A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tired Boys

We are exhausted.  It has taken the better part of this past week for Ross and I to get back to feeling normal.

We went back home for Christmas.  We left Friday and drove half way.  That night we stayed at a dive hotel.  The only rooms they had for pets were also for smoking; it smelled to high heaven.  We got up the next morning and travelled the rest of the way to my mom's house.  There we had Christmas with my whole family.  Everyone seemed to have a good time, and it was fun catching up with everyone.  That night we drove an hour to my sister's house and spent the night there.  We stayed up till one in the morning assembling the kids' Christmas gifts and jaw-jacking.  It was so nice to go to sleep someplace other than an ashtray!  We got up that morning and had breakfast and then watched my sister's family get their stocking gifts-they had to wait until after church to open their other gifts.  When they left for church we headed to Ross' dad's place.  After another two hours on the road (Max was not having it at this point) we got there.  We spent some time at his dad's before heading to his brother's house for Christmas dinner and the family gift exchange.  It was once again nice to catch up with everyone.  After dinner we stopped in at Ross' grandmother's house for a short visit before heading back to his dad's and shortly thereafter to dreamland.  The next morning we packed the car, headed over to Ross's mom's for breakfast and some one-on-one time, and then got in the car and drove the eight and a half hour drive (almost ten hours with stops) so I could be at work the next morning.  Max slept most of the way; I wished I was right there with him.  It was a lot of driving, but we so enjoyed seeing our family.

As our family tradition dictates, we do not celebrate Christmas until we are home with our menagerie. Tuesday was our Christmas Eve and Wednesday our Christmas.  While we were gone Bootsy and the chickens all stayed at home with our neighbor watching them (you couldn't ask for a better neighbor). Cloe stayed at the vet as she needs insulin shots twice a day for her diabetes; the vet said she did not like her stay very much as she barely ate.  Ross brought her home Tuesday morning and we started our festivities that evening after I got home from work.  Ross made a wonderful hors d'oeuvres dinner.  We watched the PBS nature special Christmas at Yellowstone which is a family tradition (the cats and Max like to watch along-it is so funny), and then headed to bed.  The next morning we got up and opened gifts.  We scaled back this year, but I did get Ross a gift he has been asking for for several years-a guitar.  He was so excited, as was I.  It is so nice to give a gift that is able to bring out the little kid hidden inside of an adult.  (Please note that Ross is also wearing his head lamp that I gave him.  I think he mentioned how much he liked them a zillion times this past year.)  We had a great day and Ross made prime rib for dinner (another of our holiday traditions).  I ended up napping with the boys as evidenced by the picture above, and I should note that I am as bad as Ross-I received the gold, hand-knitted cap as a Christmas gift and wore it all day and night.

It was a great Christmas for us as all the important pieces were there-friends, family, peace, and love.  A couple of trinkets made the season a bit brighter, but in the end it is the memories made that we will carry on with us (and maybe Ross' first guitar solo with made up lyrics played to what I think was Jingle Bells-which I have on video, but know I would be severely punished for sharing!).  We are looking forward to the new year, and wish you and your's peace, love and happiness.

Hide and Seek

Let me start by saying that I'm a fairly regimented person.  Everything I have has a place, and I 99.999% of the time put my things back in their places.  When I come home for the day, I put my keys on the key holder, hang up my hat on the coat closet door hook, hang up my coat, go to my room and place my wallet and my glasses in the tray on my dresser.  It reminds me a lot of my father and how he, as a police officer, came home and followed his own regimen that included making sure his firearm was unloaded before putting it away.

I'm the same way in the house.  I can tell if Ross has dusted as everything is just slightly askew.  I go around and put things back into the fictional order that I have created in my head.  I have accepted that this mental order is not necessary, nor is it a sticking point in our relationship-it is merely the craziness in my head manifesting itself in my physical world.  Ross on the other hand lives by a different order-one that sometimes makes my head spin.  If I asked him where his wallet was he would say probably on his dresser (it is on the coffee table).  If I asked him where his keys were he'd say on the key ring (and he'd be correct), and like yesterday, if I asked him where the other cordless phone was, he'd say "I know it's here somewhere..."

We were going to run some errands yesterday, and I needed to call someone to make sure they were home.   Our cordless phone system came with two phones.  The unusual thing is that each phone maintains its own telephone directory.  This means that some numbers are stored in one phone and some in the other.  I needed a number in the missing phone.  I looked and looked for it and then asked if Ross knew where it was.  "It's here somewhere."  He began to look, but we needed to head out.  Once we got back, we started to search again.  We looked all around the house, and it was nowhere to be found.  We looked outside in case it got left at the chicken coop or fell on the ground-no luck.  I was getting a bit worried as it is raining today and did not want the phone to get ruined.  Ross had the brilliant idea to call it.  We found it in his baking goods cupboard.  Double click the picture above and take a moment to look for the phone.

Keep looking...

Keep looking...

Did you find it there on the third shelf next to the baking cocoa?  I had to measure the height of this.  It was six feet four inches off the floor.  I am 5'8" and Ross is 5'9" so this is above both our eye levels.  When I finally found the phone all I could do was laugh, and the look on his face was priceless.  Ross had to have moved the phone there as he was putting away baking supplies-flour here, sugar there, nutmeg over here, and telephone right up here.  He cracks me up.

Teacher, The Dog Ate My Homework

This past Sunday Ross was hired to cater a small holiday party that some friends from church threw. He did most of the prep work Saturday and some final work on Sunday before he went over to their house to cook everything up.  It was some tasty food, and it seemed that everyone was happy.  After all the guests left, Ross helped clean up, and then we headed home.

