Jerk Shatters Glass Table All Over My Road, Shrugs, Keeps Driving

This isn't the actual glass on my road, but some idiot had a glass deck table
fall off his truck trailer on my road. Then he left it there, glass covering
both lanes of the road. Idiot.

I'm writing a note here to the jerk last night who left a "gift" on the road I live on, Fairfield Hill Road, otherwise known as Route 36 here in St. Albans.

Dear Idiot in the dark pickup truck towing the trailer: I was outdoors in my gardens on a lovely spring evening last night when I heard what sounded like a nasty crash. I didn't know what caused the noise at that moment, but I saw you. 

The crashing noise happened. Something had obviously fallen out of the trailer you were towing. You heard the noise, because you slowed down quite a bit. But then, and I could see you in the driver's side window, you sort of shrugged, hit the gas and took off up the hill.

Then I noticed the other cars slowing down and stopping. I went out to the road to have a look. Glinting in the sun was all kinds of shattered glass glinting on the pavement in the setting sun all over busy Fairfield Hill Road.

Yep, you had your nice outdoor glass table. It fell off the back of your trailer. Hey, accidents happen. I can't really knock you for that, although you should have secured things better. Things have fallen out of my truck bed when I'm hauling things, too. It's embarrasing.

But at least I stop and pick up whatever fell out of my truck. You kept going, leaving motorists to drive over all that broken glass. I wonder if you caused any flat tires, if any.

You don't care, though, do you? You messed up, and made it our problem. You can't take responsibility for your own mistakes, can you?

I went down there with a push broom and started trying to sweep the glass off the road. Kind of a hard job, because the glass pieces were everywhere, covering a huge part of the road. A woman in sandals called police, who called the fire department, to try to help get the glass off the road.

Me, the woman and my neighbor who happened to be driving up the road just after this happened took turns with the push broom while waiting for police. I directed traffic around the glass as best I could when I wasn't sweeping.

All this hassle, because you're stupid and selfish, Mr. Idiot who dropped the glass table. Maybe you didn't stop because you were drunk? Try explaining the table to the cop while your speech is slurred. I don't know if you'd been drinking but it's a possibility, isn't it?

I know what's going to happen next. You're probably going to commit insurance fraud. After all, that table was expensive, and you never got to use it.

You'll tell the insurance company that you bought this nice new table for your deck. It was wonderful, until the "thieves stole it."

Things are always being dropped off vehicles along my road, so you're not the only one who's into this behavior, Mr. Idiot Glass Table Dropper.

I'm constantly picking up big debris in front of my house, and paying the disposal costs. Because it's the new American Way, isn't it? Make a mistake or do something stupid, and make somebody else pay for it.

So, Mr. Idiot Glass Table Dropper, I hope your nice deck where you planned to put that table collapses completely. Like tomorrow.

The Lawn Industrial Complex Is Scamming You

Part of my big lawn in St. Albans, Vermont
It would look better with less grass andn
more flower beds, but I don't have time
to add flowers because I alwayus have to mow the lawn. 

I want a divorce from my lawn.

You should probably break up with your lawn, too.

I thought of this, again, the other evening as I struggled to mow my large lawn.

It's the very lawn I'm trying to at least partially eliminate in favor of perennial beds and vegetable gardens.

I spend so much time keeping the grass under control on the lawn by mowing it I don't actually have time to get rid of the lawn to put in the gardens so I theoretically wouldn't have to mow so much.

Talk about Sisyphus!

Like everyone else with a lawn, I'm a slave to it. And not a happy one.

Lawns are almost always wasted space. I think of the property surrounding a house as more "rooms" that can have personality, beauty, flair.

I'm slowly expanding perennial beds around my garden shed
outward into the lawn. You can see how I'm slowly digging
out the lawn on the outer edges of the flower beds
to get rid of all that lawn.  

An expansive lawn has all the charm of an empty warehouse.

Drive though some decent neighborhoods on a sunny, pleasant Saturday. The only people you see on lawns are the people who are mowing them. Other than that, the lawns are not used.

Meanwhile people are eating breakfast or lunch on the deck, or they've set up chairs in the flower garden and are relaxing with a cold drink.

There's kids on the playground equipment, but not on the expanse of grass,. Nearby, people are harvesting vegetables from the raised beds.

