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We’ve been having a stretch of extremely (for Maine) hot and humid weather.
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And when it’s this oppressive, I always worry if our resident critters can find water.
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No doubt they can…
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But I feel better if I make the search a bit easier.
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😊
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Now that the peonies have faded it’s time for the day lilies to shine.
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As with all other perennials it’s a shame their blooms don’t last longer.
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We have them in other places around the property but this is the biggest batch.
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Such pretty faces.
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But gone too soon.
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I’m greedy and want more than a day.
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😊
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Momma chuck is a good mother and protective of her brood.
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I’ve seen her chase off a fox, a deer and a turkey.
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Every evening the littles gather to nibble under the bird feeders.
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And momma is right there keeping a close watch on the surrounding area.
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Mess with momma at your peril.
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You have been warned.
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😳
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A few photos from our drive up the coast the other day.
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Daylilies were blooming everywhere. Small batches in front of homes and large clumps growing riotously in fields.
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This was parked alongside someone’s garage. It takes model building to a whole new level.
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A lavender farm.
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Belfast harbor.
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Some serious rock.
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The (famous around these parts) Penobscot Narrows Bridge.
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It definitely makes you feel small.
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And always makes me appreciate engineers.
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It’s hard being a woodchuck.
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And if it’s not bad enough you have to battle your siblings for the daily buffet…
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Now you have to fight off a squadron of starlings when you’re trying to steal the fox food.
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Lots of little beaks make short work of the pile.
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Life is tough.
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Now that the driveway replacement is complete, it’s time to battle the ditch from Hell.
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This feature has been the bane of my husband’s existence ever since we moved to this house 21 years ago.
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It runs the full length of our property on both sides of the driveway and was dug (illegally as it turns out) by the previous owner.
Our neighbors on the left don’t have a ditch.
Our neighbors on the right don’t have a ditch.
The farm across the street doesn’t have a ditch… but we have a ditch that over the years has been caving in, filling up with gravel and broken road tar and becoming a nightmare to mow, weed whack and kept clean.
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My husband had the grass growing all the way to the road until the town in their infinite wisdom decided to scrape the sides down to gravel last year.
This increased the caving in by making it more unstable to snow plows and mail trucks that ride on top.
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Needless to say we’d had enough of maintaining said ditch and asked the driveway company what it would cost to lay perforated pipe the entire length and cover it with dirt we could seed and mow a flat lawn all the way to the road.
We were told nothing could be done until we had a signed permit. So we went to the town… who told us to go to Maine public works.
So we went to Maine public works… who told us to go the state DOT.
So we went to the state DOT… who told us to go to the town.
After a week and a half of this insanity I wanted to repeatedly stab myself with a fork… but my husband figured marching up to the capitol and finding the head man would be more productive. So that’s what he did. He found the guy who’s in charge of every single road in the state. He explained the situation and arranged for this overworked fellow to visit our property in order to give permission for us to fill in our ditch.
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Head guy came, head guy looked, head guy listened, and said he had to talk to legal.
A week later head guy called with a denial.
To which we wanted to say…
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The lame excuse he gave was this…. if he granted permission for us to fill in the ditch, who’s to say the next owner wouldn’t want up dig it out again.
What the …. what?
Who cares!
To pacify my irate husband, he agreed to visit us again with a proposal that the state could come and dig out the ditch, build up the sides and make it more stable… at their cost. Which sounds good in theory but in reality would just put us back to where we were 21 years ago with a steeper ditch that’s harder to keep clean. And I hate to say it, but we aren’t getting any younger.
Head guy is coming back next week.
I’ll keep you posted.
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The little nibblers are on the move and nibbling everything.
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They love carrots and lettuce and broccoli and apples.
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They also love our back deck.
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Unfortunately they love it a little too much.
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How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
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Too much!
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🥴
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I’ve been cat sitting for our neighbors this week.
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They live one door over and down behind us near the river. They’re also the neighbors who had their driveway redone the same time we did. It’s an absolute joy to ride down there now.
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Pia greets me at the door upon arrival. She never used to, but has come realize I am the bringer of food when mom is away… so I am tolerated now.
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And even allowed to pet her on occasion.
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As long as the food bowls remain full that is.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten has been staring at the living room heat vent.
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I mean, for hours at a time.
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And it’s beginning to freak me out.
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I can’t see anything.
I can’t hear anything.
And even after removing the vent and poking around inside I didn’t see or hear anything.
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And yet…
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Every single day, there he is.
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Waiting for something… *gulp, someone?*…. to rise from the depths.
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If only he could talk….
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A few weeks ago I bought a lovely dragon wing begonia for the Barn Mahal/man cave porch.
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Thankfully the woodchucks don’t care for begonias and have left it unscathed.
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Until yesterday when I sat down to read and noticed the evidence.
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Muddy footprints.
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All over the table.
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They don’t like begonias and didn’t nibble, but clearly it wasn’t for lack of trying….
🥴
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River's world..... 