The Tablet

IT'S A DOGS LIFE

2010-02-03T00:26:00.000-08:00

This is "Gracie" the wonder dog waiting for a call to duty. Occasionally she wakes long enough to eat, steal socks, and chase Sofie.

These are the best action shots I could get.

Why I love New England

2010-02-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

When it is cold and snowing on the outside and I'm warm and cuddly on the inside

That is the best.

And when mom is waiting for me on the inside

That is even better.

IT'S A GIRL!

2010-01-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

(guest posting by Becky who has been officially replaced as youngest girl in the family line-up)

Meet the proud Mother

and her NEW daughter, Gracie.
She's a 9 weeks old Corgi.

She's a feisty, holds her own, sheep herding kind of gal.

Congratulations Mom!
She's CUTE!!!

Any volunteers to bring dinner to this brand new mother? She'll need all the help she can get because she'll be busy chasing, training, playing, feeding and nurturing her furry new sidekick.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! (belated)

2010-01-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

I think THIS chick is cuter than the chickens.

Love, Dad

A Pictorial visit to the Hutchins chicken ranch

2009-11-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

For everyone who has been clammoring to see pictures of our newly arrived chickens, I provide the following. Mind you, it was very difficult getting these things to hold still. Some of the action shots are a little blurry.

This is "Turkish bath" chicken

This is "Sadie" chicken

This is "workout" chicken

This is "go to prom" chicken

This is "go to McDonald's" chicken

This is "Cleanlieness" chicken

This is "racetrack" chicken

This is chicken "McCool:

All are living very happily at our chicken ranch and the future is as they say, "Eggilishish".

A couple of things we did on July 4th - 2009

2009-07-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

"My Dad said that this was the best seat for the fireworks show that would happen at dark"

Now follows a most handsome 14 year old, born on the fourth of July 1995 - Isn't he cute?

And now Hunter is taking the "traditional" bite out of the apple pie and icecream "cake"

that he requested him mom bake him.
What would the fourth be without a patriotic bunt cake???

Here is Alana reading to Gabe about Nascar racing

And now, the actual nascar races - held in Belmont at the temple home

Yes, she smoked him

Coming down the backstretch after a couple of pit stops

IT'S A PHOTO FINISH!!

THE "COUSIN-HOOD" OF THE TRAVELING SKIRT, PART DEUX

2009-02-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

Ah, the lovely Hannah
on the left and Anna on
the right

Sara of Brigham Gables

Emily of clan Whitcomb on the left and

Emma of clan Hutchins on the right

Abigail of Lunnenburg Village on left

Sarah, maid in waiting, of Houghton Mill on the right

Naomi, fair maiden of Gales Ferry on the left

Hannah of Hogwort on the right, learning the wizards knitting trick

Abby, teaching Nana how to knit one and pearl two

Some of us went wii, wii, wii, all the way home

STRIKE THREE, YER OUT!!!!!

SISTERS OF THE Wii-Jii

What??? could this possibly be??

Ah, yes, the transformation is almost complete

I AM "MANN" OF GREEN GABLES !!

We learned a lot about genealogy and all of the "hood" went home with a 4 generation genealogy chart starting with themselves and ending with their great grandparents

This family tree chart starts with my Aunt Jessie and her husband Richard Sprague and goes back to the 1500's

Sleep? What? No way. Just hide in the blankets and giggle all night

Ah, we do know how to eat. The potatoe bar was a fav of everyone's

There were more pics but I still don't know how to arrange them without losing some of them. Sorry. My blogging is like my singing. Off key, out of style, but very enthusiastic.

COUSINS OF THE TRAVELING SKIRT!!

2009-02-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

FROM SATURDAY TO MONDAY WE WATCHED "ANN OF GREEN GABLES" AND WE LAUGHED, CRIED AND CHEERED

SOMETIMES WE PLAYED "TWISTER"

OTHER TIMES WE ATE ICE CREAM SUNDAES

WE TRIED DANCING

WHO ARE THE WE? WHY WE ARE THE "COUSINS OF THE TRAVELING DRESS!!"

