A Welcome 2011

Cluck, cluck (chicken for Happy New Year)

It's been a while since we last posted so let us wish you a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  It is a welcome 2011 given all our loss in 2010.  I should mention that we officially lost our colony of bees.  The repeated bear attacks left the colony small in number.  They froze during the last cold snap of 2010.  An unfortunate ending to a year filled with unfortunate endings.

We travelled home to our families for Christmas.  It was a whirlwind trip moving from one family home to another.  I wish we could have spent more time with each.  It is such a joy to see everyone.  On the day after Christmas Ross' mother got married.  It was a nice ceremony.  Ross' dad also let us know that he would be proposing to his girlfriend on New Year's Eve.  We wish both much happiness.

We ended up visiting an emergency vet with Cloe while visiting my mother's.  She had an impacted anal gland that caused what looked like a boil on her poor, little butt.  They sent us home with some antibiotics. Her spot has been healing well.

On the day after Christmas the East Coast got a whopper of a storm.  Due to the blizzard winds I can't say exactly how much snow fell.  There was practically no snow on the roof, but the drift in front of the garage door was at least a third its height.  I was dreading getting home knowing that the first thing I was to do was shovel a path to the house.  Our neighbor Mike gave us the wonderful Christmas present of clearing our driveway and a path to the door.  All that and he watched the chickens for us too!

We had our family Christmas the morning after we got back and then spent the rest of the week doing something we rarely do; we vegged on the couch.  It was nice to relax.  We also talked about our plans for the new year.  Given that we already had to buy another package of bees we decided to add a second hive to our menagerie.  We added the bird baths Ross' mom gave us to our flower gardens (I had to dig holes in the snow for them).  I also used my Christmas money to purchase an electric control panel for our electric fence (Thanks Rick and Sito).  Speaking of Christmas gifts, Ross's (and my) sister-in-law Teri had me for the family gift exchange.  She remembered the story about me running outside in the morning to put the beehive back together after the second bear attack.  It was mentioned that I was in my nightshirt and boots and all I was missing was a stocking cap.  Well thanks to Teri I now have the stocking cap.  I really do enjoy it.

2010 was a hard year for us, but we still do realize how blessed we are.  Blessed to have each other, our critters both here and gone, and our families and friends.  We are looking forward to a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year, and we wish the same to all of you.