I just realized, I do take an awful lot of lighthouse pictures. What can I say? I dig them!
Blue Skies
Month: March 2021
Bunnies Born for Easter Week
Well, it happened again. While I was burning some old paperwork in the firepit this morning, a rabbit bravely moved by me and up onto to back deck, Come to find out there appear to be 2 or 3 small bunnies in the pot again, probably birthed a day or two ago. I wonder if the mother of these bunnies is the bunny that was born in the same pot last year? Do they go back to the same places like that? More to come on this development!
Also, has this been the longest month ever? How is it STILL March? Just seems like it’s been going on forever.
I am on fire today getting things done on my list. After cleaning out the firepit and raking up some more leaves(!) what the f is up with oak leaves, they never stop coming! — I went and got the propane tank filled, put together this base for the table umbrella outside that I never realized had more parts for that would make it work but I didn;t know we had so it sat around undone for a couple years. Since the parts were found I was able to put it together and make it work. Looks better than the old one I had been using for the last year (similar to this model, though not exactly). All in preparation for a little outside gettogether later this weekend, being careful as per usual. I filled up the birdfeeder as well as recharging the electric leaf blower. Then I did a plant survey. Still need to plant the dahlia tubers I pulled out last fall.
So far: Things that we have growing and are coming up or already up: foxglove, hyacinth, glory of the snow, snowdrops, crocus, dianthus, tulips, lilacs budding, roses budding, columbine, and some ground covers but I forgot what they’re called (Update: figured it out, Vinca), ivy, azaleas, rhododendron, daffodils. Not up yet are the hydrangeas, clematis, and rose campion, or the lawn buttercups, which could be considered a weed but I kinda like them so I let them bloom and then mow them down once they’re done flowering. At least that’s what I did last year.
Our Little Weekend
Saturday: Front yard work, digging up some of the rocks and repositioning them to better delineate lawn from planting beds. replanting some glory-of-the-snow and snowdrops out in the patio area which we might have obtained a little surreptitiously from our walks on the trails, sitting in the sun, tripping to Wellesley to pick up some stuff, lately getting medium hot regular coffees from me and ice teas for LD from DDs.
Sunday: Cleaning up the sunroom and office upstairs, spring cleaning, got rid of a bunch of old junk. It’s a start. Was a good thing to do on a day that was so rainy outside.
A rabbit has been hanging out in the back deck at night in the dianthus pot again (like last year?) The other night and two nights before that, LD noticed the porch motion sensor light keep going off and she noticed the rabbit in the pot. I just checked it out and there does appear to be the startings of a nest there, twigs on top, fur lining the bottom. I didn’t want to disturb it too much so I didn’t look underneath but there might be future babies there.
Carson and Crocuses Come Through
Carson did really well today. That gabapentin really works! I think it was more stressful for us, just administering the dose, picking him up, putting him in the carrier, driving down to the vet, etc. etc. It really did calm him down, almost immediately it seemed and so I was able to get him in the carrier pretty easily. It all worked out in the end and I’m happy to say that he got a clean bill of health (although he might need to lose a little bit of weight, what else is new?)
The story behind the photo: This afternoon I went on a walk down the trail by the house and for the first time I noticed some new flowers popping – these crocuses and some Glory-of-the-Snow flowers, which last year I did dig up a couple and planted out back but haven’t seen any sign of them. Perhaps those sadly did not take.
Sunsets and Getaways Approach the Nubble Light
We’ve booked a stay on Cape Neddick that overlooks the Nubble Light! Haven’t been to Maine in a while, so it plans to be a nice getaway and maybe I can get some more shots of this beautiful lighthouse. It is my first love, afterall.
I picked up the gabapentin yesterday to administer to Carson to “calm him down” before his appointment which is coming up. Fingers crossed that this is going to work! He spazzed out a little yesterday because that orange cat came up to the door again (just like the last time) so he was wired all day after that.
While walking along a local trail yesterday, we came across some Galanthus, or snowdrops. Another sign of spring! I had never noticed this little plant before that grows from a bulb. Might have to add it to my spring gardening collection someday.
More later…
“And How Does that Make you Feel?” – Hardy
They finished installing the fence over at Earth-1 and believe it or not, it’s actually quite beautiful. I thought they would try to cheapen out and put up something ass but they chose this black metal-aluminum fence that looks really good and looks like it’ll last a lifetime, the entire length from the street to the back of the garden area.
