Author: The Jody

The Johnny Appleseed Festival is tomorrow. Junior has invitations to march in the parade from two different groups. But the weather report looks ugly for tomorrow – they’re saying there’s an 80% chance of rain. I’m thinking it will probably rain, which means no festival. And none of the other things we could do on a fall Saturday, including apple picking, or whathaveyou. I adore living in New England in the fall. The sensory overload one experiences cannot be accurately described to people who don’t get to experience fall foliage, apple orchards and harvest festivals. Never picked your own pumpkin out in the field? That’s a damned shame. It’s fun, and it also reminds the kids that the pumpkins didn’t just appear out of nowhere in a bin at the store. Plus when you step on the vines they make a squeaky popping noise.

As for apples, the new owners of Marshall Farm in Fitchburg have done an amazing job of adding on the little cafe to the old barn, with the outdoor porch for sipping coffee and looking out at the amazing view. Unfortunately, they’ve gotten rid of a lot of the old orchards since last year. There’s a [dirt] parking lot that used to be the grassy area where they’d do drop-offs and pickups for the fire engine rides. The orchards on the other side of the street have been removed to make a bigger area for the petting zoo (I think…it wasn’t done when we were there.) You can still pick your own, it’s just in a smaller orchard. But they did build more permanent BBQ pits, so you can make a full day of it. I’m glad they kept that aspect of the farm. It really is a great place to go on fall weekends.

We all knew when the Jay Marshall died, most of us who had grown to love the farm feared for the worst, so I am beyond pleased that the new owners worked to make what they had thrive, instead of selling off all the land for condos. The farm was established in 1786, so it’s not a fly-by-night place. 9 generations of Marshalls ran the farm. A type of apple discovered one year turned out to be unique and is thus trademarked as the “Marshall Macintosh” and they are now grown in other orchards in the US.

What’s my point? Well, maybe it’s just a reminder to not miss all the cool stuff fall offers. From what I’ve seen of the trees that have already started turning, this year should be AMAZING for foliage. Yea fall!

Okay, so hurricane #4 is fired up and ready to head to Florida. Does this mean they’ve hit their quota for the next couple of years?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Weather is scary.

So I’m driving behind a dumptruck and it’s got the following notice on the back: “not responsible for broken windshields”.

Uh, and if you don’t secure your load and something flies off and breaks my windshield, that’s MY fault? I don’t think so, Mr. J P Noonan.

Thank God the primaries are over. I am SO SICK of looking at hundreds of political signs. Seriously, I’m at the point where I’d vote for the person with the LEAST number of signs.

Special note to Claire Freda, who had a jumbo-tron sign parked on North Main Street near the Fitchburg line: I wouldn’t break the word “Knowledge” apart onto two lines. Find another word, if you don’t have room. Because the fact that you “know ledge” isn’t going to make me vote for you.

Ms. Freda also was disappointed at her loss because she thought people would “look more at my background.” I don’t know about everyone else, but that’s exactly why I voted for someone else. She may have Ward 3 in her back pocket, but I’m glad to see the rest of the city doesn’t approve of her nonsense. (Hey, wait, maybe she won Ward 3 because her constituents where hoping she’d win so she’d have to give up her city council seat. Hmmm.)

(The rest of you can probably skip this. I’m writing publicly to the guy driving the Oxygen truck. I assume the Oxygen was in tanks, but I couldn’t see through the walls of the box truck. It had one of those little diamond warning signs that said “Oxygen.” Okay.)

Dude. I don’t know if this was your first trip down route 117 through lovely Bolton center, but there’s a really good reason why the guy in the pickup truck behind you was sitting on his horn in the center of town. You see, the way it works at the blinking light is the people on 117 let those waiting at the intersection in, almost at a one-for-one ratio. It’s amazingly polite. Sometimes it’s 1 car in for every 2 or 3 on 117, but you get the idea. They don’t wait there very long before someone lets them merge in. It’s like this every single morning, and has been since the first time this route was my commute, back in 1988.

You stopped to let at least 10 cars out in front of you. What the hell was wrong with you? After the 4th or 5th car, when the guy behind you beeped, did you decide you’d “show him” by letting everyone else out too? Don’t you think letting 10 people out in front of you is excessive under any circumstances? I do. You have the full right of way on that road, and by sitting there like you were broken down, you made things worse further back for people on 117. We need flow. The normal process is that you let someone out in front of you while you continue in a forward motion…nobody actually stops. You stopped.

Don’t do it again, or I won’t be responsible if the guy turning purple behind you gets out of his truck to “talk” to you about the situation.