HOPE

This is that week every year where the kids are off from school, tons of people are on vacation, and many others are “chowing-down” before they start their New Year diet which will be over by February 1^st.   It’s also where we look back over the past year and then look forward.  Looking back at this blog I have posted 26 times this year (unless I squeak in one more), so about one post for every two weeks on average. I could certainly post more and I often “think” about it but then days will pass and the reason to post whatever was then on my mind will seem old and historic.  In viewing the statistical analytics about this blog it tells me my most popular post for 2011 by far was about Hydrangeas and a Fire-Pit.

http://androscogginbloggin.blogspot.com/2011/05/hydrangeas-fire-pit-and-other-things.html

I not sure why this would be the most popular post but perhaps it is telling me people like to read about flowers.  With this knowledge in hand maybe I should post more about flowers to meet that market demand.  The thing is I’m not a flower expert and I have a limited selection in my yard but that shouldn’t stop me from trying right?  It’s hard to conceive about writing on things growing when the ground is now covered with snow and will be that way for months to come. 

Do I have goals for 2012?  Yes I do.  The first goal is to be here for Lauren. After her cancerous kidney removal last March we can’t take the future for granted.  The second goal is to be conscious of appreciating each person in my life and what they have to offer. This is easier said than done with some but what I mean is I intend to “listen” for understanding. The third goal is to earn a bit more money (or win the lottery). I’ve come to a point in life where I really don’t value money as that important however I do have those needs that require some of it and more then I appear to be making currently. The fourth goal is to do those house projects that I can which are on the inexpensive side.  One last word about goals; I’m currently reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown and she states that …Hope is a combination of setting goals, having the tenacity and perseverance to pursue them, and believing in our own abilities.

May you all have hope for 2012. 

A Letter to Smoke Alarm Manufacturers

Dear Smoke Alarm Manufacturer,

I would like to pass along a suggestion.  This suggestion could even set you apart from your competitor and help increase your sales if you implement it first.  My suggestion is: would you please design a smoke alarm that when the battery level gets low it only chirps between the hours of 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM.  For the past 30 years my smoke alarms only begin to do the low battery chirp usually between 1:00 and 4:00 AM.   Last night at 2:08 AM one of my First Alert smoke detectors began to chirp.  It woke me out of my sound sleep.  I was hoping it would not chirp again but then every five minutes…chirp…chirp.  I have five smoke alarms and one carbon monoxide alarm of which I try to change the batteries every year.  I even write the date that I install the new battery on masking tape and stick it on the back side of the detector.  Even with these efforts the low battery chirp seems to find me in my peaceful slumber usually about twice a year and usually on the coldest nights during the winter.  I really don’t enjoy leaving my warm comfy bed at 2:00 AM to stand in the middle of a cold room waiting for the next chirp to determine which smoke alarm I need to address.  Last night I picked the right alarm the first time and removed the battery but then I had a very hard time falling back to sleep.  Once I removed batteries from three different smoke alarms before I picked the right detector.

I do understand that this does not appear to be a problem for everyone.  For example my wife slept through this whole ordeal quite well, right next to me.  She never heard the chirping, never heard me get up, and never heard me drag the chair over so I could stand on it to reach the alarm.  But she is a member of the “sleep elite” who can sleep undisturbed by such noises as car alarms, passing trains, and police sirens.  

If you were to implement this new design suggestion I would gladly pay one to maybe two dollars more per smoke alarm for this feature.  Think about that.  I believe you might be able to increase your bottom line by millions of dollars with this new design feature.  Let’s do the math.  I have six detectors in my home but let’s say each home has minimum of just three detectors.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html there was 131,704,730 housing units in the United States in 2010. So 131,704,730 X 3 = 395,114,190 alarm units.  Now I understand that a number of homes are “hard wired” to the electrical system which do not require batteries.  So let’s just use some round numbers.  We’ll take a potential of 400 million smoke alarms and divide it in half to allow for hard wired systems and people who can sleep through air raids.  That leaves 200 million units in the U.S.   If you can charge one dollar more for this feature, which I think you can, then you have 200 million dollars to put in your bank account.  So please think about this and if you feel the need to pay me some sort of royalty for this suggestion then leave me a comment below and I will gladly give you instructions on where to send the funds.  Sweet Dreams….Peter

