Wildlife – Page 2 – Hatchetation

Heb Returns and Ms. Pacman

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Markman

You all remember Heb, right? I had to do a double take this afternoon when I was walking around the back yard. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Is it possible that we had a rabbit garden statue that I had forgotten about? Nope. I recognized it was Heb after a few seconds. Oh, my, has that little bugger matured. In fact, I used to think Heb was a male, but after seeing it observing two other smaller bunnies frolicking around in another part of the yard, I’m not so sure. Is it possible that Heb is a mother? Already!? Wow, they grow so quickly!

Other news: I’m really like this new laptop; it’s much faster than the one I had before, and it’s also much cleaner. There’s no bloatware, and there’s nothing like a Windows laptop with almost nothing on it to slow it down. Also, the screen is way better.

Last night, because neither the Celtics nor anything else worth viewing was on, I ended up watching a PBS documentary about Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. He’s a fascinating individual. Genius. I pretty much think his brain doesn’t work like most peoples. They say all the great artists are a bit mad. On Friday, I’m looking forward to seeing Amber Heard on Dateline, although I’m not sure why. I suppose it’s like watching a train accident.

I ordered a desk mat from Amazon to rest my new laptop on but had to return it because they sent the wrong one; I’m waiting for a replacement. They do make it pretty convenient to return items, I just bring it down to the Whole Foods down the road. After that I went in the basement and packed up all the neon pacman lights that we have. I wouldn’t want to guys who are installing the flooring to ruin them in any way. They came from a guy in Hong Kong who I’m sure is no longer creating these wonderful neon lights. Once everything is done, they will go back to surrounding the Ms. Pacman machine we have. It’s an original MsPac machine, created by Midway in the 80s and we have it set to take quarters. (We’re listed on the VAPS!) I kind of use it like a bank. I’d like to get this rug to place in front of it but that might be a bit much.

For dinner tonight I decided to fire up the grill and do some chicken, corn cobs, and some dogs. My stomach was a bit wonky over the last few days but I’m back to normal now. I think I just overindulged a bit last Friday (I ate too much pizza and drank too much soda probably) so I think I need to make myself be more mindful. Last night I fired up some roasted shrimp with tomatoes and onion topped with feta and complimented it with a side of orzo. That came out pretty good.

Dudley and Other Updates Finally!

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Markman

Yesterday we went to celebrate a cow’s birthday, of all things! Dudley is one heck of a beautiful cow though, there’s no denying that. It was hosted at a sanctuary in Sherborn and we also got to see a bunch of other animals, and some vegan vendors. The highlights were Dudley, of course, and a llama that kissed LD and I!

Some other quick news, as you can no doubt tell, I’m finally doing an update, and that’s because I set up my new laptop today. I decided to go with an Asus Vivobook. Not the top of the line but it’ll get done what I need to. I decided to not go with Acer again. Some of the plusses are that this machine is way faster since it’s newer. I’ve been slowly getting all my stuff back up. So far it’s going pretty well.

Finally some other small updates over the last week or so. I had my CPR training so I’m certified in that for another year. I’ve adjusted to my new glasses pretty well. We cleaned out the basement pretty much entirely and got rid of a lot of things. The great part is that a lot of the items were taken by some folks that they could use them, instead of them ending up in the trash. There were some items that needed to get scrapped and for those we had these two teenagers who are trying to run their own company come and get the stuff. They were wonderful to work with. We picked out the vinyl flooring and that will hopefully be getting installed soon. Speaking of installing, we finally got the new blinds up all over the rest of the house, the ones that can open from the top or bottom. They look great! With all that stuff gone I was able to rearrange and get all the shelving in to where it needed to be. Things are getting done! Still need to figure out what to tell the mason about the front steps but that’ll be coming forthwith as well.

Back in business!

