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Fortified with a wonderful meal, we continued our aimless wandering through Vermont.
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It’s hard to take a bad photo there, especially in the fall. Mountains, trees, and cows.
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Mountains, cows, and farms.
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Every once in a while you’ll pass through a town.
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Then it’s back to mountains, trees, and cows.
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And a very serious porch lover.
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Also, there were fish.
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I have no explanation for random fish, but they were delightful all the same.
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Seeing that we were in Robert Frost country, we followed his example and took the road less traveled.
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In Vermont that means one minute you’re passing open fields and meadows…
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And the next you’re driving a road cut through a mountain.
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My car was straining on some of the inclines, I can’t imagine bicycling up it.
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Or down it in the drizzle and fog.
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That pretty much describes the way we travel. I pick a spot of interest and we explore at will along the way.
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You never know what you’ll find.
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Like this sweet little riverfront park in the middle of nowhere.
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With a touching memorial rock.
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And some funky flora.
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Required selfie.
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And more heartfelt rocks.
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Rock snot!
Proof positive you really do learn something new every day.
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Autumn in New England. The pumpkins, the apples, the brightly colored foliage. You really can’t beat it.
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Nice try Florida, but you’re not even close.
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The poor man has been eating tofu burgers and kale sausage… can you really blame him?
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Gee, here’s an idea…. how about cleaning the litter box you freakin’ idiot.
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I think the parent foxes have booted the kids out of the den. They’re here every evening now.
💕
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I woke up yesterday morning to fog in our neighbor’s field….
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And the distinct sound of rumbling…. which at this time of year could only mean one thing.
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Fall in the country means bush hogging and as the sun started to break through, the hog was hard at work.
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Our neighbor hires a local man every autumn to knock down the growth in her fields. This is necessary if you want to keep fields from becoming forests and since he’s right next door…. we piggyback on the opportunity and have him do our little parcel of back field as well.
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And as I looked out on our backyard pre hogging, I was pleased to see the maple trees we planted this spring had survived the awful summer drought and were beginning to turn color like their larger neighbors.
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It was touch and go for a while. Maine was hot and dry for months and we’re on a well. I had to stop dragging my 300 feet of hose out there to water them and I feared our nearly $1,000 investment would shrivel up and die. But they seem to have hung on and for that I’m grateful.
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Later on in the day it was our turn.
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And those trees sure do make a dramatic background for hogging.
🙂
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Seriously, no one needs to know this stuff.
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After reading that, I’ve come to the conclusion my beloved Red Sox are just phoning it in. Rather like their playing this season.
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Yeah, right. Do they think I haven’t seen Children of the Corn?
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A three foot long earthworm? That’s a large amount of ick factor.
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Of course it is.
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I’m going to have to take their word for that.
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Thank you, but no.
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After checking into our resort there was still daylight left to burn,,,, so we jumped in the car for a scenic drive.
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Being Vermont, you can’t go far without seeing a covered bridge and this one was right down the road.
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The Grist Mill Bridge, built in 1872.
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And to the right of the bridge?
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Grist Mill Park.
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If you’re wondering where the grist mill is? Join the club, so were we.
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And as the sun was setting, we drove.
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No particular destination in mind, just enjoying the scenery and the oh so very green grass.
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Untouched photo. The fields really were that green. A pleasant respite from the awful brown summer we had in Maine.
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Gentle rain started to fall as it got dark and we turned back toward the resort. It’s a good thing the husband was driving because on one of the twisty turny mountain roads, on a corner, in the dark, in the rain… it happened. A full grown deer darted out right in front of us. Thankfully the husband’s reflexes were good, and thankfully no one was coming in the opposite direction. He swerved just enough so we didn’t have a deer come through the windshield, but it hit my car’s right front bumper with an awful thwack. We stopped. The deer ran off and seemed to be okay. My car? Not so much.
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The husband managed to push the panel back in place, but it was cracked in numerous places and the fog light housing was smashed.
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It could have been soooo much worse. But good grief, it was a helluva way to start a vacation.
🥴
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We set off early Tuesday morning and it was a perfectly beautiful day. Sunny, with a delightful bite of crisp fall air.
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We hit the western Maine mountains before 10….
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And the New Hampshire White Mountains shortly after. Leaves were just beginning to turn and it was wonderful.
At 1:00?
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Hello Vermont! We’ve missed you.
And you’re welcome, though I’m not sure what we did to deserve your thanks.
If you’ve never been to Vermont? I have one word for you… go!
Verdant green fields and barn red barns. Gentle rolling hills and well tended farms. Picturesque mountain villages and of course, cows.
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It’s gloriously scenic, delightfully quirky, and utterly addicting.
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We were sad to see The Farmer’s Daughter gift shop had lost its daughter. There used to be a large sign out front of a farm girl with her skirt blown up… but all that’s left now are the hands, hanging disembodied and more than a little creepy.
We did see a giant hammer wind mill down the road…
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But it doesn’t bring the same smile to your face as that saucy wind blown wench.
When we headed north and west towards our resort, the weather took a turn.
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Eerie, ominous skies dominated the rest of the way and by the time we arrived in the little town of Jeffersonville?
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Rain. And so much high fog you couldn’t see the mountains.
To be continued….
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We’ve had a lovely pair of foxes visit our backyard for years, but this season?
They brought the kids.
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While we’ve seen a kit or two every once in a while, it’s a rare thing since our back lawn is large and predominantly cover free. Momma fox is a careful parent and won’t expose her offspring to open areas unless she knows it’s safe.
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So you can imagine how our jaws dropped when 6 foxes appeared in our backyard recently.
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No, you’re not counting incorrectly… there are only five pictured.
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By the time I got over the shock and grabbed my phone… number 6 had moved over to the blueberry bushes, out of range.
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But damn, 5 foxes is still an impressive sight.
❤️
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I’ve been waking up in the morning to completely empty bird feeders, which is odd because I refill them every evening. Usually this means the deer are back… but we’ve only seen one or two wandering around lately. Then last night, I flipped on the light at 10:00pm.
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Busted!
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The seed thief caught in the act.
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If you think those pudgy raccoons aren’t limber, I’ve got news for you …
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They can shimmy up and down poles as well as a squirrel and hang by two feet at will.
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Excuse the poor quality pics, I was shooting through the window.
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When Fatso finished emptying the feeders, he plopped down on the ground with the skunks.
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Who were none to happy to share and gave him their business ends.
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Cute little masked devils.
💕
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We’ve finally received some much needed rain and our lawn has responded accordingly.
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The grass has started to turn green… just in time for it to turn brown in the fall…. and Lord Dudley Mountcatten approves.
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Not that you’d know it by his face.
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And while the grass is busy turning green, my husband is busy turning his rubber truck mat black.
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Back to Black to be precise, which made me start singing AC/DC … and it totally went over my other half’s head.
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Fall is here and cooler temps mean summer flowers are on clearance sale, like these sweet little hibiscus I picked up for the kitchen porch. They won’t last long… but they’re damn sure pretty right now.
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Another reason to love my town. A cart full of free flowers.
❤️
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River's world..... 