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I spied someone on the deck railing recently, and as you can see… the royal feline was clueless.
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The someone was a juvenile Coopers Hawk.
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There’s good hunting under our bird feeders and this beauty was seriously interested.
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After ten minutes of me taking pictures and saying hey, there’s a big bird outside…
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His Lordship caught on.
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Hullo gawgeous!
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Raptors are fascinating creatures.
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And seeing one this close is a special experience.
❤️
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On an overcast and dreary day, my husband went out back to battle the trees.
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If you remember, we planted 6 trees in the north forty 2 years ago. Four maples and two cherries. The maples are thriving, the cherries are dead… thanks in no small part to the deer who apparently see cherry wood and think “snack time”!
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Dry and brittle, my husband thought it would be a simple thing to rip them out of the ground.
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He was mistaken.
Our miserable backyard clay was not letting go.
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He pulled, he tugged, he dug, and finally resorted to sawing them down.
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Take that you stubborn dead tree.
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Healthy maple tree on the right.
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Dead cherry #2.
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Just as difficult to remove as #1.
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A hard fought battle.
But he was victorious .
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Someone was enjoying the patio furniture on our deck the other afternoon….
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And it wasn’t me.
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This does not bode well.
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Not well at all.
She looks way too comfortable.
🥴
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Momma chuck and her one remaining baby were at the feeding station yesterday and after I took this picture, I realized what else was there.
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Look in the two flat bird feeders.
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Two red b*tches.
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Two!
Batten down the hatches.
That’s double trouble for sure.
😱
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I planted a penta and the butterflies are saying thank you.
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Yes, I’m posting more pictures.
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They’re such gorgeous little things, how can I not?
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So delicate…
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So pretty.
💕
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I lost track of the husband the other day and found him outside, in the process of moving stone.
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This is the stone veneer he had the delivery driver drop at the far end of our property instead of closer to the front porch of the house as it should have been.
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I suggested loading it in the truck and driving it over to the garage in sections to save time (not to mention his back) but as usual, he wanted to do it the hard way and moved it piece by heavy *ss piece to the barn porch so it would be off his lawn.
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While he hauled stone?
I picked up the styrofoam, cardboard and straps it was packaged in.
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And there was a lot of that.
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55 sections of stone, roughly 20 pounds each. Back and forth across the lawn… for hours, in the afternoon sun.
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Did I mention my husband is 77 years old?
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I swear the man is a marvel.
He never quits.
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Now I just have to hope the barn porch doesn’t collapse from the weight before he can move it over to the house…
🥴
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Our backyard used to be filled with butterflies. When we moved here 20+ years ago, not a day went by without seeing a dozen flutter by.
Now?
They’re a rare sight.
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Which is why I run for my phone when one does make an appearance.
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Such delicate beauty..
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I miss them.
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💕
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten heard something in the woodchuck burrow .
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten investigated.
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On the other end of the woodchuck burrow?
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A woodchuck.
Lord Dudley Mountcatten switched sides and waited on that end.
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Which meant a woodchuck popped up on the first side.
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So His Lordship switched sides again and waited.
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And finally, after Lord Dudley’s servant was tired of standing in the heat and about to drag him back in the house….
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Interspecies communication.
Disclaimer – no woodchucks (or cats!) were harmed in the making of this blog.
😊
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When the thermometer is reading temperatures this high?
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You ditch yard work and take a road trip west.
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To the lakes region, over the Naples causeway.
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Through Bridgton…
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Past ski slopes that look a little strange in the summer.
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To a premier pub in Lovell, Maine.
Any similarities between my husband and the pub sign mascot are purely coincidental.
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Ebenezer’s is famous for its extensive beer menu and hand blown glass taps.
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It also has a buzzard on the bar.
It’s hard to top that.
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They’ve won multiple awards and though they’re small and off the beaten path… those in the know, know.
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Belgians.
A white for the husband, a geuze boon for moi.
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I love their vintage signs.
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And their coconut shrimp with sweet Thai chili sauce.
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Some signs are prophetic.
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Good beer, beautiful lakes.
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A perfect summer day.
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You either love them or hate them. There’s rarely any in between.
I happen to love them, even if I don’t always understand them.
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This mural is in the old downtown area of our state capitol, Augusta. It’s undergoing a rejuvenation and this certainly brightens things up.
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The Kennebec River flows through the city and the Kennebec is full of giant sturgeon, so I understand the fish.
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The prehistoric cyborg dinosaurs?
Not so much…
🤣
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River's world..... 