Two Years and One Room Done

Who said I wasn’t slow and deliberate.  It hasn’t really been two years since we’ve bought this house but close enough if you round up and we now have one room in the house that we can point to and say “finished”.  This would be the guest bedroom, the room Lauren and I use the least.  The last item to address here was the floor which like all of the floors on the second level was painted pine boards.   It was in pretty rough shape as you can see in this picture.

It was naturally distressed from I’m guessing ski boots and other wear and tear.  Lauren picked out a grey color paint designed for use on concrete patios and garage floors which is good because it should be durable.

After I had painted two coats on the floor which dried to a flat grey surface Lauren decided she wanted a high gloss shiny look whereupon she bought a gallon of polyurethane.

I dutifully (because that’s the type of guy I am) applied two coats of the polyurethane over the paint sanding between the coats with a 220 grit sandpaper for smoothness.  In the end it came out good, don’t you think? 

My only concern is the paint was latex based and the polyurethane acrylic based (although the fumes were intense) and to me these aren't as durable as oil (alkyd) based finishes. I don't mind using latex on walls and trim but if you are walking on the stuff it better be tough. A few days later I told someone I was glad it was warm so I could open the windows while I applied the polyurethane.  She proceeded to tell me she applied an acrylic based polyurethane (5 coats) on her kitchen floor just one year ago and it is now worn down to the wood.  I think she said she used California paints where we used Benjamin Moore but it still has me a little concerned how well our finish will hold up.  We will let you know. 

In other news most people around here know we received 8 inches of snow the day before Thanksgiving.  This put a lot of folks in an earlier than expected travel mode because they knew Wednesday was going to be crappy for driving.  This included my in-laws who drove up Tuesday to see us.  That would be Frank and Joan, also known as the Bo and the Dee because when our girls were young they called Frank “Bo-Bo” and Joan “Dee-Dee”.  Frank likes to read his daily papers and because we’re the last stop on our snow plow guys route we knew it was going to be a long time before our driveway was plowed. So I got out the cross country skis and skied into town to pick up the papers, the mail, and a few things from the grocery store.  It was fun skiing down the middle of Main Street. 

I'll send a postcard when I find work.

On the way back I had to force myself to fall on Mill Hill Road because it was too steep and slick going downhill.  I tried to snowplow but couldn’t so instead of reaching a speed of 65 miles per hour and maybe wiping out I decided a forced wipe out at 15 to 20 mph was a safer bet.  Near the end I let myself pick up extra speed and managed to stay standing.  I like this mode of travel and know it’s a good workout as well. 

A special shout out to Allan Stellar of Solar Compound and Robert Carlo new followers to Androscoggin Bloggin. Thanks for stopping by.

A Day at the Common Ground Country Fair

On September 23^rd Lauren and I took a bus trip with our friends from the Western Mountains Senior College http://www.maineseniorcollege.org and went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine.  The fair is put on by The Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association www.mofga.org  and they have been doing it now for 35 years.  There were twenty one of us on the bus that day and once we entered the fairgrounds I only saw one of them until it was time to return.  It seemed all of us had a different interest and with so many things to choose from we went our separate ways to enjoy. 

Quack

My favorite event of the day was to watch the Border Collie Demonstration which was put on by David Kennard of Wellcroft Farm in New Hampshire http://www.wellscroft.com/farm/farmHome.html  These Border Collies were truly amazing to watch as they directed the sheep to go exactly where David told them to.  The sheep were mixed in with a bunch of goats and the collies could separate them into different groups with apparent ease.  David said the sheep graze on the grass of a number of different fields around the town where his farm is located in Chesham and instead of trying to load and unload all of these sheep on a truck it just makes a whole lot of economic sense to have the dogs direct them to their next field. It must be an interesting sight if you are driving through town when this is happening.  

