Category: Gardening

2021 Year End Review

Posted on by Markman

A picture’s worth a thousand words they say, so here are some of the highlights from the past year. 2021 wasn’t totally terrible, and there were some really high points, but 2022 looks to be really special and hopefully will also be better in so many ways. We can hope!

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You can click any pic for a larger view

Photo Descriptions:

  1. Started off the year with the annual tradition of going to the beach on New Years Day. This was taken in Marshfield.
  2. Same as 1 above.
  3. Took a trip into Boston for something and had some eats from Luke’s Lobsters. On the way I snapped this pic.
  4. “Auggie”, a different looking wild rabbit that appeared only that one time during Inauguration time. Wonder what it’ story was. Didn’t seem like the regular kind of wild rabbits we have here.
  5. A pic along York, Maine
  6. Another pic of the Nubble from a different angle. I liked getting the perspective of the bench in this one, thought it made it stand out a bit differently.
  7. A shot of the Powderhouse in winter
  8. Another edited version of number 6.
  9. A shot of the Powderhouse area rotary and it’s cool sign back in winter.
  10. Nauset Light down at the Cape. This is the first time that I saw that a cottage next door was available for rent which we would later take advantage of, unbeknownst to me at the time.
  11. Another Nauset shot from this time period (possibly March)
  12. Another bunny decided to have it’s children in the pot on the deck, second year in a row – hope we can go for three!
  13. Someone was inspired to paint Nauset based on my photo in number 11. First time that I know of that my art inspired someone else to take it and create something else out of it.
  14. Shiloh the shy bunny. One of the children of Gracie, the bunny depicted in shot 12.
  15. Staying and the Viewpoint Inn in Maine which had these incredible views of the Nubble from it’s back yard area. Want to stay here again.
  16. Me in the car?
  17. Rango, LD’s soul goat, sadly passed away.
  18. An evening stroll one night at Jamaica Pond got us this shot.
  19. That’s me up in Salisbury under the docks after getting my second Covid shot. At that time, we thought that might be all there was to it.
  20. Boardwalk walks up on Plum Island.
  21. Another Salisbury Beach scene.
  22. Staying next door to the Nauset Light in a a cottage was quite a thrill and allowed me to get this wonderful photo as the sun started rising.
  23. My love of Pemaquid payed off when the moderator of a lighthouse group made this the cover photo for the month.
  24. Another hike on the Cape allowed us to capture this little walkway over a marsh.
  25. Skaket Beach
  26. Skaket Beach
  27. Visiting LD’s old boss and her husband in RI got us this picture shortly after.
  28. See 15 above for the story.
  29. Two juvenile hawks that we born around the house and kept screaming for weeks.
  30. The house next door to Earth-1 being torn down for more condo development, Sad.
  31. Hanging with baby goats and snuggles in RI.
  32. Staying at a farmhouse with an attached Alpaca farm was quite a different treat. I learned a lot about alpaca husbandry on this trip and the place was actually pretty cool.
  33. Looking at various lotus flowers at a place were we obtained special strains of hostas for planting. Looking forward to see how they produce this coming year.
  34. Cape summer trip. What I feel one of my better shots from the summer trip. Gray’s Boardwalk.
  35. Birthday trip!
  36. Plum Island again
  37. Lots of trips to Marshfield and got many a lobster roll at a place across the street from where this shot was taken.
  38. Lavellete NJ trip. It became my second favorite place in NJ behind Cape May!
  39. Me and my well endowed pencil. No pencil envy here!
  40. Another beach shot.
  41. Duxbury Beach boardwalk, another favorite beach location for walks and hangs this year.
  42. Staying at an Airbnb in Arundel, Maine.
  43. Under the lights at the Boathouse in Kennebunkport, ME.
  44. On a boat in KBP.
  45. Carson and Peng for the holidays.

More in-depth notes on above:

There were so many beach walks and hangs this year I can’t remember them all. Most of them were either to Duxbury or Marshfield, usually on a weekend day. Just to hang and walk mostly. A couple of times we used our chairs to sit out in the summer or even actually went into the water but many of the trips were just to walk.

The main lighthouses that we hug around this year were at Nubble Light in Maine (always a classic – staying right across from it away from the tourists was also a treat) and Nauset Light in Eastham down on the Cape. It was really cool this year to stay in a cottage right next door to the light and the beach was literally across the street. It also helped that it’s on a private dirt road so there weren’t many people around in that particular area. 10-10 would do again. Plus the place was so cute!

