Tag Archives: neighbors

Weeeeee!!!

.

Twenty one years ago… when we moved back to Maine and bought our house in the country, I gazed across the road at the giant empty field and dreamt of cows.

Yes, I’m that person. The one you take on road trips who points out the window and yells cow! every time she spots one.

I’m not sure why. I certainly didn’t grow up with bovines in New Jersey, but I’ve always found something immensely soothing about watching cows graze quietly in a meadow.

As you know, the property across the road was sold to an organic vegetable farmer… and while over the years he’s had goats and chickens and ducks, nary a cow has been spotted.

I’d given up my dream of wandering across the street and making hooved friends.

But last weekend?

I spotted something wonderful next door.

Something I never thought I’d see….

.

.

Woot!

Cow!!

Well, a two week old calf to be precise… happily munching our neighbors front lawn. One ecstatic phone call later I learned he’s actually a class project for a grand daughter. Feed and raise a cow? That was never part of my school curriculum, but yay!

Our neighbor told me she has a feeling the adorable (cow!) project will more than likely be a permanent resident when all is said and done.

And I am beyond thrilled.

Cow!!!!

💕

.

A chicken visit.

.

Something popped up in my Facebook memories today that made me smile.. so I have to share.

11 years ago? A chicken came to visit.

.

.

This particular fowl was accompanied by our farming neighbor and his young son because he knows I love them and used to “chicken sit” his flock when they were away.

.

.

As you can see the bird made itself right at home.

.

.

Of course it found the dry cat food on the floor so I moved the bowl to the counter… which didn’t make a bit of difference. (Ugh. That old countertop. Glad that’s history)

.

.

Alternate snacks were offered and accepted.

.

.

Needless to say our 3 cats were locked in the bedroom for the duration of the chicken visit.

😉

.

Neighbors, past and present.

.

A local resident posted these photos, (which were actually postcards from 1933) of our neighbor’s house on our town’s FB page recently.

.

.

It’s a beautiful old home which was once a rose garden farm.

.

.

That must have been something to see. Can you imagine living next door to acres of roses? The scent would be heavenly.

Less fragrant but no less impressive? Our current neighbor’s vegetable farm across the street.

.

.

There’s a long tradition of growing in my little part of the world.

👍

.

Random snippets.

.

.

Our neighbors. The larger horse is an absolute bully and follows closely behind the pony nipping his butt all day long.

.

.

I keep rooting for the little guy to give him a good swift kick, but clearly he’s a pacifist.

.

.

A recently purchased tee shirt. I can never resist a funny brewery slogan, but when I researched this one I discovered it just sells equipment. No matter, it’s still beer related.

.

.

The look your cat gives you when you don’t share your chicken salad sandwich.

Sorry Dudley, it had onions. I couldn’t.

.

.

Since turning 50? This is the story of my life.

.

I’m festive damn it.

.

I used to go all out for the holidays. If it stood still? I decorated it… for Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentines Day etc.

My husband used to roll his eyes, but our neighbors loved it. Matter of fact… I never realized how much our neighbors loved it until recently.

.

.

As I’ve said previously, this year’s decorations have been scaled down. Wreaths on windows and doors and a festive sled.

.

.

A kissing ball.

.

.

Candles in the windows and a ( still standing! ) lighted animated reindeer.

.

.

The Barn Mahal has Santa in a plant pot…

.

.

Snowflakes in the windows and twinkling trees on the porch.

.

.

(The trees are multicolored, the snowflakes are white. But my phone apparently has a sense of humor and changes color at will. WTH?)

But even with all that I’ve done, my neighbors have repeatedly waxed nostalgic over the good old days “when you used to decorate”.

Like this year’s display is chopped liver!

.

.

I mean, really.

There’s a feline Lord backlit by candlelight. What more do they need?

.

It’s almost time.

.

I anxiously await late November every year.

Not for Thanksgiving.

Not for the start of the Christmas season.

But for this:

.

.

My very favorite small batch artisan gin. Made by a distillery in New Hampshire, we make the pilgrimage once a year so I can stock up on the plummy goodness. ( And at $60 a bottle, stocking up is serious business.)

Made with damson plums, bitter orange and fresh juniper, this gin is an absolute delight and makes your tonic shiver with orgasmic pleasure. It’s a seasonal treat and if the roll out is missed? River is not a happy camper.

