Christmas Weekend Delights

Well, what can I say.... it started snowing around 1pm on Friday and never stopped until late, late last night. We got more than two feet of snow in one wallop!! We plowed and shoveled on Saturday morning and then again this morning (Monday). Ouch, my aching muscles!!! There was no warming up and getting the snow shovelling muscles into shape with a couple of little storms this year. We stayed in all weekend (except a dump run on Saturday) and got lots accomplished. The dogs all got a Christmas bath and grooming, all the wood floors got washed and shined (thanks honey), and cookies were baked.
Now I just have to shop for food, finish wrapping a few things, and start packing for our vacation in Maine. Can't wait to spend some family time relaxing. Of course there will undoubtedly be a few projects to do, too (you know us)!!
Since we are without computer technology in Maine... this might be my last post before the holidays. I'm sure I'll have lots to post when we get back.
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year to all....

Let it Snow....

Today we woke up to our first plow-able, shovel-able snowfall. We only got a couple of inches, but it soon turned to freezing rain and coated everything with a sheet of ice. Many of the schools around here are still cancelled from the ice storm that we had last Friday and this just makes things more difficult for the electrical crews to work to restore power ( some people are still without). We're expecting 6-10 inches again on Friday and more on Sunday. That will make cleaning up the branches in our yard more difficult this weekend. Guess winter is finally here!!

FA LA LA

After we got back from Raymond, we put a meal in the crock pot and set out to find all of our Christmas decorations. Luckily we had remembered that we had taken some home to Berlin for fear that they would get ruined in the storage trailer for a year.
We found everything that we needed which were here and there in boxes and set out to figure out where to put the tree. With a place in mind, we unpacked all the decorations and got to decorating. Of course Kyra thought it would be much more fun to play frisbee!!
It was very cold overnight and we woke to a frozen lake. We finished up our decorations and cleaned up and left to do some errands.
We went to the carpet store and ordered a new carpet for the family room (Thanks Pop Pop) and then to Bob's Furniture Store to get some new furniture. We ordered a new dark brown leather couch and two chairs. They will all be delivered on Christmas Eve and we can't wait to see how it will all come together. Merry Christmas to US!!! We were going to donate the old stuff to the Salvation Army, but Vic was able to find a family that could use it and, in the spirit of the holidays, we are happy about that.

VISIT TO RAYMOND

Last Saturday we took a drive to Raymond to walk our woodlot with a couple of guys from the logging company who are going to be cutting our land. The scenery was spectacular with the sun glistening off the ice on the trees as we drove up Valley Road. After we took our walk we decided to drive up to Gore Road to see our old house. It still looks about the same, but there is a bay window in what used to be the garage. They must have turned that into some kind of room. The shed and the barn are still the same. As we drove up the road on the left, the Plummer's house is gone and there is a little blue/gray ranch in it's place. There is also a new road right after that house which is a new development. I think that the Plummers must have sold a bunch of their land.
After that we drove down 85 to the corner of 302. There was a sign on that old, red building (which has housed many businesses... a couple of restaurants and a book store) that said "Wine Tasting Today". Of course we had to go in... and it is now a lovely deli and gift shop.
When Lee was done "tasting" his fill, we drove down 302 thru Windham. There have been many changes there, too. They have a Lowe's, Home Depot and a few more strip mall stores.
Anyway, it was fun to take a trip down memory lane.... enjoy the pics.

Rememberances of '98

We had quite the ice storm last night and this morning. Parts of MA were hit badly and others were unaffected. Seemed to be north and west of 495. We lost our power, had to start our generator and had lots of branches fall (firewood for next winter). We were without power for most of the night and all morning into the afternoon. I heated up some lunch for myself on the woodstove and it worked quite well. Suddenly the sun peeked out and the power came back on. Luckily we didn't lose power for days like we did in Maine in '98. I think that we would have had to wear a hard hat if we had ventured out then because the ice was crashing down from the trees as it melted. Looked like a war zone. Some of our bushes in the front yard didn't fare so well and I hope that we can prop them up and save them. We're heading to Maine tonight and hopefully won't find too much damage up there. Keep your fingers crossed...
Here are some pictures that I took this morning....

