Blog de Puree

We’ve got a grumpy old oil furnace that heats up the steam radiators throughout our house. The furnace is in decent condition, but it is showing its age because of years of exposure to basement dampness during the spring and fall seasons.
The pipes are also old, but they are in great shape. And through the [...]

The final day of the Great Backyard Bird Count has ended, and there wasn’t much to see today because I had to leave for work in the morning. Here’s the rundown of today’s flying guests in the hour’s worth of viewing time I did get.
Herring Gull - 2
Blue Jay - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 6
Northern Cardinal [...]

A busy day today with visits from some new feathered friends. Here’s the rundown.
Northern Cardinal - 5
House Sparrow - 10
Dark-Eyed Junko - 4
Black-Capped Chickadee - 1
Blue Jay - 1
Mourning Doves - 5
It’s nice to see the little chickadee in the area, especially with the occasional unfriendly mob tactics used by the house sparrows.
This morning, I [...]

This past Friday evening, Randye and I had a belated Valentine’s Day meal that blew away anything we’ve had in the area for a long, long time. And we’d love to recommend the restaurant, but we’re not going to. Why? Because it’s our secret and we don’t want to share! (It’s small and it’s in [...]

Today wasn’t as busy as yesterday because it looks like the birds were fattening up at some other feeders in the neighborhood. I was also busy doing some maintenance around the house for the better part of the day. Here’s what we saw on Saturday.
Northern Cardinal - 4
House Sparrow - 5
Dark-Eyed Junko - 1
Blue Jay [...]

It was a good first day to the Great Backyard Bird Count yesterday. A goodly number of suburban bird species came to visit our offerings of sunflower seed and blended mix of seed.
One incorrigible squirrel ate most of the sunflower seeds, but we saw the following amount of birds over the course of the day.

Northern [...]

This year’s snowfall has been sluggish, to say the least. We’ve only received a dusting in late January. And depending on whom you talk to, it’s either good or bad. Regardless of people’s opinions, the snowfall as of 08:30 on Valentine’s Day is about one to two inches and climbing. The flakes are small, [...]

Bouche shows off his peasant heritage with his “ba-bouche-ka.”

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to witness what’s becoming a resurgence of an American phenomenon known as roller derby. At the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA, the Boston Massacre took on the the Liberty Bells of Philadelphia, who gave our home team a bit of a drubbing, beating us by over 35 points.
Regardless [...]

Remember when you were young and dug around in your back yard? There was always some friend or your mother who said that if you dug deep enough, you’d be able to dig all the way to China. So you and your friends would all start digging and usually by around 2:00 p.m. you’d only [...]