For this reason I tend to bogart the elixir, and only roll it out on special occasions or for special people. So you can imagine my level of annoyance when the neighbors dropped by the barn a few weeks ago (with friends and family in tow) to share in the glory that is the man cave. We welcomed them in, gave them the $2 tour and offered them an adult beverage.

Mind you… at any given time I have 48+ bottles of liquor on the shelves, a mini fridge of mixers, soda and juice, a dual tap kegerator, and a full size refrigerator filled with craft beer, wine, hard seltzer, hard cider and canned cocktails. My point?

There be options!

.

.

It was then that my idiot oh so generous husband suggested the group try gin and tonics made with.. you guessed it.. my very last, hard to replace, time sensitive half bottle of Tamworth Damson.

.

.

If I could have reached him from under the bar I would have kicked him. Instead, I smiled through clenched teeth and poured the final drops of my precious spirit and handed glasses to everyone.

They oohed and ahhed appreciatively, asked where they could buy it, then promptly changed their minds when they heard the price. The only thing that spared my idiot oh so generous husband’s life was the fact that I was unable to offer refills.

And now I wait.

Checking the website weekly to see when my happy juice is next available for purchase.

There’s rumor it may not be until mid December this year… which gives me ample time to beat the mantra Do not offer the special gin without permission! into my husband’s head.

.

I love my town.

.

We live on a river, hence my blog name.

.

.

Apparently Maggie lives on the river as well.

.

.

There was an outdoor wedding last weekend. If only I’d known they were taking requests.

.

.

We have once weekly trash pick up at our house, $2.50 a bag…. But everything else has to go to the recycle barn. Decades ago when it was realized people were throwing out perfectly useable items, an idea was born.

While I don’t shop at the “Gift Store”, my husband has been known to come home with more than he went with.

😬

.

.

This is our neighbor across the road. His fields are looking pretty spiffy…. And oh! That fresh ginger.

❤️

.

The great goat escape and other random nonsense.

.

Most of the time the Facebook ‘memory’ feature annoys me, but last week it flashed back to this day 8 years ago and I had to laugh.

.

.

Because 8 years ago that day our farming neighbor’s goats broke free and headed straight to our house. Have you ever tried to herd goats? As our neighbor will tell you…

.

.

It’s not a one man job. We chased them around our property for quite a while and got nowhere, but with reinforcements we eventually managed to shoo them back home.

In other news, I saw this and had to share.

.

.

Now that’s what I call mother’s revenge.

.

.

Scrabble. Even with letters like that I reigned supreme and won the game.

.

.

We have a dying shrub and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. We planted it 18 years ago and have never had an issue.

.

.

Then I looked underneath it one day and saw the giant woodchuck burrow. Mystery solved.

😡

.

.

I do.

I really do…

.

I love my town…

.

You never know what serious news stories will be discussed on my town’s Facebook page. The economy? Yes. Climate change? Sure. But I live in Maine…. so likely as not? It will be this:

.

.

Bear poop beats the G-7 Summit any day.

.

.

The conversation got heated and had to be removed by admin. We take our poo identification seriously up here.

.

.

Now that’s my kind of neighbors.

.

.

Someone is selling peony blossoms for $3 a pop?

.

.

Woot!

I’m going to be rich.

.

.

I’ve read that the cost of rental cars had gone up, but $3,000 for a week?

That’s beyond insane.

.

Down on the farm.

.

It had been a while since we visited our farming neighbors across the road, so the other day we took a walk.

.

.

Unfortunately they weren’t home, but we took the time to check out what was happening on their farm. There’s something about strolling through verdant fields of crops that just makes me smile.

.

.

Every time we visit there’s something new.

.

.

This time it was a veritable village of greenhouses.

.

.

These seemingly sprung up overnight, with full irrigation… which must have been quite a feat.

.

.

A house addition was under way as well.

.

.

Why was there a skeleton prominently displayed on the barn wall? It’s probably better if we don’t ask.

.

.

Ugh. I suppose a row of kale was inevitable.

🤢

.

.

There’s our Barn Mahal/man cave in the background.

.

.

We never realize how much it dominates the landscape until we see it from far away. Oops.

☺️

.

.

On our way out we had to stop by the farm stand they opened when Covid shut down most of their markets.

.

.

And naturally we came home with a few things.

.

.

Lettuce, spinach, potatoes and blueberry yogurt. You can’t get much fresher than that.

.