StoneBridgeFarm

2011-12-12T10:25:00.000-08:00

What a pretty fall it's been. The sunrise has been this gorgeous many a morning as John & our son are leaving for work and school. I wave goodbye to each of them as they drive their cars away in the near-darkness that fall brings with it's shorter days. The foliage seemed to come and go quickly this year but maybe it was due to being covered in snow at times...

The Halloween storm brought a good foot+ of pretty snow. The foliage covered leaves held onto it and there were widespread power outages. Our generator was humming for part of the day on Halloween. Our kids still went trick or treating that night for "beggar's night" here in the Mills. The snow did nothing to dampen the spirits around here. We saw several snow sculptures with jack o lantern heads or other snowballs made into huge jack o lanterns themselves...complete with orange paint! Our middle boy went as a Christmas caroler as a way of enjoying the strange weather.

All of the snow melted in about a week but we had another storm just in time for Thanksgiving. We got to play in that snow too!

The boys love it when we pull them around for this kind of sledding. No, it's not warm enough for a tee-shirt really, but on another of these days I did watch a rousing snowball fight which had one child sporting shorts! Tall boots, gloves and yes, shorts. No wonder I'm having trouble with the seasonal shift in clothing around here. Each time I think we can pack something up--rain gear, shorts, light coats---the old season pops up again!

The bluebirds have been sticking around this fall. We've watched 2 families all year and I've been quite surprised to still be seeing them around. I've finally been enjoying time in the yard again. I must admit it has been a hard fall for me to spend time outside due to the loss of our beloved Border Collie, Tide. Tide was diagnosed with Lymphoma at the beginning of the summer. We were prepared by the vet for "2 days to 2 months". Well, he stayed with us for close to 4 months but it was in a steady decline during that time. I am learning to live without a constant shadow of a border collie now and it's been a little tricky. For over 20 years I've owned first CJ and then Tide as my constant companion dogs. It is just plain weird to live without one but I'm not ready for a new dog just yet.

This cat in particular is trying to do her best to help. Jester goes all over the property with us. If we're taking a walk and she realizes it, then she's along in a hurry. Cats don't walk with us like dogs. They sprint ahead and climb up a tree. Or they hunker down somewhere...far from home even and make me worry. When I've about given up looking and calling then a streak of color will race by me. Not so very companionable. But she's doing her best.

I've managed to do a lot of horse back riding and a lot of knitting too. It's been a good fall!

~Rachel

September

2011-10-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

The days are much shorter now. The leaves are just starting to turn to their autumn colors. This is how I found the back field last week when I went to fetch King in for the night. The ground fog was beautiful as it rolled in. I loved the crisp feeling in the air. The setting sun was just getting it's show going. Fall is a funny time of new beginnings around here. I know so many feel like it's an ending time but for us it is the start of college for our oldest boy. The start of 11th grade back at Cocheco Arts & Technology Academy for the next boy. The beginning of a new homeschool year for our youngest one. Cub Scouts Den Meetings begin again. Knitting classes get started. Knitting Club too. LEGO Battlebots and soccer begin. The trail riding season (bug free) begins. Okay....trail riding season never begins or ends for me...but it feels like the time of the year we wait all year for! The beginning of that wonderful season! Bug free rides. :)

We took time last Friday between rainy days to go hiking with friends up at Castle in the Clouds. You can see the castle on the next hill at the top right of this picture. This is the spot where we stopped for lunch. Castle in the Clouds is also home to the tallest horse in the world (or at least that's what they told us) so we had to go and see Zeus. The pond that had rainbow trout to feed was a highlight as well. We found the hiking trails to be beautiful and numerous. I, for one, would like to go back and walk along more of them!

Our silly cats have been up to new antics lately. Today I pulled on my knee high black muck boots to head out to the barn and there was something wrong with the right one. I pulled off the boot and tipped it over. Out popped a dead mouse! Eeek. Eewww. Jester! I think she is finally living up to that name our oldest son wanted. He called her Jest for her calico coat. He thought she looked like a court fool. Well....now she's getting her revenge.