I found my way through the poultry barn, the goat/sheep barn, the rabbits, the horses and donkeys, oxen, and draft horse areas.  Because I’m thinking about getting chickens sometime I spent more time there admiring all the breeds that are available.  After that I walked across The Common to the exhibition hall where they were judging the fruits, vegetables, and wheat. The variety and beauty was very cool.  Later I caught up with Lauren and we had some food to eat while we listened to some fiddle and folk music played by Sassafras Stomp.  We saw a few more of the sights before it was time to head back home.  It seems we left the fair with one more body on the bus than we had arrived with. That’s because senior college member Scott Hynek bought a buck rabbit to bring back to assist in breeding his rabbits.  If you like organic gardening and farming you will love this fair.  

Fall Perfection

How do you spell perfection for New England in October?  How about five days in a row of sunshine, blue skies, and high 70 to 80 degree weather?  This all came on a holiday weekend no less.  I hope all the leaf peepers who came to the area enjoyed themselves and spent tons of money on food, wine, lodging, gifts, and fun.  And if you did let me say thank you. This area depends on tourism and I hope your stay and experience was enjoyable.

Lauren and I went up to Sunday River on Saturday to watch the 12^th Annual North American Wife Carrying Championship at Sunday River Resort http://www.sundayriver.com/Events/Main/Summer/Wife_Carrying_Championship.html  What can I say? It was a blast.  Later that afternoon we went over to Gibson’s Apple Orchards to pick some apples.  This year we refrained from picking enough to feed everyone in Vermont and instead picked enough just for us.  We also bought two homemade apple pies for $2.00 each.  My first thought was….at $2.00 each maybe something is wrong with them….but No…this is just another one of the perks of living here. You can actually get really good stuff…for very little money.  I might just have to go back and stock up on a few more of those pies. 

On Sunday Lauren and I went swimming at Songo Pond.  Well Lauren actually went swimming while I just went up to my knees.  Swimming on October 9^th in Maine… yes the water was cold, but Lauren is related to a family of seals from many generations ago so cold water is no problem for her.  She’ll just climb up on that iceberg to warm herself when the sun is shining. 

The Fall foliage is peaking right now around here and it is a time of beauty and trepidation because after all those beautiful colored leaves fall off….we all know what we get… Stark and Cold.  It is that in between time where the earth and air just works at getting colder and colder and colder until it is always cold enough to snow.  For then the condition is right for white snowflakes to fall upon the earth which will encourage skiers to flock to the resorts and to strap on wood or Kryptonite upon their feet and glide down the mountainside and love it to the point where they then spend many dollars upon food and beer which makes them and us feel that all is right within the world.  Thanks for stopping by.

Maggie’s Nature Park

A few weekends ago Lauren and I took our first hike at Maggie’s Nature Park which is located in Greenwood, Maine on the west side of South Pond. It was peaceful, beautiful and the trails were well marked. What struck both of us was the abundance and variety of mushrooms and fungus growing on the forest floor. At first I said “wow look at all these mushrooms” but then we were both calling to each other “look at this red one”, “look at this weird one.” I have never seen so much variety in such a short walk. Here is a small sample of some of the fungus we saw.

Summer is Ending

Where do I start? 33 days ago I was kayaking along the Androscoggin River with no shirt on feeling the hot sun beating on my shoulders and back, Lauren was taking a swim in the water, and tomorrow night it is supposed to be 29 degrees, as is Fahrenheit, as in below freezing, Summer 2011 is over.

On June 5^th I planted a “garden” in my yard where I thought the most sun would exist. Everything I planted was from seed straight out of the packets. That’s right, planting “seeds” June 5^th on a “shady” lot of land in the mountains of western Maine just a few miles away from Sunday River Ski Resort which holds claim to being the first ski resort to open for business in the United States last year on October 22, 2010. Yes… that’s only 38 days from now.