Once home we unloaded everything onto our dining room table, including the check Ross received for payment.  I said I'd do the dishes as he had just done a bunch at our friends' house.  We chit chatted a bit while I washed, and then Ross headed into the front room.  Next thing I hear is "no Max."  So what did our little Corgie do?  He ate Ross' check.  So not funny in one hand but way classic in the other!

Thank the Lord that these were friends of ours.  Ross called them up and told them what happened.  Their reply was that they paid Max to eat the check (of course we know now he would do it for free).  Ross got a new check Monday and subsequently deposited it before any more mishaps could happen.  Smart thinking!

On another note,  Ross and I have had a little blessing this year.  It may not sound like much, but we had our rosemary plant bloom for the first time.  Woo-hoo you're thinking.  To me, this is an amazing feat as I have systematically killed every rosemary plant I have had up till this current one.  I received them as Christmas gifts and bought them from nurseries; all dead.  We started this one in the Summer of 2010.  It barely survived the Winter on our kitchen counter.  I took it outside this Summer and it flourished.  I brought it back in when the temperature started to drop and said a little prayer for it.  So far my prayer has been answered as it seems to be doing quite well.  It flowering is a fitting Christmas tribute as I recently read a blurb about how the Virgin Mary had laid her blue cloak over a white blooming rosemary plant and from then on it bloomed with blue flowers.  The plant was hence known as the Rose of Mary.  Let's hope that I can keep this plant living so we won't need an Easter miracle later this Spring!

I Swear I've Been a Good Boy!

Well maybe not always so good. But definitely a boy!

This is Max's first Christmas with us and he is enjoying the festivities. The other day we took him to the local pet supply store to meet Santa.  I should mention that Max does very well meeting new people. He usually throws himself on the ground and rolls over to get belly rubs.  Santa was a whole other story.

When it was Max's turn we took him into the room.  He played a bit with Santa and his toys, but once Santa sat down and asked Max to sit in his lap, Max hunched close to the floor and started to cower.  Like many children, Max was afraid of the big, jolly fellow.  Santa reached out his hand in which he had some doggie treats.  Max stood right up, ate the treats, and let Santa put him on his lap.  It's nice to know that anyone can buy our dog's affection!

Max also went with us to cut down our Christmas tree.  We went to Angevine Farm again this year which is a hunt and cut farm.  We walked through the various fields looking for the perfect trees.  There were a couple Max sized trees there as well to be cut in the future.  Max decided that a couple of these young trees were nice so he decided to mark them for us for the future.  Hopefully by the time they get big enough to cut down they smell more pine tree than fire hydrant!

Max has been doing well with the Christmas tree in the house.  We did keep most the ornaments out of his eye level.  The other day he did take a glass bulb off the tree and was carrying it through the front room.  Talk about nerve wracking.  You don't want to yell or chase him to aggressively or he'll break the bulb, but you got to get it before he chomps it.  Crazy dog!  He also thinks that the tree stand's water reservoir is his personal water bowl.  He must love pine flavored water-go figure.

We're looking at making some more Christmas memories with our little pup.  We did realize early on though that no presents can go under the tree early as Max is just as bad as me.  Where I shake, rattle and roll each box, Max tends to open cardboard boxes by chomping on the corners.  Guess we'll have to wait for Santa Poochy to come on Christmas Eve to get any presents!

He's all grown up!

Our little boy is all grown up! Max will have his first birthday tomorrow! Boy does time fly. Even though his is a big boy now, he will always be our little puppy. That is what Shannon was telling him this morning. Tomorrow the birthday celebration will begin! Yeah Max!

The Purr of the Generator Running...

A freak October snow storm.  That's what the local weather men are saying.  At least that is what I hear the local weather men are saying.  We lost our power Saturday evening-cable too.  The battery backups for Internet, telephone, and cell towers went out Sunday evening.  Ross' cell phone came back up in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.  So for one full day we had no means of communication other than knocking on a door or writing a letter (I still don't think I've seen our mail person since last week though).  We have a fireplace and a generator so we are warm and cozy, our bellies are full, and most importantly, we don't stink to high heaven.

It was a lot of snow, being October or not.  I took the measurement in the picture at about eleven Saturday night.  There is a quarter inch of space at the beginning of the ruler so there was fifteen and three quarter inches of snow on our picnic table.  It continued to snow until about three in the morning so it is easy to guesstimate that sixteen inches fell in about fourteen hours.  What made this storm so bad was that so many trees still had leaves on them.  You could hear all kinds of cracking and thuds from branches breaking and falling.  We had a tree snap in two and fall into our orchard between the chicken coop and a bee hive and right on our electric fence.  It landed on two new fruit trees we just planted this past Spring (they both made it through).  This was just one of several trees and large limbs that fell on our property. Needless to say, we spent the next day with chainsaw in hand.  At least we're ahead for next year's firewood!

Of course we are just two of many people in the same boat.  We reached out to various members of our church and neighborhood making sure they were OK and if not to come over to our house.  Yesterday I was at the local hardware store looking for oil and an oil filter for our generator (both sold out go figure).  While waiting patiently for my turn I ended up in a conversation with a man who just moved to the area a month ago.  He bought a house just around the corner from us.  He said he had no heat so I told him if he needed a place to stay just come over.  Later I thought, "wow, he must think I'm a freak inviting a perfect stranger over."  Possibly.  In realty it's just I love living in my small town, and I love that people are in each other's business here, and the best way to be neighbors is to be neighborly, to genuinely care for the people that surround you.  That doesn't necessarily mean you have to like them, although we are blessed because we have yet to meet a neighbor we haven't liked.

Today we got our phone and Internet back so I am finally able to write thanks to our generator and its ever present humming purr in the background.  The outage has us feeling a bit old-timey lately.  Mainly from our weird, power outage chores, like bringing in the daily firewood and trimming the candle wicks.  I was feeling that Ross was missing TV so this morning I read him some short stories as he cooked breakfast.  It was a good time.  Taking it all in I can say we are making do with the situation given to us, which is the best I guess anyone can do!