Lawns are OK if you're using them to play soccer or baseball or golf or something, but other than that, why do they exist?

To make lawn care companies make money.

Let's face it. Lawns are more lucrative than gardens. Sure, you have to buy tools and plants and seeds and decorations for the gardens. But once you have that stuff, it costs nothing to weed and maintain the garden, unless you hire somebody to do it for you.

But lawns are a constant expense. You have to keep buying gas to power the lawnmower. Lawn mowers are nosier, stinkier and more obnoxious than even Donald Trump.

Yes, you can get a push mower with no motor, but frankly, those are not practical unless you have a small lawn. Electric or battery powered lawn mowers aren't great either.

This used to be a steep, grassy hard-to-mow embankment
outside my St. Albans, Vermont house.
So I replaced the sod with a bunch of easy-to-care-for day lillies
and put in a rock wall to mark the base of the slope.  

Lawn mowers are expensive, and you have to maintain them and pay for repairs. By the way, a lawn mower operated for one hour is often as polluting as a car driven 200 miles. 

The lawn care companies - the Lawn Industrial Complex in my parlance - have successfully built a culture that dictates the "need" to have a perfect lawn.

Which, of course means you have to buy their mowers, fertilizers, weed killers - you name it.

They've crafted a narrative that a perfect, weed-free lawn is macho, and proves you are in control. A real man. ("Too bad, ladies with your frivolous flowers" is the sexist subtext to this lawn culture or advertising regime.)

Lawns aren't great for the environment, either. Especially if you use all the chemicals some of the lawn care companies insist you use to eliminate all weeds.  

As Brenda Cummings noted for NorthJersey.com  in 2013:

"Many of these chemicals leach into our ground water and run into our waterways, helping to make polluted runoff the single larges source of pollution nationwide. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers causes eutrophication. (death from excessive algae grow) in rivers, lakes and ponds."

Yes, you're lawn is also ruining your trip to the beach. You don't have time to go to the beach anyway, because you have to mow, and all those fertilizers you use on your lawn turned the watera the beach to a gross, smelly algae slick anyway.

God forbid a dandelion ever blooms, which, by the way, has the potential to feed a badly needed pollinating bee.

We have been so forced to "require" a lawn that people routinely insist on having them in places where they shouldn't grow. Like the Desert Southwest.

Another perspective of the day lily
embankment outside my house with a perennial
garden under construction to the right.
That new perennial garden also used to be lawn.  

Sometimes, when people rebel against lawns, there's terrible push back. Many homeowners' associations require expansive (and expensive!) lawns, and even many municipalities do.

There are several cases in which homeowners got in trouble for growing well-maintained gardens in their front yards instead of stupid lawns.

In a recent case, a Florida couple is suing their town for a new zoning ordinance that bans front yard gardens.

The couple contends that, within reason, if you own property, you should do what you want with it, and a front yard garden is certainly within reason, as long as it's properly maintained.

I'm totally behind these homeowners!

Don't get me wrong. Having some lawn on your property is a good thing. Kids need places to run around. I know where I live our dogs want to romp on the grass, or roll in the coolness of the lawn on a hot day.

Plus lawns, if you limit them, are a good design element. They offer a break from the bushiness of flowers, shrubs and other things in the garden.  Or, a narrow corridor of lawn makes a good path through a garden.  There's definitely a place for lawns in any landscape layout.

It's just that we've been sold a bunch of malarkey that we all need expansive lawns with no other major features or variety to make it interesting.

Meanwhile, I guess I'll just drag that lawn mower back out and beat back that growing grass that, if I leave it alone, will hide what few perennial beds I've managed to plant.
.

Black Lives Matter Everywhere; Vermont Needs That Reminder, Too

Part of a demonstration against racism in St Albans,
Vermont on Wednesday. Photo by Morgan True/Vermont Digger. 

I've lived in Vermont my entire life (so far!) and I must admit a dirty, big secret about my state

There's a lot of racists here.

There's a lot of racists everywhere, but some people from outside Vermont think the Green Mountain State is a liberal utopia of understanding, brotherhood and sisterhood and kumbaya.

True, most of us here in Vermont are not racists, are nice people, who try to do the right thing, who worry about racial injustice. A number of Vermonters work tirelessly to combat racism.