Most would not call this a “victory garden” but I will. That is because some things actually did grow. I planted a bunch of perennial flowers which now have a base of leaves as I write this. I have great expectations as early next summer Black-Eyed Susan, Shasta Daisy, Purple Coneflower, and Coreopsis bloom forth with wonderful flowering color and attitude for all to see.

On the vegetable side of the equation I planted a few seeds on a very small space (3 feet by 6 feet) of the following:

Space Spinach – Dead on Arrival. The seeds barely germinated.

Pepper – Forget it, a few leaves 6 inches tall and nothing close to resembling a bell pepper or any pepper for that matter.

Carrots – I feel hope. Great ferny heads above ground but who knows what lingers below.

Lettuce – My big Winnah! This was a Loose-leaf blend of five different varieties and we harvested 6 ½ servings from a 3’ x 2’ spot.

Tomatoes – Here’s what they look like now and tomorrow we’re supposed to have frost. I’m cutting a few off the vine to see how they ripen indoors and then I’ll cover the rest with plastic garbage bags to see if they survive the frost.

The lesson I learned this year is: start the seeds indoors and see if I can find or make a sunnier spot in the yard (timber…!). I hope you had a great summer. Thanks for stopping by.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

This was my summer read for 2011 and I really enjoyed this book. It is a memoir of Frank McCourt’s childhood which has so much hunger and hardship at times you may wonder if it is all true. When they say that life is more interesting than fiction this book is a case in point. Throughout the book I kept hoping that his father would do the right thing and bring home the money so they could eat, but no, the pint had a stronger pull and “Mam” couldn’t control him or get to his paycheck before he spent it all at the pubs. The sadness of death, the rituals of the Catholic religion, the quiet people who do good, the loud people who do bad, the shame of being a cut below your neighbors, the anger at parents who were doing things you didn’t want them to do. This book pulled me in from so many directions that I truly did not want to put it down.

Kayaking on the Androscoggin

On Saturday Lauren and I finally went kayaking on the Androscoggin River. We have done this three or four times in the past but this is the first time we went since we have moved here. What has taken us so long? Oh yeah….all those other life events. It was a great day for kayaking and we did see one bald eagle with a fish in its talons as it flew off to build some distance between us.

Unfortunately there was one annoying group of kids, 20 or so, putting in around the same time we were with coolers of beer, bottles of Jaegermeister, a boom box, and mouths yelling the f-bomb every minute or so. Fortunately they were in canoes that kept tipping over and were moving slow enough that we were able to paddle ahead and out of earshot range. I just hope all the bottles and cans made it back to land.

It felt good to get on the river again.

Table Rock Loop Trail

View from Table Rock in Grafton Notch State Park

I have been asking myself recently why I have not gone hiking more since I now live in the land of abundant mountains and trails. The White Mountain National Forest is practically in my back yard and Grafton Notch State Park is just a short ride to the north. So I kicked my lazy butt out of bed this morning, laced up the hiking boots, threw some water and trail mix in a day pack and headed to Grafton Notch State Park with the purpose of climbing the Table Rock Loop Trail. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this trail and it did not disappoint. You get a lot of bang for the buck on this particular trail (okay it’s a 2 buck honor system fee). They have a nice parking lot at the trailhead where you cross the road (Route 26) and begin hiking the Appalachian Trail for a very short while (0.1 mile) before you have a decision to make which is:

a) Do I go counter-clockwise and take the steep and rocky trail up? This is the orange blaze trail, or

b) Do I continue up the moderately steep Appalachian Trail for about one mile and then branch off to the right on a relatively easy trail toward Table Rock? (Blue blaze trail)

I chose option B and reached Table Rock in about 45 minutes. The views here are spectacular looking at Old Speck Mountain directly ahead, Sunday River Whitecap to the south and the Eyebrow to the north. Although the weatherman last night said a high pressure system would make this day sunny it was cloudy enough to keep the top of Old Speck hidden from view.

