Lots Going On!!!!

For some reason,I can't post any photos today. Either Blogger or my computer is being ornery.

Let's see...I guess the first thing is that I have been laid low lately. I tripped going up our bedroom stairs and fell on the edge of the top step,landing just below my left wrist. It hurt so much that I was sick to my stomach,and couldn't talk when Rick came running to me because he heard me cry out. I sat there for a few minutes until the nausea wore off. My wrist stung,and I thought I had scraped it,but no. The next morning,it was a whole assortment of colors,and terribly swollen. I put an ice pack on it,but that didn't help,and I had pain going up my arm. Rick insisted on taking me to the ER for some xrays,because he thought I had fractured it. The Dr in the ER took a look,and his first assessment was that I had indeed broken it,but the xrays determined that I didn't,I just have a big old nasty hematoma. I have a bandage wrap for my lower arm,been alternating ice and heat on it,and been taking 800 mg of ibuprofen every six hours. This was last Saturday. The bruise is now a yellowish purple color,but it still hurts. It doesn't help that I also have tendinitis in my left elbow,and actually had to go to the Drs for that few weeks ago. Sigh. Needless to say,my activities have been somewhat curtailed.

The weather here in NH has finally started to feel like Spring. The leaves are coming out on the trees,and the weather has been nice. This week the temps are suppose to be in the 60's to the low 70's. Yesterday I sat out on the deck after I took the hay off our garlic and strawberry plants. They are coming up nicely.

The Girls enjoyed the afternoon free ranging around the backyard and ate lots of bugs. They also dug up some of the weeds in my garden boxes.This week I must weed the boxes and get fresh compost in them. I have some Rutgers tomato seedlings that I have started. I am not starting my cukes and pumpkins yet,they sprout so quickly that I don't see the necessity.

One thing awesome thing we did last week during Zach's Spring vacation was visit Tiny Hill Farm in Milton Mills,which is just a couple of towns over from us. Rick got their business card from our local feed store,Longmeadow. We are looking to get Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats,and Tiny Hill sells them. I got in contact with one of the owners,Larissa,and we went for a visit.One of the things that she said that impressed me was that she was willing to work with new goat owners,and that she didn't care if we called at 2:00 AM with a question. She also said they bred their goats for milk quality,and that they are all registered and vaccinated. Also,the fact that the farm is local was an added bonus for us. She was so kind and wonderful,and was quite pleased that we had actually done some research on the goats,so we understood most of what she was talking about! We chatted for an hour. We saw the adult goats,and the babies. We have three does ordered for next Spring.

Rick and I have been working on a plan to move our little farm forward,in stages. More about that later :) My arm hurts,so I am going to end this now.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!

Damn That Groundhog!!!

Here we are,in the midst of yet another snowstorm! The snow had started to melt,and the paths made from the snow blower were getting wider and wider,showing grass...dead grass,but still grass. Now we are expected to get 8"-14" of the white stuff.

Damn that groundhog!!!


Some of you may be scratching your heads wondering what in the wide-wide- world of sports I'm talking about. What does a ground hog have to do with a snow storm?

Let me introduce you to Punxsutawney Phil. 

February 2,here in the States ( and Canada!),is known as Groundhog Day. In Punxsutawney PA,there is a big celebration before the dawn hours on this day,with music and food. At sunrise,Phil emerges from his home,which is actually located in Gobblers Knob ( I kid you not) which is just outside of Punxsutawney. If Phil sees his shadow,he goes back into his home,which means another 6 weeks of Winter - like weather . If he doesn't see his shadow,he stays out and it means Spring weather will come early.  If he stays out,they hold him aloft,for all to see,and apparently put a jaunty top hat on his head.

While Phil tends to be pretty much on the ball,the last two years he has slipped. Last year,he saw his shadow,which meant no early Spring. At this time last year,we had almost a whole a week of temps in the 80's. People went to the beach. In March in NH. Again,I kid you not. This year,we are suppose to have an early Spring,yet we have had more snow in the last month and half than we did all winter last year. So much for that.

 Phil has an easy life, however,and lives in the library during the rest of the year. He even has a wife! He also has his own handlers,a couple of gentlemen who plan this event every year.