The Arrival of Heb

Posted on May 19, 2022May 19, 2022 by Markman

“After women, flowers are the most lovely thing God has given the world.”
Christian Dior

I like that quote. Anyways, it’s a bit of a chilly, raw one out there today. At least the rain held off for the most part. Looks like tomorrow will be much better, and then it’s on to the sweltering weekend. One thing that this particular weather day seems to have appealed to was a little creature we noticed today for the first time. It’s name is HEB, titled by LD, and standing for Hosta Eating Bunny. He/she is, nevertheless, adorable. I also believe this is the tiny baby who has been nibbling on the leaves of one of the lilies in the back yard’s center rock garden area. The top stays untouched since I believe it is unable to reach it! But like I said, cuteness overload! We’ve been fortunate to have many bunnies born here over the years. Most folks would probably be annoyed by their garden presence eating things, but I don’t mind. If it needs some nourishment, I say go for it. Growing up in the city as I did we didn’t get any bunnies (strangely enough they are showing up now though). True story, I never saw a wild bunny until I visited Cape May in NJ and saw one by the lighthouse. Isn’t that crazy? I went over 40 years not having seen one hopping around in people’s yards. Now, of course, I see them all the time. We did used to get frogs though. I don’t see those hardly anywhere anymore, and don’t ask me how a turtle ended up in our backyard once growing up as a kid. Must have a pet that someone just deserted or it escaped, I know not which.

Today’s main picture is of the Fuchsia we have growing in a hanging pot. We love Fuchsia’s and get one every year but we find they do seem to require a little bit of work. Still, watching a hummingbird flit around it and grab a drink from the cones is a really cool sight.

Of Alpacas and Local Artisan Popups

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Markman

Started out the day by checking out a local artisan popup grouping of shops over at the Norwood Space Center. Found some pretty cool items there. Then it was off to Carver to see another popup but this one was being hosted by an alpaca farm in the area, so we got some more things and got to hang with some alpacas – the stars of the show, as it were! I got lunch off of some food truck that was there. On the way back we went to Home Depot to pick up some cinder blocks. We’re planning on designing a corner cinderblock garden up along the fence, or latest project. Something along the lines of this image. We have most of the flowers and stones, it’s now just a process of deciding how we want to stack it and how we want it to look. I imagine we’ll be working on this over the next few days. Also got some mulch for the patio area to help spruce it up a little bit more.

I was going to replace the glass panes in the doors with the screens but I heard tomorrow is actually going to be a bit on the chilly side so I decided to postpone that a couple of days. Carson likes to have the doors open so he can look outside at all the various things but he also likes the smells. He’ll be able to enjoy that better once I have the screens in for the season.

For dinner, even though I’m beat, I cooked up some rosemary infused pork tenderloin with sides of mashed potatoes and broccoli. Anyways I may hit the rack a bit early tonight.

Gametime: Rock Forest – a not too hard cute game that I found.

Cluck You

Posted on April 3, 2022 by Markman

The highlight of the day was a brief visit to the Sanctuary. Despite the fact that it was closed to the public today, the owner let us in because we’d been regulars for a long time and were dropping off some produce for the animals that LD had kindly procured. While wandering about, I came across a flock of roosters who were just hanging out and thought it would make a good photo. So there you have it. We sowed lavender seeds in a lot of seed trays earlier in the day, which I later placed on a ledge in the house to germinate. We’re hoping to be able to transplant them into the garden in a few weeks. We also have some butterfly mix, stargazer lily bulbs, and some gaillardia to plant. I’ve also been hydroponically growing some garlic bulbs in a big glass jar contraption I had set up as an experiment of mine. The green tendrils of leaves are starting to sprout up out of the jar, pretty fast growing.

Because the dianthus pot outside appears to be empty, it appears that the surviving baby rabbit must have fled sometime last night. After all, they were almost ready to depart, so I don’t feel as horrible as I did yesterday. I couldn’t really tell if any of the lettuce we left had been eaten, but maybe since the pot I laid in in seemed to be moved this afternoon. I guess we’re going to have to leave it as I’ve now designated it as a bunny nursery since this is at least the third time that a rabbit has placed it’s babies in it to develop and grow. Who knows how many others we may have had in there without knowing!

Want to Show Me Some Love?

Posted on November 11, 2021November 11, 2021 by Markman

Want to own your own copy of my puffin photo? Click here for direct link!

Figured I’d try to give my favorite puffin photo I ever took some more exposure. Would make a great gift for a puffin bird lover – just saying. Support local creators!

I finally got around to digging out the tubers from the garden and bagged them into storage for planting next year. Got to make the most of the weather this week. I even decided to plant some garlic bulbs to go along with the onions I planted last time. We also hung some more icicle lights inside the house – they do provide a nice warm glow to the rooms that they’re hanging in.

