Taking Advantage Of Beautiful Weather

Thanks to everyone who sent their kind words and sympathies regarding our Little Mo. We appreciate it! 

The weather last week was gorgeous,as I previously posted. Buds are coming out on trees,some flowers have bloomed,which is just weird for NH in March. Usually,we still have lots of snow left on the ground,but not now-

Friday it had started cooling down a bit,so we decided it would be a good day to start on the compost area. Right now,we just dump our compost in a pile,which has some old cut down saplings and various branches mixed in with leaves,pine needles,etc,etc. We had a small pile of clean compost that we used some of last year for the  garden,but we didn't have enough to fill all the boxes,so we had to buy some. It also gave Rick a chance to play on his tractor. She's a sturdy old thing,and she started right up after sitting outside all winter.Not too shabby for a second buy on Craig's List:

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 Our goal is to clean up the area by separating the "breaking down" pile and the "broken down" pile,as well as taking out all the big pieces of branches. The area will get raked out,then bins made out of pallets and old wood for each stage of the compost process. Then,the piles will be put into their respective bins.

I would rake the top layer of leaves,etc off the pile,put the leaves in one area,the branches in another,and pull down the good compost. Rick would put the leaves in one pile,and the compost in another.He would also use the tractor to pull down the bigger branches so they were easier to get to. We did this over a course of a couple of days-Zach helped me with the raking and sorting of branches on Saturday-he was a big help.

This end of the pile was mostly branches!

I was very pleased to see once the top layer had been removed that we had lovely compost underneath-more than I thought we would have. We also encountered some frozen compost,so we were scratching at it with rakes,loosening up the branches and compost ( I try not to refer to it as "dirt"!). We have not made back out there since Saturday,though. The weather got real cold and windy,and we had some rain. This is where we are at:

On the far right you can barely see the compost pile,to the immediate left you can see our leaf pile. On the left side of the photo,you can see the pile we are still working on-and all that lovely compost! The bins are going to go behind this big pile,set further back.

Do you compost? How do you store it?

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.

Trimming The Tree

Sounds like something one does at Christmas! No,silly,not that kind of tree...we are talking about an apple tee!

We planted our Jonathan apple tree before Rick left for Iraq in 2005. We have discussing trimming this tree for a couple of years now,and just never got around to it....

Can you tell?

A "wee" bit too tall,the branches are growing straight up,there were branches that crossed each other,and branches way too low...all apple tree no- nos.

So,how does one trim an apple tree? Good question,as we had no clue,either. Happily,the University of New Hampshire has a Cooperative Extensive Service,and their website gave us the how tos.

1)Remove any dead,diseased or broken branches (we didn't have any)

2) Cut the height of the tree by cutting the main upright growing branches moderately ( I think we went beyond moderate,but our tree was really way too tall). The branches should be on a horizontal lateral after you cut them.

3) Remove "water spouts"-fast growing,upright branches-and branches that cross and rub.

4)Prune to leave branches going horizontally. Get rid of the ones that hang down or grow upward.

5)Trim lowest branches so they are about 2' off the ground

That is the main jist of it.

Here is how it looks now:

It looks a bit sad,doesn't it? The poor tree was really out of control. I am curious to see if it affects the harvest. I would assume so,at least for this year. Then again,I could be wrong.

                                                              The leftovers.......

We are going to put the branches in the wood chipper and save the chips. We hope to make a smoker this year and would like to use some nice apple wood chips to use for smoke.

Another gorgeous day outside,though not quite as warm as the previous four days,but still lovely just the same!

Have a Fabulous Day on this Fabulous Planet!

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!

Rick And Donna's Excellent Adventure

Friday Rick and I went down to Boston for Rick's psych eval for the Temporary Disabled Retirement List.(He already had his physical eval last month) Every solider that is diagnosed with PTSD gets put on this list for a maximum of 5 years. At anytime in that 5 years,the military can send the solider to a Dr for an update,to see if that solider is getting better. It's beneficial if the solider has just been wounded and receives help right away.This is not our case,but you do what you have to do.

I cannot drive in Boston.I did it once,and almost had a nervous breakdown. If it was a matter of life and death,I would do it,but only if all other avenues were exhausted. So we decided to take the train down. It wasn't cheap ($70 round trip) but well worth it for my nerves. Plus,I knew that I would have to be the strong one,so I didn't want to be a mess for Rick when I knew he was going to be relying on me to get him from point A to B and back again.