This has been a tradition for over a 100 years. It originated from Celtic belief that if a hibernating animal comes out and sees it's shadow on Feb 2 (which was a Pagan holiday),it meant six more weeks of Winter;if they didn't see it,it meant an early Spring. German folks who immigrated to PA had their own beliefs.Clear skies on Feb 2 meant cold weather. Eventually this all morphed together,and now we have the present holiday.

Some of you may have seen the movie,"Groundhog Day," with Bill Murray which used Phil as part of it's story line.

Damn that groundhog!

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!

Happy St.Patrick's Day...and Happy Birthday,Sasha!

Today is St.Patrick's Day. Everyone,even if they have no Irish ancestry,is Irish today. I think it might have something to do with history of drinking on St.Patrick's Day to celebrate :)

Both Rick and I have Irish cred. Rick's fourth great grandfather,William McQuilkin, his wife,Annie Watson,and their son,Rick's third great grandfather,Henry McQuilkin and his wife,Betsey Kennedy,give him his Irish roots. My third great grandfather,George McDale,a his wife,Mary Maguire,and their daughter,my second great grandmother,Mary McDale,give me mine. Rick's third great grandfather Henry went to Maine from Ireland. I have yet to discover if  Betsey was born in Ireland or if her parents were immigrants. On my side,I have read that George Mc Dale and Mary Maguire immigrated from Ireland or  that they were born in Canada. I'm still looking to find out what exactly is true. At any rate, they were all either first generation Irish American or immigrated right from Ireland.

Naturally,we celebrate today with some crockpot corned beef and cabbage. No green beer,though.

Today is also our chocolate lab's 63rd birthday. Sasha,in dog years, is now 9.

Erin Go Bragh!

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!!

Freeing Myself From Paper Clutter!

Thursday was a gorgeous day,sunny,and comfortable. I picked the last of the potatoes and any of the green tomatoes that survived the frost.I would've done it earlier,but this past week has given us rain off and on,so nothing was dry until then. Now the beds are empty and the plants are in the compost pile. It wasn't our best season for gardening. I didn't even can anything because we didn't get enough of anything to can,with perhaps the exception of the green beans,which I froze instead. Rick cleaned out the coop to make the girls a bit more comfy.

Yesterday it rained all day,and this AM it's still foggy and rainy,though the weather is suppose to clear by noontime. Rick,Brother B,and Zach are all going down to Dad Shaw's house to split some wood for him for the winter later on today.The turkey that Brother B got yesterday turned out to be a bit smaller than we had hoped-8 lbs- a bit too small for Thanksgiving,so we are going to eat it tomorrow for Sunday dinner.Even though my Mom is the only extra guest we have for dinner,just that one extra person would not leave enough for a filling meal.( It reminded me of the The Fabulous Beekman Boys episode where they kill a turkey for Thanksgiving and it's waaay too small for the number of people they have invited). We may still have to buy our turkey this year unless Rick can get one with his bow.

Since yesterday was not nice, I decided to attack one of our worst areas of clutter-the front of the file cabinet and the top of the printer. Clutter in a file cabinet,you may ask? Isn't a file cabinet suppose to keep papers in order? Well, yes,in the normal world. Here in my world,I have a tendency to put papers in the front of file cabinet drawer because I am too lazy to just take the extra thirty seconds to put it in the folder it belongs. Sigh.

Many things I just placed there while still in their envelopes,so I had a whole pile of envelopes to get rid of (some which I could save for the wood stove,others I had to throw out). That in it's self freed up some space. Now I everything is filed in their proper folders,and the top of the printer is clear. I also went through the folders to see if there was anything that was no longer needed,so I had a nice pile taken out from that,too. Some weight had been removed,from both the cabinet and from my shoulders! It is so gratifying to see stuff go away.

Our new kitty,who we named Mini Moxie ( or M& M)is doing very well.He slept with us last night, Today I am going to show him the litter box. Hopefully he can climb into it,as he is still quite small.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!

Thanksgiving Dinner,Baby!!!!

Today is the last day of shotgun season for turkey. Rick is in his tree stand with his bow (bow season lasts longer) and Brother B was on the ground. Brother B does not have a bow license,so today was do or die for him to nab a turkey.

It was do for him and die for the turkey.......

Thanksgiving turkey is now checked off the list :)

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!!

Look What We Found......