So I continued the loop which is 2.4 miles taking the orange blaze (steep and rocky) trail back down which is hard on the legs. I met a couple who said they have done this hike many times and think it is easiest to do it the other way. I have to agree with them so unless you only want to take the blue blaze trail back and forth I would recommend taking the steep (orange blaze) trail up and the (blue blaze) trail down. If you’re in pretty good shape this is really a worthwhile hike.

Old Speck

The Eyebrow

August Summer Fun

Lissy at Songo Pond

My sister Ingy and her kids came to visit us last week after Amber and Tommie’s wedding. It was short but sweet and the day they were here was perfect weather for swimming at the lake. I wonder if it’s possible to be angry or sad when you are frolicking in a lake that is perfectly refreshing? I don’t think so. Besides swimming at the lake we showed them downtown Bethel, the view from the top of Paradise Road, the Covered Bridge on Sunday River and Sunday River Ski resort where we watched a few folks fly down the zip line. Then we went to the Swain Farm Stand and picked up some fresh corn for supper that night.

Just some of the family

On Saturday we drove down to Cape Elizabeth to have a family lunch after my nephews Luke and Ezra and their dad Artie had completed the Beach to Beacon road race. We made it back to Bethel in time to catch one of the comedy shows at the first annual Maine Comedy Festival http://mainecomedyfest.com/ which took place right here at the Bethel Inn Conference Center. It was very funny, easy to get to and a perfect way to end the day. Is there any way to make the summer last longer?

Four of a Kind

New Month - New Couple

It’s August and that means Amber and Tommie did it… they got married. It happened on July 30^th and it was an uncharacteristic day for New England in that it was….perfect. No rain, no clouds, not too hot, not too humid….Sunshine and blue skies all day long….how did they pull that one off?

It was nice for me to see both of them plan and put together this beautiful event. It reflected their personalities and their style, it was wonderful. Needless to say it was great to have family get together and also see some of Amber and Tommie’s long time friends. There were two I did not recognize at first probably because I have not seen them since they graduated high school or because I’m just getting old. I’ll let Tommie and Amber share the wedding photos they like with the blogosphere. I just saw some of the photos that Don Watson (Tommie’s Dad) took of the wedding and they are beautiful. Of course any of you reading this who would like to see the great photography of Tommie and Don Watson just need to click on this link http://www.coast2coastimages.com/ and it will take you there.

Anyone who knows Amber and Tommie probably thought that this might have happed awhile ago seeing that they’ve been with each other since 9^th grade and they’re both 28 years old now. But they are planners and sometimes good plans take awhile. Congratulations Amber and Tommie; may desire take you where you want to go.

Mother of the Bride with some of the Beautiful Girls

The Dump is a Good Place to Meet the Locals

Say Hello to Sadie

Of Mussels, Raccoons, and a New Door

It has been a busy July with no signs of slowing down. Recently we had the in-laws stay a few nights and while they were here Lauren cooked up some mussels over the fire pit….Yum! Frank and Joan know about our episodes with critters around the house so we joked that they may get a visitor during the night while they slept. It almost happened. The day after they left we heard this “noise” up in the eave beside the guest bedroom. Armed with a flashlight and a stick I opened the door to this area of our house, looked up in the rafters and saw 4 baby raccoon faces staring down at me. They started moving once I disturbed them so by the time I got the camera I could only get a good picture of this one. To hopefully keep them away we turned on a light, turned on a sports radio talk show and put some ammonia in open bowls….so far, so good which just means…I don’t know where they are now.

I also installed a new insulated fiberglass side entry door to replace the old beat up wood door we had and we stained the deck. Just like putting a little lipstick on a pig. The door was good buy from Marden’s for $149. We also bought a new $8.50 door knob for it but it wasn’t making the grade so we ending up buying an $86.00 door knob that works ten times better, I guess.