We arrived at the Amtrak Downeaster station in Dover early enough for me to take a photo of Rick in front of the office:

Here she comes,ready to bring us to North Station in Boston:

The train ride was very comfortable,and took roughly an hour and a half. We had 5 stops before we reached North Station. One great thing was that they sold subway tickets (called the "T" in Boston) right on the train,so we didn't have to try and buy them at North Station. We each bought a "Charlie Card" with gives you a round trip on the subway. Rick was very nervous,and I was too,but not as nervous as I thought I would be. I guess the fact that Rick was depending on me pushed all that to the side. Bless his heart,I did get a bit impatient with him a few times on the way down and when we were trying to find our subway. When Rick gets overwhelmed,even if you give him correct information,he will ask questions over and over. It's not that he doesn't trust what I am saying,it's that he's trying to get everything straight and calm himself down.

It was fairly nerve racking when we got off the train at North Station.Thankfully,our train arrived there at 10:30 AM,and our appt wasn't until 3:00PM,so we had plenty of time to find where we were going. The first thing we did was look around in the station to get our bearings,then we went to find the Green Line,which,we discovered,was on the next street over. Rick was already pinging-lots of people,not being sure of where everything was. We found the Green Line,swiped our Charlie Cards to get through the turnstile,then tried to figure out where the E train was,as well as if we were going Outbound or Inbound (we were going Inbound-into the city,we figured out).Thankfully,we weren't the only people who had no clue as to what was going on,because we had people approach us asking if we knew what train to take to the Flower Show in town,and another lady was on the way to a job interview. She told me her life story as we waited for the trains.She lost her job as a dental assistant when her boss had to stop work to care for a family member who had cancer. I hope she found her interview and did well on it.

We found the E train,looked at the map in the car and found that our stop (Arlington) was the fifth stop on the way. We sat down,and that is where I made a big mistake. I should've let Rick sit by the window and put myself by the aisle. However, I did the opposite,and because the train was crowded,a lady was standing up next to Rick holding on to a pole. She was so close to him that if he turned his head to the right,his head would've been right in her cleavage. He kept muttering,"I don't like this,I don't like this,I'm ready to lose it." I put my hand his leg and told him it wouldn't be long,only a few minutes. Our stop came,and Rick was one might happy camper.(The fact that he doesn't like tunnels,and here we were in a subway,did not help matters,either). Once we got out of the station,and got our bearings,we walked down Arlington St to Melrose to find out where this Dr Ira Lable was. Rick almost got hit by a taxi...though we were in the crosswalk AND walking to the WALK light.

Bay Village (which I have no photos for because of course,my camera battery died) has lovely Federal style townhouses.Edgar Allen Poe was born there. We found the address,then tried to find a restaurant. We settled on an Italian restaurant,which,come to find out,had gluten free pasta,so Rick was quite happy. He had Shrimp Scampi,and I had Baked Ziti,Both were delicious,and it gave us time to sit and decompress a bit. Rick,of course, was still quite nervous about the Dr's appt,but he seemed in better spirits after we ate. We had plenty of time to kill,so we decided to stroll over to the Public Garden and Boston Common to walk off our pasta.

One thing that amazed us was how fast everything is down there. The traffic,the pedestrians...I couldn't live like that. All we could smell when you couldn't smell food was exhaust. Rick commented that everyone was dressed alike,and we noticed that he was the only person who was wearing plaid. Not business appropriate,I suppose :) Give me my quiet little house where I can breathe fresh air and see the milky way above my house!

The weather was gray and bit raw,which was too bad,but we still enjoyed ourselves.The first thing Rick noticed was all the squirrels in the Public Garden-gray ones,blondish ones,even an white Albino one.There were hundreds!They weren't shy either. They would a come up to us,get on their hind legs,and beg. I missed this little guy begging, but I still took his photo nonetheless. Rick joked,"We could eat for a year in a this place!!!"  There was herds of them. I've never seen anything like it.

After we walked the Public Garden,we went across the street to Boston Common:

I thought that the view of the park with the skyscrapers in the background made an interesting photo:

We found the cemetery with no problem. I had also read that the Central Burying Ground was home to a mass grave of British soldiers who were killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill,but when we walked around in the cemetery,we couldn't find any mention of it:

We did find some interesting tombstones,however:

Many tombstones had been worn by time and were illegible. Some were broken,either by age or vandals. Quite a few were for children,which was very sad. This one caught the eye of Rick:

It's hard to read,but it's in memory of a 19 year old Chinese boy who died when he fell from the mast of the ship Mae that he was working on in 1709. His master had the stone erected .

