It was wild on the field in Ashburnam when our grandson, Ryan, and his team, the undefeated North Middlesex Wranglers, played for the state Pop Warner championship title.

And they won! The Wranglers are State Champs. Next weekend they go to the regional playoffs. Ryan has a pretty good grip on that amazing trophy. Great team and a great game. Ryan’s mom went wild cheering – and can barely speak today!  Yay Wranglers!  Good luck next weekend.

This porcupine has been lurking around the End of the Road for some time now. Our neighbor is careful when she walks her dog, and the UPS man stopped his truck to watch the porcupine, while the porcupine sat on a tree stump by the side of the road and watched him.

Porcupines are the second largest North American rodent. They can have 30,000 or more 3 inch quills which detach easily from their body, and easily into any attacker, or curious dog. Though they go in easily, porcupine quills are difficult and painful to remove because they are barbed. They cannot throw their quills, but Don’t Touch! Even if you should get that close to this slow moving animal.

 Fall is prime breeding season, but we have only seen this solitary porcupine. They are supposed to spend a lot of time in trees, but we have only seen porcupines on the ground, in the field, in the Sunken Garden, and this morning, underneath the Cottage Ornee. This has me nervous because porcupines like to eat green branches, twigs, and bark – and they just like to chew wood.  The Cottage is made of wood! They like canoe paddles, too.