Then you get displays like we had yesterday in the community where I live, St. Albans, Vermont. Which proves there are a fair number of bigots here, too.

A relatively small number of African-Americans go the local high school, called Bellows Free Academy.

Those African-Americans said racial tension is a problem at the school, so they held a rally in downtown St. Albans calling attention to this issue.

According to Vermont Digger, the demonstration did not go well at all, but the events of the day did prove the students' point: Racism is alive and well in Vermont, as it is pretty much everywhere in the nation.

Here's what happened during the demonstration, writes Morgan True of Vermont Digger: 

"A young man drove past the rally with a Confederate flag mounted to the bed of his pickup truck; others drove past givin demonstrators the middle finger. A group of white students who gathered around another pickup truck pantomimed shooting guns at demonstrators."

Obviously, the yahoos who did this kind of thing are not representative of the majority of Vermonters. But it proves quite a bit of work still needs to be done in terms of race relations.

One of the demonstration's organizers, Ebony Nyone, says her nephew is racially harassed at school, and people often use racial slurs.  

A pickup truck with a Confederate flag drives
past an anti-racism demonstration in St. Albans,
Vermont Wednesday. Photo by Morgan True
of Vermont Digger.  

There is one student in particular, she says, that keeps bringing a Confederate flag to school in an effort to harass black students.

Part of the problem, Nyone told Vermont Digger, is school officials don't often understand how racism manifests itself. When an African-American student finally retaliates or reacts, it's them that get punished or suspended, and the racist taunter goes free.

Vermont Digger also interviewed a guy named Richard Miller, who owns Miller's Automotive near Bellows Free Academy. in St. Albans.

He turned out to be not an example of hate-inspired racism, but perhaps maybe a type borne of ignorance. 

Vermont has one of the smallest proportions of African-Americans of any in the nation.  I wonder if some people here, especially in rural areas, meet few African-Americans, cling to stereotypes and what they think is the proper "role" for blacks.

If Vermont Digger's reporting is correct, Miller might be that type. He appears not to like uppity blacks, as the vernacular in these situations goes.

"'I'm not a racist person, but the black man has brought a lot of his misery on himself,' Miller said. 'They got this big chip on their shoulder and they're just daring someone to knock it off,' he said looking on in disgust at the protest from his garage window.

'I've got black friends,' Miller said. 'You know what he would call them people? Niggers.' he railed, gesturing at the demonstrators across the street. 'He's a good guy, and he says I've ot all kinds of whiae friends and I've never been called a nigger. You know why? Because I don't act like a nigger.'"

I guess demonstrating against racism makes you unacceptable, in Miller's opinion.

Miller also told Vermont Digger that white people are now the 'lowest on the totem pole'

Hmm. Interesting theory.

Yep, we have some work to do in terms of race relations, don't we?

Oh, and by the way, remind me not to get my truck fixed at Miller Automotive. If he has that attitude toward blacks, imagine what he thinks about a gay guy like me.
 

A (Sick) Day Gone To The Dogs

Tonks engages me in a staring contest out on our back deck today.  

I had to call in sick to work today.

A really nasty early season cold. Actually, I probably could have soldiered through the day except for my voice. The cold rendered it totally nonexistent.

Most people would rejoice at the news that I was finally silenced for at least a day. (SHADDUP Already!!!! is something I tend to hear a lot.)

But my job entails talking with customers and clients, pretty much constantly for eight hours on the phone. That wasn't going to work.

Tonks concedes she lost the staring contest.  

This afternoon, feeling a little down in the dumps for being sick on what looked like a gorgeous Vermont autumn day, my two dogs, Tonks and Jackson looked at each other, looked at me, and then ordered me outdoors into the sunshine on our back deck.

It was nice out there. And all I had to do is sit and relax. No exertion to make my stupid little illness worse.

To cheer me up, Tonks and Jackson struck a few poses. They really were voguing. It did cheer me up.

Luckily I had my iPhone with me to grab a few of the poses to cheer you up, too.  

Jackson trying to look cool and world-weary. 

Tonks laughs at a joke, but Jackson doesn't seem to get it.

Jackson thinks he's livin' the thug life here.  