Last week she brought in a live chipmunk to entertain herself, Charlie and our old dog. I knew something was wrong when I heard the sound of clicking toenails, click-click-click, excitedly across the wood floor in our bedroom. He is in the final stages of lymphoma and spends most of his time sleeping. I wondered what the clamor was. In the room I see both Charlie & Tide chasing a frightened chipmunk back and forth under the bed. Jester was atop the bed watching the action. My youngest son and I worked with the dog to corner the chipmunk and I popped it into a trash can with a towel over the top to carry it back outside. The next evening while I was out teaching knitting Jester brought a garter snake into the kitchen for my husband. Our 17 year old was able to catch it and return it to the long grass outdoors. Then on Thursday morning with the rain making the day dreary Jester comes through the cat flap again with her own entertainment. I was baking and noticed a new dark leaf on the floor. Then it hopped! A frog. Poor thing. Thank goodness for little boys who are just as fast as year-old kittens. He grabbed it up and cradled it in his hands to take back outside into the wet world...where a frog belongs. Not hopping about on the tile below cookie making women!

Charlie in contrast to his sister, has been spending many a morning finding himself new places to sleep. This has become one of his favorites so far. He's the only cat to ever explore up there and he likes it. 6 and a half feet above the floor is a peaceful place for him to take his nap.

There are endings in September too. The pool is put away. The garden is mostly done (except carrot and potatoes.) John's golf league is done. Gone are the beach days and farmer's markets for one of the boys to earn money playing guitar at. Gone are the long teenage Dungeons and Dragons gatherings. For now.

~Rachel

Trebuchet

2011-09-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

Cub scouts, cub scouts everywhere. For the past 2 den meetings we have had some fun here at our little farm. John has resurrected our back yard trebuchet. The boys also made their own table top models in our workshop. Great fun. The big one is tossing milk jugs of water 75 yards. Splash!!
This weekend our little guy is off with the pack at their fall overnight camping trip. We said bye to him on Friday afternoon and he should come back home today (Sunday) Friday night was certainly rainy around here. I hope he stayed dry!! Our little scout is growing up too fast. :)

~Rachel

Where did the summer go?

2011-09-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

June is for outdoor living

2011-06-17T04:55:00.001-07:00

June has been just a grand time for outdoor living! The ticks are terrible and the colorado potato beetles too. But we're enjoying the little ripe wild strawberries and the field of blue flag iris to draw us outside and enjoy. The weather has been up and down. Rainy and cold then crisp and autumn like, and in between times, hazy hot and humid! Gotta love New England weather. I've been out riding a lot lately. I finally broke down and got shoes on King's back feet too. I'd worn his feet off to stubbs again. I'd been trying to make some new hoof boots work, but the learning curve is too steep for us and my patience too little. Shoes all around and we're off and running again. This weekend I managed a ride each day even with the "liquid sunshine" that was all around. At least the soggy cold weather kept the nastiest of flies at bay. I managed a ride yesterday, and the day before. Each for a couple of hours. Ahh. Tuesday found us with homeschoolers aboard the replica ships of the Nina & Pinta. Hard to imagine men living and exploring on those little ships. Next we let the kids run around at Fort McClary in Kittery.

Around the yard it's been egg laying season for the turtles. Snappers mostly but some little painted ones too. We took a whole morning to watch several of them laying eggs and meandering back to the pond via our stream, then we came in to nature journal about them and web search the answers to all of the questions I was asked. "Are they Herbavores?" "How many eggs do they lay?" "How do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Ahh, one I can answer...it's a girl because it's laying the eggs... "I know that, but how do you know a boy from a girl?" Hmmm. We'll wiki that one too. I think we answered about 15 of his 20 or more questions. Science can be so much fun to do.

Another interesting happening around here is our new automatic mowing lawn! Okay, it's actually my dad, his dog Reba-Nellie, and HIS new mower! Dad has always loved to mow lawns. His 5 acres is mostly woods with a little patch of lawn. Our 11 + acres is mostly fields with a little woods. I've spent hours each week in the summers (John too) mowing the lawn parts and brush hogging the field parts. HOURS. So much so that I've really been looking into taking a good patch of lawn out and turning it into a riding ring--sand. No mowing sand! I'd like a 100 X 200 ring down front. However, my dear groom sees that as his golf green. He likes the lawn. Apparently my dad does too. I'm outvoted when dad buys a shiny new Cub Cadet and then shows up to mow for us too! You may have noticed the little brown doggie on the mower. Dad's dog can't live without him. If he puts her in the house or car while he mows she runs, pants, barks, claws at the windows...in general she goes nuts. But she happily rides along while he mows! Even for HOURS. Thanks Dad! Thanks Reba!

~Rachel

Spring - part 2

2011-06-08T04:42:00.000-07:00

Graduation! We threw a big party to celebrate the High School Graduation of our oldest. We've home educated him from 5th grade on. Over the years he has accessed in public schools and taken college classes as well. Sometimes it's finding what works for the student. He will be off to college in the fall to study Mechanical Engineering. This morning he is off to work at a local farm...his full time summer job where he "picks things up and puts them down" as he says. He makes me laugh every day! They all do.

