Tag Archives: photos

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The one where His Lordship investigates the deck project…

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Work has been progressing on the deck and the other day it was finally time for Lord Dudley Mountcatten to check things out.

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He approached warily, and then took a detour.

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To the stack of unused boards

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And then to the stack of extra wood, which he promptly climbed on and knocked over scaring himself to death.

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I laughed, so he jumped back on the deck boards and gave me the evil eye.

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When he finally ascended to the half finished deck, he explored a bit…

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And plopped.

We tend to do more sitting than walking on our outdoor excursions. His Lordship does not like to waste energy unnecessarily.

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But when he’d had enough fresh air?

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He paced back and forth in front of the door….

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Not understanding why I wouldn’t jump across the divide to open it.

So instead…

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He plopped, and seemed to approve of the new decking materials.

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Life’s a ditch… the nightmare result.

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After arguing with state officials for a month and pleading with them to let us fill in our collapsing ditch, this was their answer.

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A veritable Marianas trench at the end of our front lawn.

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It’s huge.

More than twice as wide than it was.

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It’s ugly.

A massive scar on the landscape.

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See the gravel? They were supposed to replace that with dirt and seed it.

They didn’t.

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See the sloping sides on which the temporary mailbox they refused to move sits? They were supposed to build those up so they wouldn’t collapse.

They didn’t.

This is worse than it was before.

A total nightmare.

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Deck replacement day 5… it looks like a deck!

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It’s been a long time coming, but things are finally starting to coalesce.

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I peeked out back at noon and saw almost half the deck boards had been laid.

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When the husband got home at 5:00pm, two thirds were done.

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Apparently with the help of a wooden mallet.

But because nothing ever goes smoothly here, it was then we learned the contractor had misjudged the width of the boards and would be two short at the end of the project. And since this is a special color no one keeps in stock, we’ll have to live with an unfinished deck for at least two weeks while we wait for the order to come in.

Sigh…

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But if I take a photo from this angle, I can pretend all is well.

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Life’s a ditch… part 3.

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The final part of this nightmare project was a total waste of time.

Remember the dry grass seed the crew spread, and then dispersed with a leaf blower?

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Up next was the hay tube.

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I knew it would be bad, and it didn’t disappoint.

Or rather it did. It was all disappointing….

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Dry hay particles , on a windy day.

What could go wrong?

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The air was choked with the stuff.

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Sigh….

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Life’s a ditch.

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As you know, the state of Maine decided to dig out the ditch in front of our house… even though we wanted to fill it in.

The head mucky muck said they would call my husband and give him fair warning when the crew would arrive so he could plan to be here during the process.

You know where I’m going with this right?

On the very day my husband ended his (unhappy) retirement and went back to work at the office?

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Yeah.

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Bright and early at 6:45am, with no warning whatsoever.

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I scrambled to get dressed and went out to talk to the crew, trying to explain the problems we’d been having. No one cared. Their instructions were to dig out a ditch and that’s what they were going to do.

I told them about the temporary mailbox situation and said it was too heavy for me to move, but could they please drag it out of the way when they shored up the sides of the ditch.

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As you can see…

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That did not happen.

They went right around it.

WTF?

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It was a noisy, dirty day at Casa River and I knew all they were doing was making the ditch worse. The carefully tended grass on top?

Gone.

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But look, they spread some dry seed.

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Which they then dislodged with a leaf blower.

Again… WTF?

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In the bottom of the ditch, they spread a rolled line of hay like fiber.

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What that’s supposed to do I have no clue.

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They dug and they swept, but if you look closely they did nothing to build up the sides of the ditch or the top which is what caused the caving in problem in the first place.

😡

To be continued…

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Darby’s Tavern

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A trip up the coast to Belfast brought us to Darby’s Tavern.

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It was built in 1865 and still has its original tin ceiling.

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The bar screams prohibition era retro.

And speaking of the bar…

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A ruby red grapefruit martini hit the spot.

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I think the Babe approved.

Darby’s is famous for it’s “from scratch” kitchen, and lunch did not disappoint.

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I started with homemade cornbread with blueberry maple butter. Ooh la la! So good I didn’t want to share.

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But the husband started with a sinfully rich cream of broccoli soup and kept reaching for my bread.

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Above the bar? The antique Budweiser lamp my husband has been trying to cajole off his brother who owns the same one . When you switch it on, the lamp lights and the Clydesdales start walking. Real man cave material, but Darbys wouldn’t sell theirs either.

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I ordered off the specials menu, though I had no idea what made a crab’s toe peek.

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Didn’t matter, it was delicious. Toes et al.

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Husband chose a broiled haddock in scampi sauce with a fresh green salad and maple Dijon vinaigrette.

Good drinks, good food, good place!

👍

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A veritable sparrow torture chamber.

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Warning: disturbing avian photo to follow, but trust me… no birds were harmed in the making of this blog.

If you remember, our contractor had just laid rubber protective tape over the framing of our back deck.

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I can’t say I examined it too closely after he told us it would protect the boards from water damage. I figured he knew what he was doing…

Until yesterday when I heard something strange out back and went to investigate.

What I found was a small sparrow hanging on the board, with one wing stuck to the tape. It’s little bird companions were tweeting and pecking and trying in vain to free it. I didn’t take a picture, I didn’t have time. I just wanted to save the poor thing.

Which I did, and it flew away happily.

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Although with a few less feathers attached.

Feeling pleased with myself for saving the small fellow I went back in the house, until I heard something strange out back an hour later.

Another bird was caught in the tape.

I saved that one as well and hoped that was the end of it.

Nope.

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Bird number three… who I did take a quick picture of before I scooped him up and freed him. This one bit me for my trouble.

Not wanting to continue the sparrow torture sessions, I grabbed a knife and made small cuts in the tape so it would lay down flat around the upright posts.

Thankfully no more feathered friends were trapped after that.

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Random snippets

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Cow!

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Mister Cow is happy in his new home and growing rapidly.

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Billions returns for its final season this weekend. Axe is back… and I’m totally on board.

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Pineapple margarita, just because.

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The baby chucks don’t look much like babies anymore.

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It’s getting harder to distinguish momma from the group.

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I performed a minor miracle last week and dragged my husband to the movie theater. This happens approximately once a year, so I have to choose carefully. And since I’m a history nerd? It wasn’t Barbie we went to see.

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When His Lordship is determined to look outside, no mere blind will stop him.

🤣

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Deck replacement… day 3 did not go well either.

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While we really like our contractor, I have to admit he’s not the fastest worker we’ve ever seen. His motto is do it once, do it right… which is great in theory… but I have a feeling it’s going to be hard on the check book.

After three days of work….

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We have perfectly level framing (which was already there, he just sanded the boards) …

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And rubber sealant tape.

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And one loose laid picture frame board.

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And rain.

Yes, we had that as well.

It rained so hard the contractor gave up and left, which was fine. Until we realized he didn’t take down his tent.

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An hour later tent drainage surgery had to be performed.

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And there was a lot to drain.

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Water is heavy.

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Which is why the husband performed the surgery and I documented the procedure.

Three days.

16 billable hours at $55 and hour.

$880… for prep work and some rubber tape. This is going to be one very expensive deck.

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