Getting our shots was big this year, for me it was a couple of trips up to Amesbury because that’s where I could get an appointment at that time, so we made the best of it by exploring the neighboring sights afterwards like Salisbury Reservation and Plum Island.

It was cool that baby wildlife decided to grace us with their presence, baby bunnies born in a pot for the second year in a row and didn’t mind Carson watching them. I think he was more their protector than an adversary if you can believe that. Baby hawks too, very majestic, but hopefully never found Shiloh and company. Shiloh, the last baby bunny that was scared to leave after all his siblings did. LD was kind enough to put out some water and a lettuce plant for him. The next day, two nibbles off the plant, two little poops, and he was gone to live his adventures. I do admit to having empty nest syndrome every time they leave us.

Staying on an Alpaca farm was pretty cool, in rural Connecticut with family. Learned a lot, also a bit of fly swatting which can be annoying. And got to hang with baby goats which is always a pleasure.

Celebrated my birthday on the Cape. Special times there and stayed in a pretty cool Airbnb called the Osprey Nest because it feels like its up in the trees. Although the place was a little small, it literally had everything you could possibly need. Plus they had this cool booth that I would use in the kitchen area. 10-10 would stay again. I feel I get some of the best pictures I ever take down on the Cape for whatever reason. It’s a beautiful area but there’s something more that I can’t place why.

Our one outing to New Jersey this year was at another BnB (BnB’s were big this year for us – expanding choices) in Lavalette, a cute little beach town. It was a bit downcast and windy while we were there but it was still pretty cool. I enjoyed the area so much that it’s my #2 of my fav places in that state. It just seemed to have it all to me, easy access to whatever you need, a beautiful beach and boardwalk, not really busy at all (and if you want that you could drive to the next down over – Seaside Heights). That particular trip didn’t exactly work out as planned but I enjoyed it.

The last BnB and most recent was in Arundel, Maine. Stayed there because the town of Kennebunkport was doing it’s annual Christmas Prelude. HGTV  featured the annual Kennebunkport celebration as the “#2 Christmas Town in America.” Plus we got to meet up with one of LD’s former colleagues and met the dogs Pippa and Boomer, and Boomer left quite an impression! Sailing up and down the Kennebunk River in a lobster boat while sipping coffee brandy on a sunny day was also rather enjoyable.

But as much as we enjoyed the few times away (choose to keep it rather low key due to the virus circulating, and were neurotic about being careful) staying at home was just as much so, whether with firepit outing with friends or just ourselves. Carson was also a really big help in that department as our mutual love him and for eachother kept us all sane.

I know I’m probably forgetting a bunch of stuff but these are the moments that I think were some of the high points, at least for me personally. I’d like to give all my love and thanks to LD for making it all happen and making me feel like the luckiest man alive every year.

One, Two, Three

Posted on by Markman

One: Headed over to Earth-1 today. Spent the day. Ran a couple of errands. Had coffee. Visited the grave of my grandparents.

Two: Need to set up the AeroGarden we got for xmas. It’s this little container garden with its own lighting system that you use to grow herbs on the countertop.

Three: I seemed to have twisted my knee somehow again so it’s been kind of bugging me a little bit. Ah, the joys of aging. I’m going to lay on the couch and rest it as much as I can.

A Dream That Had Tears Streaming Down My Face

Posted on by Markman
Mum show! Our mums are popping with color at the moment!

Met a new dog on shift today. Her name was Lucy and she is just 4 months old but wants to become a therapy dog when she gets older. You wouldn’t believe the number of times people will walk up to me and just start talking, but it’s cool. I get to meet all these local people and I get to be more social. There’s also this younger woman that comes by and always tries to joke with me (and I’m thinking in my head, uhmmm, okay….)