Photography: Smoky, Hazy Sunset In St. Albans, Vermont Wednesday

Smoke from wildfires in Canada sent smoke and haze into northern Vermont yesteday. Not enough to choke you off, but enough to turn what would normally have been a bright, bluesky day into something a little murky.

I went up to the hill at the back of my house in St. Albans, Vermont to document the eerie, red, almost apocalyptic sunset. This post is in chronological order of the beauty I saw. Enjoy!

Pappa Built Us A Brand New Deck, And It's Awesome

The unsafe old deck on our house, minutes before it came down.

During April and May, the trees around our house went from bare to leafed out.

That's not the only major transition around our St. Albans hacienda.

We got rid of our rickety, scary old back deck and replaced it with a new deck that I swear will land on the pages of House Beautiful any day now.

My husband, Jeff Modereger designed the new one. He does things right, so I knew his little scheme to build a big deck would at least be safe.

And big. Did I say big? Jeff does nothing small. Uh-uh.

Note: Nothing tracks the progress of the deck like photos. Click on any of the photos to make them bigger, so you can take a better look at the images.

Jeff is a theater scenic set designer, and he becomes extremely antsy in the rare moments he if doesn't have a project to do. So, during some down time, he designed this entire project. He works fast, too, so this came awfully quickly.

Old deck down, we await the new one.  

The decks, both the old and the new, were/are on the back of the house.

The property slopes downward behind our home, so the  back of the house sits on what amounts to the second floor, as opposed to the front of the house, which is essentially on the ground floor.

A door comes out of the basement beneath the deck.  

The design for the new deck extends across the entire back of the house, on the second floor. It wraps around both sides of the house. A second deck extends from the basement door, and out 40 feet toward the vegetable garden.

Starting to take shape.  

The only thing that went slowly was getting the St. Albans, Vermont town permits to build the deck. It wasn't the town's fault.

The town has regulations that any new construction in our zoning district must lie 40 feet from the property line.

Fine. The only question was whether the deck would fall less than 40 feet from Vermont highway department, which owns the road in front of our house.

We knew the deck wouldn't impinge on the setback requirements  but the state of Vermont had various maps that all wildly incorrectly positioned our property outside of where it was.

We either lived a half mile east of where we were, or west or our house was in the middle of relatively busy Vermont Route 36, which in reality is the road that sits 150 feet or so from the house.

It's a little scary that every government entity around me has a wildly different idea of where I own property, but oh well.

It took an act of Congress to prove that our property was not too close the road.

The point we could first stand our our new deck.  

But we got the permit, eventually.

The crew came to tear down the old deck and start installing the new one on a chilly April morning that threatened rain.

The old deck was unquestionably dangerous.  It was built with substandard material and with substandard construction methods, to say the least.

 We knew it was a little scary. It bounced when you walked on it. The frost made the middle of it rise, creating a nice little hill in the middle of the deck in February.

The old deck was on the second floor of the house, and I had worrying visions of it crashing down to the ground when we had a gathering out there.

Two chain smoking guys tore the old thing in minutes. I told the contractor I was a little alarmed that it came down that fast, was it that unsafe?

The lower deck begins to take shape.  

Well, yes. The supports for the deck only extended five inches into the ground. The supports themselves were only two by fours.

The old deck could have collapsed under the weight of just one person, never mind several. I'm surprised it didn't collapse when a bird landed on it. I shuddered.

I was heartened a couple days later the contractors started preparing the posts for the main deck supports.

The supports extended concrete more than two feet into the ground. They used six by six boards, and used sturdy brackets to fasten the vertical support beams to the concrete bases.

The new deck at completion. It's so big I can't get it
in one photo.  

This spring, the trees leafed out around our house abruplty, as we seemed to go directly from winter to spring.

The new deck took shape rapidly, in tandem with the blossoming trees. It started just as the tree buds were poised to flower, and finished when the leaves were fully out - less than three weeks.

As the deck was rapidly appearing, Jeff did have to do some last minute redesign.

The property slopes behind the house more than we thought, so the end of the lower deck was more than four feet above the ground when the contractors finished it.

Jeff had intended the lower deck to be deep within garden flowers and plants that will eventially surround the lower deck.  He didn't want the deck towering above the gardens.

Another view of the new deck.  

So, thanks to Jeff's changes, the lower deck now has steps that gradually lower it along with the slope of the property.

