slowing coming around to the realization he should have just agreed to my selection a few weeks ago and called it a day.
Men.
They always have to do things the hard way.
😉
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After another week of unsatisfactory carpet shopping I had to throw the husband a bone so we headed for the coast.
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Wells is probably the longest stretch of sandy beach in Maine and is overwhelmed with tourists in the summer.
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But on the off season it’s quiet, which is how we like it.
After a stroll, we headed for beer.
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And while we’ve visited other Batson locations, this was our first trip to the laid back Fish Camp version.
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It was more casual than their other locations.
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With an attractive fishing vibe.
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A few raspberry lime sours in…
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I opted for the duck fat cornbread with maple honey bourbon butter.
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Ooh la la! Sheer perfection.
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As was the digital fireplace that didn’t trigger my hot flashes.
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Not sure what they put on top of this outdoor table to hold down the cover…but it looked like a giant wine cork to me.
😉
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It’s hard to tell, but I think Momma Chuck is back.
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I’ve seen two smaller guys around the property the past few weeks, but Momma’s always had a different look.
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And I think this is her.
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If we see babies under the barn next month I’ll know for sure.
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😊
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Since my husband balked at the price tag of the carpet I chose and thought it would be easy to find a comparable replacement, we shopped.
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And shopped, and shopped.
And then shopped some more.
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The man had no idea how many different beige carpets existed… and I was determined to show him each and every one.
Textured, tonal, sculptured, Berber.
Wool, nylon, polyester, olefin.
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There was even a line devoted to pet accidents.
But not a single one held a candle to my original choice.
The search continues…
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No, it hasn’t snowed again… but I realized I forgot to post these photos after our last storm so bear with me.
Can you see him?
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How about now?
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That’s our resident Coopers Hawk sitting in the apple tree waiting for lunch to fly by.
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The speed at which he snatched a dove out of the air astounded me … as I had my phone camera pointed right at him when it happened and still didn’t manage to catch the shot.
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Here’s a blurry pic of him sitting on top of his lunch for a split second before he flew away to eat in peace.
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We’ve had nothing but rain and gloomy skies for weeks… so when the sun finally put in an appearance?
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We were rewarded.
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This was a strange rainbow as it was quite low on the horizon…
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But it certainly didn’t dim the beauty.
And since I was standing at the open back door to take pictures, I asked the husband to keep watch over His Lordship so he didn’t slip past me to freedom.
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You can guess how that went.
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Though it did provide me with a nice photo of my two favorite men under a rainbow.
❤️
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River's world..... 