Merry Christma..., Um, No. Happy Halloween!

Brrrr. Oops, we mean Booo.

I'm one of those people.  Those people who just shudder when they walk into a store and see Christmas items before Halloween is even over.  It just burns my britches.  So imagine how a good snowfall three days before Halloween makes me feel.

I just got in from snow blowing the driveway.  That's right, snow blowing.  I'm still in denial about all this.  Our weatherman said earlier this week we might get snow from a Nor'easter that was heading up the coast.  He confirmed it last night with a prediction of a foot to fifteen inches for our area.  It's too soon for snow.  Even more, last winter was so snowy that I really didn't want to see another flake until 2012.  Denial set in pretty quick.

So here we are, snow on the ground.  Snow still falling.  And, Halloween has yet to come.  Ross and I spent the morning finishing the winterizing tasks that I thought we had until Thanksgiving to finish.  Nope. I guess all I can do is get a good fire going in the fireplace and settle down our brains for a looooong winter's nap.

Below are some pictures.  Enjoy or at least be thankful that it isn't you!

It's the Least Wonderful Time of the Year!

Well it's that time of year again. Time to discard all the potted plants, clean the pots, take the clothe's line down, pull the deer fence off the garden fence... In general, it's time to hunker down for winter.  For everything there is a season, and I don't like this one at all.  It makes me sad to throw all the patio plants into our compost pile.  Ross looked a little sour as he cleaned up his vegetable garden.  On the plus side, the chickens have been dying to get into there all summer, and now they have their chance.  I also made a short list of things I need to finish before it gets too cold (which means the next two weeks!).  If it weren't for the leaf show happening all around us it really would be the least wonderful time of the year.

Freaky Friday

Red Velvet Cupcake

Do you remember the movie where the child and parent switch bodies and live the other person's life?  Well that has happened at our home as of late.

In the past week and a half I made a butternut squash & apple soup, molasses cookies, and, last night, cupcakes.  This from a man who never cooks (the running joke is that when I cook we go out!).  To be fair, it isn't that I can't cook because I can-as long as I have a recipe in front of me.  I just don't usually cook because I'm married to someone who cooks much better than myself (and most others) and doesn't need a recipe to work from.

It's funny how things can drive you to do something.  The soup came about from a new restaurant that we lunched at one day.  They served an apple butternut squash soup as an appetizer.  I had never had it, and it was so good.  I wanted to see if we could recreate it so I could have it whenever I wanted.  And, now I can.

The molasses cookies were a lightning strike moment.  There is a soup place (not the same place as the apple butternut squash soup, go figure) that sells these molasses ginger cookies.  Ross and I will split one every so often when we eat there.  While we were at the Bethlehem Garlic Festival getting seed garlic for our vegetable garden (you plant garlic in the fall) we perused a sugar house's booth.  They had blackstrap molasses.  I had the "Aha!" moment that I could make molasses cookies myself.  They were good.  The next day Ross kept helping himself to a cookie every time he went through the kitchen.  Payback!

The cupcakes...
The genesis of the cupcakes starts with Ross playing with Max, then Ross running backwards from Max, and then Ross falling down and hurting most of his right side (and thankfully not falling on Max).  Last night, as he sat on the couch aching, he asked what's for dessert.  We've been together for almost ten years.  I don't think that question was ever uttered to me in all that time!  Not one to let my guy down, I picked up the laptop and started looking for a dessert.  I chose a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting recipe.  I looked at the ingredients and was mentally thinking what I would need to go get at the grocery-cream cheese, confectioners sugar...  I started going over the ingredients list with Ross.

I have this joke about a woman's purse that it is a gateway to a second dimension.  It's one of those things a woman can put her hand into and pull out just about anything, and I mean anything.

I guess Ross' cupboards are the same.  I didn't have to go to the grocery store for one thing (not cream cheese, not sour cream, not powdered cocoa, not even red food coloring-though the recipe called for a bit more than what we had).  Ross continually leaves me speechless.  Well, I whipped him up a batch of red velvet cupcakes, and they seem to be a hit.  Of course now I'm thinking I better stop while I'm ahead.  If I keep this going he might try to make this Freaky Friday thing permanent!

On another note, we had visited our local potter earlier this summer, and he mentioned that he made pie plates.  Ross and I both looked at each other in astonishment.  How did we not know this?  Of course, to our chagrin, he did not have any at that time as someone had come in and bought every single one he had.  Guy, our local potter's name is Guy Wolff, told Ross to bring in his favorite pie plate and he would make him one to his specifications.  Well, every time we remembered to bring the pie plate we never made it there or he wasn't there himself.  Today we finally got there with Ross's pan and to our luck and amazement Guy had several plates already made that were quite similar to the one Ross brought.  We bought two; the one with the cross hatches was closest to Ross' favorite in size and wall slope while the second was sentimental to me.  It is glazed with the outline of Mt. Tom Pond which is a state park down the road from our house.  The design includes an outline of the pond, Mt. Tom itself, and the tower that sits upon it.  The park sits in three towns (Washington, Litchfield and Morris) which are listed in the border around the pan.  So why is this so special?

First, Ross and I have lived in two places since we moved to Connecticut.  The first was in Washington and the second (our current home) sits in both Morris and Litchfield. These are the three towns listed on the plate.  Second, this park is really close to our home.  We pass it several times every week.  It is part of the landscape that I consider our home.  I look at it every time I pass it.  In every season it is beautiful (my most favorite is at Christmastime when this one lone person on the other side of the pond lights up a single pine tree that sits on the water's edge).  Finally, I have fond memories hiking there with Ross.  Note that we took our blog profile picture while we were on the top of the Mt. Tom tower.  The view from the top is breathtaking.

