Where to begin ???

No photo today. I don't have a picture of a pile of merde. Perhaps I could find a photo of the Gouverneur and Connecticut's legislative body. That would be best.

Oh my gosh, just reading the list of new taxes for us dumbbells who still live in Connecticut. It is more outrageous than I realized. Check out the story on the front page of The Bulletin. The best tax is a cremation certificate which was $40 ( I had no idea you had to get a cremation certificate from the state!) is now $150. We'll have to institute a Plainfield bonfire which can be kept in constant readiness and just throw the corpses on it. Periodically the ashes can surreptitiously be dropped in the Moosup River where they will be gently carried out to sea by way of the Quinebaug, Shetucket and Thames Rivers. Alas it may not help the doomed citizenry because the State Legislature will give union jobs to new hires to dredge for the remains in the Atlantic and charge a dredging fee before the muddied ashes are carted off to be sanitized at the Sterling tire burning plant where the remains will finally be allowed to go up in smoke to the Promised Land. They can't possibly go to hell because they've lived in Connecticut all their lives and have therefore paid the entry tax for heaven. I imagine that many bars and lounges will no longer have live music or dancing. Why would lounge owners want to pay a 3% cabaret tax? Let the customers take their music, dancing and exotic pleasures to the local parks then the legislature can hire more police/taxmen to collect the cabaret tax from each individual who is enjoying himself. The least Connecticut could do is allow legal bordellos and opium dens which they could tax to the max. Middle child has already received instructions from THE STATE to take inventory on all beer, wine and liquor on hand and send the bastards all appropriate taxes on the stock. There are so many more taxes it will be surprising if I don't get a tax bill for blogging. In THE STATE'S infinite wisdom the taxes on electricity, which were already the highest in the country, are going up. What wonders the voters of Connecticut have wrought. Perhaps by 2012 Connecticut will be a ghost state and taxes will no longer be a concern. The diesel fuel tax will only be 46.2 cents a gallon. What a break! I'd better stop here before I get sick and have to go out and buy some nonprescription drugs and pay the latest, greatest tax. But, egads, if I buy today and I buy a lot of over the counter drugs I may beat the system that goes into effect tomorrow!

Quote: Kings ought to shear, not skin their sheep. __Herrick
Id est: The STATE ought to shear, not skin its sheep. ___Quelque chose

Pretty good weekend . . .

Gloomy, rainy Friday but still managed to have a great day. Picked Kiddo up at noon so his Dad would have some time with him at Richoni's. He's eating a pretty good breakfast now! I taught him how to roll the pancakes at McD's and dunk them in syrup. So we finally have a hotcake breakfast eater along with his infamous hash browns. We got home and it was cold and gray. He immediately had Grampa outside so he could practice shooting his Uncle's old compound bow. He hasn't enough strength yet to pull it back all the way but he did get it to go through a cardboard target and stick into the garage! He got a kick out of that. I had to go out and watch while Grampa handed him arrows. I've ordered an archery glove and arm protector because I remember when I used to shoot the long bows and my arm would get skinned! He may not need it but he does need the special glove to protect his fingers. I don't want him to quit liking archery. It's a good sport. After his reading and Xtramath on line he, Grampa and I played Wii Resort sports. Grampa beat us pretty handily and when I left them for some housecleaning they played Ben Ten as a team. Kiddo really liked having Puppy's Pop for a partner and not Mémère. They kept running through bad guys. When I play he has to stop the game and let me off while he continues on his own! I seem to hold him back! He kept praising Puppy's Pop, "You're good Grampa! Keep following me. Now fight." It was fun just to hear them. The kid's getting so smart that when he wants to watch TV in the evening he asks for Red Green! After we brought him home yesterday we packed up the Dodge and went to the old Sterling school where Puppy's Pop flew and I changed my walk to around the parking lot. I also took some photos so he can show how he's managed to fix up his own private flying field. What a character. The sun did come out yesterday and it was a beautiful afternoon and evening that we spent just enjoying our Moosup cottage.

Quote: The truest eloquence is that which holds us too mute for applause. ___Bulwer

Room with a View . . .

Latest view from Kiddo's room, bathroom and master bedroom! Don't get much betterer than this!

The Bluebird Family Show . . .

Puppy's Pop's incredible Bluebird Family Show continues! We watch the three young ones and their parents zipping around in a feeding frenzy across our small domain. He also put up part of his Grampa Rose's weather vane on which he hung a shallow birdbath. He was doubtful any birds would avail themselves of the pure, sweet well water. But, ah ha, the bluebirds beat the finches to it and take baths daily! As I write I can see one of the young ones on the corner of the roof over Ma Tante's room hunting. He is shimmering even though the sun isn't out today. I'm watching him through our 100 year old wavy windows! The Fox Family is still littering. We find carcasses all over the place, especially squirrel. That is a well fed Fox Family. Pretty soon Grampa thinks that the second trio of bluebird eggs will hatch and we'll see the first three help out with the feeding of the newbies. He's never had the pleasure of baby birds growing up in our yard and helping out with the chores. They've been hatched here but always take off into the woods and we rarely saw them. I sometimes wonder if having the tamaracks felled last fall has opened up the yard so much that the wildlife is more abundant. Perhaps we can just see what's going on better! I find that I don't miss the trees except when I recall Pa and Mon Oncle Joe taking them from the forest and planting them some sixty years ago. Will be helping out in Groton on Tuesdays for the summer. Yesterday we spent a lot of time in the pool. He pooped me out. The Kiddo and I walked to lunch at Richoni's. He had a hamburger and fries and I my BLT. Not sure what we'll be up to today. The weather looks quite gloomy. Maybe we'll just empty out his bookcase, take out the baby books and go to Borders for some Black Lagoon and Freddie Fernortner books. I'll bring his too young for him books home with me and put them in the old Encyclopedia Britannica bookcase we bought before we were married! The encyclopedias were sent off some years ago when Grampa and I cleaned out the upstairs and paid to have all the stuff carted away! We knew at the time that we were paying to have some good stuff carted off but it was worth it. Too much stuff! It's still accumulating as I write!