The story behind the photo: While I was over there, I noticed my mom’s cat Hardy sitting like this on the couch. Made me think he was being a listening therapist in this pose. He’s polydactyl, meaning he has extra toes, as can be seen in the photo by what I call his thumbs showing. They actually use these thumbs to constantly open cupboards and such. It’s pretty annoying actually.
I re-tilled the raised beds out back and removed a bunch of more of the oak leaves detritus, cleaning it up. I want to get most of that stuff done and out in anticipation of the town collecting the yard waste starting next week.
We watched a show last night on PBS entitled Coded Bias, basically about how AI has been programmed, with biases, unintentional though they may be, and how it can affect folks, now and down the line. Pretty interesting stuff.
On my cell, I’ve noticed lately I’ve been getting a lot of “Scam Likely” calls. Of course I never answer, either ignore or add to block callers but they keep coming. Very annoying, probably get about 2 or three a day.
The Mystery Audio Tape and the Hawks
A couple of weeks ago I found an audio tape around the house that was labelled “Birthday Party – 7 years old.” So I found an old cassette player and decided to put it in and see what was on it. It was LD singing a song on her 7th birthday party. She was singing about taking movies and photos of her dreams so she could look at them later and play them back to enjoy them again and also about a beautiful brook that she used to visit as a kid. It was so endearing, and I found it really touching. Her aunt who recorded it had amazing foresight to be able to save a memory like this that was all but forgotten. I wish my family had done something like that (we sorta did with the 8mm I suppose). I love the fact that LD was singing about her dreams and wanting to save them for later viewing and sharing in their beauty even at that age. I love this woman.
In the morning as I was deciding whether or not to pull out the grill from the storage shed, I kept hearing these mockingbirds squawking and squawking, which I found interesting. As I was looking around to see where they were I spied a rather large red-tailed hawk hanging in the tree branches above the yard. I watched him as he flew off eventually to a tree a little further away (the next street over actually) where I saw there was another hawk hanging out. I wonder if these two plan to build a nest or something in this area. These must be the hawks that we’ve seen rather frequently as of late. I’ll keep watching to see. I did find a decapitated squirrel in the yard a few days ago which I quietly discarded. I wonder if one of these two might have had something to do with that. Oh, and I did eventually decide to pull out the grill this morning and tested it out by firing up some chicken hotdogs. Back in business on that front. Also pulled out the table umbrella for shade.
Also decided to get in some gardening duties. Busy afternoon! My plan was to rake the ivy area so it’s clear and to lop the rosebushes out front, and to repot the tubers that I stored in the cellar last fall, placing them into their pots. First I lopped off enough of the front of the rosebushes, being extra careful not to touch any of it’s thorns because they are really nasty, and to neaten the front up a bit. Then a headed out back to gather up all the oak leaves from the ivy covered area, using a mixture of leaf blower and my leaf scoops. It’s impossible to get everything but I did get a lot – two bags worth. I noticed a lot of new ivy growth under the leaves which is great. My plan now is, as they head toward to fence, to begin to climb up it and eventually cover it totally. That might take another year or two but my plan so far has been working up to this point. There’s one spot there that seems to always be somewhat bare, I would like to put some sort of garden statue there as a focal point for the eyes. I looked into it a bit last year but I could never decide what would look there, plus it ain’t cheap. Could this fit the bill? Answer: no, I’m just kidding, but I would like to place something there. The only thing I didn’t get around to was replanting the tubers but maybe I’ll tackle that later in the week.
Cattails Sway Into the Brightness of a Happy Day
You know, it isn’t easy for me to delve up great photo content. I’m doing the best I can to have nice photos that I’ve taken adorn this blog. Anyways, today ended up being a lovely day. Slept in a little bit for change but by lunchtime we got a turkey sub and some snacks and headed back down to the beach again to enjoy our lunch with a view. I even got the beach chairs out and we sat on them as we snacked on our lunch, watching the waves and enjoying the sea breezes. Even went for a little walk after along the beach. After that we hung out with one of our couple friends outside on their deck (socially distant of course). It’s so nice to get some socializing time in – it’s been a while, especially for me. By the time we made it back home it was about 6:30, too late for me to do some of the things I had on my to-do list but I figure I’ll try to get to them tomorrow. Instead I cooked up some chicken, with some mixed greens, roasted pecans, sliced apple, and roasted sweet potato and finished the night watching programs recorded on the DVR.
First Day of Spring Activities
Saturday to do list:
- Set up new SmartTv? (not done yet)
- Search for new cellphone (still ongoing – still trying to find the S20 FE that I want)
- screens in doors – Finished and only took 10 minutes!