SOMETIMES WE WERE DOWNRIGHT SILLY

OTHER TIMES WE TRIED TO BE SO MATURE!

NAH, MOST OF THE TIME WE WERE SILLY.

IF ONLY GRAMPY KNEW HOW TO FORMAT PHOTOS INTO THE BLOG YOU WOULD SEE MUCH MORE TODAY. BUT ALAS AFTER ENTERING AND DELETING ACCIDENTALLY MORE PHOTOS THAN I CAN COUNT - YOU HAVE TO BE CONTENT WITH JUST THIS TODAY AND MAYBE MORE TOMORROW. I'M SUCH A COMPUTER DWEEB.

Be Careful What You

2009-02-03T14:25:00.000-08:00

On February 2nd, 2009, a special cocktail, (shown below) was given to a mild mannered, average citizen who was happily married and living the good life. He was relaxed, happy, well fed, anxiously engaged in good works and enjoying his family and the daily activities of his life.

For visual proof of just how well-adjusted and happy this person was, please see the next picture. Recognize him? Yes, to many of you he is your dad. Notice the casual pose. Note there are no lines of stress in his face. He is relaxed and breathing in the flowers of life, even in the middle of a harsh winter with temperatures in the low teens. He is so happy there are green leaves on the trees and he only needs shirtsleeves in the middle of winter.

HOWEVER, WHEN HE WOKE ON THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 3RD AND LOOKED IN THE MIRROR, THIS IS WHAT WAS LOOKING BACK AT HIM!!!!!!!!

I'm promised that I will return to normal on February 10th. In the meantime I am locked in the basement of our home being fed steak, chicken, lamb, copious amounts of spaghetti, delicious salads, fruit juices, home made bread and a variety of specially made treats that only radioactive people can eat. In addition, I have to sleep in, watch plenty of movies and read favorite books.

Honestly, the look isn't that bad. I'm getting used to it.

Love Dad

THE BITE!!

2008-10-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN AND BECKY!!!!
ALTHOUGH WE DID NOT HAVE BECKY HERE WITH US, WE CELEBRATED BEN'S BIRTHDAY ON MONDAY EVENING 10/13. BEN WAS IN TOWN TO DO SOME TRAINING IN HIS KIND OF NEW PART TIME JOB AND STAYED WITH US. WE INVITED UNCLE DAVE AND AUNT SHIRLEY OVER FOR THE FESTIVITY AND CAKE. THE PICTURES BELOW SAY IT ALL. THE PERFECT CHOCOLATE DEATH CAKE ENDED UP LOOKING LIKE A BOWL OF CHOCOLATE SOUP AFTER BEN TOOK THE "BITE".
HE OBVIOUSLY HAS SET A NEW HUTCHINS STANDARD FOR THE BIRTHDAY BITE. WE LAUGHED SO HARD WE ALL HAD TO LINE UP AT THE BATHROOM LESS WE ALL PEED OUR PANTS.

WHAT DO YOU THINK HE FOUND DOWN THERE??? TRUTH BE KNOWN I TOLD HIM THERE WAS A FOLDED UP $100 BILL HIDDEN IN THE CAKE AND HE HAD TEN SECONDS TO FIND IT AND LIFT IT OUT WITH HIS MOUTH. AH, THE GOLDEN NAIL WORKS EVERY TIME!!!!

"My Food Storage Plan"

2008-08-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm game to respond to my daughter's invitation to "show" our food storage. Go ahead and look. My food storage plan is sitting on that rock in our back yard. Isn't she beautiful???

Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my food storage has all the leaven it can hold
The Olympic games are over & I'm standing on the podium with my gold.

Go ahead - knock yourself our for the silver and the bronze.