Then,this stone caught our eye:

It reads "Here lies the body of Fanny Webster,daughter of Josiah and Sarah Webster of Rye NH,died October 16,1805,16 yrs." Why would this catch our eye? Rick is related to Daniel Webster,and the Websters were from Rye,NH. I wrote down the info to do some research on later.

We still had lots of time to kill,so we walked back to the Public Garden and saw this iconic image of Boston:

Many folks have seen this before,and I always thought that it was an homage to Paul Revere and his famous ride. It's not. It's George Washington. You learn something new everyday.

At this point,it's 1:30,and it's starting to get real raw out. After sitting on a park bench for a few minutes,we decided to hit Finale,which is a place that has desserts.(And gluten free ones!) I had some chocolate type thing,and Rick had raspberry cheesecake (no crust). We each enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and warmed up a bit. At 2:15,we decided to go to the Dr's office.

Dr Lable is an older gentlemen,I would say in his sixties or seventies,and he had about 15 pages of questions that the military sent for him to fill out. He also read through the reports that the VA sent him. He was very nice,and we answered the questions easily : Do you get confused? Do you do things repetitively? Do you have nightmares?  etc,etc. At the end,the Dr said to Rick "Well, you certainly have been through a lot. I agree with the assessment that you have full blown PTSD and a moderate Brain Injury. I'll write up my report and send it out. I wish you the best of luck.The military should put you on full retirement." We thanked him for his time and walked back to the Arlington train station,hopped on the Green Line yet again (we waited for the least full train) and arrived at North Station,breathing sighs of relief that this was finally over. On the Amtrak back to Dover,I was wiped out-I snoozed a tiny bit while Rick played Solitaire on my Kindle. Any game like that is good for his brain function.It helped him decompress a bit. I was quite happy to arrive in Dover,get in the car,and drive back home.

So...we did it! We survived our Excellent Adventure. Now we wait to see what the military will say.

By the way...Fanny Webster is related to Rick.She is his third cousin 6 generations removed.

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!

Glimpse of the Future

Today is a gorgeous day,the temps are going to be in the 50's. The snow is melting,the sun is warm,and I can hear some birds singing. Ahhhh...bliss.

Last night the parents of the Fall Freshman were invited to a meeting at the high school. Rick,Zach,and myself went. The principal,asst principal,guidance counselors and heads of the depts all spoke about school,the classes,etc. Zach received a book of offered courses,and a course registration form. (They will be going over these more at length in school today,as not everyone went to the meeting last night.) The teachers will check  off what level they feel the student should take in their respective course-general,college prep,or honors.Parents,of course,have the opportunity to disagree if they feel the teachers recommendation is too much or too little. Zach is planning on going to college,so naturally we want him to take all college prep courses,and I think he could even do the honors course in English (which is a bit harder than college prep).Freshman are required to take 6 credits. Graduation requires 21 credits. ( When I graduated,we were required 18 credits,but of course that's back in the Dark Ages of the 1980's!) After the speakers,we could take a map of the school and walk around a bit. Zach and his classmates will have a "Step Up" day where they go to the high school,and their first day of school is only open for Freshman,so the Freshman can get to their classes without all the other kids being there,which I think is a fabulous idea. So far,I like all the teachers that we listened to,and we did get to speak with the Physical Science teacher,who admitted that in her College Prep class that she is the toughest teacher in school. I immediately liked her. I also liked the fact that if the students have any questions that don't get answered in school,they have email and cell phone numbers to contact the teachers. They are all there to make sure the children succeed,but,as they say,if parents aren't involved,it makes their job harder. I heartily agree. My child's education is not just up to the teachers,it's up to Rick,myself,and Zach as well.

Zach has until March 19 to register for his classes on line. My,how times have changed! I remember when I was going into high school,we were given a course booklet,and one day we went to the high school and had to go and sign up at the tables for each  course. First come first served,which meant if you missed getting a course in the period slot you wanted,you had to rearrange your whole day. It was nerve wracking .Especially if you were trying to get a class with a friend or boyfriend!

The principal began by welcoming the parents of the "class of 2016." That hit home. 2016 is going to come quick,and though I am anxious for Zach to fly and take wing so I can see they kind of man he will become,I also dread it,because I won't have my little boy anymore.

