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Never let it he said the wild critters at Casa River are underfed.
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Talk about a chonk!
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Winter hibernation will be a breeze this year.
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😉
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Jabba the Chuck.
Tag Archives: maine
Beam/ceiling repair project, day two…. good news is usually too good to be true.
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Our contractor started bright and early on day two but it turns out the good news from day one wasn’t all good.
No, the beam doesn’t need to be replaced but the overall support structure needs work which required a temporary load bearing wall to be built inside the plastic cave. .
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Turns out whoever built this addition back in ‘94 didn’t do a good job with the rafters.
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It’s hard to get proper pictures of the problem but things are separating and that’s not good.
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I’m no carpenter, but the fact that those tiny nails trying to grab onto the beam have been the only things holding up part of our living room roof was a little concerning.
The repair options were these:
1. Hire a structural engineer (at considerable cost) to come in and completely rip apart the entire addition roof, replace the beam and redo all the rafters and trusses.
Or….
2. Since the existing beam is solid (and has miraculously held everything in place for the past 30 years with virtually no support) have our contractor square everything, redo the rafter and truss supports, add heavy duty hangers, and make sure everything is properly secured.
Needless to say we chose door number two.
Since our contractor isn’t a structural engineer he can’t guarantee things won’t sag in another 30 years but realistically, my husband will probably be gone and I’ll be in an old folks home… so who cares?
🤣
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Work continues, in a very small space and in the pouring rain. It would be nice if the saws and power tools could be set up on the back deck but we’re having monsoon downpours right now.
It’s always something.
🥴
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His Lordship is not pleased.
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Cats are creatures of habit and do not like change.
They pick their sleeping spots in our houses and expect they will always be there when needed.
So if a section of the living room is cleared to make room for a contractor to work and a couch that used to be in front of a prime bird watching window is moved…
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten makes his displeasure known.
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Whining, crying, mewling.
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This includes the what the hell is going on here? look. We’re getting it 24/7.
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On a side note, there’s nothing like moving furniture and a rug that have been in the same spot for 20 years to make you realize new flooring is the next project on the list.
🥴
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The next project begins.
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Our house is a bit disorganized at the moment. There’s a bench in front of the office closet..
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Living room coffee tables are in the den…
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And an arm chair is blocking the front door.
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Things are where they shouldn’t be because the contractor is going to start work on the beam and ceiling from Hell this week .
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Since the roof leak has finally been fixed, it’s time to get rid of this eyesore.
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To which I say…
Yay!
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Tails down please.
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We have stinky visitors every night.
(Pardon the picture quality, I was shooting through a window in the dark)
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Thankfully they rarely spray each other and reserve their perfume for the raccoons or fox who get too close.
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But when I flip the deck light on and see four of the little striped darlings jostling each other for access to food?
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I want to holler tails down please!
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And enjoy a scent free evening.
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Chasing reflections.
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We were driving alongside Cobbosseecontee Lake last night on the way home from dinner.
The sun was setting and casting a fiery reflection on the water …
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But I could never manage to get a decent photo of it from the road.
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And as much as I wanted to pull into someone’s private driveway, get out of the car, climb up on their porch and take pictures… the husband wouldn’t let me.
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Eventually we crossed a little bridge and caught a clear view of the sun…
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But by then it was too far down to be truly magical.
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Oh well, I tried.
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No bees were harmed in the making of this post.
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I recently joined a FB group that shares photos of Maine wildlife… and seeing that we have a backyard full, I was anxious to add my critters to the mix.
I started with our chuckers eating watermelon because what’s cuter than that?
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This post was well received with dozens of comments and over 400 likes on the first day.
After that resounding success, I thought I would share my helpful hint about putting mint leaves on hummingbird feeders to repel bees naturally and without chemicals .
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That’s when things started to go wrong…
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I never said they didn’t.
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I’m not killing bees, just stopping them from driving my hummingbirds away.
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Bee feeders? Well good for you, but I’d rather not attract stinging insects to my deck.
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I don’t use red dye, I make my own nectar and put it in a red glass feeder.
To be fair the majority of comments were favorable and quite a few people tried it and thanked me. But it’s like they say, no good deed goes unpunished.
🤣
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A little bit of this and a whole lotta nothing.
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In case I don’t say it often enough, I love my little Maine town.
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Keep your boring lost dogs and cats, we have befuddled bovines.
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And free flowers.
Is it any wonder we love living here?
❤️
Bored by sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room the other day I scrolled my phone and stumbled on a stupid “What would a Barbie from your state look like?” site.
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Maine Barbie goes hiking… in a mini skirt with perfectly coiffed hair.
I’ve been hiking in Maine. Trust me, women do not look like this.
On the other hand, they had my birth state of New Jersey down pat.
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Jersey Barbie has bling.. and attitude to spare.
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Yes, I’m posting about grapes.
But not just any grapes.
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Margarita grapes.
You’re welcome.
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Liquid dessert and a sunset.
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After dinner the other night we heard thunder rumbling in the distance and headed for the Barn Mahal porch to watch the show.
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Appropriate dessert cocktails in the form of Kahlua and cream were consumed.
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Unfortunately no thunder storm materialized….
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But it was a lovely way to end the day all the same.
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Why does my egg look like a brain?
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I opened up a dozen eggs the other day and found this….
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One extremely odd looking specimen.
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After posting the weirdo on FB, I was told by my chicken people it could have been laid by an old or heat stressed bird.
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To he honest I was surprised it made it into the dozen container at all.
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It seems like a prime opportunity to hatch an Einstein chicken was lost…
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River's world..... 