We found our way to VT a few times this spring. Usually we travel in bits of our family as some one is home working, performing or otherwise busy. We enjoyed an afternoon with the folks and siblings as John says. :)

We also enjoyed seeing "the siblings" who were able to travel here to the graduation. It means so much to us to see them! Some of them traveled a very long way! Thanks!

~Rachel

Spring - part 1

2011-06-08T04:22:00.000-07:00

Spring found us very busy indeed.

First off, I have to mention Cancer -- Melanoma. I'd like to blame that for my lack of blogging...but it's probably more to do with having happenings each and every weekend, planning a graduation for our oldest and working through the college entrance process, chasing our little scout around to overnight camping events and rocket launches and more and I will admit to going riding each and every available minute!

A word about cancer.... I had a "mole" on my left shoulder which got renamed a "lesion" as is darkened and then began to raise during the winter and after it's removal it was called a "tumor" when the pathology found Superficial Spreading Melanoma cells in it. Another surgery and we were all able to relax as the cancer had not moved on so the good doctors declared I'm cancer free. Just a little skin off my back (and a lymph node out of my underarm...) but I'm all good now. Please, please if you have any "moles" watch them. The cancer I had is a killer but we caught it at stage 2. :)

Onto the fun stuff! The little guy seen racing around in the top photo was at a 2 night overnight called the "Fish N Run" which is a multi-pack gathering. They tented out and the overnight temperatures dipped to freezing! Brrr. During the days they had skits, challenges, campfires, fishing and all the neat things you can do with well over a hundred little boys. :)

The middle boy is in the middle photo playing his guitar with his "Advanced Guitar Ensemble" at an Arts Soiree in Dover. This class has traveled to schools, coffee shops and events to perform this spring. I lost count of the number of times but it was a lot and they knocked our socks off at this event.

The last photo is of Milton's pack 155 aboard the USS Salem down in Quincey, MA. They were there for an overnight and had a great time learning about the ship and it's WWII history as well has having a harbor cruise. Sleeping arrangements were bunk style cots. This pack is very active and our little one has really enjoyed scouting this year.

More to come...

~Rachel

April Fools

2011-04-08T05:10:00.001-07:00

March 31st.

April 1st.

Drawing

2011-02-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture drawn by our middle boy.

February

2011-02-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

February has been rolling right along and is now nearly gone. We have spent plenty of time playing in the snow and shoveling the snow, and plowing the snow, and roof raking....

Here we are taking in the sights at the Higgins Armory Museum. Not our first trip and certainly not our last. The boys have been making lots of (chain) maille lately between that and their interests in Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying brought us back to the museum again. These kids "study" even when they are hanging out and relaxing!

My artist son spent some of his visit sketching rapiers into his books. I've got to find a way to upload some of his drawings, and music too. His advanced guitar ensemble class is going to be doing a bunch of gigs this semester. We're looking forward to watching them play.

Here is another shot taken at the museum.

We got another foot of snow between the storm on Friday and Sunday. The fence is about to disappear under the snow and our chicken run is quite under the snowbanks too. Tomorrow we may get some rain on top of sleet & ice. I do believe the melting will begin soon. The horse is shedding like crazy and the daylight is feeling so much warmer now. Spring is around the corner! We may have over 3 feet of white stuff on the ground, but it won't last forever. I think I'll go skiing again this afternoon. :)

In the evening, watching TV we find that we are the furniture for our cats. We have been enjoying a little more TV now with our netflix streaming movies right over the internet. We have been watching old TV series; lately "Monarch of the Glen". We've still been reading aloud to the kids in the evening. Lately it's been Harry Potter to our youngest. The older boys still laugh at the funny bits even though they haven't read the books in years. We love to read aloud even though all of the boys (of course) could read these stories on their own. There's just something special about reading aloud. Hope your homes are cozy and warm too.

~Rachel

Winter Chores and Sledding

2011-02-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

What is going on in this picture? Winter chores. Our manure pile and hay storage are over the bridge and out in the back field. It makes for an awful lot of plowing...but sometimes it creates a bit of fun too. We could use the truck to move things around, but an ATV is so much more fun on a warm day. This day was 20 degrees with sun and no wind. That's an outdoor day in my book! Out back with the manure, back up with the empty bucket and hay. Repeat. And again. But what do you do with the workforce while schlepping? Why, you drag them along on a toboggan! Of course. And you take one fun run up and down the driveway per trip.

