FOWC with Fandango — Condone
This is a short note because I forgot, we have to be out of here most of the day. The exterminators are coming to do the interior, so we have to get the dogs outside and us out of the house too. We need to be gone for four hours. What we can do for four hours in Uxbridge will be interesting, but we have to be gone completely until the pesticides dry and are safe. Also, they need to set traps for mice. Spring is here, or at least the bugs and the mice are here.
Mice. Ants. Whatever else crawls or scuttles. After which it dries and is safe for pets and their people.
Exterior. The place is not much bigger than my living room, but there’s a storage area in back.
Excuse this whole week.
For that matter, forgive me the entire month. It has been nothing but doctor’s visits, follow-ups, and shopping for something or other.
Meanwhile, Garry had a small “piece” of something removed from his face. I (and the doctor) think it’s nothing, but it’s ugly and it changed color, so it was time for the dermatologist. We’re supposed to get a callback today on results, but it might be Monday since we will be somewhere in Uxbridge, counting the hours and minutes.
New bird in town – the Brown-headed Cowbird.
We got a new set of birds: the Brown-headed Cowbirds. A pair of them. They are surprisingly tame, which is apparently typical of them. They don’t usually live in oak woods, but they do like feeders. Anyway, the most interesting thing about them is they do NOT build their own nests. Ever. They are nest stealers. And they are pretty large birds, especially compared to the Finches, Titmouse, and Chickadees, all of whom are little feathery fluffers.
I think maybe we’ll go back to Caroline’s Cannabis shop. I want to see if I can take some better pictures. The ones I got are mediocre at best. Maybe I can stop at Hannaford and find something interesting for dinner too.
I have a piece coming on the shop as soon as I like the pictures.
Meanwhile, in a determined effort to make some money in this quaint, but poverty-struck town, Uxbridge has voted “yes” on the very first “drive through” pot shop in Massachusetts. I don’t know if there are any other places with drive-through shops, but this town needs money. Badly. They are taking an extra 10% in town taxes on top of the 20% the state is already taking. It’s cheaper to buy it off the street. A lot cheaper. My son pointed out that when the dope sellers saw the prices in the shops, they just dropped their prices.
Everyone on the waiting line at the pot shop thought they should also open a bakery. Cupcakes would be a nice touch, but meanwhile, Hannaford is getting some extra business.
Competition is good for business.
They also have the most interesting blown-glass bongs I’ve ever seen. I might buy one because they are lovely.
So I hope you will condone my absence. We are pretty much out of time. They were supposed to come later, but there were cancellations and earlier is definitely better for us AND the dogs.
I’ll try to get to comments this evening after dinner. And maybe some pictures. The dam in town is gorgeous, almost at flood stage.
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Categories: #FOWC, Blackstone Valley, Daily Prompt, Fandango's One Word Challenge, Humor, Uxbridge
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
A drive thru pot shop. Can you get a large order of french fries when you super size your Combo #420? I mean, you’ll have the munchies anyway…
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EVERYBODY agrees with that and I do mean from the guys missing their legs to the not-so-old ladies in line. Everyone said we should have a three-part pot shop: bakery on left, coffee and other munchies on the right. It seems a total waste of space to not have a walk-in OR drive-through without goodies to gorge. Hell, just having a decent bakery in a town that has no bakery unless you count the ones in the grocery stores (actually, the BEST bakery is at the Walmart, but that’s a longish drive for us … like seven or eight miles through miscellaneous towns although I suppose we could take the longer but faster road. It still takes the same amount of time, but you FEEL like you are going faster.
I’m pretty sure Caroline, remarkable entrepreneur that she is, may coerce the lady who bakes the world’s BEST cupcakes to set up a small outlet in the pot shop. She also makes chicken pot pies that are ridiculously expensive but incredibly good, too. She could easily open up a whole RESTAURANT and be the best restaurant in the valley, but she seems to like very short hours and not many days of the week, either. Still SHE would be great in there! And any one of the local (NOT DD) doughnut shops who have decent coffee could fill in … just bake a few extra doughnuts and get someone to serve the coffee.