- gather leaves/clean up garden areas – Done – still need to do “ivy covered” area, was nice to see new plants starting to grow up through the dirt.
- lop rose bushes out front – still to do, maybe Sunday
- cellar cleanup/new shelving/spring cleaning – probably next weekend – shelving is all assembled, just need to go through the stuff and clean it out.
- book getaway for June – done, looks like a lot of a certain lighthouse shots may be in my future! *wink, wink*
Took a hike over at the North River Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield, and after that hit the beach for a few – it was so beautiful out! There’s this nice trail there that goes down to the River and has nice wooden observatory area. Took some pix too but have yet to go through them. Anyways, on one of the other trails at the start is this tepee so naturally I had to pose in front of it. Some of the beach shots were even taken by the Ladydoc, so I’m pretty excited to see what she captured, especially after getting down low in the sand!
Up and Down Ocean Avenue
Life is Like Climbing the Stairs
Another ‘quick’ shot from the Nauset Light taken a few weeks ago from our little getaway. This was taken as I was coming out of some paths along the shore directly across from this vantage point. This lighthouse is actually very accessible which is nice. I think the brown vegetation also gives this shot kind of a daunting-like vibe. I would be interested in hearing your own thoughts on this, if any of you would care to share. I also posted this photo to a lighthouse lovers facebook group that I frequent and some guy there said he wanted to digitally paint this and send me a copy so I said sure, that would be great. So we’ll see – kinda awesome that I inspired someone to create something off of my own work – that’s pretty cool.
The knuckles on the back of my right hand are all red and dry, almost raw, probably from all the hand washing. One thing I’ve also noticed is that the tips of my fingers seem super sensitive to heat, so like picking up hot things while cooking, like more so then usual. Should I be concerned?
I set aside some time this morning to assemble a new pet carrier for Carson. He has a vet appointment at the end of next week and the carriers we currently have seem to small and just old. Time for an upgrade. I’m apprehensive about how we will get him in there next week as he screams bloody murder if you try to pick him up and he gets panicky scared (we learned this last year), I suspect he has some trauma from wherever he was before to being placed in the shelter where we found him. Poor little guy. Last time he was so scared he literally pooped himself in the old carrier. But it’ll have to be done as he’s due for his yearly checkup.
The condo building next door drama over at Earth-1 continues. The main focal point is the removal of a fence that separates the two properties from each other. As it is now there’s no fence plus they destroyed some of the grass on our property. When last speaking to the fence people over there they said it was only going to go halfway. That would still allow people or animals to go from the community path, behind this new condo, and onto our property unhindered. That was a no go for us. After calls to the city, it seems we may have gotten them to see the light as now we’re told a fence will go all the way across the properties (as it should) and the grass would be replaced. This is due to take place this Saturday afternoon. Hopefully it’ll be acceptable. This condo to begin with is ridiculous. First of all I think it’s too tall (so goodbye sunlight) and from what I can tell the units are very small. Not sure who would pop on this for the money they’re asking for, but I suppose someone will.
Gametime: Been puzzling over Boolean Bloom. I’m currently stuck on Level 8. I mentioned this before, but I love these kind of puzzles to solve.
Ripples in the Sand of our Lives
What a strange weather day. Sun, then snow, then sun and snow at the same time. But that’s not what the photo above is all about. No, that’s from our beach excursion down the Cape almost two weeks ago (has it been that long already???) Like I mentioned before, it was very blustery cold but look at what we saw! Totally worth it. I must say the Cape is one of my favorite places to shoot – there’s just so much beauty there.
Been going through some plant catalogs – trying the decide what to try our hands at this season. Earlier in the day we dropped off some vegetables and fruits for the sanctuary animals. We’ve done it a few times now. A nice contribution.
Ended up getting take out for dinner tonight. Hadn’t done that in a while.
Gametime: Irrlicht Apprentice. Fun little game that took me a couple hours off and on to complete.
Scheduled to Go Under the Knife (Updated)
This post has been updated since first posting.
Took my mom to her appointment to talk with the surgeon regarding her hand troubles and the results from that test she had done in Malden a week ago. Decided to get the Carpel Tunnel Bilateral surgery – both hands – one on May 3rd, the second on the 17th, so I’ll be nervous on those days. Have to get up really early too because it’s scheduled for 6 am both times down in Cambridge. She also needs to get a Covid test a few days before each even though she’s been fully vaccinated – procedure and all. While she was in there getting all her details I took a walk around Assembly down by the river and over past the old boat club on the Mystic just trying to waste time. – but I found it a little boring. Tried taking some cell shots but nothing really caught my eye – you know me! It’s got to be just right!