This silliness didn't last long. The teens fell off and had to run. :) Sometimes they were standing up as they went by. Other times I'd see a pig pile of boys. Sometimes 3 of them all sitting....

I enjoyed doing the mucking up at the barn and "supervising" as the men did the rest of the work. The kittens were exploring the new hay in the barn and my dog was hanging out with me, patiently waiting for his turn to chase the ATV. As soon as I drive it he is in high gear. I have to be careful not to run him over as he herds the ATV and I need to go very fast to keep ahead of him. Even at his ripe old age of 10 he stills runs at about 25-28 MPH. I have to do 30 to get away from him. !!

Here is my first attempt at a video on the blog. Our new camera seems to have a smoother uploading process. This is the sledding hill behind our house. The boys have made some interesting trails this winter. Enjoy!

~Rachel

2011-01-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

Some days we wake up to a winter wonderland. The ice is so pretty.

Other days it's a winter wonderland in another way! We enjoyed a snow day on Wednesday. The last few predicted storms amounted to nothing here and we were wondering if we'd ever get sledding or skiing again in our yard. The white concrete on the ground is not fun.

The sledding hill has been very active with the new snow and John & I enjoyed breaking trail yesterday with our skis. We'll go around again today and it will be easier.

Yesterday was the pinewood derby for our Cub Scout. What fun!

I've been busy knitting and teaching the kids and keeping up with the plowing. John gets to snowblow! I don't do that. It's been pleasant keeping the fires burning and watching the world from our toasty warm home.

Hope your winter is going as well as ours.

~Rachel

New Year

2011-01-06T04:11:00.001-08:00

First Night Wolfeboro was a lot of fun! We saw a play, a planetarium show, this artist making an ice sculpture, musical acts, a traveling zoo, and of course fireworks! Okay we didn't all stick together so that's what we took in collectively!

What gorgeous weather we had. Well, the ice sculpture works better if it stays below 32 and it was above that for a long time so his ice was dripping.

We spent time at home resting and relaxing during our vacation week. I managed to truck the horse to an indoor to ride 3 times! Great fun for me. John took his daughter and our oldest boy to Vermont to visit family there. Those two were not part of the November trip as they each had work keeping them in New Hampshire. They had a nice trip (except for the driving up in a blizzard part.) The "kids" saw their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.

Our family Christmas present to us was a wildlife camera this year. Here is the first "wildlife" photo we captured. The other photos have been of us trekking manure to the pile out in the back field. Us cross-country skiing. The dog and I (and kittens following us) on our daily walks. So I was pleasantly surprised to see this photo on the disk! Also surprised because I brought it in to see who it was that left tracks in the snow. (Fox) Somehow the fox managed to outsmart the camera. I'll have to reset the camera and attempt to outfox our little grey fox next time! We have had a dusting of snow fall several days in a row so I've been watching for the best wildlife "roads" to monitor. I still think our stone bridge is the most active spot. The coyote in this photo is looking right toward the house and or chicken coop. Hmmm. It looks smaller than many of the ones we were seeing this fall. But she does look healthy and young. I bet she was mousing out around our hay tent or manure pile.

Happy New Year to you!

~Rachel

Activities!

2011-01-03T04:20:00.000-08:00

It seems the year has just flown by! I suppose that's because 70 of the days I spent riding....

This is a shot my dear friend Paula snapped while we were out on what turned out to be my last good ride with his shoes on. The weather was nice and we managed to sneak through some woods trails even though it was hunting season. I love that this horse is always happy to go down the trail with both ears forward. We had a great time!

Each weekend from Thanksgiving to New Year's was filled to the brim with activities. On this Sunday we really enjoyed seeing the Holy Family. Do they look familiar? My sister, her husband and their angel and baby. Sooo cute that little angel was, singing away with the rest of the children in the pageant. That sweet baby slept through the whole time.

The NH Farm Museum had a wonderful special event for Christmas. The Jones Farm was all decorated for the season. See the dried flowers in the windowsill? We ate chestnuts roasted on an open fire and they were delicious. We searched the barn for goodies and had a wonderful tour and wagon ride.

At home we decorated and prepared and celebrated. Caroling in the village here at a friend's party on a beautiful and thankfully not too cold evening. The cub scouts had a party and a caroling at a nursing home. We made 2 trips up to Vermont. One at Thanksgiving and another just after Christmas...blizzard and all. Lots of activities and fun!

Hope your holidays were as enjoyable as ours.

