Who Are These People . . .

And WHY are they following me so close?
That was the feeling I had Sunday while driving on the NJ Turnpike. I was travelling in the slowest lane and doing at least 10 miles over the posted 65mph speed limit – just to keep pace with other cars in the same lane.
Then, I look in my rear view mirror and all I see is the white hood of a car following so close that not even the headlights were visible. Now that’s pretty darn close!


What to do?
There was so much traffic in the lane next to mine, that moving wasn’t an option. Besides, I wasn’t the one who wanted to go faster and that wasn’t an option as there was already a car in front, a whole line in of cars. Jamming on the brakes was a bad idea for 2 reasons: the tailgating jerk might ram my back door and than my car front would be pushed into the rear of the car ahead.
Since Libby, my Jeep Liberty, already had the tail gate replaced last September after being hit, braking was not an option.
WHAT was the the guy in back of me trying to prove? OK, if making me nervous was the goal – it worked.
Just when I was wondering how long he would tailgate, he suddenly moved into the other lane.
WHEW, I could relax, but only briefly. When I looked in the mirror a few minutes later, there’s a black SUV, again following so closely that the front grill and headlights couldn’t be seen in my rear view mirror.
Scary, it sure was at the time and annoying even now.

Today, I read online that NJ has a tailgating law, stating: “The driver of a vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard to the speed of the preceding vehicle and the traffic upon, and condition of, the highway.” N.J.S.A 39:4-89.
Also learned that especially on the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway – tailgating is the second most common cause of car accidents (ya think?). While the law doesn’t specify a required distance between two cars, in ideal highway conditions a car should have one car length between vehicles for every 10 miles per hour the cars are traveling. For example, two cars traveling 60 miles per hour should have six car lengths between them.
RIGHT – when do cars travelling on not only the NJ toll roads but ANY major highway adhere to this rule?

WHERE is a state police officer when you really need one?
Thankfully, there were no further incidents like this one, although I did watch countless motorists zipping in and out of lanes. And, oh joy, I get to make the return trip home next weekend on this road.

Going Home

I’m off on a solo adventure this week. Grenville will remain at The Frog & PenguINN  tending the house and gardens. He bought more more blueberry bushes, netting and other supplies on our excursion to Tractor Supply this weekend and will be busily planting – NO bunny was hiding in them. This cute fellow we saw a week ago wasn’t there (thankfully), so the temptation was removed. If you’ve read about Grenville’s fondness for hot fudge, you know we’re not good with temptations.

This trip is to my home state of NJ where my mother still resides in the neighborhood and home I grew up in (see photos). My brother also lives in the area and  a couple of friends are living in neighboring towns, including a dear high school friend. Internet access is limited in the neighborhood. A library is less than 3 miles away, and I may spend some evenings on line there, if possible. I’m taking along a camera just in case there’s a really unique What is This? on my travels.

Hope everyone has a great week ahead.

Goldfinches Galore

A double sack finch feeder was this week’s  thrift store bargain – it was FREE. Of course, it came in caked with seed as and needed a good cleaning. The seed sacks were  very discolored too. But after some soap, bleach and scrubbing, the feeder was soon looking close to new. Here it is after it was hung on Friday afternoon. It didn’t take long for the local goldfinch population to latch onto this new food source.

By 9 a.m. today, Saturday, there were lots of colorful and hungry visitors. The older single sack feeder is shown in the background. Within a short time, there were more than a dozen goldfinches hanging off and around the 3 feeders. These shots were taken from the kitchen window as I was enjoying a cup of coffee.

F&P Orchard Blossoms

Grenville mentioned the Frog & PenguINN orchard earlier.
Here’s a visual update on the orchard flowers as of this week.

Apple blossoms – looking forward to sitting under the apple tree with Grenville and later apple cobbler and pie.

Peach blossoms – Grenville can’t wait to bake a peach pie

Pear blossoms – no fruit on this tree last year, maybe this year?