Finished watching the 10 weeks of Impeachment: An American Crime Story. I thought it was really well done. The actress who played Coulter was uncanny – like, exact. And yeah, Tripp was one crazy lady. I also finally finished reading about Dewey. It ended up being pretty good after all. I haven’t really read all that much this year – nothing really has caught my eye too much or made me interested enough sadly.

Halloween Day Beach Trip

Posted on November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 by Markman

Yesterday afternoon we headed out for another beach trip since the weather was so nice, especially after 5 consecutive days of no sun and one of the days producing a nor’easter which produced a lot of wind damage around the area. We took a walk along the shore and came into this rocky outcrop where a bunch of birds like to have lunch apparently as I saw many gulls eating clams and crabs and we saw this little birds scurrying about. I originally thought they were piping plovers because they were white and pretty tiny, but after looking them up in my bird book, it appears they were just little sanderlings. Still pretty cute though!

In the early evening we set up shop in front of the house with candles, the candy we had all placed in goodie bags the day before and a skull on the table while we sat in chairs behind. LD dressed up as a witch and me as a, well, I’m not sure what I was but I did have a boa. There were a bunch of kids, the high point being between 5 and 7 pm. At close to 7 it started to rain with a think may have cut things short a little early but I think it was all pretty much over by then anyway, so it worked out pretty well. A kid who got some candy recognized me from my time being out and about in the neighborhood and gave me some props, which was nice.

This morning LD had an appointment at Faulkner so I tagged along for the hour or so. Afterwards we headed to JP and got some breakfast an Ula café. We hadn’t been there in quite a while. Got it to go and had a nice breakfast! In the late afternoon I decided to mow the lawns – not so much to cut the grass because that wasn’t really necessary but more to suck up and mulch a bunch of the fallen leaves. Fall clean up season is starting up. Finally I used up the last of the propane in the gas grill to cook up some steak tips and marinated chicken for dinner. Stuff we had to use up before it goes bad and all.

End of Summer Beach Outings

Posted on September 4, 2021September 6, 2021 by Markman

I had to go out and buy some black work sneaks and boots for my upcoming position so I did that yesterday afternoon. I lucked out in that there’s a DSW not too far from here and I was able to find what I needed right away, so that was nice. I’m the type of person who likes to have everything I need at the ready, even if it won’t be needed for months in advance. That’s just me.

Spent the day at Duxbury beach again. Went into the water a couple of times. I ordered LD a new beach chair as we noticed hers was starting to be too worn. I actually ended up ordering for her the chair that I myself originally wanted but got sent something else that I ended up staying with because I actually liked it. Anyways, while we were in the water we noticed these weird gelatinous beings all around that your skin would brush against. Picking them out if the water they looked like some translucent sort of worm. Come to find out after looking it up, they were salps. I found these beings to have a fascinating life cycle – I had never heard of these creatures before. I assume the recent storm blew them more inland than they usually are.

By the time it became after 5 o’clock we were getting hungry so we headed over to Green Harbor – our go to place after the beach there. They are closing after Monday to end their season. They were out of lobster rolls but LD got shrimp and I went with the clam plate. The wait took over an hour which was annoying but we didn’t have any other plans so we just waited and got a little hangry. We finally got the food and ate it while watching a sunset over by a nearby marsh.

I had originally planned to do a fire pit tonight but we’re too tired now and it’s rather late. Perhaps I’ll light one tomorrow night.

Tomorrow my plan is to be getting up early to check out the schooners in G-town!

I Goat You Babe

Posted on August 28, 2021August 29, 2021 by Markman

Goats are my therapy. Eustis and I goat this.

I was looking over some new dehumidifiers to replace the old one we had that finally went to it’s grave. Did you know they have ones now that even include WIFI and will alert you to their status? The Internet of Things (IoT) really is everywhere these days.

I’ve been playing around with the website design again, just for a change. If you’re viewing the page on computer you’ll see a bunch of stuff on the right – a sidebar if you will, otherwise that stuff shows up and the very bottom of the page. I might go back to the previous design but for now I just felt like changing things a bit.

