Broad Brook Beginnings

The town of Broad Brook was built up around the woolen mill. Most town residents were employed there in it's day. 

This shows Broad Brook from above. The pond doesn't look too much different today but everything else sure does. 

This is a shot of the mill burning. My father and brother were fighting that fire along with so many other fire fighters from surrounding towns. It took them days to get that fire under control. 

This is what the Broad Brook Fire Dept looked like when it first started. 

A artists birds eye view of Broad Brook 

Another birds eye view. 

This is a picture of the Butternut Pond in Broad Brook. All my life it's had bushes and trees all grown up around it so it's not possible to see the water anymore. It's been so long since I've looked I'm not even sure there is water there anymore. I had no idea it was ever this wide open looking and I'm surprised the people owning property around it didn't keep it more open looking. It was quite pretty in it's day. 

Note: All photos are from the East Windsor Historical Society

Mom's Birthday

For Mom's birthday this year we went to Olive Garden. It was a girls night out. 

Mom made friends with our waiter, Matt. No surprise there! She even made the poor guy sing the Happy Birthday song to her. He tried to get out of it. I guess Olive Garden doesn't "do" embarrassing birthday things like most other restaurants in their category. That wasn't going to fly with Mom...she wanted a small cake and she wanted the birthday song. Sooooo....we all sang along with Matt to spare him from the ribbing he no doubt got from his co-workers later anyway and just to please Mom. As you can see, she was happy with this arrangement. 

And the birthday girl still needs a boost to get into Marie's truck for the ride home!

Hard At Work

I got a brainstorm and decided to hollow out one of the stumps in my yard and plant some flowers in it. 

Kaylee was very excited about the idea. 

Such a dedicated worker she is! She even went and got a little chair from the house so she could wait and watch and be ready when it was her turn to do some of the work. Kaylee was in charge of taking out the wooden chips from the center of the stump.

 I'd chip away with a chisel and hammer and she's use the trowel to take the pieces out of the middle to make room for the plants. 

The project was completed and we admired our work. But the plants haven't been doing all that well in the stump and the stump itself isn't in the best shape either.  I may not replant next year. Kaylee and I will have to evaluate the situation and come up with a different plan. But I'm sure she'll love a new project too. 

Garden Update

Well the garden has come a long way since the beginning of the month. I still don't have any squash....and the tomatoes are no where near ready to pick but at least I'm seeing some action out there finally. This summer started out way too wet for way too long. I've ended up with a lot more bugs than I usually have; mosquitoes; beetles; slugs; grubs...and they bring in the moles...then the moles are followed by the skunks! All this because of too much rain. Amazing isn't it??

But hey, it's a learning process. I've learned that skunks are beneficial to have around even if they do smell terrible. They eat lots of bugs; grubs and even moles if they can get them. I found a dead mole on my lawn a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the rest of his family came for the funeral and never left. Oh well....as long as they stay out of my garden I'm not too upset about it. 

So now I'm just waiting for the tomatoes to get big and red. Watching to see if the peppers will make it at all....they are so small and have been terrorized by bugs. And the squash plants are just now starting to get it in gear. They better hurry up because we're running out of summer. This is the least productive garden I've ever had so far. That's not really an accomplishment in my book.