Here in Vermont, we're environmentally friendly, so recycling is big.

So,  Jeff took some of the debris left from the old deck, and pieces of wood left behind and built a great, sturdy potting bench. It's under the main deck, just off the basement door, next to the lower deck, closest to the house.

He also took more construction debris to build a cover over the recycling bins in front of the house, so things look more attractive there.

Some of the only debris we couldn't re-use was the approximately 1,987,532,221 cigarette butts the contractors left behind. I'm still picking them up. Anybody want LOTS of cigarette butts? We got 'e. Other than that, the contractors were very good, if just a bit messy.

Another problem: We have about two dozen or slightly more immense poplar trees that grew up over the years, mostly along the edges of the property. Most of these tall poplars died in the last couple of years. Some of these ghostly dead trees threatened to topple over on the brand new deck, or the shed where we store so many of our tools.

An awesome potting bench Jeff built out of leftover
construction debris.  

We had to hire a tree guy to cut them down. To save money we told them not to haul the debris away.

That left us with HUGE piles of wood to get rid of. I'm gradually piling the poplar tree debris on a corner of our property.

We did hire a guy who is built like a Big Brick House to take the heavy chunks of wood and stack them on the edge of the property for now. But I have been cleaning up the epic amounts of wood from the house.

Poplar wood is basically worthless, so I'm going to have a LOT of brush pile burns/bonfires come winter.

(I like to do brush burns when there's a little snow on the ground, so embers don't get away to cause a massive St. Albans forest fire. Forest fires are just so depressing.)

The only drawback to the deck, the trees that have been cut down and the gorgeous raised beds for the vegetable garden that Jeff is building is these projects created an ENORMOUS amount of work to do.

It's all the type of work I love to do, gardening, garden design, physical labor outside. So this will keep me happy and in relatively good physical shape for years to come.

Note to Jeff: We did all to ensure I got exercise daily to stay in OK shape, didn't you?

The biggest challenge is creating a design for the gardens around the lower deck.  I'll get out there soon with a sketch book and map out what kinds of plantings to place around the deck, what varieties to set in, what the overall look will be.

The goal is to make our property a Must Stop on any garden tours that swing by within three years. Good look with that, but I'll try.

Jeff, with Jackson (the black dog) and Tonks (whose color
blends in with the sawdust( with just a small part
of the dead trees we had to cut down.  

The deck has only been completed for a couple weeks. It's already creating great moments, great times.

This deck has room for our dogs, Jackson and Tonks, to watch me as I work outside. (Gates block stairs and entryways, so the dogs stay put on the deck.)

Beforehand, when I was inside, Jackson would be indoors, howling because he was alone and couldn't see what I was doing.

Now, both Jackson and Tonks come out, peer through the railings along the edge of the deck and watch.

I'll glance back at them, and it's always a wonderful, happy moment.

Jeff also likes to come out and visit. Or on mild early summer mornings, we'll take our coffee and breakfast in the fresh air out on the deck while the dogs play with their toys next to us.

The deck is already the best room in the house. Also the biggest.

We'll have parties and gatherings out there, especially now that we have a deck that won't collapse under the weight of our friends and family.

We're really not into killing those we love, so it's nice to have something safe.

Jeff also hit the recycling bins under a platform made
of construction debris.  

As I noted, there's still a lot of work to do.

 I'll give an update in about, I don't know, 1,000 years, when I complete the gardens around the deck.

And if anybody from House Beautiful or HGTV wants a look see for an article or television, show, leave a comment with this blog post and our people will talk with your people.

Summer Flowers Keep Blooming Around My House

It's a slow Sunday, rainy and quiet, so I just went through a few of the photos I took in my gardens in St. Albans, Vermont so far this summer.  

Check out a few images to brighten up your drizzly Sunday.

Plants in a pot on my deck soak up evening sun.  

A peony captures the last light of a setting sun.  

Close up of a white peony.  

Some festive lillies  

Lillies, with more colorful blooms in the background.  

Introducing Tonks, The Cute Blonde Who Moved In With Us This Week

For those who follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know we adopted another dog, named Tonks the other day.  

Tonks explores her new home with Jeff, Jackson and me
after she arrived Sunday, while Jackson keeps
a protective eye on her in the distance.  

