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Praetorium Honoris

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Gray Day in the 401


Saturday was gloomy, overcast, and drizzly. Temperatures in the mid-50s to low 60s, but for all that I liked it just fine.

Far too often here in Little Rhody, what with our proximity to the mighty Atlantic, the rain is a driving thing, blown hard by the wind, the only thing an umbrella is good for is perhaps to keep one's glasses dry. Before the umbrella turns inside out or, worse yet, is wrested from one's hand by a strong gust.

Then it's off to the races.

But Saturday's rain was gentle. On and off, one could actually go out for a bit and not feel like you're out on deck in a raging sea. (Well, we get the water but, unlike a ship at sea, and perhaps California, the deck here at Chez Sarge doesn't pitch much at all.) Rather pleasant it was.


Everything here is greening up nicely, last month those trees were all still rather bare. There's still a few which haven't really filled out yet, but they're getting there. Soon it will be as if winter had never been. Until next time.


With all that's going on in the world, I cherish this sanctuary which The Missus Herself has created. Almost as much as I cherish her.

The world is insane, I keep it at arm's length.


Good music helps to keep me on an even keel as well.

Love this one.



Peace be with you my friends.

There is hope.




36 comments:

  1. You have your little piece of heaven to keep things real.

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    1. Not nearly remote as yours, but it works for me.

      I can hear the buoys on Narragansett Bay at night, the cry of the gulls, that plus the gardens, give me peace.

      Delete
  2. That "back 40" looks good..... lots of work and love there. Potatoes and onions going in today in my garden..... :)

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    1. Yum! Taters and onions, a fellow could live off that!

      Delete
  3. Getting rain here but its a badly needed rain and it's one of those slow soaking rains that the farmers have been needing. Your place looks awesome, tell your Missus that she's an artist!

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    1. I will and thanks.

      I trust you are on the mend?

      Delete
  4. Here in Philly we're supposed to see the low eighties today, that means that the temperature change is about thirty degrees in a day and a half.
    Although we are far from the sea, every mall parking lot has a share of gulls. (CGU-11s, a subset of B1-RDs)
    Les Jardins are beautiful, especially the heart shaped topiary. What is in the center of the heart? (if it isn't private)

    Everyone needs a place of refuge. Yours is exceptionally beautiful.

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    1. One of my wife's ex-co-workers firmly believed that there are both AF and Navy versions of the CGU-11s. I guess the AF version would be LNDGU-11s. Probably with increased tankage and the inability to float on water.

      Then again, one of our friends was sure that the reason we saw thistle in cow pastures was that the cows were saving them for desert.

      We are surrounded by idiots, which makes having found Sanctuary very important. (Hmmm, every time I hear the word 'Sanctuary' I think of Michael York at the end of 'Logan's Run' (a movie they have yet to remake, thank God. Love the originals, usually hate the remakes.)

      (And, Yes, the first idiot really believed in Land Gulls. The stupid, it should burn...)

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    2. Andrew - Ah, Logan's Run, a fine movie, really glad Hollyweird has not seen fit to re-do that one.

      Land gulls, heh.

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    3. John - Not surprised at the gulls in Philly, the Delaware is a big river and you're not all that far from Delaware Bay. After all, I've flown over an aircraft carrier (JFK) at the Philly shipyard, AND you've got USS New Jersey out there in the river.

      Not to mention which, we had seagulls out in Colorado. Apparently their ancestors had chased a locust swarm in that direction and took up residence afterwards.

      (Took me a moment to figure out that whole CGU-11 and B1-RD thing, pretty funny.)

      The ornament in the center of the topiary is a gift from my brother and his wife a few years back at Christmas, she thought it would look nice in the garden, I think it adds a nice touch.

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    4. Beans. A few years ago we visited Notre Dame in Paris, if the photo of me passing through the door looks like I am hunched over and saying, "Sanctuary!" it's because I am.

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    5. I have had the odd thought to, after winning the lottery, going to Paris and do the whole Lon Chaney routine just to see how quickly a French Gendarme will cap my big white arse.

      Dying by epic burn seems to be one of my most potential ways to leave this mortal plane.

      Delete
  5. Back yard refuges are important! And yours is lovely. In the flower blooming category, my Iris blossomed over night, and I not only have Baltimore Orioles and Red wing blackbirds singing like crazy til practically 10:30PM...silly birds don't know enough to go to bed...I saw a Goldfinch this morning when I went out to put out some bird seed.

