The Stone Church

"My friend hurt her foot..."

"...so I'm going over there to empty her mouse traps for her. " -My friend Andrea today on the phone, when we were making some plans. Welcome to life in the country!

There Have Been Some Shortages - Reprise

Last week, hardware stores began running low on snow removal supplies and by the time the last storm was over, they were pretty much out.  There wasn't a roof rake, snow shovel, or box of hockey puck salt tabs to be found anywhere, not to mention snow blowers. When Home Depot is sold out of a big ticket seasonal staple like a snow blower, you know you're having a serious winter.


The good news is, I have found a way to reuse our sock singles! In a fit of DIY, I asked Raj to rummage through his sock drawer for singles and worn out socks while I bustled off to the hardware store for a bag of calcium chloride.  Raj managed to produce 19 socks and I filled them each with a fist-sized portion of the stuff.  We raked the roofs and flung the sock bombs strategically which means aiming for just behind the bigger icicles. The sock bombs are so much better than the hockey pucks in terms of placement; the downside is, in the spring we will have 19 filthy socks sitting on our roofs like dead things the cats might drag in to our bedroom.


Everyone, at this point, except those who have the great good fortune to live in a perfectly insulated home David & Monique has ice dams, ice cycles, and way too much snow on their roof.  Roofs are collapsing all over New England, while I know of at least one poor man in Worcester who had a heart attack and died while clearing snow from his roof. Even stoic New Englanders are shaking their heads over this hard Wintah - though I still note latent pride beneath their complaints. This Wintah will go down in the record books in terms of snow fall if nothing else, and a legendary winter spawns legendary ...well... legends.

Serious Soy Chorizo Shortage at Trader Joe's Leaves Me Peevish

UPDATE --------------------------------------------------------

Official latest word on the status of Trader Joe's beloved SOYRIZO from Corporate HQ.

"Dear Sara,
Thank you for your feedback.  Our Trader Joe's Soyrizo is currently out of stock in our warehouse and assure you it has not been discontinued. At this time there is no exact date on when it will be available for our stores to order.  We encourage you remain in contact with your local store's Captain or one of the Mate's for availability.

Thank you for shopping at Trader Joe's,
Amy
Customer Relations"

TLDR: Trader Joe's soy chorizo is still MIA with no ETA.

UPDATE --------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted 10/14/13 2:09 PM EST


I have been having a serious craving for soy chorizo from Trader Joe's, so much so that we made the 40 minute pilgrimage to the closest store, in Shrewsbury, MA.

The refrigerated tofu and fake meat section at Trader Joe's was filled with all manner of faux ground beef, "chicken" cutlets, sweet and sour "pork", Tofurkey, firm tofu, silken tofu, and seiten (SATAN!!). Not a speck of soy chorizo though, no matter how hard we looked or how many employees we asked, NOTHING.

I guess I'm going to have to learn how to make my own. Do I have to do everything myself??

What Beastie Left This Behind?

It was about as big as a hockey puck.

"Fahmtastic Story!" Notes from a New Reader

Amazon.com Review by Harry Hart-Browne:

Our Year at The Fahm: or, Blessed are the Cracked for They Shall Let in the Light (Paperback)

"What a delightful book! Sara Parker gives us an unvarnished tour of her new life with her tongue in her cheek and her heart on her sleeve. It reminded me a little of "George Washington Slept Here" where city folk get countrified the hard way.

Sara shares her woes and triumphs with such humor - both extra dry and fairily whimsical - that I become involved immediately, and stayed that way. A real page-turner. She treats language like a lovely lump of Play-Dough, sometimes creating words, phrases and names for inanimate objects that convey their essence far more effectively than conventional wordery can. (It's catching!)

Although this true account is often a romp worthy of Lucy, it also ventures fearlessly to lonely places, human frailties, political insights, world woes, love of animals, as well as rampant mouse poo and homemade applesauce. It shows us how hard hard work can be, the shock of sudden crises, and helps us, by example, to go with the flow. It honors the beauty of Nature. It celebrates good people and laughs at the meanies. Like the official who railed against local beavers building dams without permits. No kidding.

It connected with me on many levels. Sara's every response to her new life is informed by her big sensitive heart, which in turn warmed mine. My inner child smiles. Her subtitle suits her - she lets in the light. Recommended."

I am humbled. 

Unattended Death Still Under Investigation ... is it ... MURDER?

In December of 2011, a mysterious death occurred right here in Princeton, not half a mile from the Town Center and the town has been abuzz since, mostly because no one who knew anything could say anything. Here are headlines with latest developments:

UPDATE ----------------------------

Desilets pleads not guilty in death of wife; pretrial conference set for Feb. 5

Manslaughter and assault and battery charges read against him; bail set at $5,000 cash

Roger P. Desilets Jr. was arraigned Jan. 2 in Worcester Superior Court on charges relating to the 2011 death of his wife at the couple’s home in Princeton. For more on the story, go to The Landmark.

UPDATE ----------------------------

Desilets went through window, husband tells police

Couple argued about infidelity, court documents say

Roger Desilets was indicted yesterday, Friday, December 13, 2013, for manslaughter and assault and battery, nearly two years to the day since his wife died after going through a third story window of their Princeton, MA home. He will be arraigned January 2, 2014, in Worcester Superior Court.

