Mullen Road

There's a certain road on the border of East Windsor and Enfield that I discovered long ago holds secrets. The road is named Mullen Rd and it has a condo development at one end and an Army Reserve center at the other end. In between there are a smattering of odd houses and a company or three. It's almost as if that road can't decide if it's a residential area or a commercial area.

It's not a particularly pretty area; in fact most of it is rather ugly looking. So why do I like this road so much? Why do I deliberately take this road whenever the opportunity arises? Why do I consider it a very special road?

Because of the wildlife on it. I've seen more wildlife on that one stretch of road (not a very long road either) than I have almost anywhere else in either Enfield or East Windsor. And I've had odd things happen there that just don't seem to happen in other places.

I've had a wild turkey sudden appear at windshield level, flying dead on at my face looking for all the world like it was a gigantic flying rock coming at me, only to have it veer off at the last possible moment and land in a nearby tree. I'm sure that was some kind of turkey version of the game 'chicken'.

Many times I've had deer come bounding out of the brush along side of the road with the soul intent of getting to the other side but all of them seem set on hearing my ear piercing scream while they do so. And now that I think of it almost ALL of the animals I encounter on that road are darting out in front of my car. Perhaps it's some kind of initiation zone or some type of elaborate animal game and I'm just not in on the joke. I've seen racoons; skunks; possum; ducks; geese; rabbits; large deer; baby deer; cats and chipmunks on that road and with one exception they all ran in front of my car.

The only one that didn't run in front of my car actually was running along side of it. I was driving home one night and I look casually to the left and find a very large dog running neck and neck with my car. I stopped the car of course and this big boy came right up to my window leaving huge nose prints all over it. I rolled the window down and asked him what the heck he was doing running with my car in the dark. I always talk to animals like I'd talk to people...especially if they are doing weird things like this. He just wagged all over and tried to climb in the car window with me. My dog Allie took exception to that seeing as she already claimed the back seat and wasn't about to share it with some strange road running dog. Besides that, Allie never really liked other dogs to begin with.



This dog really wanted to get in my car too. I realized he either was dumped from a car or horribly lost and thought I had come to take him home. Well I couldn't take him home with me. (but I sure was tempted!) So I pulled into someone's yard who just happen to be taking her dog out to potty before bed and we talked about the giant friendly dog. I explained about my dog hogging the back seat and not especially liking this gentle giant. (Allie was staring at me from the car the whole time...glaring at me really for even considering taking him home). Luckily for all concerned she was a dog lover too and he helped convince her by wagging all over and trying to play with her dog. Her dog wasn't much impressed either but at least he wasn't hostile. She took the dog in for the night and promised to call the dog warden in the morning. I was so relieved! I really had no idea what I was going to do with him but I knew I couldn't leave him on that dark road. I called the dog warden the next day and she had just called him herself. She was intending on keeping the dog if nobody claimed him. Nice ending for the big lug. I was very satisfied with that and I'm sure he was too!



Well I was on my favorite road again just the other day and saw a flock of wild turkeys milling around in one of the fields. I was greatly relieved that they weren't dive bombing my car this time. Judging by the casual way they so boldly took over this field and were wandering around in broad daylight I can only assume they have no idea how close we are to Thanksgiving.

Farm Pics

This big fella was really enjoying his mud bath!


One brave little girl turkey came to check me out.


The boys mostly walked around making a lot of noise.





This field started out with strawberries and was re-planted
with lettuce when the berries were played out.


Various odd veggies were always on display. Although the bird on the end
I just can't explain.


I don't have much liking for eggplant but I do like this one!

The Unexpected

As luck would have it I wasn't able to go on the Salem trip this year. It was paid for and actually my idea to go but my darn water heater had other plans for me. I woke to water in the basement...and it was too much to ignore. I had to stay home.

I kept telling myself I just can't miss the trip; telling myself I can't leave with a mess like this going on at home; wishing it had happened on a different day; wishing it had happened to someone else entirely; wishing I could just go back to bed! But in the end I did what I normally would have done...the responsible thing. I stayed home, waved goodbye to my family as cheerfully as possible; told them to take lots of pictures and called an expert to handle the situation.

I had no idea who to call to begin with so I ended up slightly panicked wandering through the phone book. (does anyone ever even use a phone book anymore?) Roto-Rooter popped out at me with their two page ad claiming they don't charge for the initial visit and estimate; will come to your rescue on weekends, holidays and all hours of the day and night...free. Ok guys...you got my attention. I called and had someone there within a couple of hours. The estimate he gave me left no doubt about how it feels to be between a rock and hard place. I felt that rock in the pit of my stomach immediately. He looked a little sympathetic as he handed me the estimate; I just looked pathetic. They wanted $3100.00 for replacing all manner of stuff down there. I told him I needed to make a call before I signed anything.