What is This #9 Answer

This was the What is This? post with the hint that there could be several of these in your home or other places.

Nope it’s not filters, blinds, window shades or vents – all great guesses by the way – give up?

It’s a Lampshade.

And this one is on a lamp that I see weekly when volunteering at the local library. Lucky, I had a camera with me last week.

FYI – Grenville planted the blueberry plants yesterday and also put in some onions.  He told me there’s still more than enough weed-pulling to go around ! Next week he’s planning to spread wildflower seeds in the backyard meadow

Sandra, anytime you want to try your tractor-driving skills, just let him know.

Tilling Times

A couple folks asked about my dear friend John Deere.Well he is a 23 hp diesel with a 54” bucket, mid and rear PTO,  sometimes a 62” mowing deck, sometimes a 5’ pine rake, or a 200lb spreader, middle buster, or 4’ box grader. But for the past few weeks he has had a 4’ tiller attached. Spring and fall are big ‘tilling times’. This is a really mean combination. A friend of ours laughed when i told him about buying the tiller. Now you should know that he farms 1500 acres and has toys like 8 bottom plows, 12’ disc’s that have to fold up to go on the road. 12 row corn planters, and of course combines to harvest it all. When he stopped by one day and saw what i could do with the tiller on my little .75 acres (yes just 3/4 of an acre) he agreed that it was just what i needed.

So what have we been tilling? Well I'll till ya….

 

 

 

You remember earlier this week the new Butterfly Meadow. Today was tilling the bed for the Blue Berries we bought over the weekend. Besides removing the weeds i also had to till in 3 lbs. of pelleted sulfur to acidify the soil so the pH would drop from 6.5 to 5.5.

Somehow i got a little carried away and over tilled about twice what i needed. So after planting the three Blueberry plants we have, we now need to go back up to Tractor Supply again for 3 more (and maybe a bunny if Beatrice doesn’t notice :-) ] There was this pile of pavers left from when i expanded the asparagus bed and they were just begging to go somewhere pleasant and shady. Now these were magic pavers because they could sing. The problem was that they only knew one song, “Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me”. So there was just one spot for them, the orchard. Here is the picture tale.

 

 

 

 

 

Somehow i forgot the picture of the park bench that is now sitting on them between the apple trees. I wonder if Beatrice will share it with me??????

Last but not least was a quick planting of the Red Onion sets we got last weekend. This year i was smart and put  them at the end of a plot so they won’t be disturbed during the crop rotation later in the season. I’m always amazed how these almost dead looking things turn into such wonderful tasting delights. Now it is time for ICE CREAM. I’m not sure whether to eat it or put it on my sore back????

What is This? #9

Here it is the first What is This? for this new month. (Notice this one wasn’t an April Fool’s post.)

Can you figure this one out?

Hints: there’s probably several in your home. And, if not, there’s always some to be found in other buildings.

NO prizes, just braggin’ rights.

But, if you insist on a prize, Grenville is getting ready to spread seeds in the backyard meadow soon and could use some help. He might even let you drive the tractor – or not. Spring veggie planting is coming soon too.

As always – it’s just for fun!

Complain — Who Me?

Sometimes, YES!

Especially when there’s a gift card involved – FREE – and all I had to do was  complete a survey and return it for this . . . a $25 gift card ! Count me in for anything free like this.

That’s what was said in the letter accompanying the survey. As a former Photographer’s Edge (PE) customer, the sales rep wanted to know why I had not ordered in awhile.  My last order of frame card stock was nearly 2 years ago.

This is what I used the photo frame cards to produce . . .

A couple of years ago, I had a small photo card business and would sell these at various local arts/crafts shows. It was fun, but  not much profit, so the business ended. My card stock inventory is still sufficient for the next few years (maybe more).

Back to the survey which asked a series of questions about ordering and preferences. It concluded by stating that the gift card would be sent upon completion and return of the survey.