I had a weird dream last night where I saw my grandparents. I rarely seem to have dreams about them. Anyways in this dream I’m with my grandmother in the house I grew up in and were just hanging out and heading into another room. My grandfather is in the other room, with no shirt on, old, and looking like he was going to hit my grandmother with a stick or something. But he stops himself in time. He looks like I remember him toward the end of his life. He appears to be a little demented which I think he was becoming toward the end of his life. I step into the room and he looks like he’s going to hit me with the stick but in an instant there seems to be some recognition of me as his eyes widen, smiles, and appears to come out of the demented state. Then he falls backwards flat on his back and whacks his head solidly on the floor and looks knocked out. I ask my grandmother if we should do something but she says no, it happens all the time and he’ll be fine, seemingly not really caring in the least. He then gets up like nothing happens and heads over to a table that somehow appeared in the room. I look at him, bare-chested and all and tell him that I am worried about him. He tells me he’s ok and there’s nothing to worry about. I must have placed my eyes downward for a second because when I looked back up at him he was young, like when he was in his early twenties that I had seen in old photographs. I tell him again I’m worried about him but he just smiles, and says everything’s ok and then he starts wise cracking, like I imagine he did when he was that age. I then woke up out of the dream with some tears rolling down my face. What this dream could mean I have no idea, but I felt it was worthy of writing down because it was weird, it was of my grandparents, and it made me feel something. So I want to remember it.

Might add more to this post later tonight.. check back ..

Pencil Envy?

Posted on by Markman
Not to brag, but I do have a pretty BIG pencil.

All my stuff arrived today, the grill cover, the patio cover, my new headset, my gloves. We put the covers on their respective devices since it looks like rain for the next few days. We also got caught up on some gardening chores, like weeding and mulching and planting some more bulbs before the rains come. We also lopped some errant rose bush leaves that had been extending out into the driveway. LD also got a flu shot this afternoon. Also I was pretty proud of myself tonight with the dinner I concocted: Roasted chicken with a rosemary gravy long with sides of roasted broccoli, mashed potatoes, and a cranberry and apple chutney.

What do you think about my big pencil? It’s quite the handful, believe you me.

After the Rain…

Posted on by Markman
Flowers after the rain this morning

I was playing around with taking some photos of some flowers that had raindrops on them and the result of one of them is the photo above. Raindrops on things, especially plant life, always seem to make a good picture, don’t you think so? Also please continue to vote for my other photo, you can do it once a day, and it would mean a lot to me personally. (You have to scroll to the bottom of the page).

The Day After the Fourth

Posted on by Markman
The USS Constitution floats along Boston Harbor. A July 4th event that happens yearly here.

Started today by watching some old ST:TNG episodes, some good ones too, like the one where Picard lives a whole lifetime as someone else, and the one where he gets taken prisoner by the Cardassians and they try to break him by making him believe there are 5 lights instead of 4. Classics. I’ve seen them bunches of times. Maybe I should try to watch that new Picard show that came out a year or so ago.

Later in the afternoon I finally got around to mowing the backyard, refilling the bird feeder, making hummingbird water, grilling hot dogs, steak tips and veggies, I ended up eating three of the dogs for lunch, I was so hungry. Usually the most I can eat is 2. If I try to have more I end up feeling sick for whatever reason, but today I had 3, and so far all is good. Must have been all that work I did mowing and such, worked up quite an appetite.

We dropped off some produce at the Sanctuary for the animals but made it back for the late afternoon festivities of having some friends over for S’mores over the firepit visit. That was fun, and lasted about 3 hours, although it didn’t feel that long, time flies when you’re having fun as they say, so not so bad.

Unfortunely earlier in the day I kind of ripped my healing thumb again–owwwww! Is this thing ever going to heal!? Not if I keep ripping it open, right?

A Quiet Fourth

Posted on by Markman
Firework over the river

Enjoyed a nice quiet Fourth. Did a bunch of gardening things ion the morning, weeding, new plantings etc. Cooked up burgers for lunch. Chilled until evening when LD wanted to see a firework show that the restaurant Bay Point in Quincy does yearly. We found a good spot in a Nissan dealership parking lot and got to watch them from there. Was pretty good! At least 20 minutes, which is pretty good for a private entity to do.

A Wet Day Means Movies and TV

Posted on by Markman
Wet Fire Lilies from the garden 2021.

It being so wet and rainy these last few days gives us a chance to catch up on some entertainment viewing. The latest go to was a documentary called Class Action Park, detailing the history of an amusement park in New Jersey in the 80s called Action Park, where basically “you controlled the action.” Basically the owner let drunk teens practically run the place and the rides he created were unsafe. Many people got hurt there, some even died, and yet the place was allowed to continue for years. It became sort of a badge of pride and courage if you made it through alive. That’s how it got the nickname Traction Park by all the kids. So Jersey! Definitely worth a view if you have Amazon Prime Video. Another movie I heard about that I might want to see is called The Fare. I read it’s a trippy time loop sort of movie with some major twists toward the end. Update: We’ve watched it and it was weird, not bad, bur I thought it would be better. Very Twilight Zone-ish vibe. Also tried to watch a bit of the series called Hunters, an episode of Booker, a old 20/20 episode and a show about Jodi Arias’s cell mates.

