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I woke up to this the other day.
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Husband was having his coffee, I was reading the news and Lord Dudley went running to the back door.
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Where a little inter species communication commenced.
I was all for letting our little back deck visitor in, but was prohibited to do so by my grumpy husband.
Boo to unadventurous spouses.
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Remember the picture I posted 10 days ago?
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My nemesis, momma red squirrel… doing what I assumed was chilling on the grass near our kitchen landing?
As it turns out, she wasn’t chilling.
She was splooting.
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While I’ve always believed I have a well rounded vocabulary, splooting has been noticeably absent.
Until now.
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The fur on their bellies is thinner than the rest of their body so in essence, they’re performing a heat dump.
Splooting.
There’s nothing like the satisfaction of learning a new ludicrous word.
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There are multiple reasons I blog from my phone instead of my computer… convenience, speed, user friendly app, etc.
But there’s also a more organic reason :
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And it’s name is Lord Dudley Mountcatten.
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The beast has completely taken over my office chair and has shed so many pounds of fur on its black surface I had to cover it with a towel.
He has a rough life, this cat.
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The husband and I hit another antique store yesterday, but failed to find any appropriate vintage beer or whisky crates for my vinyl collection. (okay, I did see a Budweiser crate but even I have standards)
I’m afraid the search is proving fruitful in only one aspect.
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And that’s enlarging the number of albums I need to house in the first place. But I was happy to find 13 of the same records I lost decades ago. A few covers are in rough shape, but for $2 each I won’t complain.
And lest you think the husband came home empty handed, he found a treasure for the man cave as well.
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A wood bound mixed drink recipe book from 1941.
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It’s a hoot and has some interesting drawings.
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As with anything the husband purchases, he always tells me to look it up and see if he paid too much.
This was the first listing I saw.
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Yikes! I was impressed he only paid $15 until I saw a bunch of others ranging from $20-100.
Good luck wdan1351. If you manage to sell it for that price? Please let me know.
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I think we’re down to two baby woodchucks now.
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There were originally seven…. and I’m choosing to believe momma just booted them out of the den as opposed to the more disturbing killed and eaten by predator explanation.
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The two remaining siblings stay pretty close together.
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Especially when feeding.
❤️
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Our second trip to the Blind Pig Tavern was shorter but no less wonderful than the first. Jumping back into their amazing craft cocktail menu, I tried a strawberry rhubarb margarita.
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I dislike rhubarb. But this was made with fresh strawberry purée and the rhubarb balanced the sweetness perfectly.
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The pole of shame, reserved for those who don’t pay their bills or stiff the waitstaff.
This visit was a quickie with just drinks and appetizers, but neither disappointed.
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Yes, it looks like they were wrapped in condoms, but the cold marinated shrimp with cherry tomatoes, spring greens and avocado in rice paper with tequila lime aioli was sublime.
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As were the wings and Philly cheesesteak flatbread.
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The pear mojito? Magnificent!
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Their array of dried fruit is impressive and rotates in clever little containers like this.
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The on tap beer list?
It’s folkin’ hoppy.
🤣
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Since the stone border was complete, it was time for the next step. Garden soil.
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Thankfully our local Agway had a giant pile and it was only a few miles away.
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(Action shot)
Though why my husband kept bringing back such small piles I don’t know.
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He made 7 trips, half a yard each time. And I kept spreading it while he went back for more.
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I’m hoping it’s good soil.
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But I’ll mix some fertilizer in before I plant just in case.
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Another action shot.
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It should not surprise you to learn that halfway through the process the husband decided I was raking incorrectly and relieved me of the job.
🤣
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Viola!
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The what seemed like never ending stone perennial garden border construction is complete.
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Yes, it’s much smaller than I wanted.
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But I’m pleased with it all the same.
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It was a lot of work and the husband did a great job.
But the best part? Our marriage survived all the arguments it caused.
Next up? Dirt and flowers!
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P.S….. I wrote this a few weeks ago. The lawn is actually the crunchy brown from yesterday’s post.
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Our carefully tended lush green lawn is gone. Baked to a crisp by record breaking heat and dry weather.
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How dry? Severe drought dry…
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How hot?
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Feels like 108 degrees before 10 in the morning hot. I live in Maine FFS! This is not supposed to happen.
That bright green patch of sod we laid?
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Dead.
My full and healthy for the past 20 years boxwood shrubs?
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Dying.
The brand new flowering crabapple tree we planted on June 7th over my mother’s ashes?
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Might soon be joining her in the hereafter.
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It’s beyond depressing at this point and moving toward the panic stage. We live in the country and rely on a well for water. As much as I’d like to water the garden, I can’t. Hell, I’m down to doing laundry twice a week and not flushing for number one.
(TMI? Sorry.)
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As I type this, yet another flash thunderstorm is moving past us without a drop of rain falling.
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Now that’s just cruel.
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Of course it happened on the day we’d invited friends over for adult beverages and pool in the man cave. I’d gone out early to set up some tasty snacks and heard an awful noise coming from under the bar.
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My mini mixer fridge.
Oh, the horror!
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Frozen solid and ready to burn out the motor. I unplugged, emptied, laid down a towel and propped open the door to defrost. Thinking our not even two year old expensive appliance was ready to die, I did some research. Turns out over packing a mini fridge is common and once the air flow is blocked it freezes up.
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And yes, I was certainly guilty of that. Club soda, tonic, Coke, ginger ale, Sprite, Bloody Mary mix, Tom collins mix, premixed margaritas, cranberry juice, lemonade, lime juice, orange juice etc. I have a well stocked bar, I need a well stocked mixer fridge!
I’m happy to report the 24 hour defrost worked with no apparent damage. Fridge is back up and running though with considerably less inventory this time around.
Thankfully we have a much larger beer fridge for the overflow.
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River's world..... 