Our Thanksgiving

The Best:
Spending another Thanksgiving with Pop Pop
Having Joann bring over a tray of food
Not over-eating
Helping Pop Pop with lots of chores... wood, leaves, dog grooming etc.
Getting more sleep than usual
Gas in NJ at $1.68
Not too much traffic on Sunday driving home

The Worst:
Finding out I have Mono
Lee being sick and sleeping on the drive down to PA
Having to drive most of the way myself
Lee eating a banana and ginger ale for Thanksgiving
Heating leftovers for Pop Pop and myself for dinner
Rain the entire way home on Sunday... How do you spell W-E-T D-O-G-S

This will certainly be a Thanksgiving to remember :)

Happy Thanksgiving

We are greatful this Thanksgiving Day to have our loving family, our health, a place to live, food on our table, plenty of wood to keep us cozy and warm, our dogs and our friends.
We wish you all safe passage wherever you are going this day and a wonderful sense of community and friendship.

I love this (please pause the music ) http://www.corporatecomm.com/holidaymessage/

Sam, Veronica, and their Dogs

Kevin brought the kids to the lake on Saturday while Amy was working. It was a rainy day, so we had to do inside activities. We did a lot of coloring and playing with toys, but then the kids thought the dogs needed to be walked. They got out all the leashes and trucked them around the house and tied them to doors while they went to get other toys. The dogs were great with their activies, but I got the evil eye from them every time they walked past me. They were sure tired after all their "kid" activities. Thanks Veronica and Sam! They have surely come a long way from a year ago when they would stand on the couch and scream when any dog got near them.

NOVEMBER

These pictures depict a typical rainy November day in New England. It's such a cloudy, dark month and I can't wait 'til we can have blue skies again.... even if it's cold and snowy. Bring on December.... :)

Kyra's New Present

Here's Kyra's new dish holder that Pop Pop made for her. We only had three of them at camp, so she had to have her dish on the floor for a while (she didn't really seem to mind as long as it had food in it). This one puts our others to shame, so I think that Pop Pop will need to make three more so the others won't feel left out :)

Puppy Pics

Here are a few cute pictures of Nancy's new puppy "Spirit". He won Best of Breed Puppy at the show on Sunday and thought that he needed his own chair to watch the rest of the action. Lee would have easily taken him home were he available :) (JK)

Thanksgiving Dinner Anyone???

Look who dropped in on us as we collected all the leaves at Mom's house. They didn't seem to be phased in the least with the leaf blower, rakes or people. I can see them on someone's Thanksgiving dinner table now.... YUM!!

AUTUMN LEAVES

Well, we thought we cleaned up the lawn and it looked magnificent. Then all the oak trees decided it was time to dump all their leaves. Oh well... get out the leaf vacuum again. With the rest of our weekend spoken for until December, we hope that we can collect these before the snow falls.

FALL CHORES

This weekend we stayed home in MA to get some fall chores done... no gigs and no dog shows. We started out the weekend practicing some agility and then I cleaned and packed up everything in the camper and Lee washed all the mold off of our house siding. Sunday we took out the air conditioner, brought in wood, cleaned windows and screens, painted a door, washed the camper and the dogs. We even threw the frisbee and ball for the dogs the entire weekend. Boy, was everybody tired on Sunday night after being in the fresh air and getting exercise all weekend. Next weekend is lawn fertilizer, lime and picking up leaves.

Camp Update

Here are some of the pictures of our new lawn at the lake that we took last weekend. It's coming in great and we even were able to mow for the first time. That may be it for the season unless we have unusually warm weather for the next few weeks. Can't wait 'til we can run and play on our new grass next summer. Enjoy the foliage pictures. The colors were gorgeous!! The weather was even cool enough to have a cozy fire in the woodstove :)

It's hard to believe it's been 35 years since we said "I do". We've been together every step of the way. Happy Anniversary,honey... I love you.