What a wonderfully pleasant day today, with cool breezes. Thinking of doing a fire tonight. But for this afternoon, we felt a trip to the sanctuary was in order, plus LD had some produce she wanted to donate to the animals. As we got there we met the owner who mentioned that she was thinking of LD and had “summoned” her and missed her and called us family. That was really sweet. We got goat time which is our favorite part (see photo of Eustis and I!) Eustis is one of my all time favorites (even though it’s a girl’s name the goat is actually a male) but we heard that he’s been having a harder time lately – arthritis and all, the animals are getting up in age sadly and Eustis has been there a long time. Still, just sitting in the sun and the sand seems to make us all pretty happy.

I did end up making a fire around 4:30. We were out there til about 6:50. The fire was nice because it actually felt somewhat cold outside by the late afternoon.

Currently watching: Behind Her Eyes on Netflix.

Au Pairs Everywhere

Posted on August 11, 2021August 12, 2021 by Markman

Earlier today I saw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly flitting around on the butterfly bush out back, It makes me happy to know that my taking care of that bush finally has some of the visitors I was hoping it would attract to come to fruition.

Lately in the evenings we’ve been getting through the series Mindhunter and finally finished season 1. Other things that I want to watch include Val, Wonder Woman 1984, and Sharp Objects. LD doesn’t want to watch that last one because she read the book and said it was extremely disturbing which Kinda makes me want to see it more in a strange way.

Today we hit the beach up here for a couple of hours because it was hot. We noticed what appeared to be au pairs ( bunch of them) watching children while their rich moms just relaxed on the beach. Really interesting to see, these young teenage girls so focused on watching the kids and doing all the work while the moms laid about. I didn’t notice at first, but LS noticed that the girls seems very focused on watching the kids, and what teenage girl is going to do that at the beach normally? We went it the water a couple of times, it was a little cold but actually I found it refreshing. Once you were in it was nothing and you adapted fairly quick. Before we left we hit Green Harbor again for Lobster Rolls and Clam Plates. I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide who got what.

Living with Alpacas and Snuggling Goats

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Markman

Stayed in a wonderful 4-bedroom 200 year old farm house for a few days that is located on a working alpaca farm which is connected out back to the alpaca pen in the southeastern Connecticut town of Bozrah – very agricultural part of the state, lots of Native American history to the area as well, and the folks are very friendly if a bit odd at times. Interesting factoid for you: Bozrah CT is the only town in all of the United States with that name, never duplicated anywhere else. As to how it got that name, there is an interesting story.

The community, according to the legend, really wanted to call itself “Bath” after the famous spa in England. The local man chosen to carry the parish’s request to Hartford had a somewhat eccentric manner of dress, however, and when he appeared before the Legislature he was dressed in loud, parti-colored homespun so odd as to bring to the mind of one amused legislator the query of Isaiah 63:1: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?” Overcome by the humorous appropriateness of this verse, the Assembly decided to name the town “Bozrah” when it incorporated the place. Or so the story goes. Like I said, it is a bit of an off-the-beaten-path kind of place.

I’ll go over some selected moments from the trip. We learned how to care for the animals as well as what makes them tick and we saw how they use their fur to make things at a mill where they process the sheared fur of the animals . The farmhouse had a nice firepit that we used the first night there to relax and make s’mores with. Also discovered and played a new card game called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza which is my favorite game right now and will be playing it again with more friends soon.

We did what was called a private goat snuggle event on Sunday at a farm in Richmond, RI. Actually a woman’s house with her young daughter. You really can’t judge a book by its cover because as we approached the place we started to feel a bit trepidatious but low and behold, it was actually pretty amazing, It ended up being one of the best, if not the best, goat experiences we ever had. The property was I think really made for goats as they could climb on various things and climb hills and try to reach pine tree needles, it was really cool, trust me. A nice part of the trip was that the rains held out for every event we tried so score there! They had so many goats and such cute babies and so sweet. One goat mama there named Moon we gave a little extra TLC because she had recently lost all four of her babies but she sure did love to be scratched on her neck. There’s lots of pictures from our time there but I don’t want to upload them all. Also that evening we met up with an old friend of LD’s from her grad school days and ate on a beautiful patio at a restaurant in another part of Connecticut. We ended up staying there past closing!

Last day before heading back we went to beach named Misquamicut State Beach in Westerly, RI. We actually were in Watch Hill before that but that place was a zoo today so we bailed on that. LD swam in the water while I watched from my beach chair and enjoyed the ocean breezes, and even though the beach was packed today we enjoyed our time there.

The Hawk Hangs Around

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Markman

This juvenile hawk keeps hanging around!

