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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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This weirdo bush was in place when we moved in 20 years ago. It blooms well, in big fuzzy pink blossoms.
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Bees and butterflies love it, so even though it clashes with our red baby barn… it stays.
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In my front bed? A small salvia that doesn’t get any larger year to year but keeps hanging on.
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Then there’s my little daisy.
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She’s so bright and cheerful, I went back to the same nursery later that season and bought two more of her.
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But as you can see, her big sister is large.
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Soooo much larger than they were supposed to be. They don’t even bloom at the same time. Major daisy fail.
😳
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Another day, another layer of stone.
It’s back breaking work and though I kept offering to help… I got the look and strolled myself back inside the house.
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Every time I thought he was almost finished, I’d check back to find he’d removed what he previously laid and reworked the section.
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And when he knelt inside the border like that?
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It looked like one very expensive sandbox.
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Bateau – def. a light flat-bottomed riverboat used in eastern and central North America.
A bateau is a boat, but in my neck of the woods? It’s also a brewery.
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Perched on the river in a turn of the century mercantile building, we met the owners recently and had to check it out. And though the outdoor seating had a great view….
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It was hot, so we opted for indoor.
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Which also had a good waterfront view.
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I liked the vibe, and I liked the beer.
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I did not like the fact that my husband and our friend found the strategically placed cribbage board and left me twiddling my thumbs for an hour .
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But I joined the Maine Beer Trail and checked in accordingly.
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And I drank.
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It was called pucking sour… and it was, with cherry and pomegranate undertones.
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The husband came home from the gas station with something cradled in his hands the other day.
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A perfectly dried and preserved Monarch butterfly he found on top of the gas pump.
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Such delicate, beautiful creatures.
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He (she?) will reside on the auxiliary desk in our home office, with the hummingbird nest a girlfriend gave me and the pig made from nut shells I bought in Chinatown when I was a child.
🙂
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