I finally set up the sound bar to the smart tv. Sounds good! It can also be used to stream sounds from our other devices as well. Get ready for booming bass and theatre quality sounds! Think I’ll hook up a Bluetooth keyboard we’ve had hanging around here as well since typing letters through the little remote gets tedious. Ahhh, technology.

In the afternoon after running an errand to the bank and LD getting us some hot chocs from Starbucks, I happened to take this photo of the fire lilies all in bloom with the raindrops all over them.

Injurious Behaviors

Posted on by Markman
Fire Lily on Display (Available in store)

Quick recap on the last coupe of days: On Tuesday I got my brakes done, ay curumba, that was a bit pricey but I should have expected it, plus I don’t mess around when it comes to something important like that. I went for the whole thing – pads, rotors etc. for the truck – front and backs. I had a minor stomach ache most of the day and I was really hot and sweaty from the oppressive heat all day. In the evening when I was starting some meal prep I ended up slicing my thumb. I saw the knife go in as I was trying to halve a Brussel sprout and then I freaked a bit when I saw the blood come gushing it. I wrapped it tight and thankfully it eventually stopped bleeding. (LD also helped me out a bit although she was pretty busy at the time so I do appreciate her coming to my aid to check it out for a bit).

Yesterday we went down to the beach house and got to enjoy the day in the water. We were determined to be in the water before July and it happened on the last day of that month. It was a good day to be in the water too because it was the last of the oppressively hot days up here. I’d like to thank our host for their generosity in letting us come down to her beach house to enjoy the waves and the breeze and the meals and the company. While there I also got to see one of those electric bikes in action (might have actually been this model in fact), which kind of makes me want to buy one, assuming I can find a way to afford it – looks pretty cool. Once again, birthday’s in August people!

I’m going to try to complete the meal I started Tuesday before I injured myself tonight and hopefully this time I’ll be more careful. My thumb does hurt a bit now and then and it hurts to directly put pressure on it but overall it’s not too bad. Also something bit me yesterday while I was in the water and now one of hands seems to be swelling up. Going to watch that, I think it may be beginning to subside actually.

The story behind the photo: Here’s one of our Fire Lilies from our garden that had some raindrops on it from an earlier pop up shower passing by. <plug> I think it makes a pretty good photo! As mentioned above, it’s available for your wall or on other things as well. </plug>

Blue Mouthwash

Posted on by Markman
Moonstone beach again.

Had a dentist appointment yesterday morning early so the night before I kept waking up so as not to miss waking up on time, if you know what I mean. Everything checks out fine but he did prescribe me this mouthwash to use for my gums. While I was waiting at the pharmacy to pick it up their computers went down and I had to wait even longer for that to get back up before I could get my prescription. All in all I’d say that whole process took about an hour, something that usually only takes 10 minutes.

Later in the afternoon I took my mom’s cat Hardy to the vet to get his nails trimmed. He was pretty good this time, got into the cage easily and was quiet the whole time, whereas he usually cries a bunch.

I started back around 3 o’clock and I can tell you that traffic is back to it’s awful pre-pandemic self.

We finally got around to setting up some more streaming services on the new tv. Prime video and HBO/Max are ready to go. It is nice to have so many options. This should increase our movie and series watches for entertainment.

I grilled up some burgers before nightfall. It was getting a little windy and it looked like it might rain, but it never did. Annoyingly the wind would ever so often blow out the burners so I had to relight it a few times. I hate when that happens. I did notice while I was waiting that one of those day lilies from the garden lady bloomed and nearby were Shiloh the baby bunny and what I think may be it’s mother Gracie. Nice to see them around.

Currently Reading: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family

Crossing the Salt Pond

Posted on by Markman
Wooden bridge along the Salt Pond

Here’s a shot from our walk the other day along what’s now called the Nauset Marsh Trail, a 1.3 mile loop essentially that crosses a salt pond (not too ponds around that contain salt water, right?) and passes through a salt marsh, then meanders into a forest of cedar trees and bayberry. We did get bit a couple of times by bugs here but overall it wasn’t too bad. These photos I take never tell you of the bugs!