Tonks joins Jackson the Cocker Spaniel, who has lived with Jeff and me for three years at our St. Albans, Vermont home.

Jackson's a very social little guy, and we thought he'd want a companion for those moments when Jeff and I were too busy to play tug of war with Jackson. The tug of war game with his toys is a 24/7 obsession with him.

About a month ago, we learned of a Vermont couple, Emily and John, who have been the human companions for Tonks for seven years, since she was a puppy.

The couple now has two very young kids. Good kids, but young ones who want to play with the dog but are too young to understand that even gentle, friendly souls like Tonks don't always like to be constantly poked and prodded and groped.  

Emily and John reluctantly concluded it would be better for Tonks to live somewhere else.

Jeff and Jackson and me were in the running to adopt Tonks. Jeff was out of town in early May, but Jackson and I agreed to meet one day with Emily and Tonks at a dog park nearby.

I have to say Jackson is a good little salesman. At the meeting, Jackson behaved in his usual way, greeting Tonks with friendliness, while at the same time doing his best not to be overbearing.  Tonks and Jackson went to other dogs to say hi, played with each other, went their seperate ways and then played with each other again as Emily and I talked.

Jackson and Tonks acted like old friends, even though they'd just met.  A very good sign indeed.

You could tell right away Tonks was well cared for. Beyond a healthy appearance, she seemed at ease with both people and other dogs. You could see both curiosity and confidence in Tonks' big eyes. A very good sign.

A couple weeks later we heard from Emily. Would we like to adopt Tonks?

Tonks had already melted my heart. Jackson seemed to want this to happen too. Jeff was all for it.

It was to be.

Tonks arrived at our house last Sunday. I was at work, so I wasn't there, but Jeff and Jackson greeted her. Jeff and John chatted for awhile about Tonks and the care she'll need and the handoff came.

Jeff was smart enough to let Tonks watch John drive away, so there might be some connnection that he left, and didn't just disappear into thin air. We hoped at some level Tonks understood what was going on, that although things were changing in a confusing way, she'd continue to be loved and protected as she always had been.

It turns out Tonks is a brave, adaptable girl. Don't let those blond curls and her shy, quiet demeanor fool you. She's a tough cookie.

True, Tonks had a lot to get used to. The first day she was here with us, she barked quite a bit. The sounds outside were different than her old home. It was disorienting and scary.

Trucks rumbled by on the road. Birds flitted from tree to tree just outside the door.  A motorcycle roared to life at the house across the street. Kids played two houses up the road. The barking was inevitable.

Tonks, though, was immediately affectionate with us. I quickly discovered she likes simultaneous chest and back rubs. She went back and forth between Jeff and me, finding reassurance in our eyes.  We kept telling her she's a good girl, and giving her neck rubs. She seemed like she was starting to feel at home.

As I watched TV Sunday evening, I was gratified to find Tonks curled up at my feet, falling comforably to sleep.

I was happy to see Tonks is naturally curious, but not so brave as to wander off completely on her own, which is a good combination. She scoped out the yard on her first day here, stopping from time to time to take refuge from the hot sun under the shade of our willow tree, just as Jackson often does.

Tonks thinks her new brother Jackson is crazy. Tonks is right. Jackson growls and yelps and laughs as we play our usual tug of war game with John Boehner, which is the name of one of his favorite toys.  Tonks looks on, bemused.

But the two dogs are already sharing nicely. They sleep in each others' beds, play with each others toys, try to sample each others' food.

Tonks barks less and less as she gets used to the sounds swirling around outside the house. The other day, we had to bring Tonks and Jackson to doggie day care while Jeff and I worked.

That went well, too.

Barb, who runs the place, said she enjoyed watching what happened. Jackson spent the day showing Tonks the ropes at day care, explaining as dogs only can how things work, how to interact with other dogs there, how to follow the rules.

Barb reports Tonks is a quick study, but we knew that already.

Tonks is already settling into our routine. Like Jackson, she's excited when Jeff and I get up in the morning. It takes us humans a little while to wake up. Jackson and Tonks are always raring to go.

If Jeff and I have to deal with alarm clocks, Jackson and Tonks are the perfect type.

Our household is a little bigger now that Tonks lives with us.  But she adds even more joy to the place than we already had.

Welcome home, Tonks.