Love Dad

"TAPHOPHILIA"

2008-07-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Taphophilia: Having a love of cemeteries
Taphophile: One who loves cemeteries

Hey all you Taphophiles out there!! I thought it might be deadly fun to share with you some information about cemeteries and death, as well as a sampling of some epitaphs that I culled out of two books that I've recently gone through:
1. Over Their Dead Bodies - Yankee Epitaphs & History
2. Stones and Bones of New England

The word "cemetery" comes from the Greek and means "sleeping place".

Some of the historical beliefs associated with cemeteries and death are listed below followed by a selection of epitaphs, which is essentially the inscriptions left on gravestones. These are only a very few of those I read - many are sad, some are funny, some caustic, many are religious and a few are like someone just wanting to get the last word in.

If you choose to make a comment on this blog I challenge you to include what you think might be cool epitaph for you or someone you know or love.

For instance, one I have been working on for myself might go like this:
"Many thanks for stopping by
But I'm no longer here.
Our reunion is comign nigh,
So please don't shed a tear.
My body needed this rest
and my spirit is soaring free
I've given this life my best
now unfettered I can be. "

Or, something a little more to the point might be:
"She was right - I should have listened"

HISTORICAL BELIEFS:

"In a Christian graveyard, bodies are buried with the head to the WEST and the feet to the EAST but the basic division has always been between NORTH and SOUTH. The left-hand side of the altar (NORTH) was called the gospel side for sinners, the right-hand (SOUTH) was the epistle side for the righteous. So the unclean dead were buried to the north side of the graveyard." (Nigel Barley - "Grave Matters")

"To place the corpse face downwards has a special significance. An old superstition has it that an infant buried in this manner - if a first born child - will prevent any further additions to the family. This mode of burial was also held to be a means of preventing trouble from a witch after death." (Bertram Puckle - "Funeral Customs")

"In Ireland if a funeral procession passes a church on the way to the cemetery, the mourners must circle the church no fewer than three times before proceeding to the graveyard, or else the corpse and pallbearers will be cursed."

"Taking a dead person out of a house, tent or hut through the usual exit was thought to be dangerous. People believed the dead must not use the same door as the living, or the sickness might rub off on the doorway. Some people even built special doors in their houses for the dead. Such doors, in old Italy and Denmark, kept the regular doorway free from the infection of the dead." (Ann Warren Turner - "Houses for the Dead"

"An eccentric person named Richard Hull was buried on horseback upside down, in order that he might have the advantage of position on the Day of Judgment, when according to a once popular notion, the world would be reversed." (Bertram Puckle - "Funeral Customs")

EPITAPHS

Coventry Conn:

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country"

(who is the famous person buried in this grave?)

Hartford Conn:

"Well - Sick - Dead in one hour's space"

Milford Conn:

I warn all friends, both old and young, not to live life as I have done"

Milford Conn:

"Molly tho pleasant in her day

Was suddenly seized and sent away

How soon she's ripe How soon she's rotten

Sent to her grave and soon forgotten"

Bangor Maine:

"Poor Martha Snell, Her's gone away

Her would if her could, but her couldn't stay,

Her had two bad legs and a badish cough

But her legs it was that carried her off."

Old North Cemetery - Nantucket Mass:

"Under the sod

Under the trees

Lies the body of Jonathan Pease

He is not here

But only his pod

He has shelled out his peas

And gone to his God"

Burlington Mass:

"Sacred to the memory of Anthony Drake,

Who died for peace and quietness sake;

His wife was constantly scolding and scoffin',

So he sought repose in a twelve-dollar coffin"

Marlboro, NH

"The land I cleared is now my grave

Think well my friends how you behave"

A fisherman's epitaph on Block Island RI

"He's done a 'catching cod

And gone to meet his God"

Bennington, Vt - The poet Robert Frost is buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery. The epitaph, which Frost wrote for himself follows:

"I had a lover's quarrel with the world"

Cheshire Conn:

"He that was sweet to my Repose

Now is become a stink under my Nose

This is said of me

So it will be said of thee"

Dunstable Mass

"Life is a blessing can't be sold

The Ransom is too high,

Justice will ne'er be brib'd with gold

That man may never die.