I hope your July has been as nice as mine so far.

Early July - 2011

My brother Erik and his family came for a visit over the 4^th of July weekend. It was their first visit since we moved here and first visit ever to Bethel. With the hostess Auntie Lauren organizing you can be sure there is always swimming on the agenda. So between the pool at the Bethel Inn and the lake house at Songo Pond swimming was accomplished. Saturday night (July 2^nd) they shot off the fireworks at the Bethel Inn and we decided to see how the view was from our house. So we lined up the chairs on the front lawn and Wow….what a show. Not only was it easier but it may have even been better viewing. A bonus we did not even know about when we bought this place.

When we were at the lake house on Songo Pond, my sister-in-law Amy and I read on the deck (because we’re so intellectual), Rachel and Lauren went swimming and Erik and Logan went fishing. Of course we did burgers and hot dogs on the grill and sat around the campfire after the fireworks ended. When we were at the Bethel Inn Pool Rachel and Logan enjoyed the Pina Colada’s (virgin) while Becca made sure Erik and I didn’t run out of Molson’s Golden. I say this every summer and I’ll say it again….I Love Summer.

When One Thing Is Connected To Another

Last week when we installed our free granite step it did two things:

1) Make us appreciate our new step

2) Make us realize how bad our driveway and covered porch look

So this week we installed a new gravel driveway. We had a couple of tree stumps which had exposed themselves at the end of the driveway taken out and then Buster from Cross Excavation who plows our driveway in the winter came over and put down the gravel. Initially they dumped a truck load of stone dust mixed with some gravel and spread it around and thought that was what we wanted. I explained that our idea of gravel was different than this and the next morning when he arrived we showed him some pictures of nice gravel driveways that Lauren had pulled from the internet. Looking back we should have done this in the beginning but hey we’re young and still learning, right? So now Buster better understood what we wanted and he did right by us and hauled a few more truckloads of ¾” crushed stone and spent more than ½ of the day spreading it around.

Last spring we had two asphalt paving companies give us an estimate to pave the driveway and they came back with estimates between $6,700 and $8,000 and one of them did not include the tree stump removal. We were quoted $650 for this gravel job complete so I would say we made a good decision. That takes care of the driveway so now on to the covered porch.

How to Move a Large Granite Block (and install a free step)

When we bought this house the steps were a mix of large uneven stones which caused you to step up higher than you normally would and they looked like this:

We knew we had some larger pieces of Granite on site which were sort of symmetrical and decided we could use one of them to make a new step for free. The challenge was how do you move it from where it is to where you want it when you don’t have a bucket loader or backhoe? The answer is you need the following tools:

A big heavy duty crowbar (5 feet long and 18 pounds in weight)

Assorted rocks and blocks

A heavy duty wire cable with a hook on each end

Three steel pipes (all the same diameter is best)

Long wood planks

An Automobile

A cold beer

* I just need to mention here under the Principle that Desire Moves that I did not have the steel pipes I needed, but I KNEW that I could get them for free somehow. Sure enough my Mind’s Eye led me to the pipes I needed at the dump just one day before this project. There they were, just waiting for me in perfect condition and with no cutting required.

First assemble all the tools (excluding the beer) near the piece of granite. For those who have not had much experience using leverage you will learn fast. The longer your lever (crowbar) the easier you can lift heavy objects. Place a smaller stone or block about 4 to 5 inches high very close to the piece of granite and then put your crowbar between them getting the tip of the bar under the granite and then pull or push down on the smaller rock which is known as the fulcrum. Sorry if I’m sounding too technical here for such as Caveman job but I want to help educate fellow Cavemen and women when possible.