A couple days ago we were outside with the dogs and Sasha kept whining and trying to look under the flap of the "boat house" (one of those heavy canvas half circular storage thingies that we keep the boat our friend gave us in).She eventually got in there and kept whining. Every time she would go out,it was the same thing,so we knew something was in there. Rick decided to put out the Have a Heart trap yesterday to see what he would catch. We figured it was probably a cat,as we have many cats in our neighborhood. They like our yard because we keep cat food outside for Molly Bruce,our outdoor cat. When Rick went out a few hours later to check on it,this was inside:

A wee little kitten!!! We brought him into the mudroom at first,and placed a towel over the trap. Later we put him in out cat carrier with a towel for some comfort, brought him into the kitchen,and gave him some water. Cow milk is not good for kittens. Early this AM we could hear him crying. I wrapped him in a towel and held him for a while. He was very docile,which was surprising for a stray cat.Chances are pretty good that he is the offspring of a tiger cat and a gray- beige cat that have been hanging around,and that they had their litter in our boathouse. He looks like our cat Moxie that was killed by a car,and he is so darn cute that Rick and I had to keep him. Rick has felt bad about letting Moxie get out,and I think this was his way of making amends. I told him it wasn't his fault that Moxie got out,it was an accident,and it could've happened to any of us,but he still felt bad. He did inform me that "this is the last one." 

While I was on the computer this morning, I had him wrapped up in my bathrobe.

We called the our vets office,and set up an appt to have him checked out,and they were able to take him right away.  Everyone in the office fell in love with him. They estimate him at 7 weeks. He has fleas and round worm,but they gave him some Revolution that will take care of all that. The Revolution was a free sample,and they also gave us free kitten food (wet and dry) and it came in a cute little canvas tote bag. He was also tested for kitty leukemia and feline AIDS.He has neither. He was also given a distemper booster.

I joked with the Dr that we should own stock in their practice,since Sasha,Samson,and Smokey have all been there for appts within the last week!

Today is sunny and nice,so I am going to clean out the old garden and set it to bed for the winter. After that,I am going to cuddle with our new little family member. We have debating on a name for him,but we may just wind up calling him Moxie 2.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!

A Hard Frost

We knew it was coming,and that we were actually overdue.

Our first hard frost of the season happened Friday night. The temperatures went down in the low 20's. Of course, Rick and Zach were camping out all weekend with the Boy Scouts for their annual Fall Camporee,so needless to say it was a wee bit nippy for them,but thankfully they had warm clothes and sleeping bags. It was windy all weekend,which made the temperatures even colder. Sunday morning it was pouring out,so they had closing ceremony at 8:00 AM instead of 9:00 AM. We made sure there was hot coffee and cocoa waiting for them,and we did start the wood stove up so they could have some nice heat to warm their bones after being out in the cold all weekend. It was the first time we started up  the wood stove this season. This week is suppose to be a nice week-only a chance of rain today with temps in the 70's,and the rest of the week is going to be sunny,which is good. Our poor chicken run is still a muddy mess,because the weather has been rainy and chilly all last week. At least now it will dry out and we can get it de-smellified ;)

Once everything is dried out I can put the garden to bed for the winter. 

We brought our cat Smokey to the vets today to be neutered. It was his first trip to the vets and he actually did OK. We brought Samson and Sasha last week for their check ups. Samson is having hip problems so we give  him meds every day to help with the stiffness. We discovered that Sasha has Lyme's Disease, but it doesn't bother her at all. Her joints are fine and she is not suffering from any symptoms,which is good.

Last week when I went for a walk I saw a turkey in someone's yard,and as I walked by I watched her pecking at the ground.We are not raising turkeys anymore,so if we want fresh turkey for Thanksgiving,The Men will have to hunt one. Further down the road on my walk,I noticed an old cemetery. I love old cemeteries and of course,had to walk over to check it out. As I climbed the small embankment,I heard a rustling off to my left,and I just caught the flash of the white tail of a deer as it jumped into the woods. The cemetery consisted of four stones-two adult sizes and two child sizes,which made me rather sad. There are quite a few family cemeteries around here-in the woods,on the side of the road-and coming upon one always makes me wonder about the families. Sometimes their homes are still standing,sometimes there is just a foundation left. What drove them off their property? What killed the little ones? Were they farmers? Trappers? Hunters? All three? When the resting places become overgrown,and the stones broken,I feel so terrible. At one point,these were living,breathing,humans who laughed,cried,and loved. Now they are forgotten. It's so very sad.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!