So...not murder exactly, but something very like it, no? Assault and battery and manslaughter sounds an awful lot like murder to me but of course I do not know the intricacies of the law well enough to distinguish between the two, although there are degrees of each, and the defendant's state of mind at the time of the crime is very important. For more on the indictment, see The Landmark's breaking news.

Original post after the jump.

Winter Storm Falco

8 Degrees F, many inches of snow

We are longing for Solstice...our countdown began days ago.  Soon...

Winter is Coming

...rather, Winter is already here!

Via Weather.com

Fall Ends in New England

Fall Sunset in Ruralville

...over the Quinapoxet Reservoir, part of the City of Worcester's Public Water Supply, hence the barbed wire:

The Tree on the Common, Fall New England Style

Halloween in Central MA

Hanging high above the road, My Pretty:

Lurking in the woods:

Just Another Police Log in New England, Fall Edition

Monday, October 21

3:25 p.m. Caller reports neighbor is screaming obscenities over a pile of leaves, Lowell Ave.

Tuesday, October 22

1:19 a.m. Lights on, garage door open, Salisbury St.
7:41 a.m. Car and house egged overnight, Bailey Rd.
9:30 a.m. Person at station to turn in old shotgun ammunition, Main St.
4:02 p.m. Request for assistance getting school bus out of tight spot in parking lot, Shrewsbury St.
11:13 p.m. Smashed mailbox, Reservoir St.

Wednesday, October 23

1:27 a.m. Smashed pumpkins, Salisbury St./Mark Cir.
10:03 a.m. Assist Homeland Security officers with site visit, Briarcliff Ln.
10:19 a.m. Report that elderly female got into a truck, Phillips Rd.
1:26 p.m. Male dressed in military fatigues with rifle, Chapel/Wachusett St.

Thursday, October 24

8:51 p.m. Caller reports bushes missing, Holden St.

Sunday, October 27

11:18 a.m. Dead skunk on property, Orchard Hill Rd.
4:03 p.m. Caller and his son are lost in Rutland State Forest, Prison Camp Rd.
6:45 p.m. Hysterical juvenile female requesting police, having problem with her father, River Rd. Mother says she was slamming doors, so father removed the door from her room.

Wednesday, October 23

8:30 a.m. Missing beagle, Kendall Hill Rd.
3:24 p.m. Loose beagle running in road looking lost and confused, Maple St./Kendall Hill Rd.
6:31 p.m. Vandalism, Port-a-Jon toppled over

Thursday, October 24

8:30 p.m. Vehicle hit deer, damage to vehicle, Clinton Rd.

Friday, October 25

5:07 p.m. Vehicle struck deer, vehicle damaged, deer deceased, Beaman Rd.

Saturday, October 26

11:08 a.m. Report of male dancing in and out of N. Row Rd.
3:02 p.m. Report that dog attacked puppy and bit a female, Lakeview Ave.

Sunday, October 27

9:13 a.m. Caller reports her boyfriend was waving a dead possum in her face, N. Row Rd.
10:06 a.m. Bear in area, Kitchener Rd., Sandy Ridge
12:57 p.m. Stray dog on Rte. 140
4:08 p.m. Bear in yard, Redstone Pl.
4:49 p.m. Bear damaged bird feeder, headed into woods, Maple St.
5:49 p.m. Bird feeder damaged, Pineview Rd.

Click here for the whole thing.

Google Street View Finally Made it to The Fahm

And they caught Raj in his morning office!

Finally Fixed That Dark Corner in My Office!

Also in The Garden These Days

This year I dedicated one entire raised bed in my vegetable garden to growing flowers. I planted way too many seeds so only the really strong survived. Along with another one of those rogue cherry tomatoes which I did not plant there even though it grew there, the type of plant that Raj calls a "volunteer"; it was very fruitful, and being situated amongst a robust bed of marigolds surely made it the least bugfull new word of any plant anywhere here except indoors.

The sweet peas never really did anything other than loiter and lurk next to the tree they were meant to use as a trellis, and the cosmos did not thrive. The dahlias, on the other hand, and the marigolds are still growing and putting out new blossoms even now, almost Halloween.

Important Advisory Concerning Attacks on Livestock!

From the Town of Princeton Website:

In the last week there have been two overnight incidents of livestock inside fenced areas being killed by means of wild animal attack. The incidents took place in the Hubbardston Road and Worcester Road areas. Though attacks on livestock are not uncommon in rural areas, Animal Control in consultation with MassWildlife suspect but cannot positively confirm that both these attacks were made by a Black Bear . Residents owning pets and livestock are advised to consider taking additional precautions to secure their animals including keeping them in a secure structure overnight.

Bears?  ARE YOU OUT THERE?? 

Welcome Facebook Folks and All the Rest of Y'all: I'm Just Getting Started

I have returned from the West with many anecdotes and whatnot; you read 'em, I'll write 'em. It can be a bit loooooonely once one turns off the hustle and jive of Facebook because even though the NSA and the Googles are right here with us they are vewy, vewy quiet, which reminds me, HELLO, GOOGLES! The Blogger platform Our Year at The Fahm perches upon is one of the Googles so everything here is on the record. Literally.

Nothing to See Here, Folks

Just a 24-hour old Deer Tick bite!