As I said the pie plate was sentimental to me.  Add to it that our favorite potter made it and Ross is destined to add his own charm to it from years of baking, and you have an heirloom in the making.  I bet the pie made on this plate will taste just a bit sweeter, at least to me!

She's Still a Tough Bird

Squawk.  Blackie, our Black Australorp chicken, is experiencing her first molting.  Molting is the process that most birds go through to refeather their bodies.  To do this they must first lose their old feathers.  A chicken's first molting usually occurs around eighteen months of age and in Autumn.  Miss Blackie is right on schedule!

If you look closely you can see bald patches on Blackie's tail and hind end.  There are little shoots of new feathers growing in all over her body.  I lovingly described her as looking like a roaster chicken with its head still on (Ross was none too happy about that description).  

Molting is supposedly a stressful time for a bird.  You can't tell with our little girl as she still is ruling her roost.  I guess you can say that all the other chickens aren't able to rustle her feathers (ha, ha, ha).

Wooly Bears are Back!

It is that time of year when the trees start to change from green to various shades of red, yellow, and orange. I love the change from summer to fall. The excitement of apple picking, walks in the woods, and carving pumpkins brings out the inner child in me. One of my favorite things to see in fall is the emergence of the beautiful wooly bears! Yeah! The other day I saw my first wooly bear as I was walking Max up the hill. I looked down and there I saw it crawling across the road. Of course I had to stop and look at it. It made me smile. I immediately picked it up and put it in the woods so it would not get run over by a car. Some memories from my childhood rushed to me as I saw the wooly bear. The smell of the crisp fall air, running through the woods with my brother on mini hiking trips, and putting dead snakes in our sisters' mud pies.  Don't worry, no wooly bears were in the mud pies. He He! Of course, often you would see us picking up the wooly bears marveling at their brown and black colors while they would tickle our arm or palms as we held them. Thank you wooly bear for the memories!

Fresh Eggs for Sale - Update

We have been asked by several people how our egg sale has been going.  I thought I'd give a general update and let everyone know that today is the first day that we sold out of all our stock.  We sold one or two dozen here and there, but always had more in reserve behind those.  Over the last several days we have been selling a couple dozen eggs a day.  With seven chickens we can safely count on six eggs a day.  Take two away a day for our personal use.  That leaves four a day, or three days to make a dozen.  Ross and I have been talking about increasing our flock to fourteen or sixteen. If the demand keeps up we definitely will have to get more girls.

The Baby's Quilt

Sewing on the Binding

I have been waiting on the U.S. Postal Service to post this blog.  In what seems like a lifetime ago, Ross and I were neighbors with two sisters.  They gardened and we gardened.  They liked to cook and Ross cooked (and I like(d) to eat). They liked to make drinks and we liked to sit outside, talk, and imbibe (remember the red roofies anyone?).  There was chemistry there.

Well time moves on and so did the sisters, and then we eventually moved to Connecticut.  Ross has kept contact over the years.  We were excited when the one sister got pregnant with her first child.  She had a girl, and Ross made her a baby quilt. She is about ready to give birth to her second child, and lo and behold, a second quilt was sent.  Of course I could not release this blog until we had confirmation that the blanket was delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, or else I would ruin the surprise.

Ross does a great job making his quilts.  When we were at the Post Office, a gentleman had overheard the conversation between us and the postal worker about the blanket. He stopped and complimented Ross on his work.  It's nice to get such positive feedback (I never get tired of that small town feel).  Maybe one day Ross can sell his quilts too!

Pumpkins!

Its that time of year again folks! How I love to pick pumpkins from my garden to make pies, ravioli, breads, and cookies! When spring arrives each year I am eager to plant my sugar pumpkin seeds. As the seeds emerge from the ground the excitement begins. It is an exciting process to watch the vines grow hoping to have a fruit grow on them. I try not to pay too much attention because "watching the water boil" will take too long and the hope and excitement just can be too much. So, I tend to peek on them every once in a while with excitement. As summer comes to an end, the growing pumpkins really start to make me chuckle inside with excitement. When the day finally arrives to pick them, I become like a kid in a candy store. After picking them I tend to marvel at them and enjoy their simple beauty. Now what shall I make first? Hmmmm!

Poor, Sick Chicken

Our poor, sick chicken.

I wrote that line a couple hours ago, and then I had to stop...  

On, Monday Ross noticed that one of our chickens, Myrtle, was making a weird noise as she breathed.  On Tuesday, she was making this wheezing whine as she exhaled. We called the vet and got some medicine for her.  He said she possibly had either a gape worm that infected her trachea or a respiratory infection.  She got worse throughout the day and was even worse this morning.  We had her secluded from the rest of the girls.  As you can see in the picture, Ross was comforting her earlier today.  Unfortunately her illness got the best of her.  She passed away while I was holding her.  

I hate death.  I hate suffering.  I hate that moment when you're sitting there watching a poor, little creature suffer and you know there's no way back and you welcome death. You ask for it, beg for it, and then once you get it, you rue it.  That confliction-it's the cost of living, of loving, of feeling...

We buried Myrtle with her other fallen sisters up on the hill.  The area looks down over the house and is under an old apple tree that sprung up there probably from some deer's pooh dropped years ago.  She was a good, little chicken.  She will be missed.

Birthday Wishes & Empty Plates!

Helen debating seconds on dessert.

 Happy Birthday Helen!

Over the weekend we had the chance to celebrate the birthday of our neighbor Helen, with our other neighbors Mike & Marilyn. She has lived on the hill for a while. It is always a pleasure to talk with her and hear her stories of the people who once lived on Looking Glass Hill and have a good chuckle or two. We look forward to more stories, memories, and laughter!

May you have many more wonderful birthdays!