Fall Day in NH

 It's my favorite time of the year-Fall in NH. To me,Fall is the quintessential New England season. The leaves turn color,the air turns chilly, pumpkins and apples are ready for picking,and we keep trying to put off starting the wood stove for as long as possible. Gray days are lantern lighting days,and I have to have Pumpkin Spice candles going to make the house smell fabulous and help make it cozy.

The weather this past week has not been the best-we have had rain and overcast days,with just a few glimpses of sun in between. Saturday we took a chance,since the forecast said the rain was going to hold off until later in the day,and we drove up to Fryeburg,ME for the annual Fryeburg Fair. We love the Fryeburg Fair because it's mostly an agricultural fair.  We looked at the goats,sheep,poultry,oxen,horses,and cows. I fell even more in love with goats and sheep. We are trying to decide if we want to get some dairy goats,and perhaps a sheep or two. The sheep would be for making yarn. It's amazing at how thick their wool is-they felt like one of those tempurpedic mattresses! The Fiber Barn was very interesting-knitted goods,yarn skeins,and bulk wool were for sale,and ladies were demonstrating how to spin your own yarn. I wanted to buy a  homemade skein of yarn-until I saw that all the skeins were 4 oz and cost $26. That's a tad out of my price range. In the Specialty Food barn,Zach's eagle eye found Moxie Jelly. Moxie is a New England soda that has been around for about a hundred years. It's not sweet,and it's called Moxie because you have to have moxie to drink it! Zach loves Moxie,and we have never seen Moxie jelly,so of course we had to buy a couple of jars. I got some potpourri -Maine Christmas and Pumpkin Fall. They smell fabulous!

Sunday the weather was slightly overcast,but no rain hit until last night,so I puttered around the yard for while checking things out. I still haven't closed up my garden because  things are still growing and we haven't had a hard frost yet,though I know we are due for one anytime.  I have been paying attention to the weather forecast daily.

Since we gave our apple tree quite the trimming last Spring,we figured that we probably shocked the tree and we wouldn't get many apples,if any,this year. Last year we had over 60. This year,we did squeak out two:

Poor lonely apples! Our apple tree has dropped the majority of their leaves. The wind has helped the all the trees around us shed their leaves.Up Avon Lane,it looked almost like carpet:

Our grapes have been coming along. I have been tasting them every other day to see when they are ready to pick. I wasn't sure how to tell when they were ready,but everything I have read says it's all in how the taste.They are not quite sweet yet,but they are getting there:

I was surprised to still see white blossoms in my strawberry patch. There are still strawberries in various states of  growth. I will have to cover them up soon:

This is one of my favorite maple trees. Each year,this branch starts turning color in such a brilliant way-light green,to yellow,to orange,to red. It's like a foliage rainbow! I can see it from my bedroom window. I wish the sun was shining so that you could really see how bright and lovely it is:

One of our goals to is try and get our chicken yard to the point where it drains better. Whenever it rains,it becomes a muddy mess,and it REEKS until it dries out. Plus,the poor Girls are walking around in muck. Chicken poo that is wet smells even worse than dry poop. It's horrible. It makes me gag,and we are mindful that we have a responsibility to our neighbors to keep the area as stink free as possible.We are going to try some gravel mix to cover it. Anyone have any other suggestions?

 We still have tomatoes growing,though you can't seem too well in this photo,because they are green. I will probably have to pick them and make fried green tomatoes before the frost hits:

You can see in this photo how we have lost leaves from our trees. The foliage still isn't at it's peak here,but up in the Great North Woods,it's already past:

Our potatoes are still going strong,though some of the plants are seeing a bit of brown on their edges. I wasn't sure when to pick potatoes,because last year,Brother B picked them before they were ready ( our neighbor told him to pick them in Sept-too early!) Usually they are picked in Oct,when the plants are dead. I did decide to check around the hills to see if anything was ready to pick,however:

I came up with these taters!! These are Kennebec potatoes from Maine. I also had some green beans that were ready to pick,too.

Today we are going apple picking and pumpkin picking. Our favorite farm,Butternut,is closed for the season,but another local farm is still open so we will be going there. I am still bummed that my pumpkin seedlings did NOTHING this year. Sigh. I hate to have to buy pumpkins,but I have to get some sugar ones to make my puree,as well bigger ones for decoration. Our neighbor can get hay bales for only $2.00 a bale from a friend of hers,so that will be savings!