This hawk just keeps hanging around still. Maybe it still hasn’t totally gotten the message that he needs to be on his own and start feeding himself. Actually according to MassAudubon that’s exactly what it is! He looks pretty healthy to me though, so I don’t think he’s in any distress. Maybe he’s making this area his home base, which is true, might not be good for Shiloh! Better leave little Shiloh alone!

Meanwhile, at Earth-1 the takedown of the house next door is coming along little by little, floor by floor. The roof is long gone and yesterday it appeared that most of the second floor had been removed as well. I should mention the reason for the teardown is to build, you guessed it, another new condo. I took a couple of pics but they don’t really do the magnitude of the work justice in my mind.

I ended up putting up some more shelving in the basement. The idea is to become more organized and not have anything on the floor that wouldn’t need to be. Mostly though, it’s for neatness and organization moving forward. I also inflated all my car tires using the portable. Believe it or not it actually works! Not a bad purchase! You can blow air from it either thru the car lighter plug or via the stored energy after charging the device itself through USB, which is what I’ve been doing. Next thing I want to get for the back is a cargo net, They’re cheap and I think it would help in keeping any groceries or such that I put back there from sliding all around the back when making turns.

Yesterday I got new some new sneakers from the New Balance Outlet in Brighton, after destroying my previous pair working down in the basement. Ended up getting the Fresh Foam 880s in Light Aluminum/Black/Steel. Pretty sharp looking!

Hawk Sightings and Ripping Up Carpet

Posted on July 11, 2021July 11, 2021 by Markman

Today’s major activities. Yesterday LD saw this juvenile hawk across the street just squawking and moving around the driveways. Today it came back and brought what we think might be his sibling, I think there’s a male and female but who knows. They sure have been squawking a lot. All day actually. Now we definitely know what a hawk’s call is. LD actually took all these shots with my camera and I think she did a great job. We actually have many more photos but I personally think these are some of the best. After that we both, along with a friend of ours, went ahead and ripped out all the carpet and padding from the basement. What a job! We were a great team and we were done in about 2 hours which is really great. The cellar is just about dry now and it’s just a matter of running the fans and humidifiers and various drying tools. That should be done fairly soon, then it’s a matter of going through things, organizing, and getting rid of all the crap that accumulated over the years that are really just taking up space. So all in all, I think we are in really great shape, although every muscle in my body has been getting quite the workout over the last couple of days. Maybe I’m not as out of shape as I thought!

Blue Mouthwash

Posted on June 22, 2021June 22, 2021 by Markman

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

Birding Love and Moonstone Nights

Posted on June 19, 2021June 19, 2021 by Markman

I had some interest from some folks for the image I took while we hiked the Nauset Trail a few days ago and if the image was available on other media and I’m happy to report that I’ve added it to my store, so if you like it, please check it out. The image above is from a walk we did yesterday going up to the beach in the area. We saw some guys fishing there as well with nets and it appeared that they caught some things. Anyways while we visiting yesterday we noticed all the various birds that were visiting the feeder as we chomped on freshly baked cookies and admired the amazing home and garden and koi pond! I’ll leave the identification of the birds shown here as an exercise to the readers.

Lately I’ve been watching this Going RV show constantly and I think it’s annoying LD. I do find these Class A’s so interesting though!

Building a Butterfly House, Gardening Chores and Happy Spring Activities

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Markman

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.

A Plum Visit

Posted on May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 by Markman

Spent yesterday just taking it easy. After my second shot I didn’t get sick or anything. My arm was a little sore for a few hours, and I felt pretty tired most of the day, but I still grilled and got some stuff done. I’m back to my normal self already.

Here’s some more pix from the Plum Island Reservation outing before me getting the shot.

Going through my camera bag I actually found my old Kindle (third generation). It said the battery was dead so I went to try to charge it up but nothing. I think it might be dead dead. I mean, it is pretty old. The thing won’t even reset. I suppose the battery inside it has completely died but there doesn’t look to be any way to open it easily to get at it. I see there is a way to actually replace the battery (saving this for myself for future reference) but I’d need to buy one and install it and I don’t think it’s probably worth it at this point due to the machine’s age. Perhaps I should just buy a newer version but I actually like the feel of real books.