Tree Must Go. Don't Cut It Down, Blow It Up!!!!

My husband Jeff is no fun.

This is the FUN way to get rid of unwanted trees.  

See, there's some trees on our St. Albans, Vermont property that have to come down.

Some of the trees are dead, others are leaning toward the house, a couple of them are shading the garden or just plain too ugly.

I like loud things with lots of booms, smoke, drama. Which makes blowing the trees up, as I've seen in quite a few videos on YouTube.

The ever-sensible Jeff has a problem with this. He would prefer that we call a tree surgeon to carefully get rid of the larger dead trees closest to the house and shed.

Jeff is fine with me taking a chain saw to any tree that needs to go that won't cause major damage no matter which way it falls. And really, I do find chainsaws fun, so that's OK.

Yes, yes, I know Jeff is absolutely right about hiring the tree surgeon and his distaste for the explosion idea. I'm sure my property insurer is also pleased that Jeff's common sense is prevailing.

But man, wouldn't it be fun to blow up those offending trees? I could advertise it in advance and charge  spectators admission. That income from the spectators would take care of some of the repair bills and maybe some of the insurance deductable.

However, I'll go along with Jeff. Because I'd rather live in a house with its roof and walls intact, with no broken tree branches protruding into the living room and interfering with our view of the television.

I'll just fantasize about the explosions. A man can dream, can't he. And watch fun videos, like the one below:




ve been enamored by the idea of

Nice Afternoon Light For A November Windstorm

This afternoon up in St. Albans, Vermont, we had a TON of wind. I'd say it gusted to at least 50 mph.

Trees in my yard in St. Albans, Vermont, are tossed in strong,
50 mph wind gusts as they are lit up in a golden color by
the setting sun.  Beautiful!  

Toward evening, the setting sun lit up the trees rocking in the gales.

I took a quick iPhone video of it. It's not the greatest quality but you get the idea of the dramatic beauty of the brightly lit storm.

(I also took some video with my higher quality Canon Rebel camera, but I haven't had a chance to look to see if that video is workable yet.

Anyway, here's the iPhone video to give you an idea. I love light and drama. Hope you do to.

Vermont's Last Flowers Of The Autumn

The weather abruptly turned chilly and November-like Tuesday around my house in St. Albans, Vermont, spelling the end of a remarkably long flower season.

A cosmos bloom catches a gusty October breeze
in my St. Albans, Vermont yard.  

The spring was somewhat early and warm, and October until now has been the warmest in many years.

We've had no frost, at least until probably tonight, so a few of my flowers are still blooming.

As if to signal the change toward winter, most of my perennials really started to give up the ghost in the past week, even before it turned nippy.

I was able to get some more photographs of flowers in during the past two weeks before the inevitable cold, colorless winter sets in. A few examples are in this post.

Hope you like them as you scroll down for a peek.

A zinnia seems perky enough despite the growing
October chill. 

The morning sun lights up a rose bloom
after some rain.  

A bee rests on this colorful bloom on a warm
October morning in St. Albans, Vermont.  

Ma And Baby Deer Pay A Visit, Thankful Jackson The Dog Not Around

This apparent mother/offspring pair paid a visit to the edge of my yard in St. Albans, Vermont the other evening.

Jackson the Cocker Spaniel wasn't home at the time, which is a good thing, because I can imagine the uproar, the chasing, the yelling, the beseeching, the disaster that would have ensued.

The two ate some grass, then, apparently annoyed with me standing on the driveway taking paparrazi pictures of the two of them, took off into the woods. Hope they had a full meal.


As always, click on the photos to make them bigger and easier to see.

Can't Get Enough Of Flowers From My Garden

With summer ending, it's time for another installment of photos I took of flowers in my garden in St. Albans, Vermont.

The photos were taken over the past couple of weeks. It's probably even better to display the photos in the dead of winter, when we're craving such things. But you can never get too many flowers.

So here you go. As always click on the photos to make them bigger and easier to see.

More Garden Beauty

Every summer, my flower gardens in St. Albans, Vermont get better and better.

They are not anywhere near where I want them to be yet, but it's getting there, slowly but surely. Here are a few photos to show what I've been enjoying.

The sun glows through a day lily  

Day lillies compete with wildflowers
at the edge of my property.  

A riot of color in front of my house.