Tag Archives: maine

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What’s blooming?

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This week at the Casa River gardens…

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Pink Astible. Guaranteed woodchuck proof, they hate it.

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A new hot pink bee balm I just planted. Dark red and purple are common, this one is as bright as a peony.

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My little rose is hanging in, but not quite as full as previous years. Fertilizer is on the shopping list.

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The geraniums are wonderful this year. Our local nursery is about to have a half price sale. This could be dangerous.

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A line of Stella Doro day lilies. Smaller than other varieties but still a nice burst of color.

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In which his Lordship searches for woodchucks.

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While Lord Dudley Mountcatten prefers watching squirrels and birds, the abundance of baby woodchucks scampering around the royal landscape can be perplexing. He spots them, but then they scurry into a hole.

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Usually this hole, which is really more of a tunnel dug under a burning bush after we removed a dead cedar.

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His Lordship is a patient soul and knows they’ll pop their heads up sooner or later.

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Catching them? Well that’s a whole other issue.

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After he sees one, he searches everywhere.

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Sorry buddy. I don’t think they’re in there…

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News you can’t use.

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Because it’s so much more interesting than news you can.

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That’s good to know. I’m tired of worrying about Covid anyway.

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Why the alarm? I think they sound perfectly delightful.

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Yes, I’m here to tell you first hand… it most definitely is happening. On the plus side, this is the first time I’ve been glad I came up allergic to lobster 9 years ago.

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Of course she did. I would expect nothing less.

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Mr. Happy? How can you tell….

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And is it me…. or is this one of those owners who starts to resemble their pet?

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There’s no such thing as free money.

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The husband and I each received a check in the mail the other day.

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No, it’s not another round of Covid stimulus money. It’s a distribution from what is apparently a huge stash of surplus tax revenue.

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Every Maine resident received them and while extra money is always nice, it does make me wonder why there was such a huge surplus to begin with. Clearly our taxes are too high and to be honest… I’d much rather they reduce that burden then send everyone a check. Or they could fix the roads and bridges. Or build affordable housing. Or expand the heating oil assistance program. With the current price of fuel, winter will break a lot of people.

And if you’re wondering how that money will be used at Casa River?

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It will try to slake the never ending thirst of our twin oil tank beasts. And at just over $5 a gallon? Both checks combined won’t come anywhere near to filling them.

😫

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Waking up to a horror.

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Warning- disturbing, graphic images of a dead animal ahead.

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Still here? Okay then…

I woke up the other morning and thought I saw something strange on the front lawn. Still in my pajamas, I asked the husband to investigate. He came back inside with a strange look and a reticence to tell me what he’d found. After much shuffling of feet and stalling.. he told me Momma woodchuck had been killed.

I couldn’t believe it. She’s a tough old lady and I literally watched her chase off a fox last year.

Much as I didn’t want to, I had to see for myself.

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Poor thing.

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Something… coyote? fisher?… had ripped it apart. But as awful as it was, I told my husband the good news. It wasn’t momma chuck.

He thought I was nuts and proceeded to deal with the corpse. He said I couldn’t possibly tell one woodchuck from another … but I knew.

And a few hours later?

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Momma chuck and her baby enjoying some leftover deer grain.

Silly man. He should never doubt my ability to identify the critters I feed.

❤️

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Bad timing.

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When a storm is moving in and thunderstorms are threatening? That’s when my husband decides it’s a good time to start installing a barn gutter and downspout.

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How close was the storm?

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Basically right overhead.

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So when the sky opened up and rain started pouring down? There was only one thing to do…

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Pour an adult beverage and watch it fall.

🤣

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