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!

Sad Day

Yesterday was a very sad day,and today our hearts are still heavy.

Rick found Moxie on the side of the road.He had been hit by a car.

We knew he had to still be around,as Rick found his collar a couple of days ago. Apparently,when we went out front to meet Zach off the bus,Rick looked up the road and saw something laying on the side of it,in front of our neighbors house (thankfully,I didn't see anything).

When we went into the house,Rick told me that he had Brother B had to make a run a run up to town hall. I didn't question it. When they got back,Rick sadly informed me that Moxie had been hit. He and Brother B went up the road to check if Rick's suspicions were confirmed,and they were. They picked Moxie up,placed him in a bag,and put him in the back of the truck. He must've been hit sometime during the day yesterday,because he was not there early in the AM. Rick asked if I wanted to tell Zach,or if I wanted him to,and I told him that I would do it ( Zach had been asking if Moxie had come back every day after he got home from school). Zach was very sad,as was I- cried, I couldn't help it. Moxie,if you remember,was just a kitten when we found him hiding in our tree length wood pile. He was very,very skittish,and I spent hours holding him next to me,wrapped in a towel ( so he couldn't scratch me),so he could get used to us. I would pat him and talk to him. For a while,he managed to find a hole in our bathroom closet and was staying behind the wall. We were finally able to persuade him to come out and we covered up the hole. He became a very loving cat.

He would curl up with me at night and I would pat him and scratch his belly,which he loved. He would just purr away. It was quite funny when he would sit with his hind legs in front of him,like a human,and wash his big belly. He would curl up with the other cats and the dogs,and he would play with our gray cat,Smokey all the time.

Poor Smokey was lost for a while after Moxie left. He walked around the house,meowing,looking for his buddy. It was so sad.

Rick and Zach brought Moxie into the woods,and found a lovely spot for him to rest. Zach said a few words and cried a bit. He then said he wanted to make a marker for his grave,so they came home and made one. ( Rick told me this later). Poor Rick felt so very bad,and responsible. I told him that anyone could've opened the door for the dogs and Moxie would have scooted out-there was no fault involved. He felt bad too,for Zach-Zach had placed Moxie's collar in his pocket as a memento-and it just tore Rick up. He shed some tears for his son's hurt,and for our precious Little Mo.

So we are a very sad family today. My heart is still very heavy,and I am very down. I know,some folks don't understand getting that upset "over a cat",but they are not cat lovers like we are. Our animals are family,and we cuddle with them all the time ( cats and dogs). Moxie was my little buddy. He is sorely missed.

Spring Has Sprung!

Our warm weather continues! Temps are running 30-40 degrees above normal.Yesterday,it was 80 degrees here,which is practically unheard of for this time of year.Friday,the temps are going to start being in the 60's.

Yesterday,Rick mucked out the chicken coop,which The Girls highly appreciated. We should be seeing some eggs soon-we never did get electricity running out to the coop last year,so The Girls stopped laying in November. This year,come hell or high water,we will have electricity running to the coop by the Fall. I enjoyed the weather by doing a bit raking-until I developed a big old blister on the inside of my right thumb,where the thumb joins the hand. I even had gloves on! Well, at least I got a start on it. I also checked out my beds,and realized that I need to plot out what I am going to plant in what bed fairly soon.

When Rick was mucking out the coop,one of The Girls got out. We call her Rogue Chicken,since she isn't even ours.She is our next door neighbors. She somehow got out of the coop up there,and was wandering around for quite a while. She found her way into our yard,and we captured her by luring her under a box and dropping it over her. Kelly told us we could keep her if we wanted. Well,yesterday she got out again,and Rick couldn't grab her. After supper,Zach said he would try,thinking he could get close enough to her to drop a sweatshirt over her and then he would grab her.  About 15 minutes,he came back,looking very serious.
"I caught the chicken," he told us.
"You did? Good job,buddy! Did you put her back in the coop?" Rick asked.
A pinprick of silence.
"No. She's dead."
Naturally,Rick,Brother B  and myself were a bit confused. How does one kill a chicken with a sweatshirt? Rick asked him what happened.
"Well,you know the space between the coop and the wood lean to where we have the  ladders? She got in there and I was able to throw the sweatshirt over her,and I tried to pull her out,but the ladder moved and landed on her and now she's dead."
"I better go outside and check this out," Rick said. Both and he and Brother B went outside with Zach to see what he meant,and if,indeed,The Rogue Chicken was no more.
A few minutes later,they all came inside, laughing.
Apparently,Rogue Chicken was fine. The ladders lay horizontally side by side in between the two buildings (it's not a big space,just maybe a few feet) and when Zach tried to pull the chicken out,one of  ladders fell over a bit on top of the chicken,and she went limp. Zach thought she was dead because she didn't make any movements. No,she was just playing possum. So Rouge Chicken lives! Zach's deadpan comment,"No.She's dead," is still a source of humor this AM.

