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Remember the perennials I bought for the stone bordered garden bed out back?
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There was a big beautiful purple and white lupine ready to go.
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They’re iconic in Maine and I’ve always loved them.
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But apparently so did the woodchucks.
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Goodbye bloom.
Goodbye leaves.
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This is what’s left of the lupine and what used to be a lovely pink phlox.
Grrr….
😡
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The husband had to move my car, set up the ladder and climb into the garage crawl space to reach the leftover vinyl siding recently.
When he got up there? A surprise.
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There was a suspicious hole in the siding box.
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And nesting material strewn around the opening.
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See all the insulation and stuffing to the left?, in between the rungs of the ladder?
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You know what means.
🐿
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The frost danger has probably but who the hell knows because it’s Maine passed and now it’s time to fill that beautiful raised stone bed my husband built last year.
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My first trip to the nursery made me realize another trip is in order. Such a hardship.
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But look at our little crabapple tree.
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Finally in full bloom.
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So far… this is what will be living in the garden.
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I realized I chose too much pink and purple so the next trip will be for peach, red and maybe white to round it out.
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When we moved to our house in 2002 most of the back yard was waist high fields. Over the years my husband… aka the Lawn Ranger… turned the fields into lawn. And in the middle of that lawn?
Nine high blueberry bushes. (So named because the famously sweet low bush Maine blueberries are literally ankle high.)
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We’ve had good years and bad as far as harvesting goes. Sometimes the birds eat them all, sometimes we have a late frost and they never grow properly.
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Pruning is important but sadly this year we lost two bushes.
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The blossoms smell divine and everywhere there’s a bloom?
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There will be a berry…
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Like this in mid to late August.
Not wanting to miss out on summer pie, the husband and I went to a large nursery and purchased two replacement bushes.
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I was a bit shocked at the sticker price of $49.99 each, but fresh blueberry lemon pound cake with lemon glaze can not be denied.
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Fingers crossed they fruit this year.
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Woke up this morning to this….
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On further inspection it looks like the raccoon has been washing up again.
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Though it could be a Pterodactyl, you never know.
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Lately we’ve just had the junior woodchuck visiting the backyard. He was the runt of last year’s litter and though momma chuck is famous for booting all the kids out of the den as soon as they’re grown, this little guy is still living at home.
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But momma is not pleased.
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Every time he gets near her she barks and bites and drives him off.
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Watermelon is not to be shared with deadbeat kids who live in the basement.
🤣
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You can’t use it. But it may make you smile…
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Sorry, it will always be the Wienermobile to me.
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And you know someone had to actually lick it to warrant posting that sign.
In local news, the Wiener was recently spotted boarding a ferry in Maine.
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You don’t see that everyday.
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Well, if Tik Tok says it…
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Another headlines that begs the question… why?
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Weirdest. Plant. Ever.
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Now that the apple tree (I didn’t plant but grows better than those I do) is spreading it’s branches we have more squirrels coming to visit our feeders.
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We have a wide open backyard and they prefer tree cover for safety. Like this hefty momma hanging out on the garden bed border.
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What a chonk!
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This my friend, is the perfect bowl of chowder. Found at the Freeport Cafe, an unassuming little place on Route 1.
Thick, rich, creamy and loaded with clammy goodness. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Driving along Maine’s back roads you never have to wonder where the rednecks live.
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They tend to leave their calling card.
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Smaller than the pileated, but still pretty.
He’s called the Red Bellied Woodpecker. Though I never have figured out why.
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I swear I don’t think it’s possible for our little front yard crab apple tree to have any more blossoms.
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Okay, maybe it’s not so little.
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But it’s small compared to the giant old apple trees in the backyard.
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People walk by and compliment us on it every year at this time.
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She’s a real beauty!
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If you’re a loyal reader you’ll remember we had a massive wind storm two years ago that did serious damage to our beloved ancient backyard apple trees. We had a professional arborist in to trim and prune them back and last year they were barren. No blooms, no apples.
But this year?
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Ooh baby.
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They are positively bursting.
And if you’re wondering how big they are?
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That’s the Barn Mahal for scale.
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I wish WordPress had smell-o-vision because trust me… it’s glorious.
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My little you never planted me but I grew well anyway crabapple is starting to spread out, but is lagging behind in bloom time.
Now I just need to fill my new rock bordered bed with perennials for a burst of summer color.
🙂
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River's world..... 