Mike & Marilyn

Spectacular, Spectacular!

Tonight was the penny auction fundraiser for our church.  Ross made some cookies for it.  Now you should know that two of my favorite tastes are plain, old sugar cookies and anything lemon.  Combine them and you have just made a super food for me.  Ross has done that with this cookie.

As part of Ross' longtime desire to open a bakery we now take pictures of items that he feels he would like to sell on an ongoing basis.  These cookies made the list.  Along with the pictures Ross also has to name his product.  He called this the Lemon Drop Cookie (look closely at the picture and you can see the yellow from the 'lemon drops' that he added to the mix).  I, given the fact that this is Shannon tongue heaven, decided that it needed a different, more realistic, name-The Spectacular, Spectacular Pucker Up and Kiss Me Lemon Drop Sugar Cookie.  Now that's a name!

As I said earlier, Ross made these for a church fundraiser; this means keep your mitts off Shannon! His downfall was asking me to taste test one.  As if. One led to two, which led to three.  Three was the best because I ate it while standing right next to him.  He was so busy taking pictures that he did not notice right away that I was eating his centerfold.  When he finally did notice, he was quick to catch me red handed on film.  I think that this must have been a look that I developed when I was six; it's that one where you know you should be upset with me but I'm just acting too darn cute for you to get there so I just saved my own hide look!  I guess I'm good at naming looks too!

P.S.  I hope you like my Hurricane Irene beard.  It grew over the several days we were without power post the hurricane passing through.  By the time the power came back the beard had grown on me !  (Ha, ha, ha...I just crack myself up).

Fresh Eggs for Sale

Well the time has finally arrived where Ross and I cannot consume all the eggs that the chickens are laying so our little cluckers are now in business for themselves.  We put up a fresh eggs sign last evening (handmade by yours truly).  We are using the honor system where people can stop by and take eggs out of our cooler at their convenience. They just leave their money (and hopefully all the rest of the money) in the cigar box.  The top sign says "today" for when we have eggs, and if we run out then we can switch it to say "out."  We did not get any takers today, but every business starts out small, right?  Let's hope.

Water, Water Everywhere!

Hurricane Katia just passed by the east coast, and thank God that it stayed out to sea!  It unfortunately did give us more rain-rain we did not need.   It has rained for the last couple of days only subsiding today.  The ground is still saturated from Irene so all this extra water is just causing more flooding.  We woke up to an inch of water in the basement; there was just too much water for our sump pump to handle.  Ross and I have discussed adding a second sump pump.  I guess this just jumped to the top of my honey-do list!

Instead of boring you with pictures of us standing in water, or the impromptu brook running through our flower garden or...  (Unfortunately for us we have way too many 'living with water' pictures for our own liking.)  How about instead I share with you some of the awesome beauty all this water can create.

Our neighbor called this morning.  He was working at Kent Falls State Park in Kent, CT and told us we needed to get there.  Normally there is a healthy brook that runs into and out of this park.  In the park the brook drops 250 feet in the span of a quarter mile over a series of falls.  These are stunning on any given day, but today they were massively incredible.  Someone our neighbor was talking to said that this was a once in a decade event (let's hope)!  In the above picture, Max and I are at the lower falls after we completed going up and back down the trail.  If you look closely you can see that I am wet from all the spray that was flying at the top falls.  The force with which the water was running was incredible; the sound of the water was deafening.  It was so cool.  I have compiled a video of the various tiers as we climbed to the top.  I hope you enjoy.

It's Labor Day!

It's Labor Day!  Time to sit back and relax just like Max here to the left. Not in our household; it's called Labor Day so you'd better get to work.  It seems that I always have something else to complete, and every time I look at my list it just gets longer.  Ross had started a list for me that had eight items on it. I've completed three and then added sixteen mores tasks.  Some of these are simple-such as vacuuming all the cobwebs from the basement rafters-while some are a bit more complicated-like adding a second sump pump to the basement.

Before

The most recent cross off on my honey do list was replacing the basement windows.  I'm big on doing lots of research before starting a project, and I did not find as much info as I would have hoped.  Ross and I have installed regular windows before but the basement windows do not get nailed into studs so I was a bit perplexed.  Oh well, if you're not quite sure what you're doing just keep going forward and you'll get somewhere (seems to me that this is a man trait-no honey I don't need to stop and get directions cause I know it's around here somewhere).

After

I have now replaced four of the five basement windows.  The fifth window was knocked out by the previous owner and a sheet of plywood was set in its place.  They placed a dryer vent through this and there it has set since (no paint, no sealant, just a sheet of thin plywood exposed to the elements).  We decided to replace that window with glass block and found a nifty glass block dryer vent that will be installed as part of the window.  I have everything on order for that installation; looks like I get to learn something new!  I have to admit that the new windows do wonders for the light and the general atmosphere of the area. Ross was correct to add this to my honey do list!

On another note, we were walking Max down the street the other day, and I noticed a strange (for here) but familiar looking nut on the ground. Lo and behold, it was a buckeye.  I guess Ross and I aren't the only transplants to the hill as the buckeye tree is not native to Connecticut.  I would think that this was some lost souvenir except that is was still in its outer casing when I picked it up. Looks like we have a tree to hunt down-now let's just add that to my list!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

We took Max swimming at Bantam Lake.  The water was still high but had receded some.  Ross said that it was very cold, but Max did not seem to mind.  Here is some video of our water pooch.

Hurricane Irene Video

As promised here is some video we took from Irene.