Special Day

Saturday was Zach's 14th birthday. His request for his birthday dinner was lasagna (which I made gluten free) and he wanted devil's food cake with chocolate frosting (which Rick made non gluten free). Late morning Zach and I visited my Mom,who is doing great. We had some lunch and a nice chat. She was amazed at how much Zach has grown since she saw him last,which was Christmas time.

Rick and I wanted to get Zach something for his birthday that he would use for school,and we decided to get him his own laptop. We found a new line of Toshiba on sale at Staples and purchased Office for Students. More and more of his schoolwork involves using the computer-graphs for science class,reports,etc. He was quite excited and surprised!

Zach was officially 14 at 8:03 AM. He was a C-section baby,with a planned date of delivery. He was breech,and at my last regular appt,my Dr told me that they could either manually turn him which 1)would be very painful and 2)probably wouldn't work,since most first babies seem to turn right back to breech again,or they could just schedule a C-section. I opted for the C section. It was very strange the night of March 2 sitting at home knowing that it was the last evening where it would be just two of us-that the next time I came back into the house I would have a baby in tow,and our lives would be changed forever. Zach was gorgeous when he was born. The nurses wanted to give him a 10 on the newborn scale,but the Dr told them "we never give out 10's"-so they rated him an 8 and a 9. He stayed in the room with me,and everyone kept telling me to rest and take a nap,but I wasn't tired in the least. They were also amazed that I wasn't asking for more pain medication!

We also have a new member of the family,born on Zach's birthday. We have a new great niece,Farrah Marie Lussier-Shaw. Rick's nephew Dwight and his girlfriend Tiara are the proud parents. So now Zach and Farrah are bound not just by genetics,but by the same birth date! Welcome to the family,Farrah!

Playing In The Snow

 A few days ago,My Dear Friend Michelle called to see if Zach and I wanted to tubing with Pack 188,our old cub scout pack.Her youngest son is still in it,and Zach could keep her older son,Ethan,company. Thankfully,she drove. I don't drive in snow,which sounds silly,living in NH. However, I have had too many close calls ( car spinning in a 360 on the highway when I was pregnant,going off the road) to be comfortable driving. I have enough problems with anxiety,and that makes it much worse.

We went to Moose Mountain,which we can just about see from our house.(We see the closer mountains of the range). Moose Mountain,back in the 70's,was ski mountain which eventually went bottom up and remained abandoned for many years. A couple years ago,someone bought it and made a tubing area. Because of the weather,the 27 folks that showed up from the pack were the only ones there,which meant you could  ride up on the tube,slide down,and go right back up again...no lines. This was the most physical activity I have had for a while,and boy,when I got home, I felt it! My arms and back ached soo bad. This AM my arms are sore (from running,flopping on the tube,and pushing myself up out of the tube when I had to unload at the top of the hill). We had heavy snow the whole time we were there,which added to the fun. The cost wasn't bad,either-$13 for two hours. It was also nice seeing some of my old Pack friends again!

This morning we have large icicles hanging off the the eaves,probably because we have our roof heat tape on to prevent ice dams. Big suckers!

If you had snow yesterday,did you get to go out and play in it?

Snowy Day

We have a sense that it's winter around here. We are finally having a good old fashioned storm.....

We are suppose to get anywhere from 7"-12". I guess this is the typical big storm once we see robins.The other day,we had a big old flock in our yard,so we knew we were due for another big old storm. We are getting heavy snow right now,and the bands of moderate to heavy snow are suppose to last all day. Bring it on!

I received my garden seeds the other day. My old ones were three years old,so it was time to replace them.This year,I have gone with heirloom and organic seeds,though I do have a few hybrids left that I just bought last year,so I can't just throw them out and waste them. New seeds are sugar peas,and chamomile.I still need to order my navy beans. That will be new as well.

Zach is all better,and Rick still has a bit of a cough,but he is much better,and so is Brother B. I still have congestion and get real tired by the middle of the afternoon,so I have been napping the last few days. I did get out and grocery shop on Tuesday-it's the first time I  have felt like I could drive in two weeks. Yesterday Rick and I went out to get Zach's birthday gift,which I won't reveal yet,in case he reads this post! He will be 14 on Saturday. My,how time flies!!!  I have been knitting Brother B's other sock,finally.

I have a new great nephew! My niece,Tara (my sister's daughter) gave birth to Maximus Flynn Pitcher,whom they call Max. He is a cutie,lots of dark hair,just like Tara had when she was born. We are anxiously waiting for Rick's nephew Dwight (his brother Spencer's son) and his girlfriend,Tiara,to have their baby girl.

Have a Lovely Day on this this Lovely Planet!