Back on the home front I harvested more lettuce as somehow it all grew back real quick since I picked it last time just under a week and a half ago. The little rain we have had up here has made the rear lawn rather unkempt so I plan to mow that down tomorrow and do some neatening up in general. I’ll check on all the various gardens we have as well and see what’s next to pop.

Some Shots from Nauset

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Nauset at Sunrise

Here’s a couple of pics from our little getaway at the cottage. I’ll post more as the days go on. The lighthouse shot was from when we both got up at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise over the cliff across the street. I haven’t processed those pix yet but while we were there we saw the cutest bunnies and actually a toad in the yard (I haven’t seen a toad in the wild in many years, and especially not in a yard!) It was a relaxing little trip and the cottage was just so cute, will definitely stay there again. LD twisted her ankle on the beach (a little tweak) so we had to turn the activities down a little bit but since this trip was all about relaxing it wasn’t a big deal. One place we discovered for meals is a place called Mac’s. Very impressed, probably will be our main go to moving forward and of course as always, we visited the Chocolate Sparrow every day. Before leaving we hiked around the Great Salt Pond which travels through salt marsh and into cedar forests. Later in the day we spotted a young coyote in the marsh grasses over at First Encounter Beach. Basically we didn’t want to leave but we were starting to miss Carson a bit (I know I was) and I think he missed us too. So it’s nice to be back but it was nice to get away too. We will return!

A Hot Saturday BBQ

Posted on by Markman

What have I been up to lately? Not a whole hell of a lot.

We had some friends over last night for a BBQ. I had to run to the grocery store a couple of times to get some needed ingredients. LD made a special salad dressing from scratch and also a vodka/strawberry lemonade drink. I picked the lettuce we’ve been growing and used that in the salad. Just burgers and dogs and some corn cobs, pretty basic. Thankfully everything came out great and I was complimented on my grilling expertise, which has gotten better and better with time. After all the eating, I lit the firepit and we had smores. It was a hot day but actually it wasn’t all that bad as there was a breeze and the patio is generally shady in the late afternoon. In the supermarket I saw some Del’s Lemonade Shandy Beer which I’d never seen before so I bought some and decided to try it, and I actually like it!

My microSD card came the other day and I inserted it into my phone, now rocking another 512GB on top of the 128GB I have internally. That should last me for a while. My grill cleaner also came yesterday so today I went ahead and gave the grill a deep cleaning. Strangely even though I ordered it from Amazon, it came from the Home Depot, which I thought was a little weird. If you’re interested it’s a grill cleaner by the makers of Simple Green. Anyways, the grill has never been deep cleaned since we got it, plus I wanted to get rid of the built up grease on the underside of the lid which made it look like peeling paint. I removed all the grates and flavorizer bars and gave them a good spray and scrub down. LD helped as well! We also picked up some more day lilies from the garden lady this morning. At this point we’ll have so many! Late in the afternoon we soaked the bulbs in a pail of water for a few hours before putting them into the ground, as per the garden lady instructions.

Gametime: Headlong Hunt.

A Little History

Posted on by Markman
Carson
Oh, Hello Carson!

I see that according to my records, this website is going to be 20 years old in November. Now mind you, that’s just this website with this URL. I started blogging a few years earlier, first on Geocities in 1998 (!), and then through my ISP at the time. I can remember I would have to code the HTML and then upload it through FTP, and then check it. If there was a mistake or an update I’d have to re-edit the HTML, re upload the file through FTP and check it again. It made archiving a real pain. Nowadays it’s all automated and I can just focus on the content. I wish I could find the Geocities HTML. It was so terrible but I was teaching myself how to make web pages. I think it does exist on an old Zip Disk somewhere (remember those?) but even if I could find it, I’ve no way to read it. The old ISP one can be found on the Internet Archive WayBack Machine in bits and pieces.

Over the rainy long weekend we went over to LD’s old landlady for a little inside BBQ, we picked up the air fryer (haven’t tried it out yet though), we got through just about everything we had ever DVR’d including finally finishing every season of 21 Jump Street, went to the Sanctuary to drop off some carrots and apples for the animals, and did a shitload of meal prep. I also finally got around to setting up the SmartTV but when I turned it on the screen was all cracked. Going to have to figure out a way to return that since it’s been a while, plus after seeing this one I think I want to get a better and slightly bigger one.

Everything in the garden appears to be doing well, and today I noticed the lupines are starting to blossom. I see LD also obtained some more blub plants from the gardening club lady today while I was over at Earth-1. We’ll put those in tomorrow. I also ordered some Simple Green grill cleaner because I want to do a deep clean soon on the outdoor grill and a 512GB microSD card for my phone to store all the wonderful cell photos I plan on taking with this new device.