Post-Hurricane Irene

We survived Hurricane, um correction, Tropical Storm Irene!  We were on the rainy side of the storm instead of the windy side-sorry Eastern Connecticut and elsewhere.  Not sure how much rain we got as we haven't seen the news since Sunday (our cable was restored Tuesday evening and power was restored at one o'clock this morning), but the last I heard a town close to us had over eight inches of rain-that's over two month's worth of rain in less than a day.  We luckily did not have any collateral damage other than a few, manageable tree limbs down and about an inch of water in the basement. And leaves everywhere!  Here are some pictures we took over the course of the last couple of days.  I'll post a couple of videos later.  On a side note I just heard Ross make a startled noise out back-bet he just stepped in a puddle of water again!

Hurricane Irene

The local news have been reporting straight since three this afternoon.  At one point we switched to another channel just for a break from the news.  Earlier today we received an auto message from CL&P, our power company, stating that electric in areas may be out for several days and to stay clear of downed  lines.  I keep looking at a map (a screenshot above) of the projected path of the storm.  To give you an idea the pink line is the storm's projected path and our street is in the top, left corner (off of Rt. 202); Irene is on a direct course to us.  The rain is falling.  The wind is starting to blow.  Twelve to eighteen more hours to go.  We are just a little stressed.

Waiting out the hurricane.

Yes, the stupid hurricane is on its way to Connecticut! We are stocked up on canned goods, food storage, gas in the tanks, and the generator is on standby. The bee hives are tied together, and the chickens are tucked away in their coop. Waiting for the hurricane to hit land is putting us on pins and needles. Church is cancelled for tomorrow. Now it is the waiting game.

Update-You're a Big Girl Now!

You'd think it was a competition.  Ross and I were out clearing some land, yes that's right clearing some land, and on a break he went over and checked on the little chickens and lo and behold we had our second, first-egg today.  Two down, four to go!

You're a Big Girl Now!

Which is the little girl egg?

After we woke up this morning Ross checked on the chickens. We still have the little girls separated from the big girls.  In the little girls' pen was a little surprise. One of our little girls laid her first egg.  We believe it was Big Bird as she is the farthest developed (she is bigger than the two remaining older girls but doesn't know it).  It looks like we will be having a lot more eggs coming our way soon!

On another note, the other night we took Max out for his final potty.  We heard this little, clicking noise and saw something gliding from tree to tree.  It was a flying squirrel.  I was so happy as this was on my list of animals that live in New England that I wanted to see but haven't.  In two weeks I've gotten to cross bobcat and flying squirrel off the list. It has been a good summer so far.

Speaking of good summer, our gardens are doing great this year.  Below are some pictures I took today.  The gardens give me so much joy.  I hope the pictures help give you a little too!

Catdog!

Recently Max has learned a new trick. One that we did not have to teach him. His big brother Bootsy the cat taught him. I was walking by the window and I had to do a double take because Max the dog was sitting in the window like Bootsy normally does. Max loves to follow Bootsy around the house and chase him at times. Bootsy pretends he does not like it when his brother chases him, but he will stop and look to make sure he will follow him. Max has learned to jump into the window by watching his brother hop on the couch and to the window. Crazy boys! We think that Max might think he is a cat at times. 

Today is Shannon's birthday and Max thought that would be a good trick to show his Papa Shannon.

Who Cooks For You?

Ross and I were up a little later than usual last night.  When we took Max out for his final potty a barred owl greeted us.  The hoot of the barred owl sounds like "who cooks for you."  Max was all ready to protect us with his barking, but I was able to settle him down before he scared the thing off.  Ross had his iPhone on him and was able to get some audio.  I have tried attaching it to this blog.  Let's see if I was successful.  (Note: you have to click on the title as it is a link that will open the file.)

Day Two of Shannikah

Today is the second day of Shannikah. The week before Shannon's birthday is called "Shannikah" to celebrate him and the joy he brings the world, okay my life, he is a great husband. The first day we celebrated by going to the opening of the new ice-cream store, Arethusa Creamery. They also sell wonderful cheeses and milk. For those of you who know Shannon, he loves really good ice cream. On the second day we saw our first bobcat crossing the road. It was so beautiful! Then we had a picnic with friends from church and went boating with them. It was a wonderful day!

A Momentous Week

Max turned six months old on May 8th.  Happy half birthday little guy. And your present...

We had Max neutered on Thursday. Both Ross and I were concerned about him going under anesthesia.  I felt better after dropping him off at the vet as they explained that they would do some blood work on him first to ensure he should be fine with the sedative. He made it through his procedure with flying colors.  If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't think that anything was different.  He has all the pep and onerousness that he had before.  His biggest fun is eating paper and cardboard.  I had him in the bathroom with me as I was cleaning the bathtub and the next thing I new he was chomping on the toilet paper (so cliche Max).   And, speaking of bathrooms...

We are almost finished with our bathroom renovation.  We finished painting the bathroom last weekend.  Every night this past week we spent placing the backerboard and floor tile. I was able to get the tile grouted on Friday evening which allowed us to get the toilet and sink in on Saturday.  We officially have a functional bathroom.  All that's left is to install the trim and some paint touchups. The change makes me feel so good that I find myself just standing in the doorway taking it all in.  It is a dramatic difference from what we inherited when we bought the place.  The best part is that this was the last room in the house that needed a major remodel.  Now all that's left are some minor renovations and basic maintenance.  Happy happy, joy joy!

The Morel of the Story

Lucky us!  We have several morel mushrooms growing in our orchard.  Ross picked one today, sauteed it in butter, and mixed it with asparagus (fresh from our garden), chives (fresh from our garden), ramps (grows wild on our property), and gnocchi (made with potatoes from last year's garden).  It was a gourmet lunch!  I hope that we are able to find some more mushrooms.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger as of late.  I think we only made one post in April.  In our defense, April was a very busy month.