Oh, what the lure of a tangible reward will do – it was one of the fastest surveys I ever returned . (Note: The closest Target retail store is a 90-minute drive north to Salisbury, MD, but  road trips are good and gift cards don’t expire.)

Fast forward to a week ago when a PE rep calls and tells me the survey was received and, in return, I would receive a $25 credit towards any future PE purchases.

WHAT? Did they NOT read my survey, which stated “out of business” and no supplies needed. And, what about that $25 Target gift card mentioned in the letter?

“That was a mistake,” the rep says, adding that” the letter had not been checked” to eliminate that offering and would I want the $25 credit instead.

NO – my target was the Target card – apparently that was not their target. I wondered IF it ever was.

Politely declining the offer, I again mention being out of business and the call ends. Still, it irked me that a company would send the offer and later change it.  So, keyboarding away, I compose a letter to the company president – starting at the top is never a bad thing, besides his name was on the initial letter, so why not? My letter explained that a prime reason the survey had been completed and returned was the lure of a Target gift card. (Most likely I would have returned it anyway, but incentives always help.)

The letter was mailed last week. Today, “Debbie” from PE calls and tells me that as I had been previously promised the Target gift card OR (ready for this?) would I prefer a $25 credit towards a future PE purchase. Hello, anyone listening?

Now, WHICH one do you think I took?  RIGHT, and it should arrive in 2 weeks according to Debbie.

If something’s bothering you, COMPLAIN – it might work out good !

WHAT would YOU have done?
Have you ever complained to a company?

Bunny NOT

Grenville talked here about the bunny we saw when we visited our local Tractor Supply. He was really a cutie and a good photo subject. And we both agree that it's better to remain pet-less.
Thank goodness, the store was all out of chicks and ducks or Grenville might have been tempted to buy some, then build a coop and dig a pond.

Greatly Exaggerated!!!!

Beatrice says that folks are starting to wonder if something untimely, dastardly or nefarious has befallen me…… I assure you that these rumors have been greatly exaggerated… but around here it is not uncommon.

SO what have i been doing???? 

  Yesterday i got ready for our attempt to grow Blueberries. As some of you know i got really really (more that before) hooked on Blueberries last year in Maine. During our stop at Tractor Supply on Saturday (the high point of a not so great hunt for a new camera for me) after being told for like the thousandth time we could not take the cute little bunny home, i spotted Blueberry plants for sale. Some how three of them jumped into the cart (where the bunny should have been) and after threatening to have a tantrum right then (and getting laughed at by our friend Gayle the manager) Beatrice let me get the Blueberry plants. A bargain at just $4.99 each. So Sunday was a layout day to figure where they will go. More on that later.

Sunday’s real project was expanding the Wild Flower garden that surrounds the garden patio. I’ve gotten tired cutting around the Leland's so me and the lil’ tiller turned up what we call a lawn (realy weed with lots of chickweed and purple dead nettle). Next is letting any thing i missed start to come up, yank it, then throwing 3 boxes of “Wild Flower Seed” from the dollar store.

Today was repairing and expanding (see a pattern here) the asparagus beds. Yanked out the pavers between the beds, replaced the outer boards of the bed, and added peat moss, and manure. Need more though.

      

 

 

 

BUT WAIT,,,,,, There is more!!!!!!

I have been toying with the idea of building a Butterfly and Humming Bird Habitat. So after buying the seed for this, today the plot got started with a heavy turning.

        Before                               After

Folks around here usually get nervous when they see me putting those little orange flags around. BUT today i was too fast for them and was done in about 1.5 hours. Notice how much less grass there will be to cut!!!!!

SPEAKING of grass cutting, Beatrice decided that she would help by cutting at the end of the property. This time of year we are plagued with Chick weed and other less than desirable growth. And it is all right at seed level now,,,, SOOOOO you can’t just mulch or blow it. It must all be picked up and dumped in our mulch pile for later in the year after it all dies.