O see the Foolish & the Brave

Quit their possessions, close their eyes

And hasten to the Grave."

Litchfield Conn

"Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary wife

Of Dea. John Buel Esq. She died

Nove 4 1768 AEtat 90

Having had 13 children

101 grand-children

274 great-grand-children

49 great-great-grand-children

410 total. 336 survived her"

Pownal Vt

"Here lies as silent clay

Miss Arabella Young

Who on the 21st of May

1771

Began to hold her tongue"

Colchester Conn

"He was a man of invention great

Above all that lived nigh

But he could not invent to live

When God called him to die"

Burlington NJ

"Here lies the body of Susan Lowder

Who burst while drinking a Sedlitz Powder.

Called from this world to her heavenly rest

She should have waited till it effervesced"

Winslow Maine - In memory of Beza. Wood

"Here lies one Wood

Enclosed in wood

One Wood

Within another.

The outer wood

Is very good:

We cannot praise

The other."

Plymouth Mass

"Shed not for her the bitter tear

Nor give the heart to vain regret

'Tis but the casket that lies here

The gem that filled it sparkles yet."

Ryegate, Vermont

"I lived on earth

I died on Earth

In Earth I am interred

All that have life

Are sure of Death

The rest may be inferred"

Fairfax Va

"O fatal gun, why was it he

That you should kill so dead?

Why didn't you go off just a little high

And fire above his head."

Hardwick, Vt

"She always did her best,

He never did"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE END

FAMILY MADNESS - 2008

2008-03-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

FAMILY MADNESS BABY! The contest rules are that whoever correctly identifies each of the people shown in every picture gets to have an all expense paid trip. No second and third place prizes. How well do you know your own family? This is "GUESS YOUR RELATIVE". Your game show host is none other than the memory wizard himself, the glad-dad of Northborough and Belmont - ME!!
Score one point for each person correctly identified. I will number the pictures so you can fill in the names according to the number of the picture. All entries must be post-dated by April 5th,
(a very significant date in our family history). Magnifying of images is permitted. Phonetic spelling permitted, there will be no deductions as long as the game master can interpret your guess.

#1_______________________, ___________________, __________________

#2 __________________, _______________________, ___________________

#3 _______________________________

#4 ___________________<>

#5 ________________________

#6 ________________________, __________________________

#7 _________________________, _________________________

#8 ________________________, ________________________

#9 __________________, ________________, ______________, _____________

#10 _______________________, _____________________

#11 ____________________________

#12 ________________________________

#13 ________________________________

#14 __________________________
#15 _____________________________________

" /> #16 _____________________________

#17 ________________________________

#18 ________________________________

#19 _________________________________

#20____________________________

#21 ___________________________

#22 ____________________________

#23 ______________________________

#24 __________________________

#25 _____________________, _____________________, __________________

" />
#26 _______________________, ______________________

"Around the house"

2008-03-30T04:50:00.000-07:00

The "Paparazzi" have been at it again. This time they have caught a much sought after couple unawares as they casually strolled around the estate they live on. It appears to be somewhat of a lonely life as there are no children to be seen anywhere. It's rumored that their children live close by but the heart-breaking truth is that no matter where this couple looked on the day the pictures were snapped, they could not be found. It's even rumored that this couple have numerous "grand" children. It could not be confirmed, however it is well known that these little tykes can hide easily in the shrubbery.

We promise we won't make you rake the leaves.
There are lots of flowers to smell.

You can come and sit with us and we can have great conversations

We have big, soft laps to sit on
See how big our house is? We're here all the time and it's mostly empty and we get real lonely.
Where o' where have my little children gone?
We miss you

Aren't we kind looking? Don't you think that we would be fun for children to be with? We have so many bedrooms, we even bought the Wi console, and the cookies just sit in the freezer until we don't know where they are anymore. Please come play with us. We promise we'll let you go home again. Please??