If you already didn't know, Ross and I are renovating our main bathroom.  We spent a good part of the month ripping it down to the studs and then starting to put it back together.  I took a lot of time thinking about the bathtub for two very good reasons. First, I have never installed a bathtub before, and second, this is the only bathtub in the house so until the new tub was installed and working Ross and I were not able to bathe.  Luckily we were able to get the old tub out and the new tub in within a day-whew!  We spent the next week taking baths as we worked on installing the tile surround.  I went to bed at around 2 o'clock in the morning several nights in a row due to hurriedly working on this.  I needed to get it done in time for my mother, my Aunt DeAnna, and my cousin Deb's visit.  They were to arrive on a Monday.  When I got home from work the Friday before there was no tile on the backer board.  When I went to bed on Sunday evening the tile was up and grouted and the shower doors were in place.  What is even more impressive is that Ross and I also picked up our new bees, went to church, and had our pastor over for dinner this same weekend!  I was exhausted.

Speaking of bees, we finally have more babies flying around the property.  If you didn't already know, we lost our last hive to repeated bear attacks late last fall. Ross and I decided to add a second hive this year (and will be adding an electric fence to keep the new hives safe). We ended up getting the bees right before my family visited and needed to check the hives while they were here to see how the bees were doing.  My cousin Deb, who was not keen on the idea of a swarm of bees flying around her, suited up and came out to help me.  She was a trooper.  The girls are doing great.  Enjoy the video I took today of one of the hive entrances (listen closely for Ross talking to the chickens in the background-my life is hilarious).

Hopkins Inn and Vineyard

We had a great time with my family.  I took a couple of days vacation so that I had more time with them.  We shopped, we ate, we drank, and most importantly we had fun.  This was my aunt and cousin's first time here.  It is always a treat to show someone the sights for the first time.  After dinner the first night I opened a port wine from 1983.  It was a lot smoother than I had expected.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  There is no better compliment to good wine than good company! Ross and Deb also made baklava (pronounce it however you may-inside joke) that went back home for Deb's family Easter dinner.  I heard that it made it back intact, no small feat given how much my aunt and mother liked the dessert.

After my family departed Ross and I took a break from the bathroom and decided to turn our attention elsewhere.  We spent the past week working in the gardens.  Ross started tilling his raised beds in the vegetable garden.  He had a little help as you can see. He has planted carrots, and peas, and ... (my mind is drawing a blank as I am loosing my steam, but rest assured that there was more).  I planted some annuals in my garden pots.  We also purchased three new fruit trees for the orchard-a Saturn peach, a Macoun apple, and our first plum.  Our asparagus is also starting to show.  We had a great weekend for getting our hands dirty.

As I stated earlier, we have been very busy, and busy we shall remain as we still have to finish the bathroom, still have to install the electric fence, still have to...the list is endless.

A Sad Rainy Day.

Today we lost our Curley. It was sudden and unexpected. After running our errands this afternoon we came back home, and her little body was just laying there in the garage. The remaining three were staying there until we had the coop fortified with an electric fence (because of the bear attack this past November). She was a wonderful Golden Comet chicken. We called her Curley because she had one beautiful feather in her tail feathers that curled. She was full of personality and charm. We will miss her. We buried her next to her fallen sisters with spring flowers and a little of her favorite bird seed. We will miss you sweetie.

Papa's Gonna Get You!

Here is a short video of our new chicks.  The reddish tint is caused by the heat lamp we use to keep the chicks warm.

Spring Has Sprung

March is almost over and Spring is starting to poke up all around us.  All of our bulbs were showing their heads. All those except the ones still stuck under mounds of snow. Friday, after I got home from work, I went around and cut back all the old, dead foliage from last year.  So many plants are starting to awaken; it makes me so happy to see them stirring.  I trimmed back the holly bush in the front (it amazes me how much growth it gets each year).  After a quick bite to eat Ross and I headed out back to move the snow bank that was still covering our bulb garden we affectionately refer to as the Spring Garden.  The last thing either of us has wanted to do was shovel more snow, but it was either that or no flowers.  Now all our bulbs have a chance to show their stuff. On a side note, I planted two peonies last year and have been hoping all winter that they would survive.  Both are showing signs of new growth-yeaaahhh!

On Saturday, our church hosted a pork roast fund raising dinner which was open to the community.  Ross and I have recently started attending this church so this was our first dinner.  We had a lot of fun.  It was a nice chance to get to know the various members of the church.  Ross was placed on the serving line.  As I was sitting down to eat I kept watching him.  He had the biggest smile on his face.  I love to see him happy.  He made two homemade pies for the event.  They never made it out of the kitchen as they were eaten by the church members.  I told Ross later that he was just going to have to make double in the future!

Rhodie

If you haven't read Ross' previous blog we now have six new baby chicks.  I told Ross that this time we were not going to name them. Within four days I had already broken my rule, but in my defense I couldn't help myself.  Ross picked up three Golden Comets and three Rhode Island Reds.  One of the Reds had a bit of poo stuck to her little, downy feathers. It was really stuck.  I felt so bad for the poor chick which endeared her to me.  I named her Rhodie (from Rhode Island Red).

We were speaking after church with a woman who also has chickens.  She said we should remove the poo because if left it could cause a blockage leaving the chick unable to relieve herself, and the chick could die.  So after we got home I went straight after the chick and pulled off the poo.  I tried to be as gentle as I could but the poor thing lost some feathers in the process.  Her little chirps just broke my heart.  She so has me wrapped around her little wing feathers!

We took Max on a walk along our road today.  I took some pictures and put them on the slideshow to the right.  I love our road; the open woods and the forgotten stone walls lend such charm to it.  It was also such a beautiful and sunny day but still was a bit brisk for my taste.  I am hoping for a warmer April, but then again aren't we all!

The Stork!