A few weeks back in Marshfield by the beach I happened upon a Little Library which had a book written by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. That’s now next on my reading list.

As our Garden Grows, the Beauty Shows

Posted on by Markman

Life begins the day you start a garden.

– Chinese proverb

Well, my mom seems to doing well after surgery. I’ve been helping out a bit over there so that’s why I haven’t been updating so much lately. She’s a pretty strong woman but I still worry. Meanwhile over here, the roof to the sunroom and it’s gutters got redone all over, which took about 2 days. It was needing a little bit of an overhaul since but I’m pleased to say it looks good! Hopefully the new materials will last for years to come. They also put in a new gate system ala LD’s wishes to access the area underneath the sunroom from the outside which is a better setup than what was there before. The real test will be how it fares when we get our first serious rain storm but I’m feeling pretty good about it, the work looks really well done.

In the meantime I’ve been playing with all the new features of this new cell phone, watching YouTube vids on tips and tricks, etc. – I’m very pleased with the purchase! I’ve also been trying to get LD’s old iMac to see the new printers (just for fun, we never use it anymore since we both have Windows 10 laptops and a 7trh-generation iPad) while also looking for a new phone for her. I think for her the Samsung A52 might hit the sweet spot. Curiously her carrier doesn’t seem to carry them online which seems odd to me. I need to go down there and see what they have in stock. They also seem to have conflicting policies on unlocked phones which is a real drag. Part of the reason why I went with the carrier that I went with and pleased as punch about it. I did find an incredible deal on an new air fryer at Best Buy for sale new for only 20 bucks so we’ll be trying that out soon. (The sale has since ended). If we like it we may purchase a bigger one, but this will be a good one to try to test out what we would do with the capability.

On the gardening front, the foxgloves, fuchsias, clematis, rhododendrons, various rose species, and various other plants are all really starting to bloom now. I transplanted the mosquito plant (essentially a geranium that really does smell like citronella!) into a bigger pot and mowed the lawns before the weekend. I was pleased to see the hibiscus is finally starting to have new buds. I hadn’t had luck the last couple of years with the placement but this one might be taking! Also the sourwoods are coming in real nice now and even the pine tree is growing new limbs and pinecones!

Garden as though you will live forever

It was to see the natural gas guys finally dig up the street and fix the gas smell that had been permeating the neighborhood for a couple months now. To think that LD got that ball rolling! I don’t know if other people kept calling as well but apparently they finally decided to deal with it. I heard it was pretty noisy while they were doing it but I guess it’s over now as the smell is gone and I see they paved over they holes they made near the sewer openings.

Preparing for a Hot One

Posted on by Markman
One of my happy places, Lighthouse Beach in Chatham, MA on Cape Cod.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Boston Fox 25 News Station shared the above photo from my Instagram feed. The picture is actually from last summer but I felt like posting something. Boston is supposed to hit close to 90 degrees F today so a dip in that water might be nice right about now. Instead, I’m preparing for my mom’s surgery tomorrow. I took her down to the testing site on Friday and got that all done with. Just the formalities. Later in the day checking over the garden I saw some irises and a species of columbine began blooming. When it’s hot like this watering everything gets to be a bit of a chore, especially with all the stuff we have, but it’s worth it to see everything do well and explode with color everywhere. Speaking of everywhere, there’s pollen everywhere and all over everything. I have been seeing Shiloh all over the yard as well. He is so cute, but he’s getting a little bit bigger and bigger by the day.

My new set of USB-C to USB-A cables arrived yesterday all of varying lengths, along with some USB-C to USB-B adapters and a portable battery that can charge the phone either through the cable or wirelessly by plopping the phone on top of it, which I’m finding really cool. I may still buy a MicroSDXC storage card as the phone only comes with the onboard storage but I can add up to 1TB more. The 1TB is pretty expensive right now but the 512GB isn’t too bad. I can wait a bit longer on that, let the prices go down over time. Might be a good birthday gift for me though (my BD isn’t until August).

Operation Plant Swap: Success

Posted on by Markman

We went down to LD’s acquaintance’s house and swapped out some of our rather large hostas that LD hated and traded them for some day lilies that this lady had tons of and had dug a bunch out. What a character this woman is. Talks a lot but I actually had fun listening to her various stories. LD knows her from her gym. She’s apparently a member of the town’s garden club so she could be a good resource. Anyways, eventually we planted the lilies in various spots in the yard. They won’t bloom this year but hopefully they’ll establish themselves over time.

