This has been the essence of my little summer.  Eliot is growing into being an award winning big brother.  He has not noticed any attention deficits due to the new Willow.  All the shrubbery I removed at the beginning of the summer has returned in force so I have some work to do and all that.  I am looking forward to a trip south for a few days to help ring in the newest cousin addition ceremony.  

  I will be sure to bring some scuba gear to go with my suit coat.  That is an inside family joke because Wizzo fell into the ocean at Tim's wedding.  Hopefully I will come away from the family gathering exhausted and resolute to have a family vacation this coming summer as this time around we kind of had to cancel last minute.

   Here are a couple of recent pics for the blogosphere

 

  

Attacking Shrubbery

It is with great pride and very little prejudice that I have officially done most of what I wanted to do to the honeysuckle. There have been times when I have doubted myself. Now I see the fruits of my labor and realize it was worth all the blackberry thorns, wood chipper Fargo PT SD, and one really bad bu bu on my belly.

New Directions

I am now studying fruit trees for planting in the spring and pruning for the winter as I hack away at the massive quaff of honeysuckle that has plagued our neighbors houses and our yard for years. Every time I go out of the house my neighbors thank me profusely for my beneficence and the kindnesses I have heaped upon them by cutting the crap out of my yard. Apparently the guy who owned the house years ago put it in for privacy and just did nothing to keep it in check (it sounds like he was a bit of a prick). The really exciting part is putting things into the chipper as I visualize Fargo worst case scenarios and try to figure out how I would give myself a tourniquet if my arm got sucked in. Luckily it has not and also luckily there are about eighty safety devices making it nearly impossible for me to make armburger. I have been very careful too.
We went to the Cumberland county fair today and Commonground on last Friday. The differences were hilarious. The carnies just wore different costumes. Overalls/long skirts and dreadlocks vs baggy pants w/dueche bag hat or overly tight jeans with muffin top. The food was the same only one was organic therefore more expensive. They had one thing especially in common, they both were so much fun. I can't remember having more fun at the Commonground(can't remember lots of things about the Commonground from my youth) and I love attending a fair with Eliot because it is all so wonderful to him. He drinks in the nectar of each thing he does or sees. It is what a parent lives for those moments.

TRICKIN with CHICKIN

With bargains found at the Riverbend yardsale including a pickax I have finally completed the chicken moat. Well to say it is a moat is not completely right. It is more of a channel. It also serves as a mud run for Eliots cars. He had such a great time helping his daddy with it. He would get his little trowel out and dig away.

Like a new man

This evening on the bus there was a scarcity of insane behavior to interrupt the tree catalog reading. I got well past the Pink Lady Apple tree before a Drunk Lady hurtled past me on her way through the windshield to ask the driver, "When argh youll goinggg to anrgutstarhh?" The windshield was made with this kind of thing in mind so she was merely shaken not stirred by the incident.
My days have flown by in this manner. Wake, try to cover Eliot's ears but not interfere with the newly released violent criminal riders of the bus, come home and try to not be a victim of a projectile drunk persons. It is like a frat party on wheels where all the pledges are seasoned drinking professionals. My only regret is that I am not able to join them in their adventures, perhaps in the next life. In this life it is clear I am to be a farmer(for those of you who thought I was going to be a nurse this may come as a surprise but hey life and select boxes of cereal are filled with those right?).
In process are three to three thousand projects around the house. I have become adept at putting them off for various excellent reasons. Therefor one can find in my yard the following things,
1)A regulation depth ditch around a chicken coop size area and the materials for building a chicken coop inside of a garage
2)The beginnings of a seriously deforested future berry patch which once the wood has, over the years decomposed, will be perfect for blueberries and raspberries.
3)A hole the size of a root-ball for a dwarf tree which has been excavated then meticulously filled back in for future re-excavation.
My heart was lightened even more than usual by fireflies that did not turn out to be motorists cigarette butts being flicked at me this evening. They buzzed around the yard. I have always found it hard not to tape a flashlight to my bum when I see this. It is what being brought up in Augusta will do to a boy.
Many of you will have noticed by now that my email got hacked. Apparently the fix was in because my computer was also the victim of the geekiest sort of crime. All action movies from now on have been ruined for me. They all are hackers the bad-asses of the big screen. You just never feel the same as you sit down to a movie starring fast typers after falling prey to their evil shenanigans. I have seen the matrix people and it looks really boring, is pre-diabetic, lives at its mom's house, and has to do carpal tunnel exercises.
Despite all my whining I am doing great. This blogging thing makes me feel important, almost as important as when more than 2 people validate my words with a like on facebook. So have a nice evening and join me in protesting the depiction of an action hero as a person who types fast.

The weather outside is frightful

I have no idea what this is a picture of. I am thinking it is a fish tank. One never can tell. It is rediculously cold outside. One of those days where SLR cameras stick and no sane person really would be outside anyway. We went out for a date at Westbrook Cinemagic. Eliot stayed with his grandmother and ever braved the cold a bit. The point of this is nothing of course. I have nothing to say. Other than I am going to try to keep my lap warm by blogging with my laptop as the temperature dips to subzero temps this eve.

A Whole Day at the Ocean and All I have to Show For It Is These Berries

It is Sunday and the day was our oyster. The waves at Portland Headlight were crashing high from a hurricane. The air was so warm the thought of surfing could not be purged. It has been a long time since that has happened. It was on the other side of the planet that I surfed last.
Last night it rained really hard and everything was all wet and smelled rotty in a good way. We walked around the woods in Fort Williams park area for awhile. All those leaves almost got the best of me; I had several three stooge banana peel moments. Eliot somehow avoided falling for the most part. He got chased around by some puppies, guess they thought he was delicious the way they kept licking him. He found some new duck friends as well. They were quite interested in making his aquaintence too until they found out he only was holding the top of an acorn.
This evening has been the night of school again. Borders for studying, home for roasted chicken Ala Jess, back to the computer who was diametrically opposed to me and my paper writing work. I also think the blog and facebook have had their role in my study downfall this evening.