Yes it is Spring time once again. We were dusted with a little bit of snow, but luckily the sunshine melted it away. Yeah sunshine! For those of you who don't know, unfortunately last year we lost three of our beloved Golden Comets. They were very near and dear to our hearts. It was tragic when they became dinner to bear, fox, and bird of prey. Thank goodness we have been making modifications to help ward off future attacks. We are soon going to put up an electric fence around the bee hives, orchard, and chicken run & coop. Tractor Supply has been one of our destinations for supplies along with Home Depot.

On to the blessed event! The stork dropped by today with six beautiful, baby chicks. They are light as a feather, and bring joy to the eyes and soul. Three are Rhode Island Reds, and the other three are Golden Comets. The pullets are a welcome addition to the family. Max (the Corgi pup) thinks they are funny little puffs. Cloe & Bootsy, the cats, just looked at them and then went on about their business. I like to think that Daisy is looking down from above giving us her blessing.

Evening is approaching, and time to get the homemade enchiladas in the oven.

Good Night all!

When It Rains It Pours

We got a lot of rain yesterday.  It fell throughout the night.  Coupled with the large amount of snow on the ground Ross and I knew we were in for some flooding.

I checked the basement before we started to settle in for the evening. The sump pump pit was filled to the top.  At that point it was raining buckets so it was just  a matter of time before the water overtook the floor.  We started a secondary pump which we had in the sump pit to help combat the threat.  By the time we went to bed, the water was already rising.  Ross was a bit upset. I told him there was nothing more we could do but ride it out.

I woke early and went to check the basement.  The water was ankle deep at this point. The furnace had kicked on and was blowing moist air throughout the house which was fogging the windows from the inside.  The water was just at the base of the furnace at this point but was over the motor of the water heater.  I shut both the furnace and the hot water heater off.  Ross got to spend most of the day without any heat.  A tech came out later in the day and cleared us operating the furnace.  We still do not have hot water as he said that we should wait till the water was completely gone and the motor had time to dry out before we turned it on.  That means we could be without hot water all week.  Ross is boiling water on the stove right now so that we can get baths.  He called himself my pioneer husband.

Besides the tech, Ross also had the local, volunteer firemen come over and pump most of the water out of the basement.  It was very nice of them to do that (I am secretly fretting that a bill will soon follow).  At most it looks like we had six+ inches of water. The guys mentioned to Ross that at their next stop the people had four feet of water; that's the shallow end of a swimming pool!  It's a nice reminder that even our most troubling times could be worse.

Symplocarpus foetidus

Don't be alarmed by the title.  I didn't just run my fingers across the keyboard to see what silly thing I could create.  The title is the Latin name for the plant commonly referred to as Skunk Cabbage.  It is common in wetlands and is one of the first plants to show itself in the Spring.  So why is all this so worthy of a blog entry?  Because Ross and I went on a walk to the stream that feeds the small wetland portion of our property and found the Skunk Cabbage rearing its stinky, little head!  (Look closely for the purplish pointy thing sticking out of the stream.)

This is one of those moments that we look forward to each year.  It's a reminder of the wonderful things to come such as watching the white landscape melt away to green, to hearing the sound of the peeper frogs bellowing from the fire pond down the street, to the moment when we can open the windows and let the fresh air fill the house, and to the moment when we can shed all the extra clothes and feel the heat of the sun on our skin.  Who would've thought that something called Skunk Cabbage could create such joy!

Our stream under snow

On another Spring note,  Ross and I got our first packets of garden seeds in the mail.  We ordered them from the John Scheepers' catalog.  We got the catalog earlier this year, and I am throwing this out there because the company is local (less than a 5 minute drive from our house).  We placed the order on Thursday and got the seeds today.  I joked with Ross that they should have saved the postage and just dropped them off on their way home from work.  We are looking forward to digging in the gardens.  This will be Ross' first year of having a vine garden dedicated to melons and squashes.  Of course this opens room in his vegetable garden so he is starting to plan where everything will go.  Here is a link to John Scheepers' website: http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/index.html.  You can request a catalog there if you so desire our order directly on the web.  And on another side note, Google Maps has recently updated its pictures.  If you know our address, you can Google Map search it (you have to go two houses to the left of the pointer marker) and see the outline of the fence for Ross' vegetable garden in the back.  I am amazed at the detail.  Thank the Lord we didn't have our laundry hanging out to dry!

Unintended Barchelor!

For the last couple of days I have been an unintended bachelor.  Ross went to Ohio for his Grandmother's funeral; I was not able to attend.  This has left me home alone and acting as a single parent to our puppy, kitties, and little cluckers. 

Ross and I have a running joke that when he is tired of cooking then it's my night to cook.  This means we eat out!  With Ross gone I have been eating out more than I care too so I decided to make my own breakfast.  It's said that a picture says a thousand words.  I'm not quite sure what all thousand of those would be when looking at the picture above, but many of them would be about my cooking prowess and the lack thereof.  (That is not a haze in the picture but smoke; I filled the whole house with it!).  Overall it wasn't a bad breakfast, but I did slightly burn the sausage, the egg, and the English muffin.  I guess I would have burned the yogurt too if it were possible.  Ross returns today just in time to save me from burning down the house.  Can I get a hallelujah?

The Legacy of Food.

My Sito (Lebanese for grandmother) passed away in her sleep last night. She left behind a legacy of cooking great meals.  She showed all of us her love by spending an abundant amount of her time in the kitchen.  She would make wonderful meals that sometimes would take days on end to create.  She would fret over you once you walked in her door and ask "are you hungry" and "can I get you something?" We never left her home hungry.  As a small child and throughout my childhood I would often watch her in the kitchen and ask her what she was doing.  She would often explain to me what she was doing, and would let me watch her cook up a storm.  While the guys would watch football on the television I was in the kitchen with her.  She taught me how to make many Lebanese dishes, and other dishes too.  I am glad I can recreate the wonderful smells of my childhood.  Thank you Sito.  Rest in peace.