She's Twenty-two Today

She's 22 years old today.

I remember everything about the day she was born. Everything.

The days, weeks, months and years that have come, and gone since that day I am blessed to have been able to store away as wonderful memories.


She's in her last year of college now. Far cry from playing with her Pocket Pals on the dining room table, and watching the Littlest Mermaid over and over again.


Dance lessons are history. The American Girl Dolls are neatly packed up so that she can share them her children someday. Those countless plastic Disney little people, that we collected together, fill a few large popcorn tins somewhere at home.


I still have a clothespin she taped a piece of fabric to and drew a face on the top. She made me a little person to play with so I wouldn't feel left out.


She's 22 today, but she will always be my little girl no matter how grown up she becomes. Dads have that right.


Happy Birthday, Mic.

Love,

Dad

Exit 9 Blues

Holiday traffic tie-ups forecast
Fiscal woes to take toll on Turnpike traffic flow

November 24, 2008 6:00 AM

By Steve Urbon




NEW BEDFORD — If you are traveling by car this Thanksgiving, especially if your trip will take you on the Massachusetts Turnpike, you might want to leave as soon as you finish reading this.
Tuesday, said Holly Sutherland of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, is no longer the easy traveling day that it once was. Better to leave at daybreak on Thanksgiving, and certainly not after 10 a.m. on the big day.
We haven't yet mentioned Wednesday. So here's the word:
Forget Wednesday.
"We're basically asking people not to try to travel during Wednesday," Ms. Sutherland said.
But that won't change the fact that many people will. The Pike will be jammed "just about all day on Wednesday," she said.



Those people will almost certainly enjoy an hours-long look at the bare-trees scenery approaching the tolls at Exit 9, which connects the Pike to I-84 in Sturbridge. The Turnpike Authority is strapped for cash, and there is no intention to clear the bottleneck by allowing motorists to use Exit 9 for free.



Asked about the policy in previous years to allow the state police to waive those tolls at their discretion, Ms. Sutherland took a lengthy pause and said, "Only in an emergency." And it is not an emergency if it takes people an extra three hours to get to Connecticut...

$1.89 Per Gallon!!

I can fill my tank again!!

Hooyah!!

Gas is now $1.89 per gallon here in Sturbridge. Still more than I paid when I first landed here in town 8 years ago, but a whole lot less than I have been paying. It is like getting a raise.

I have a Ford truck, and I bought it the week gas hit $3.00 plus per gallon in August of 2005. As soon as I signed the contract Exxon / Mobil raised the price of gas. They were watching.

The truck has a thirty gallon tank. Thirty gallons. I need a tank that big because the truck gets about 18 MPG on the highway, and that is where I spend most of my time. Poor choice for a vehicle? Not a very green choice?

Yep.

I bought the truck for a couple of reasons. It is a temporary vehicle, for one. I needed a vehicle to transport all the things I would eventually buy at Home Depot for a new house I had yet to buy. That August in 2005 Ford was practically giving the trucks away. I took one.

When we purchased our home that truck sure came in handy. Even today I am about to run off to Home Depot and give them more of my cash in exchange for all sorts of guy what-nots and stuff. The truck has more than served its purpose, and it has years left in 'er.

But, when gas got to be way over $4.00 per gallon, it would have cost me over $120.00 to fill it.

(choke)

I took the less painful way out, and limited myself to only $60.00 per visit to the gas station. The gas didn't last long, but it was easier to swallow.

Now, with gas at $1.89 at the Pilot Station at the old Sturbridge Isle it will only take $56.70 to fill 'er up!

Yep, I got a raise, and I got gas.

Excuse me.

Squirreley In Fiskdale

Now, about those squirrels. Red Squirrels to be exact. The ol' Tamiasciurus hudsonicus.

I grew up knowing only one kind of squirrel, the Grey Squirrel. We sang a song about them in grade school. These rodents were everywhere, and still are. Furry, little things that scoot along lawns looking for nuts. More than once I have caught them on my window sill pointing at me and drooling.

Here in New England they are as common as Super Bowl Rings.

I had never run into a Red Squirrel till I moved to Fiskdale. At first I thought that the chipmunks had started to climb trees. Red Squirrels are smaller than their grey counterparts, and more spastic.

And vocal.

Man, do they make noise. Sort of a high pitched chatter that is incessant. I can only imagine what he was yelling at me as I crossed my back yard. He would increase his volumes and get more crazed if a Grey Squirrel happened by. I actually saw this little fur ball leap from high in a tree to the ground and without loosing a beat, he ran off toward the grey squirrel. I always wondered what he would do if they actually caught one.

Well, I tolerated the noise for some time, and finally, me and Mister Hav-A-Hart got together and we captured the Red Demon.

I brought the crazed rodent to a happier forest, and returned home. After parking the truck, I walked behind the house and there on the well was the Red Squirrel screaming at me.

I thought I had entered the Twilight Zone.

The damn squirrel not only was louder, and more angry with me, he had actually beat me home from the Happy Squirrel Relocation Forest.

Or, so I thought. Come to find out it was another one. I thought I only had one, now there was a sibling, or spouse screaming at me, standing on his rear legs, little arms waving like mad.

Cripes.

So, I set the trap up again and waited for the sound of the doors closing tight. Didn't take long. And, off to Peaceful Squirrel Acres we went.

I came home, parked the truck, and went around back to kitchen door, said hello to the Red Squirrel sitting on the stoop, went into the kitchen, hung up my keys, and paused.

I slowly turned around, took a step toward the kitchen door, and peered out onto the step. There, on the top step was a this obviously ticked off rodent. Standing there, arms crossed, one foot tapping away. You know the look.

Where the heck did he come from?! I was awash in Red Squirrel Tide! No sooner did I remove one, than a extra from central casting was sent in to replace him.

That day I made a total of nine trips to Happy Squirrel Land with a very upset squirrel in the back seat of my truck. I made an additional trip the following day. Ten trips. Ten squirrels. Strange thing is I never saw more than one of them at any one time. Must be the way they operate. Sort of a one-man show. Funny thing though, the more I took away, the louder, and brazen the remaining ones became.

Finally, after a lot of peanut butter bait, multiple trips down the road to the woods, there was peace in the valley once more.

Whew.

After awhile the grey squirrels showed their faces in the yard again, the birds returned to the feeder, and I wasn't scolded from the treetops any longer.

This Wild Kingdom moment happened during the summer of 2007. In August of 2008 I was sitting on the back step, peering out into the tree by the well when something caught my eye. It was either a chipmunk in the tree, or we had trouble in River City again.

It was the latter.

I only saw him a few times after that. This one was very quiet compared to his deported friends. I let him be after I had a few words with him one afternoon. I explained my position, and my expectations to him. I think he understood.

I then turned and walked back to the house confident that my position was well stated, and that my four legged, red neighbor would be a good neighbor.

By the time I reached the porch the thought hit me that I must have looked like a total nut out there talking to that squirrel.

Even luckier he didn't come out that tree, cold conk me and store me away for the winter.

This So Cool!

Studio coming to Sturbridge!

Click the link below:

This is great news!