Quote: No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with a single thread. __Burton

Wii . . . Wii . . . Wii . . . all the way home . . .

Puppy's Pop took this photo this morning. A bit hazy because I haven't washed the kitchen window!

What a ball! Kiddo and I went to Game Stop in Killingly Commons and came home with the Wii Plus, twelve sports games and three controllers and numchuks. Grampa, not too thrilled, none the less helped to set it up. It was almost perfect but we didn't realize what the first screen would look like and so when it came up we thought it was the opening screen to the Sony. I went to get Uncle R. in Lisbon and he dug out the old Sony remote and we were soon off and running. That was when I realized that Grampa had actually found the right button to push on top of the Sony but we hadn't recognized the screen! So Uncle set up three Miis and set the time etc and I thanked him profusely as I brought him home. It's so nice to have someone we can turn to in cases when I don't read all of the directions! Kiddo and I synchronized the controllers and he even got Grampa to play! Woot! Before he went home this morning he made his Mom a birthday card and made his Dad a Father's Day card. His art work is pretty neat and he wrote some nice thoughts in side both cards. Kiddo also got a chance to see the Daddy Fox, I think, stalking squirrels close up. He was just sitting patiently under the dogwood tree watching the bird feeders but the squirrels and birds just never showed up! Smart ones. We just returned from the old Oneco School where Puppy's Pop has gotten permission from the First Selectman to mow a flying circle. While he flew and some people came to watch I trekked over to the Cemetery to walk. I think the tick I picked up the other day was from walking around the unmown fields by the school so the cemetery was a good choice. I got a chance to say a personal hello to Gram! It's a very well kept cemetery and very old. I didn't have my glasses but I did manage to discern a birthdate of 1801. I'm certain if I took the time to look there are some much older dates. Very peaceful and calm walking just above one of Puppy's Pop's old fishing haunts, a damned cove on the Moosup River. (There were at least seven young men jumping off of the Route 14 bridge when we drove by. Still some local yokels. Neat'o!)

Quote: The very impossibility which I find to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence. __La Bruyere

Always something new . . .

Was very rudely awakened at four this morning by three of the foxes hunting and screeching near the picnic table. Gees, there goes the neighborhood. No peace for the wicked and all that rot! I had to open the door to scare them away and into the woods near the waterhole. Puppy's Pop saw their digs when he went to help our neighbor across the street do some heavy lifting! The Fox Family lives on a hillside near the old trestle. The neighbors also find dead carcasses all around their yard. Good hunters, but the suckers are noisy as heck. The best new cause for surprise; ta da! The Bruins won the Stanley Cup in the seventh game and away from home! Now that is truly miraculous. I've come full circle as I watched them win 39 years ago when we only had one child. How time has flown by. A shut out; a short handed goal; a goal when the Canucks had pulled their goal tender! It had everything. The Bruins were on a mission and completed it well. On a completely different note I went to get a check at the CU to pay for our car insurance. The Credit Union just had an update and all was supposed to be hunky dory. Not! It now takes 20 minutes for the check to print once it is in the system. She waited on three more people before giving me that info! So I took the $1589 in cash, dropped by the bank, came home and wrote out the check! What's modernity doing for you lately? Let me know. We could write a funny yet dreary chronicle! Almost forgot, took a deer tick off the back of my leg this morning. Merde! Merde! And encore, Merde!

Quote: Sunbeam of summer, what is like thee, hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea! -One thing like thee to mortals is given, the faith touching all things with hues of heaven! ___Mrs. Hemans

Yay ! ! !

Fantastique! Went to my yearly cardiologist appointment at 8:45 this morning and I am so healthy that after my 2012 appointment he may set me free! That will be great; one less doctor to see. We celebrated with breakfast at Old Tymes where I ate my very favorite Cinnamon Crisp dunked in hot apple juice. Life is just super! We made a few stops on the way home for odds and ends. The odd at Staples cost $72! Ink cartridges for the Epson. Outrageous. The end never even made it home; an 18" inner tube for a lawn mower tire. Even Tractor Supply didn't have the right size nor did they have denatured alcohol nor a five ounce syringe. We saved so much money today! We then went to the old Sterling school for flying and walking. Walking was rough since I roamed the perimeter of the old playground fields which are not kept very well mowed. But I enjoyed the views of the Moosup River, the old swimming hole at the point and the scads of blackberry bushes. I had been enticed to go with Puppy's Pop by a suggestion that we would stop for a coffee on the way home. Naturellement, I misunderstood the offer. I was supposed to walk to Lizzy B's while he flew and that would be my coffee outing. This hearing problem is getting grave! I did manage to work in the garden for a few hours yesterday and attacked the weeds. I also transplanted nasturtiums, zinnias, sun flowers, and green beans. Since the ground is so wet and we haven't seen much of the sun lately I think my transplants will survive. That is if . . . the foxes stop lying around in the garden during their nightly hunting sessions! Puppy's Pop has found at least two dead squirrels, two baby Orioles and a mole near the horse shoe pits and I have found squashed plants in the garden! So much for the lovely wild life! I saw one of the kits lazing under a tree near the water hole and decided I would see if I could get close to him to get his portrait but he took off. I think I'll continue to make my presence known so they do run away from me and the garden! Enough of this odd togetherness!

Quote: You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring some with you. __Joubert