Made some steak tips on the grill tonight. Had to use them up before they go bad.

Game time: Box Bob. You know I love to try to solve these types of puzzle games. Currently stuck on level 10. Arrrgh!

Everyday Has The Potential to be a Great One

Posted on by Markman
Sunrise off the Maine coast

Yesterday’s biggest adventure was bringing one of my mom’s cats to the vet for his yearly shots. He checked out A-OK with was great, but he did puke a bit in the cage when he got done. Poor thing was so stressed out, but like I said, he bounced back in an instant and everything checked out fine. I finally went ahead and strung up some warm lights outside on the back deck now that the outlets out there are working again. I might still rearrange it a bit differently or even move them to the table with the umbrella on the back patio – I’m not sure yet. Been playing around with this new phone a bit. It has so many features I’ve been watching YouTube vids on how to use some of them! Needless to say I’m very happy with it. I’m really digging the wireless charging. I did have to purchase some new USB-C cables and a couple of adaptors so I could still use my older portable chargers when I’m on the road but no biggie.

I went ahead and installed the AC in the bedroom. Little early this year, but at least now it’s done and ready to be used should the need arise. I still need to set up the Smart TV. Now that I have this new phone I should be able to cast to it effortlessly, which will be nice and to have more options. As for the gardening, the azaleas and columbines are blooming. Supposedly doing some kind of plant swamp with an old woman tomorrow sometime, a trade of some of our hostas for her many day lilies that she wants to get rid of. We’;; be starting off with 20 of them or so. The plan is to maybe plant them along the left side fence where there’s a bunch of bareness, hopefully they can fill out that area. We’ll see. Unfortunely it looks like the bunnies have been getting at and eating the phlox in the rock garden bed area but that’s nature!

The Best Laid of Plans…

Posted on by Markman
Springtime robins

Was all ready for today, drove Mom down to her 6 am surgery and left to go home til it was done. About 2 minutes before I pulled into the driveway, she called me saying her doc called in sick and to come get her. So we needed to reschedule. Basically all next week. So another covid test on Friday, and the surgery this coming Monday. They’re all a little later in the day so we don’t have to get down there at the crack of dawn. These things happen I suppose, although it’s a little annoying but no harm no foul.

Those tubers I planted a few weeks ago after storing them in the basement all winter and they ended up looking all dried up were apparently still good as each and every one I replanted is starting to sprout up from the soil. So, victory there. I believe they’re these super tall dahlias that take forever to bloom.

Building a Butterfly House, Gardening Chores and Happy Spring Activities

Posted on by Markman
Swan Boats Spring in Boston

I went off this morning to the gas station to get some gas for the lawn mower. It was on my to-do list for the last few days. After filling up the can and bringing it home I loaded some into the mower and began mowing the back yard, which really started to need it. I made sure not to touch any of the plantings along the fence lines that ‘D’ helped us put in last fall, and also avoiding a couple of spots that the baby bunnies like to frequent that we’ve seen. I also did my yearly dodging of the random buttercup that seems to grow in the middle of the lawn. After it’s done blooming I’ll mow that down. Yeah, most consider it a weed but for some reason I kind of like the flower so I’ll let it bloom out before running it down. LD also noticed some poison ivy growing on the side of the shed and the side of the sunroom so I went ahead and sprayed some ivy killer on it. It’s already wilting but the direction say to keep up the spray for a few days so I’ll stay on top of that until it’s gone. After that I went down to the local deli and got us a sub for lunch, something we’ve been doing quite a bit more these last few weeks.

I finally got my hammer together and started to build my butterfly house. I was able to finish it within a half hour – it’s basically a closed box with some slits in the front for the butterfly to needle themselves through, and the top rotates so you can get inside the box to put in a banana peel which is supposed to attract them but I’m not sure about doing that because that just screams other unsavory bugs coming around to me. I’ll let LD paint it some bright colors and then we can hang it somewhere!

As you can see from the photo, spring in Boston has begun! It’s actually a wonderful time of year here in the city. I’m totally enjoying the warmer days.

Free Tile, Free Style

Posted on by Markman
Nubble Light
Nubble in the distance. One of my happy places for all time.

Prints of some of my photos are available for purchase at my shop! And now on to today’s minutia!