Today we are walking down to our lumber mill to check out counter top samples (they have a small home improvement area). We are finally getting back on the kitchen remodel track. After that,we are going to trim our apple tree. This week,we are also going to build three compost bins to get the area more organized. I told Rick it would behoove us to get that done,before all the leaves are dumped in the area.

One bit of sad news-our cat,Moxie,got out about 2 weeks ago and hasn't been seen since. He was our cat that we found in the woodpile last Spring. He's my little buddy and I am very sad. However,yesterday Rick found his red collar next to the deck,and it wasn't there the day before,so Rick's thinks that perhaps he comes around in the evenings to see if any of Molly Bruce's food (our outdoor cat)is available on the steps. I miss Moxie very much. He would lay on our bed and I would pat him at night and he would purr away.

Have a lovely day!

The Smell of Spring

The weather here has been absolutely lovely.(Today however,it's gray and drizzly) We have had record breaking temps the last few days in the state. Some areas have hit 70 degrees. Usually at this time of the year,we are in the 40's or colder. Most of the snow is gone,and I have been hearing the birds singing again,which is wonderful. Yesterday we had a couple windows open,and I could smell that lovely,fresh spring scent-a combination of clean,fresh air,and wet earth. It was fabulous!

The sad thing going on right now is our cat Moxie,got out and has been gone for a week. Moxie is the tiger cat we found in our woodpile last spring. Rick was letting the dogs out,and Moxie scooted right out the door,which he has never done before. He stopped on the deck,and Rick called him,but all he did was look at Rick,and take off. We haven't seen him since. I hope that someone finds him and calls the Vets office with the info on the Moxie's tag,but so far no luck. We have so many wild animals around here,especially coyotes,that I fear Moxie became a victim to one of them.

As much as I love my dogs,I am by nature a cat person. I love my cats.I love the softness of their fur,cuddling with them,and patting them. Moxie would jump on the bed with me,and I would pat him and he would purr away. Smokey is also missing him.They would play together. The first couple of days Smokey would walk around meowing,looking for Moxie. It was so sad. I am quite heartbroken over our missing Puss.

We decided not tap our trees this year. We have other left over business (ie the kitchen)that we need to get cracking on again. Between Rick's med change over and the health in the house,the last two months have pretty much been a wash. I am feeling back to normal again,though I still feel wiped out by 3:00 PM and more often than not I have been taking a bit of snooze at that time of the day. I guess the bronchitis really wiped me out more than I know. However, I have been doing more and going out more,so that is a good thing.

Friday is Rick and Donna's Excellent Adventure-we are heading down to Boston for Rick's psych evaluation for the military. We are going to take the Amtrak Downeaster out of Dover down to North Station,and from there hop on the T Green Line. I think Rick has been on  trains when he was stationed in Italy-I have never been on one.Nor have either of us ever taken one into Boston. I just can't drive down there-I did it once,and it was like taking your life into your hands.Plus,there is no parking by the Dr office,which is in the Back Bay area. From were the green line drops us off it's only a 5 minute walk to the office. This should be interesting. A man with PTSD/TBI and a woman with anxiety issues in Boston trying to navigate the transportation system! It is probably easier than we know,but of course,whenever something comes up that I have never done before,the anxiety tends to take over.Once I accomplish it,and it's never as daunting as it is in my head,I always feel silly for getting so worked up to begin with. I know Rick is going to be pinging off the walls-his hypervigilence is going to be terrible,strange place,crowded train-and I know that he is going to wiped out by the end of the day. However,we are going to get down there early,find where we need to go,and to do some exploring in the Back Bay Village. Maybe we can even take a walk on the Common. It's supposedly not far from the Drs office. If this goes smoothly I hope to someday take another trek back to Boston with Rick and Zach and go to the Museum of Fine Arts. I went in school for a field trip and fell in love with it!