AUTUMN IN NEW ENGLAND

I love the sound of my feet swishing through the leaves while walking down the trails with the dogs on a cool, crisp autumn day. The sky is clear blue, the sun is bright and there is no humidity and no bugs. Doesn't get any better than this.... :)

HARVEST MOON MANIA

We had a glorious fall weekend dog show and agility trial in Westfield, MA. The weather couldn't have been better. We had cool mornings in sweatshirts, pants and jackets and warm afternoons in shorts and T-shirts. The events began on Friday morning with stock dog trials, obedience trials and a conformation dog show in the afternoon. I was able to watch some dogs at the cattle herding venue on Friday morning before my show and that was very interesting. Some of the stock dogs were amazing working around those big cows. Saturday and Sunday we ran Kyra, Denver and Tucker in a total of 9 runs each of agility and also showed Den and Tuck in the show ring. It is a little crazy doing two events, but there were only a couple of conflicts and Lee took over to run Kyra in one run on Saturday and Denver in another on Sunday. Bailey was just happy to go along and hang out at the camper or in the truck. It was the last big outdoor multi-event show of the season. We have one more show indoors in November. Then it's off for the holidays.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

We wish you the best of everything on your "special" days. Have fun.....
Love from Mom and Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BREANNA

You've overcome momumental hurdles and accomplished much of what we all dreamed for you in these few short years. Have a wonderful 4th birthday!! We love you.... Gammy and Gampa

WORTH THE WAIT

It's been a little over a year since we started this project, but we can't wait to be able to have the entire family visit next summer. It's hard to remember the "old" house, but it's hard not to have a smile on your face when you walk into this house on a Friday night. The garage is done (except for the lights) and the grass is peaking through. We have a bit more landscaping to do, but that will wait for spring. Right now we are looking forward cuddling up to fires in the woodstove on those blustery winter nights.

Sore backs, tired muscles, not as much stamina as we once had but....
A full woodshed in early October..... PRICELESS

MISS YA

We'll miss your silliness, your sarcasm, and your happy, fun-loving attitude. Thank you for your sacrifice to keep us all safe. We'll look forward to seeing you often on the web cam. Stay safe.... we love you.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Quote of the Weekend:

Lily: Grampie, what happened to your hair?

Grampie: Oh.... it just burned off :)

VIRGINIA VISIT

We packed a lot of activities into three days of our visit to Jeff and Irene's. It was great to see everyone and the girls are growing like weeds. Friday Irene and I took a two mile walk with the girls and Kastor. The girls napped in the afternoon and we stayed home while Jeff and Irene went to buy some organizers for Irene's scrapbooking supplies. We all helped in the construction and then Irene disappeared into the closet to get things organized. AHHH!! We got a babysitter in the evening and had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (yummy). Saturday we took the gang to the Virginia Aquarium and had a wonderful afternoon looking at the fish and seeing how they are all fed. Sunday morning we took off for the beach to the Neptune Festival and saw some amazing sand sculptures and then tried one of our own. After lunch we went to the park to let the kids blow off more steam... then it was packing and getting to the airport. All of our flights were on time (amazing!!) except for the last one home to Manchester. We were late and consequently didn't get to bed before 1:30AM. We've been trying to recover some sleep over the last few days. Enjoy the slideshow.....

THE FOURTH

I'm the fourth person in the family in the last week to get on the antibiotic train. I join Breanna, Lucas and Kevin in the war against this nasty bug. I can't wait to see what winter will bring :(

CAMP UPDATE

Here are the "latest and greatest" photos from camp last weekend. Garage is almost done, except for the big doors, eight new trees are in, gravel fill and loam spread and grass planted. Just finished paying all the bills today. Whew...!! We will have bushes to plant and a final walkway to construct, but that will wait 'til spring. Until then, we are waiting for grass to sprout and we will hunker down and tinker with indoor projects this winter. And... there are many of those.

IN SYMPATHY

Yesterday, September 17th, Nancy lost the "foundation" of her line "Chelsea" at age 15. She was Tucker's grandmother and Denver's great-grandmother. She was a wonderful show dog and won lots of awards. She was still "pack leader" last time I saw her and was "running the show". Thanks to Chelsea, we have made many friends. I'm sure she'll be greatly missed.

SEPTEMBER 11TH

I hope that we never forget!!