I called Tony, my former landlord and a great friend. He was at my house before the Roto-Rooter guy had all his ducks in a row and was back on the phone asking me if I was going to go with them for the job or not. I told him no, I got a better deal and hung up the phone with a sigh of relief. As I type I have two men in my basement doing that same job for less than half what Roto-Rooter was quoting me. But none of this took place quite that easily.

Tony and I spent a little time yesterday making sure all the shut off valves were off and that the boiler was turned off as well. No hot water now baby! But we weren't done yet. That water heater had to be drained too because it was continually leaking hot water onto the basement floor...the basement that doesn't have a drain anywhere...can't have that going on! Luckily I had already taken in the garden hose for the season and it was neatly coiled in the corner. I pulled that out, Tony hooked it up to the water heater and then we proceeded to perform a most complex 3 Stooges routine using only us 2 stooges! I pulled the hose up through the house and out the door to drain on the lawn outside. I could feel hot water heating up the hose as I went. Three or four more times I had to bring the end back downstairs because the hose had become hopelessly twisted and knotted. Did I mention that the hose had been neatly coiled to begin with?

Eventually we actually got this feat of magic accomplished. The water heater was drained (for the most part) and now all that was left to do was wait for the guys on white horses to arrive and do the rest. That wasn't going to happen until the next day so I needed to keep myself busy and salvage what was left of my day. I also needed to keep busy so I didn't keep thinking about that Salem trip I was missing. I decided to bring the dogs outside and strip the rest of the garden down in preparation for winter.

The garden stripping went fairly smoothly. I only got one large scratch on my leg (very painful); smacked myself in the head with a bunch of tomato stakes, leaving clumps of dirt in my hair; and received one very hefty splinter in my finger. Oh yes, I was grace in motion out there.

The dogs passed their time by eating everything they found; having a barking contest with the little neighbor dog whom they can't see but could hear (they won); repeatedly digging holes in the lawn despite my constant direction to stop (thank you Bell); and mutilating random plants in the planter next to them. At that point dirt in my hair was the least of my concerns. I put Bell in the house for her attempts to reach China by way of my lawn, while I let Nicki stay outside chomping on a small cucumber I'd found hiding in the garden. Cucumbers can't hold a candle to dragging a large branch around a tree several times, so it wasn't long before she found herself firmly knotted up in her lead getting real cozy with said tree. (Nick you are a lovable idiot aren't you?). I took pity on her (standing there wagging her whole body pinned to the tree) and brought her in the house to play with Bell in a non-tree environment. I wondered vaguely if I'll ever be able to have them outside without these types of mishaps as I limped back outside shaking dirt from my hair and sucking my bleeding finger.

Life is back to normal now, better than normal really. I've got a brand new modern water heater in the basement (quite sleek and sexy looking I must say) and no more worries about what will go wrong during the long winter to come. There's hot water a flowing and a nice hot shower in my immediate future. And all I've got left to do is figure out how I'm going to clean up that water in the basement. Piece of cake, right?

The Big E - 2011

Baby pigs sleeping. So cute!


This llama was so bored he refused to look at anyone.


Baby chicks in the hatchery.


Really nice picture done on one of the giant pumpkins.


Bunny with the talking cow.


Me coming out of the hobbit house.


Plenty of hobbits at the fair this year!


We bought raw honey from the bee keepers.

Beautiful Morning

I was late for work the morning I saw this. I still think it was worth it. Priorities!

Season's End

Well I finally had to throw in the towel with the garden. The tomatoes were still trying to produce but the vines were all dying. I tried covering the plants for some of the really cold nights we had but I knew it would only prolong the production a little bit. Winter is coming no matter what the tomatoes say!

So I officially stripped out everything edible that I could find and boy was that a lot! I even came across 3 tiny and odd looking cucumbers that were hiding and made my apologies to the squash plants. They are still attempting to flower but the tiny squashes I left on a watch and see basis are just not growing at all. My guess is it's been too cold and they just aren't getting enough sun anymore. But they put out a great effort this year and I'm sorry to see it end.

This years garden has been the best I've ever had since buying this house. Every year I jockey various plants around to different areas in the hope of getting the best set up for optimal growth. But honestly I don't think starting positions (see what I did there? ties in with 'jockey'...ha ha) had much to do with it. I think the warm summer combined with lots of rain and my organic plant food did the trick. In any case I'm hoping to do it all again next year...and I'll still be changing where everybody is standing too. The beans and peas were completely overshadowed by the tomatoes this year and the pepper plants were struggling to be noticed too. Of course who would have guessed those tomato plants would get that big?? I actually had to start improvising ways to keep them standing because the plants got so big they outgrew every form of support I put out there.

For now all that's left to do is strip away the tomato supports; rip out all the dead plants and remove the small exterior fence. Last year I neglected to completely clear the garden. In other words I got lazy. Well I paid for that when the spring came and I had tons of work to do before it could be tilled. I've learned my lesson. Clear the bed before the winters' sleep. :)