Right now I am all by myself.Rick and Brother B are going down to Brother Dale's house for something or another,then going to Paul's house to drop off some metal for for him. Paul is an Army Buddy of Rick's who was in Iraq with him,and he collects metal for extra money. I don't get to be alone in the house very often,and I admit I enjoy the silence. I usually have to have something for background noise-the radio or the TV-but at this moment,the silence is lovely. All I hear are the dogs heavy breathing as they sleep. The dishes are washed,the wood stove going,and the house is nice and cozy. I am working on the instep on Brother B's sock,the mate to the one I knitted last year :)  I have also been reading "The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth" which has been a very informative and fascinating read. I started my interest with Henry the Eighth after watching "The Tudors",which I am re- watching now at night. Any historical subject that I find intriguing makes me want to learn more about it-hence,learning about Henry's wives and the Tudors. Keep learning,I always say.

I hope all is well in your part of the Lovely Planet!

A Litte Visitor

Little O and Moxie love to sit on the windowsill in the kitchen that looks into our screen porch. The last week,we noticed that more often than not,something would hold their attention for a while. These cats would not move one inch-except for the swishing of their tails.We did finally see what holds their interest.

I took this photo of Little O this AM.She was sitting,staring up towards my egg basket which I hang on hook in the window by the door.I walked quietly to where she was sitting,peered out the window,and saw our little visitor-I was even finally able to snap a photo:

Our little chipmunk friend has been enjoying the bag of bird seed we keep on the porch.Sometimes the door does not close properly,which makes it easy for such a small creature to slip in. Sometimes it hides in our pot belly stove (which is not hooked up,it's for decoration).It's funny to see it's little cheeks puffed out with seed.

Brother B went onto the porch and opened the door. It literally flew out of the basket,under the bench,and finally,bolted as fast as I've ever seen  a chipmunk bolt,to his home in the stone wall.

All Creatures Great And Small

Not just humans make up our home. We have a mix of animals. Some are pets,some provide us with food. May I present the fellow creatures that are part of life here at The Little Yellow Farm:

Our Narragansett turkeys. They provide us and others with food. Since this photo was taken,our flock has diminished a bit. Just today,we sold one.

This is our cat, Molly Bruce. I must explain his name. When we got him,7 years ago, he was too young to have...well...obvious parts. Zach named him Molly. Then we discovered a bit later that he was a male. So instead of changing it to Bruce,Zach called him Molly Bruce. We also call him Molly The Bruce (after watching Braveheart where they call the leader of Scotland "The Bruce"),Battlecat,and Bubbaloo.He is our outdoor cat.

This is our Chocolate Lab,Sasha.She will be 7 on St.Patrick's Day. We also call her Sasha Girl,and Pretty Girl

Our chickens and Runt,the Rooster. I always talk to them when I go to gather eggs. The cackle at me like they understand. Chickens are cool.

This is Moxie. He is the cat we found staying in our log pile. He has grown quite a bit,and enjoys eating cough drops,cookies,butter,and just about anything else he can get his furry little paws on.He loves carrying kleenex,pencils,and assorted other things around. We also call him Puss and Purr Puss.

This is my baby. Her official name is Omar. Again,Zach named her before we could tell what sex she was. So to make it sound a bit more feminine,we call her Little O. She is very laid back and likes to lay on feet at night.
Last,but certainly not least,we have Rick's baby:

This is our Bull Mastiff/Black Lab cross,Samson. Samson Sunny D Shaw,to be precise. We got him when we first moved here in Dec of 2003. We adopted him from the Straham Humane Society. He came from Maine,where his owners moved and just left him behind,tied up outside. A kind neighbor took him in and brought him to the pound. When I first saw him online,he looked mean,but when we went to the Humane Society,we went into a room with him and he went and sat right next to Zach,so we knew it was a good fit. He's a really good dog,who is getting quite old,as you can see by the white on his face. He has several names:Samsonite,Seamus,Shamoose,Moose,Lummox,and Tank.

There you are,the other than human creatures that make up our home.