TO GRANDMA'S HOUSE

A typical day at Mom's...
A little shopping, lunch and some yard work. I came home with some lovely hydreangas, an antique bushel basket, some old wooden shingles to use for kindling and her broken lawn mower. I hope the diagnosis can be made before she is wading through waste high grass to go out and get the mail :)

Sorry...

Boy, it's been way too long since I've been on this blog. We've been so busy with taking care of lots of loose ends with the ending of our building project in Maine. I promise in the next few days that there will be something new to look at. I have lots of pictures on my camera to weed through. Until then.....

VACATION???

Well, the weather was less than perfect, in fact we had quite a stretch of rain on our vacation. This made getting around the house difficult because of all the mud. The banking to the house was a little difficult for Pop Pop to manage, but, with a little practice, he did make it out of the house most every day. We got a lot of little projects started and some were finished. We finished the shelving on my pantry in the kitchen. Started cleaning up the shop in the basement. Finished installation of the security system, much to the chagrin of the guy who got his van stuck in the mud. We met with lots of contractors who will be working on our garage and some about landscaping. Seems like there is still a lot to do even though the house construction is done. They are also doing final grading for our road which will be paved in the next couple of weeks. Lots of goings on and lots of equipment.
The end of the week cleared up and dried up just in time for all the kids to come and have a fun day at the lake. We weren't going to put the docks in this year, but somehow they managed to become a project of the day. We had a nice BBQ dinner and a birthday celebration for Josh.
We're leaving for another week and hope to have lots more progress to report when we get back. Enjoy the pictures!!

VACATION

We're off today for a week in Maine. Hope to have lots of pictures and lots of updates when we return....

Tri Fecta

We had a nice visit with Cindy and Josh and the kids this weekend. The National Downs Syndrome Congress National Conference was in Boston this year and Cindy and Josh took advantage of our close proximity to attend workshops on Saturday and Sunday.
The kids all stayed here for the weekend. On Saturday we discovered that the trim around our French Door leading out to the deck was rotten. Lee and Trevor spent most of the day taking off trim, reflashing the door and replacing the trim. Grandma and Grandpa came for lunch and it was nice to have another pair of hands and eyes to keep track of the toddlers. Boy.. they are speedy. Breanna spent part of the afternoon constructing a structure of sticks, leaves and flower blossoms in the driveway. She may be a budding architect!! Lucas took a marathon nap for the afternoon from 12:30 'til 4.
On Sunday Lee had to go to Maine for one of his few gigs this summer. He was also going to stop at the lake to do a few chores and check on some work that had been done during the week. I was by myself with the kids. Here's how our day went: Breanna and Lucas threw their breakfast plates on the floor for the dogs, we played blocks and cars, went upstairs to get dressed and brush teeth (that took about an hour before everyone was ready to go outside), went outside to play with the dogs and run around, chased Bre and Lucas all over the yard and down the driveway, had lunch, did a craft project.

Quote of the weekend: (As we brought Bre and Lucas back from running down the driveway)
Gammie: What ever happened to playpens?
Trevor: What's a playpen....?

The kids all fell asleep in the car on the trip back to Maine and Gammie wasn't far behind :)

NEW PICTURES OF THE LAKE

These are some pictures of the house that we took when we went for a ride with Vic and Carol in their new pontoon boat ($$$$). Wish we could be there today to cool off, but then again, we'd probably just be working on some project. Maybe next summer.....

FAMILY BBQ

Since it's WAY too HOT to do anything outside today, I can work on my pictures from the weekend. We had a great time at Cindy and Josh's house on Saturday just hangin' out and playing with the kids, eating great food and picking blueberries. Oh yeah... of course we enjoyed our time around the campfire in Josh's new fire pit until the bugs came out. Boy... it can hold some pretty big logs.
Enjoy the pics....