Started off today by LD getting a tip from a FB group about some new bathroom flooring tiles that somebody wanted to get rid of for free. So we arranged the pickup and drove over there and got the tile. Not bad looking tile at all, plus tile is pretty expensive so this was a good pop. Good chance they may be incorporated into a future home project. After that it was back for another trip to the Home Depot. First to return some paint that we never used for the table project, and then to get some pulls for the table (it has faux drawers on the sides) and some gardening plants and things. I finally got around to planting the tree sapling. I had a thought to use the old pot that our pine tree came in when we first got it last fall. I figure it can grow in this pot until it gets too big for it and then we’ll transplant it to wherever we decide it should go. I also ended up buying some wood glue for the butterfly house we’re going to build and a hanging plant. We also got some grass seed and seeded some of the barer areas of the lawn along with a couple of other supplies for the house.

While all that was going on, LD’s computer took hours to update Windows 10 but thankfully it eventually did work. Also about a week ago my email client on my phone stopped receiving emails. I could still use the webmail but I got so used to using the Samsung email client for one of my primary email accounts. I finally decided to just delete the entire account and try to re-add it, set it all back up from scratch. That worked. Seems like the email provider changed the address of the smtp email server but I never got a notice about it. Anyways it all works now and I have more space on this still-ass phone because I could never erase the over 5000 emails I had sitting in the trash. Deleting the account removed them all at once. Learn something new everyday. I really do need to get a new phone though. Also, the gas guy technician showed up again. Looked like he was taking some more readings in the street, Maybe they’ll get to this job sooner than I thought. He left after about an hour futzing around out there.

I was a bit surprised that it didn’t seem to rain as much as I thought the forecasters were anticipating. It was somewhat advantageous as it allowed me to get some of the stuff done outside that I wanted to get to. However, with the rain we did have I think I may need to mow the lawn again tomorrow. I also finally cleaned out the Keurig, running the white vinegar through it, etc. I hadn’t cleaned it in probably a couple of years but I’m the only one who ever uses it anyway. To be honest it was a lot cleaner than I thought it was going to be. You just have to make sure to get all the vinegar out of the system by flushing it through over and over or else your drink will taste like ass.

I also got an email today saying my second Covid shot location is being moved from Amesbury to Newburyport. Like, really? Well NBP is a lot more scenic than Amesbury anyway.

Blossom by Blossom the Spring Begins

Posted on by Markman
Wellesley, Ma. (4/18/21)

Woke up with a sore arm from the injection yesterday, but as they day wore on it bothered me less and less and I imagine by later tonight all the soreness will be gone. Took a jaunt over to the Home Depot this morning to get some paint and to see some various plants that they had that we planted later. After that we went over to Wellesley because LD had to pick up some stuff and while there we went for a walk and I thought there might be some good photo ops of some of trees blooming in the area, one of which is at the top of this post. Then we went to Michaels and got some chalk paint because we have a project where we are going to convert an old coffee table by giving it new life, by painting it and having the top be like a chalkboard. In the late afternoon LD planted a bunch of what we bought and we also spread some hummingbird/wildflower mix into some of the deader areas near the patio which will hopefully take and provide some nice flower cover going forward.

I just finished cooking some zucchini, shrimp and pasta dish and ate it. Now I’m going to zone out and relax for the rest of the night.

Monday, Monday, So Good to Me

Posted on by Markman
Monday, Monday

I went ahead and finally got around the repotting the tubers from last year this morning, we’ll see if anything sprouts out of them. If not, I’ll just pull them out and plant something else later. I planted some zinnia seeds I got free from Lowes as part of their free garden kits in one of the raised boxes just to see what happens. I wanted to get these things in before the rains, if it even happens, although it looks like it might, at least for a little while. I need to sign up for next week’s free haul, I was too late for this week so I lost out on that as they’re already “sold out” of the free kits for this week. Other than that, today was all about cleaning up a bit, catching up on some things, and waiting for the weather to get nicer again.

Good Luck Shiloh!

Posted on by Markman

This fourth baby bunny stayed under a flowerpot for a couple days after all its siblings left days ago. We decided to name it “Shiloh” because we felt it may be a bit on the shy side. We were hoping it’s mom would appear to help and somehow give it the bravery to go on. We left some lettuce and water out for him the other night. Come the next morning the lettuce had a nibble or two taken out of one if the leaves, but Shiloh was gone. Good luck and be safe little friend.