I’m positive she’s already thinking about it. She’s kind of at the edge of town because she needed a parking lot. It’s not a big lot and when we went there on Friday, there were no spaces left, either. There’s room, though, to expand. I was afraid they’d put the shop in the middle of town and we’d never get to the grocery without a two-hour drive through some very stoned out traffic.
I bought a little bar of dopey chocolate while I was there. It isn’t improving my back (nothing will fix that), BUT I am sleeping like the dead and waking up in a lot less pain. All my muscles have loosened up. My spine is still a disaster, but the muscles are relaxing and that’s not a small thing. I eat two little squares when I get into bed. I don’t get stoned or if I do, who notices? I’m just awake and then I’m out cold for a solid five hours — which for me is a life-saver. Now, add some fatty food and I’m going to balloon upward and be a very happy and exceedingly round camper.
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What an unusual name for a bird, brown-headed cowbird. Whoever thought of that I wonder? I thought that cuckoos were the only nest stealers in the bird world but I stand corrected.
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Actually, there are quite a few nest stealers. Many nest stealers build their own if they must, but the cowbirds ONLY steal nests and NEVER make their own. I want to know if they have something to do with cows. I mean … why a COWbird?
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That’s what I wondered, did someone think their markings looked like a brown cow?
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I looked it up. They used to follow the buffalo and cows, eating the bugs and stuff their hooves kicked up.
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OK well that makes some sort of sense although it is not the prettiest of names.
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We’ve had relatively good luck with peppermint oil and cinnamon for ants and mice…..Hope yours go away! As for the cannabis….I sincerely hope that Uxbridge benefits! Just as I hope that Gardner benefits from our shop out here, which is great. I fear, of course, that the wealth will somehow manage to pour itself into the already rich towns, who don’t even want the shops…
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What I sort of gathered from listening to the people in line is that they had tried the “in town” shops and the line was so long, they thought they might be in another town while on the end of it. So they came to Uxbridge. Our shop is REALLY small. Cute, though. And there was quite a line there today. They only let two people inside at a time. Privacy?
Uxbridge has put a 10% tax on top of Massachusetts’ 20% tax, which makes legal pot pretty expensive. But there seem to be plenty of people buying it. Not the mobs they have in Brookline, but a very steady stream of patrons. I think the richer towns will do better than our little towns, but we’ll do better than we would without the shops. And Uxbridge has approved a second “drive through” shop. That should be entertaining.
Our town is very hard-up for money, so if this works out well, I think we could happily be the pot center for Worcester County. We’ve had a terrible time finding anyone to invest in this area. It’s too far from Boston or any other business center … and too far from Amherst where all the universities are. So we’ll pretty much take anything that brings in money.
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We live in Winchendon, with a tiny Main st. filled with boarded up shops. So sad. No shop licenses were approved here, unfortunately. Our neighboring town, Gardner, will do well with its shop, but that won’t translate to our economy. We were a farming community after the industrial revolution, and have no infrastructure for businesses. No more train line from Boston to Albany, either. We are nowhere.
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At least you don’t seem to be having a caterpillar invasion
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The caterpillars have (hopefully) gone back to sleep for another 30 years. They don’t come out very often. It takes a special set of climatic conditions. I hope I’m gone by the time they come back. They were really horrible.
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If I were stuck for something to do in Uxbridge for four hours I’s go to The Battle of Britain Bunker in fact it looks quite interesting and I might come for a look myself!
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The Battle of Britain Bunker is near London in the U.K, where the original Uxbridge is located. It was a RAF staging area in the second world war … but not in THIS Uxbridge. There’s another big Uxbridge in Canada and for all I know, more of them in other places where there were a lot of British settlers 😀
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That would make the trip a tad longer than the four hours you were looking to take!
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well, that sounds like a pretty exciting life (for the moment)…. hope Garry will be ok, ANYTHING in the face but the bits God attached to all humans can only be regarded with a certain suspiction.
Have a peaceful weekend!
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He’s had it for a while and it was deemed unimportant. When it changed color, I felt it should be removed. We’ll get the results of the biopsy. It would have been today, but we were gone for the day.
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Busy Day, Busy week. Waiting to get word on that thing removed from my face.
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