    We are still pretty grey and dreary, it has rained/sprinkled/misted/liquid precipitated in some form just about daily for the past week. As a result the garden,front lawn, and the back fields are all pretty waterlogged. You squish when you step off any concrete surface any place!!! Hubbie was bummed, he picked up some seed potatoes when we went to the greenhouse on Friday to drop off canna lily bulbs for the owner to sell. He got the gardens rotovated last weekend, but if we plant now, stuff will either rot or be doing the backstroke...

    Bets shoveling snow tho!!!

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    1. Love seeing the birds in the backyard. Sounds pretty waterlogged out your way.

      Roger that on the snow shoveling, heartily concur!

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  6. Being in the DFW area, we are also getting our dose of the "dry line" as described over at Old NFO's place. Thunder woke me up at O'dark thirty. My bladder said "hey, as long as you're up...". Our cat, as is her wont, made a bee line for her spot under my bed to ride it out.

    Last week I officially qualified for Medicare. Joy. My youngest son took me on an outing to Defender Outdoors for some range time. This means I now have dirty guns and empty brass that need attention. I think I shall retire to my workbench/man cave in the garage, drop a CD in the mini-stereo, and carry on.

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    1. Last week? My "qualifying" was the week before that, we're of an age we are.

      Man caves are good.

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  7. I admire the work you and your wife have put into the garden. As an ex-lawn mower pusher (with bad allergies, the things one does for dough) the rounded edges are really nice. Riding mower or walk-behind or push?

    Does the Missus do all the topiary herself? If so, extra kudos to her.

    The dedication and time it took to do the work really shows. How many years work do you have into it now?

    As to good music on a quiet rainy day? I could slip into some Bach right now, but the FFs work too.

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    1. I have a crew do the lawn for me now, when I did it the mower was self-propelled, I just walked behind it. When I retire I may take up the mowing again, didn't care to spend a big chunk of the weekend mowing the lawn. Trimming, mowing, and emptying the mower bag takes about three hours. The three man crew that does it now gets it done in under an hour.

      The Missus Herself maintains the topiaries, most she did herself. She's put a LOT of work into that yard over the past 18 years. When we moved in, it was nothing but grass, a lot of it dead. The previous owners sucked at yard work.

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    2. Before leaving the House, I had an across the street neighbor who mowed his lawn, or vacuumed his lawn, or mowed/vacuumed his lawn 3 times weekly. I called him 'Lawnmower Man.'

      Seems he had some really high-stress big job that he retired from. Went from worrying about all the high-stress things about his job to worrying about his lawn.

      Delete
    3. Worry about the lawn? I wake up, see if it's still there. If it is, I carry on.

      Haven't woken up to see it not there yet. If I do, well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

      Delete
    4. You know, I've actually gone to Yard Sales, but I would never buy their scrawny, weed infested turf, and they always get really pissy when you ask for the good grass...

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    5. I don't know, but it can get the lawn owners to call the cops on you for asking. Weird.

      Never saw a garage for sale that I wanted to take home. I've seen some that I've wanted, but way out of my price range. Can't even afford moths these days.

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    6. I always wonder how I'll get the damned thing home.

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    7. You need a pickup truck, man, a large pickup truck.

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    8. What repellent do I need to use before attending a flea market?
      And what exactly is for sale at a craft show?
      The last one I went to had neither aircraft, nor watercraft.

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    9. Juvat - I'm guessing that's a Texas pickup truck, for Texas-sized loads.

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    10. John - Did they have any witch craft? Field craft maybe? These modern things are vexing.

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  8. It's just as bad on the other end. People kept showing up at my yard sale asking about used clothing and old dishes. Go figure. And then they got all pissy when I told them the house wasn't included.

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  9. SARGE,

    You've simply GOT to do something about that chain-link fence! Gonna have to kick you out of the Land-scape Architects Union! And I ain't too sure that the sky-blue shed fits your Japanese color scheme, either. (ducks for incoming..)

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    1. I know, used to be chain link on the right as well.

      The shed started life an ugly beige, was painted Cape Cod gray and the sun turned it blue. I guess we need to buy a better quality paint.

      Perhaps build a pagoda there instead? (That would be kinda cool!)

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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