WHAT'S NEW THIS WEEK

Went to the gym three days
Took the dogs back to agility classes
Garage foundation got poured
Had fight with painter about finishing our job.
Needed to go to Target, grocery store, Sears and buy dog food ($$$$$)
The two of us packed a lot of furniture in the trailer to go to Maine (thanks moving straps)
Bought a Bob O Pedic
Drove to Maine on Friday and unpacked a lot of furniture (Thanks Vic and Carol)
Had a great BBQ with Cindy, Josh and the kids (great fire pit)
Went to Home Depot and spent more $$ on towel bars, rings, hooks, TP holders, door mats and cleaning supplies. Boy do things add up!!!!
Installed towel bars etc. in two bathrooms and put in air conditioning outside unit.
Got up at 5 and drove home to MA.
Found out that Kevin got $$ for grad school
Read Kev and Amy's new blog!! Way to go!!

IDIOTS

Boy, are we tired of dealing with contractors, internet sites, and companies that just think that you were born yesterday. It's been a real struggle all winter to get people to do what they say they are going to do. I just don't know what has happened to the work ethic. I think that people just want to get a job done and then collect their money for doing it (or not doing it as the case may be).
Our electrician installed a light over our pedistal sink last week. When we got there on Saturday we had to clean up all the sheetrock dust and dirt out of the sink before we could use it. I would never go into somebody's house and leave that kind of a mess on a job. I also noticed that there were dirty hand prints in the upstairs bedroom around all the outlets that went in. Now we have to clean walls. I thought we had a "new" house??? IDIOTS
Our painter got sick a few weeks ago and now, even though he is better, he is not coming back to finish our job. We have left numerous messages for him and he has refused to call us back even though we have paid him for the completed job. He was always prompt in calling us to tell us that he needed another check. We may end up having to "eat" some money and just hire someone else to finish. Our carpenter (who recommended this painter) is going to try to help us get him back to finish. IDIOTS
We ordered a ceiling fan for our sunroom on the internet in the middle of May. It was supposed to be shipped the first week of June. I finally had to call last week to see what the deal was, plus they had already charged my credit card (company policy). I was told the fan was delayed and would ship last Friday. I called again today and was told the fan is on back order 'til July 15th. I cancelled the order and asked that my credit card get reimbursed today, but of course it takes 7-10 days. Why is it so easy for them to charge my card the minute that I push the "send order" button, but it takes that long to get the credit? IDIOTS.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this house. I'm just tired to dealing with IDIOTS.

PROGRESS

We got a lot done at the camp this weekend along with attending the wedding of Dick and Susan Poland's daughter Nicole. We unpacked most of the boxes and put away everything that we could and then proceeded to setting up beds. The beds in one room upstairs are all set and we need another bed (which we're bringing from here) to complete the second room. We recycled a shelving unit from the old house that fit perfectly in our loft space upstains (thanks Josh for that suggestion). It will be a great space to kick back and relax. Now if we can just get the painter to finish.... and our garage foundation be poured....
We'll be up over the holiday to get more things organized. I have to find and buy some more bedding and linens for sure. We'll be taking a little relaxing time to BBQ with Cindy, Josh and the kids on the 5th. Can't wait to see the new fire pit.

AFTER THE STORM

We've had thunderstorms rolling in and out for the last two days. Yesterday we got 2.6 inches of rain in storm after storm. But.... today we had the "big one". Luckily I don't think there was any damage, especially to our camper.

GREAT WEEKEND

Kyra, Denver and I had a great weekend at the agility trial and conformation show in Cumberland, ME this weekend. I entered both shows and did a lot of running back and forth, but it was all worth it. Denver and I took our first ever "Best of Breed" ribbon on Saturday and then went on to show in the Herding Group where we took fourth place. I'll post his professional pictures when I get them. Denver also had a qualifying run in Novice Standard Agility that same day to finish his AKC Novice Standard agility title. Sunday, we didn't win in the breed ring, but Denver finished his Novice Jumpers title and Kyra finished her Open Jumpers title.
Tucker got to go to Kokajo with Lee on his fishing trip because he had already finished his AKC championship. He missed some good agility courses, though.

MESSY

Things usually get worse before they get better. We're looking forward to having this huge pile of dirt next to our front door GONE, and a new foundation for our garage going in. I don't know how realistic it will be for us to think that we will "vacation" here this summer. Still lots and lots of work to be done, but it should be beautiful when it's finally finished. We'll keep everyone updated as work gets completed :)