"Houston, we have a wee wee problem"

2008-01-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

Reverting to childhood impulses I bought a Wi a couple of weeks ago. Since then my vocabulary has morphed into simultaneous uses of sound alike words. My psychiatrist said if I just wrote down some of my thoughts, kind of verbalizing them - it would make me feel better.

We: (pronoun: used by and with reference to more than one person or associated person)

Wee: (adjective: little; very small)

Wee: (verb: to go [hopefully] in the toilet)

Whee: (expressing delight or excitement [especially when you hit the toilet])

Wi: (proper name: [pronounced "wee"] an interactive/virtual video game)

We have been using a wee-Wi in between times to go wee amid cries of whee. My 'wi-ing experience has been one of whee, whereas many of my wee-ing experience has been one of ho, whoa and woe.

Woe: (distress, trouble)

Whoa: (A command to stop)

Ho: (an expression of surprise)

Go: (to start)

Many of my wee'ing experiences result in exclamations of whoa! "Didn't mean for that to happen". Sure, there is an occasional "Whee" at the end of my wee, followed by a "ho"!, but too often there is just "woe". In the middle of the night with the lights out it is a lot of "go" followed quickly by "whoa". I wish I could just go wee without the woe.

If I could just practice my wee on the wi I think my woe would turn to ho - and maybe whee.
Unfortunately there is no weeing on the Wi. Unless of course I moved it to the bathroom.

Woe is me.

Wi Whee - Wee woe. Ho, go, ho, go.

Whoa. Stop me please.

"FLY IN BUFFET"

2008-01-17T06:56:00.000-08:00

We've been avid bird feeders for some years. We have a large feeder on the porch in front of our house and an in the window feeder in our bedroom where we can watch the birds that come up-close through a one-way glass.

A few weeks ago, after one of the many snow storms we've had this year, I looked out our front window and there perched on the railing of our stairs was a red tailed hawk feasting on what I think was a little chickadee.

I ran for the camera and this is one of the shots I took.

This takes bird feeding to a whole new level. A bird is feeding on the birds I'm feeding at the bird feeder.

The hawk has been back a few times and sits on the same railing, but I haven't caught him having dinner again yet. I guess when you find a good buffet, you go back often!

I think he's a republican. If he was a democrat he would have put up a sign saying "free lunch" and eaten the seeds at the feeder with the other birds and sang cumbayah.

HOLA HOLA THERE'S NO COLA

2008-01-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

Holy blog. I took a chance and set up our blog. blows my mind. I need to see if I can import some pics to this thing so it looks like something other than a letter.
We hosted our annual "White Elephant" gift exchange again this year the week after Christmas. In attendance were Pris and I, Jen and Roger, Aaron and Rachael, Becky, Zachary and Alana.
Last year, Aaron escaped with my gift, which was to grant a wish - no matter what it was. He never cashed it in - and said this year he didn't think he got in under the time deadline. Truth was, he was too intimidated to ask me. I told him to let it out and he stuttered and stammered and then finally said: "My wish was that you would stop drinking any form of cola, particularly diet-coke."
A hush came over the room as everyone kind of held their breath to see what my reaction would be. They all knew that a daily coke was one of life's pleasures for me.
(Inside I was trying to figure a way out of this commitment when I realized that once you commit there is no way out other than to keep your word)
So, I nodded yes.
I think things rushed onward at that point, with everyone relieved to get beyond that potential hiccup to the evening.

I am proud to report: HOLA HOLA THERE'S NO COLA

From that moment on there has been no cola pass my lips. I still have a moderate, left over supply for anyone that wants to come in the middle of the night and take it for themselves. I am on to ginger ale and occasionally a Barq's root beer. Not even neer as satisfying in the belly, but feels good in my heart.

On a side note - I've been a bachelor since Saturday past and get to pick up my main squeeze at the airport today around 5:15. It will be good to have my eternal scrabble partner again.