After that was all done pretty much just hung around for the afternoon enjoying the unseasonably warm day today. Hit Porter Square briefly to run an errand and took a trip through my old haunt, Davis, just to see what it looked it, Seems some places were already building outdoor dining spaces in anticipation of the spring season. Needless to say it doesn’t make driving through there any more enjoyable than it ever was. Came back to Earth-2 just before the setting sun – traffic kind of sucked on the way back, took double the time it usually takes – reminding me of a time when we all commuted and realized how much time we actually lost waiting in that crap. I suppose we’ll eventually get back to that somewhat anyways but I’m not looking forward to it.
I bought some flowers the other day for the vase on the counter (and LD). We like to look at them and I felt the room needed a pop of color. Until we can start growing our own I might do this a few more times as the old ones fade.
I think NECN might use this picture in this entry that was taken by me last week down on the Cape. Usually when they feature me on their Insta I sometimes see it on the television. I’m grateful that folks think my pictures of worth of being featured! This was taken on LD’s birthday when we went down to Skaket to catch the sunset. The picture doesn’t really do that day justice – it had one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of sunsets! I also saw this dog playing in the water so I thought that might make a good focal point. It truly was a beautiful sunset but it was so blustery cold that day, but we stuck it out and were rewarded. Of course afterwards LD pretty much had to lie in front of the fireplace for a couple of hours to warm up. Must still be working on getting her New England hardiness up. 🙂 It was cool to see snow on the beach with the sand too.
Lastly, a late addition, I found some information on that grave I saw in Malden a few weeks ago about that man that lived to 92 years of age during the 1600s, which I thought was pretty amazing. I read about who he was and his life here. Addtionally, when Ralph Shepard was born on 3 June 1603, in Limehouse St Anne, Middlesex, England, his father, Isaac M Shepard, was 32 and his mother, Jonie Hardman, was 19. He married Thankslord Perkins on 21 May 1632, in London, England. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 3 daughters. He lived in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America in 1644 and Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America in 1666. He died on 20 August 1693, in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, at the age of 90, and was buried in Bell Rock Cemetery, Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.
Thankslord is a woman’s name you just don’t see anymore.
Can’t Stop the Spring Loving
It was a pleasant surprise to receive some telescoping Marshmallow Roasting Sticks from our friends that we visited last weekend, since we mentioned how great theirs were and we wanted to get some. That was SO nice and now makes me want to fire up the pit and start getting some S’mores action going (even though I’m not a huge fan of marshmallows in general but it’s the experience). Also, if the weather trends warmer next week I may pull the grill out early. I also finally got around the hanging up the glass print of Carson that I got done for free a few weeks back. Now I just need to try out the new vacuum and hook up the Smart TV still. By the end of this weekend for sure!
I looked into those Timber Stoves that the Chocolate Sparrow had. As I suspected they are on the pricey side, but they’re so cool. If anyone would like to gift one to me, I wouldn’t complain!
Just updated the website to the latest version of the blog software – most of the changes should be imperceptible to you all – mostly administrative “under the hood” stuff… hopefully, although I may play around with some of the newer features in my posts moving forward.
Love to a Possible Future Stay
The story behind the photo: I’ve always likes this particular location, mostly because it’s an angle of the Nauset Light that I don’t think is photographed to often if at all. This particular spot is a bit out of the main public’s way so I think that might be why but I really like having the gate in front showing like this. I’ve shot this location before last summer but I thought maybe I’d revisit it now just to see how it looks at this time of year. This shot actually features a neighbor’s gate belonging to a rental property next door, which might be a really cool place to stay for a bit – been looking into it, although I wonder if having the lighthouse beacon spin around all night would be annoying? Guess it depends where the beds are set up – either way it would still be a cool place to stay and it’s real close to the water, plus it looks cute and surprisingly not expensive. I posted this shot to my Instagram account and the actual owners of the property commented that they liked and appreciated the shot and started following me!
Had a fun outing this afternoon! Good times – was nice to get a little social interaction for a change and seeing folks I hadn’t seen in a long time.
A Day in the Ville
So artsy.
Woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready to drive over to the Ville to take my mom to get her 2nd COVID shot. Arrived a bit earlier than her appointment time but nobody was really there so they took her right away and now it’s done. Hopefully she’ll only have none to mild symptoms. She didn’t have any after the first shot but I hear the second one is a little tougher. In the early afternoon she heard of some food giveaway that a guy running for mayor is involved in just outside of Union Square so we took a drive down there and she got a box behind the Holiday Inn, loaded right into the back of the car ala contactless pickup. I was actually impressed by what was inside. Gallon of milk, bag of apples, bag of onions, some large carrots, two tubs of cream cheese, a large tub of yogurt, a package of hot dogs, some chicken in a marinade, some other things I can’t remember now and some masks. It was a better haul then I was expecting – it reminded me a little bit of those Imperfect Foods boxes we sometimes get, but for free. She said she’d probably only do it this one time and leave it for people that might be more needy, but it is a weekly thing if one so wishes to keep going proving that there is help out there if you know where to look. God, I hadn’t been in that part of the city in forever. It’s amazing how different some of it looks with these big developments taking over. There’s this huge one right next to the old Buddy’s Diner, which to me looked a bit comical with these big pricey looking living spaces right next to this tiny little diner car building. (I’ve never actually ate or been inside Buddy’s but I hear it’s an iconic site).
Can’t wait for the weather to get just a little bit warmer as I want to fire up the firepit and enjoy the nice smell of burning embers. Speaking of that, the Choc Sparrow had these cool wood pellet burning towers to keep folks warm waiting outside and had the loveliest aroma. Makes one want to look into getting one, although I suspect they are pretty pricey and probably pretty hard to find in stock.
One Night and Day on the Cape
Back from a one night overstay on the Cape at a place LD researched incessantly and felt safe at in Brewster, which it was – need to put this on our places of locations that we like and will go back to. Had lunch take out from the Dan’l Webster in Sandwich first before arriving (not the first choice but it worked out). Saw an amazing sunset at Skaket although the wind chill was killer, but so worth it. Have a lot of shots to go through still. Relaxing night after by the fireplace. Hot Chocs from the Sparrow. Next day breakfast take out from the Hole in One which I brought back to the suite. Nauset Beach in the afternoon scoping more photo spots and shots and hiking the Eddy Trail again to the cliffs. Photos to come.
Ramparts in Rockport
Just going through some of my older photos and rediscovered this shot from Rockport that I had sitting around on the hard drive. Strangely the site was acting weird this morning and wouldn’t let me upload the photo but it seemed to have resolved itself an hour or so after.
I noticed a bunch of starlings hanging out in the back yard as well as grackles starting to hang around the feeder so these migrants are back. Not really a fan of the grackles – they’re rude and eat all the seed leaving none for the smaller and “cuter” birds.
Spring Time and the Loving is Easy
Unboxed and tried out the new vacuum that finally arrived yesterday. Also out together a bunch of new shelving for when we do some spring cleaning in the basement and get rid of some very old shelving and whatever crap is on there that isn’t needed. Think we’re going to finish the night off by ordering pizza and calzones from a somewhat new establishment that opened up down the road a little while back and get ’em delivered while zoning out to old 21 Jump Streets.
Enjoy this picture of a baby blue jay that I noticed and had to capture. I like how this one came out – check out the detail on the little feathers!
Puffins at Sea Feeling Mauldin
Had to take my mom to her dr’s appointment today to see what’s up with her hands at a CHA place in Malden. Basically it sounds like she has carpel tunnel and might most probably need surgery. Anyways, while she was in there I decided to walk around the area outside and came across a really old cemetery. I noticed a stone out front stated that 35 folks buried there fought in the American Revolution. The cemetery must have been there since long before though because I’d seen grave markers of folks who passed look before then. I found one stone marker that stated that the gentleman buried there was 90 years old and dies in 1692. That’s amazing that someone could live that long back then! It also means this guy was born in 1602! Also I noticed one some of the graves that Malden was spelled Mauldon which I also found interesting. Sadly, I could not read many of the stones as the elements had washed away whatever was carved on them. The place also seemed pretty lonely as these people lived so long ago that no body probably ever visits them. Is that what it feels to be mauldin? Well, I did – you know me, history buff and all. Curious about these early settlers of Malden. The rest of the day was just basically running a few errands all around town before finally heading back.
Also watched a documentary about misdemeanors and how it’s a rigged system against black and brown people.
The story behind the photo: Nothing to actually do with this entry! Puffins are my favorite bird. These little guys are so tough and yet so tiny and even though the odds and artic elements are against them, they survive. This is a shot from a few years ago off Eastern Egg Rock.