The Electrician in the Garden

Posted on May 7, 2021May 8, 2021 by Markman

The electrician came by today and fixed the outside outlet that I noticed had been wonky over the winter. I should now be able to string up the outdoor lights without problem. He’s also the town’s animal control officer and told us a bunch of stories – he meets a lot of crazy characters. While he was there though, we saw two bunnies jumping over each other in the yard and he told us that that is their courtship routine, and that within 30 days they will have babies. No sooner than he said that is when we also saw a littler bunny, possibly Shiloh or one of his siblings. It was like the whole family was out there. Maybe they’ll decide to use the pot again for another bunch of bunnies! I’ll need to mark this one the calendar and make a note. I also saw my first hummingbird come by this afternoon. It flited around the tulips and hanging plants before darting off. Very cool to see, I’ve been trying to attract them for some time.

Earlier in the day I mowed the front lawn and got some stuff out of the basement and into the car to drop off at the DPW for Hazardous Waste Collection Day. Finally trying to get rid of some old minor appliances that have been taking up space in the basement since last winter. I was also going to do the back but the gas was running low. I’ll need to go get some and then complete the back. The electrician/animal control officer also gave us some lowdown about the former sinkhole in the yard which we converted to a nice phlox rock garden. Apparently there must have been a tree there at one time that was taken down before we ever came here. Over time the insects in the ground ate whatever was left under the soil and it just starts to cave in. I learned some new things today. I also was able to finish the book on the theft of the Gardner paintings I started a couple of days ago. All in all, it was a very good read, if slightly outdated. It did make me what to go back there and see the artwork again. The crazy thing about that is that there just seems to not be any real leads. You would think sooner or later some talk about where they are would happen or a crook or someone would want to cash out somehow. Problem being that the works are just too famous. I will admit that out of all the ones that were taken, Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is easily my personal favorite. It was the artist’s only known seascape scene. I hope it’s not too damaged – it really is a work of art. Oh I almost forgot, we even went to the beach for an hour this morning and saw some guy power paragliding (sort of like these models) right over the dunes!

Finally, for tonight I cooked up a walnut-crusted salmon with a roasted veggie jumble and lemon crème fraiche. It came out pretty good but I think I should have let the zucchini go a little longer in the oven. In the interim I was trying to solve some of the puzzles in Screw Gravity. Just when I think the game was over, there were more puzzles.

Good Luck Shiloh!

Posted on April 11, 2021 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.

Bunny Business

Posted on April 8, 2021 by Markman

It would appear 3 of the four bunnies have left as of today. The fourth bunny is still hiding underneath the flowerpot all by itself. I hope its momma comes by to give it a little encouragement. An orange cat showed up and wanted to clamber up to the deck where the bunny was but luckily Carson happened to be keeping watch and started doing this weird scream he does when another cat from the neighborhood comes to close. After hearing that I dashed outside and chased the cat away.

This afternoon I took a quick jaunt down to the supermarket and picked up some flowers for the vase. Something pretty for us to look at, since the flowers I bought a while back finally bit the dust.

I drove down to Lowe’s late this afternoon to pick up my first kit and I was pleasantly surprised about all the stuff I got, including a free plant!

I think I want to watch The Last Lightkeepers documentary on Amazon Prime. This kind of stuff is right up my alley and it looks beautifully shot.

This Flowerpot Must be Full of Love

Posted on April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 by Markman

Baby Bunny coming out of the flowerpot for the first time, April 7, 2021.

The highlight for today was definitely the scene that greeted me this morning as I literally went out onto the deck in just my underwear to get this shot, as I had just woken up a few minutes before. Can’t believe it but it is true. It’s happened again, second year in a row! This little baby bunny was born in the same flowerpot that maybe it’s mother was born in. It popped out of the nest on its own this morning. Be safe Baby Bunny, have a good life, and don’t forget to come back if you decide to someday have children of your own.

Three of the four baby bunnies huddling underneath the flowerpot. The fourth stayed in the pot.

I’ve discovered late this afternoon that there are actually FOUR baby bunnies! One is still hiding in a pot, but the other two or hiding underneath another pot! I also noticed what I think is Mother Bunny hopping around the backyard over by the picnic table.

Bunnies Born for Easter Week

Posted on March 30, 2021March 31, 2021 by Markman

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

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Markman

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.

The Mystery Audio Tape and the Hawks

Posted on March 22, 2021March 22, 2021 by Markman

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.