Once you get one end of the granite lifted have a helper (carefully) put some blocks under it and then wrap your cable around the granite and hook the other end to your car. If you have a trailer hitch good if not, attach it to the frame under the car. Next, lay one end of a wood plank under the granite and as the driver “very very slowly” moves forward, put the pipe pieces under the block of granite which will now roll along with such ease that you’ll feel like building a pyramid for your next project. As the last pipe rolls out the back of the granite block return it to the front. Turn the planks and the pipes in the direction you want it to go and with a little pushing or pulling she’ll make it to the destination. Our granite block was only 30 feet away from our step but we did have a small incline to get it over initially. It took Lauren and me less than 2 hours to complete the task start to finish and now we have a nice granite step for free. Oh yes, now it’s time for the beer.

Mellow Yellow

I took this photo with my phone camera. It's beauty for the eyes and a pleasure to have on a morning walk.

How to Un-Plug your Basement Drain Pipe – with a little effort

The lowest feature of our dear old house is the clay pipe drain in the basement which takes the water that runs through it and guides it approximately 50 feet long and 5 feet underground to empty into the roadside ditch by our driveway. The problem was that about a week ago this pipe clogged with silt and dirt to the point where it no longer drained. This meant our basement was turning into an in ground swimming pool or if we were so inclined; a Koi fish pond. The only solution that I could think of was one of those Power Snake Augers which I would have to rent but there is no place close to here that rents them. To make a long story shorter, Lauren ended up speaking to Robbie at the Bethel Sewer Department who said “I’ll be right over”. This is just one of the many things I love about small town living; a live person on the phone who says he’ll be right over. So Robbie and Randy came right over and plunked the solution into my hand which looks like this:

I’m still not sure what it is called but it works wonders. You put it on the end of your garden hose, insert it as far as you can into the drain pipe and then turn on the water. After a minute you stop the water flow (which deflates the rubber diaphragm) pull it back a foot, then push it in again as far as you can, and then turn on the water again. You repeat this process until you get to the end of the drain pipe. (Tip: Kink your garden hose by hand to stop the water flow if your shut off valve is far away). This cleaned the pipe out better than it was when I bought the home. I also dug out the other end of the pipe area and the ditch at the roadside to keep it open and flowing downhill.

In addition I cleaned out about 30 gallons of sand/dirt/muck from inside the basement which was all great exercise as I hauled it up the stairs and to the back yard. Finally I have to give credit to Lauren for getting the connection to Robbie at the sewer department who let me borrow this very useful tool.

Hydrangeas, the Fire Pit, and other things popping up in the yard

In my attempt to begin landscaping and in order to have less lawn to mow I planted this pink Hydrangea bush in the yard. Lauren cannot understand why I decided to plant it where I did and I’ve accepted the fact that this is just one of those things which we’ll never agree on. I did give it a lot of thought however. On my late evening walks out to the yard with Dusty I surveyed all the possible locations for it prior to planting. I thought of how it would look from different viewpoints around the yard and from within the house. You can easily see it from inside the house looking out the kitchen window, the bathroom window, and the living room window. I would like to plant two more of them by the stone wall but right now this is still designated as my bamboo killing zone and I’m afraid anything I plant in this area would suffer.

This year we’ve decided to make our fire pit fancy. Instead of having just the exposed truck tire rim in the yard we bought some concrete blocks to put around it. These blocks are better designed for retaining walls than the tight radius of the fire pit but for now they’ll do. I would like to mortar some permanent rocks around the pit but we have to keep the pit mobile at this current location. This is because before the snow flies it has to be moved so that our snowplow guy can begin pushing the early snows as far back in the yard as he can. But I shouldn’t be talking about snow right now…Memorial Day is Monday.

Let’s talk about summer and things popping up in the yard. Besides dandelions growing in the yard we’re beginning to see our first crop of golf balls compliments of the golfers across the street. The first ball of the season I’m saving for Eva because it matches a tattoo she has. Go Red Sox! Ahhh…the beginning of summer…this is what we’ve been waiting for New England….so clean off your grills….open the windows….slap those mosquitoes and Enjoy!