~Rachel

Fall

2010-12-02T04:49:00.001-08:00

Coyote! This fall has been full of yips and howls, sightings and scat. And one missing hen while the chickens were out free ranging beyond the electrified fence. No more of that! They all stay in all the time now. This group of 3 coyote was so brazen and were passing through daily between 7 and 10am. The kids chased them off. I chased them off. We were getting quite tired of it really. We were worried about losing our new kittens too. I took this photo as there had been a discussion in a group I'm part of about coyote or coy-dog or coy-wolf, etc. I figured my photos might clear up for those what exactly we were hearing at night. We had singles pass through and groups of up to 5 for months on end this year. These animals are as tall as my 50 lb. border collie, but I bet they weigh about 35-45 lbs. maximum. This trio appeared to be a mom & her 2 young to me by the way they behaved. I think she was getting pretty desperate to have the young grow up and hunt for themselves. I think that is why she was looking for chicken. As soon as rifle season opened in November (deer) we stopped seeing the coyote. For wildlife sightings we have also seen opossum, mink, grey foxes (2 together) and the neighbor's dogs quite often :) Oh, a neighbor's horse too. Lots to look at out the windows.

My baby is 18. Here is my mom holding her newest grandson standing next to her oldest grandson. My sister welcomed the new little one this August. He's a big boy and growing! We enjoyed and nice afternoon of celebrating my son's 18th and visiting with one another. This fall has been busy for him. Wisdom teeth out and SATs. A weekend at MIT again (for both the teens) and now registering for college classes for spring semester to finish up his senior year of homeschooling. He will get dual credit for those. He is still so busy with odd jobs and friends and school. I can't imagine him moving out for next fall! Where did the time go?

Here is our littlest one on top of Blue Job with his good friend, T. They hiked it with the Cub Scout Pack 155. The pack is quite large and their den has a good number of boys. Scouting has been a good thing for our son this year.

This was a cool photo of what happens when you don't properly thin the carrots out. Cool, huh? We thinned most of them out but left one part of the row a little tighter. I think we pulled the last of them last weekend so that John could till in the piles of manure I kept moving over to the garden. This year I was lazy and decided to move some manure directly to the garden rather than letting it compost first. I remember Dad doing that many a time as I was growing up and it works out just fine as horse manure is not that hot and is mostly hay/grass anyhow. The garden was good this year but I was far too busy horsing around to spend much time pulling weeds, or thinning carrots. The teens worked in a garden each day for pay so it was hard to get them excited about gardening here at home. The little one was our most active gardener and I'm sure he will be the one to plan out the next one! I'll be interested to see what he wants to grow next year.

I'm still getting many, many horrible photos with the new camera. We are not good friends yet. Let's see how that goes in the future. :)

~Rachel

Kittens

2010-12-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

Kittens! We have had so much fun watching and playing with kittens. This is our 12 year old cat, Mouse, whom the kittens would very much like to play. She allowed a little "cat and mouse" or should I say "kittens and Mouse " in which she would twitch her tail so they could jump at it. This game got old in about a week as the kittens wanted "more" of Mouse and she had had quite enough! She enjoyed being the only cat to go outside and that is where she would get some rest. That has ended now as the kittens are also coming and going; torturing our chickens and horse and following the dog and me on our daily walks around the land... what crazy little kittens.

Here is Jester for her close up.

Here the kittens are finally not scared of the dog anymore. Now Charlie has a routine of coming in from outside and spending a good minute or more rubbing himself all over the dog. Tossing his body into Tide's front paws and practically asking to be mauled. Tide is very restrained and often gives the kitten a brief sniff and then walks away. I'm a little worried about just how friendly and outgoing Charles is. The coyote here have been very brave. They should not be greeted by kittens.

Another of Charlie's habits is to sleep in curious positions. He will find a lap and "bloorp" off from it as our middle son says. He goes so limp during sleeping that he will start to slide off the lap and not ever stop himself until he has slowly dripped onto the floor. He also enjoys being upside down with his paws in the air.

Very, very entertaining.

~Rachel

Foliage

2010-10-15T16:03:00.001-07:00

The foliage has been doing it's thing around here.

It is very sad though that we have been without a camera to capture much of it. Boo-hoo. I finally hit my breaking point as I was receiving e-mail after e-mail from my horse owning friends with photos of their rides and the beautiful NH fall foliage. We finally picked up a new camera for John's birthday and we're back in business. I snapped this shot while out on the trail last weekend. This is an unnamed puddle, as far as I know, along the snowmobile trails in New Durham where I was riding with my dear friend Lois.

I am still trying to "learn" the new camera so with any luck there will be more photos to post soon. I had the camera with me on my ride last night but I was too slow to capture either the red tailed fox or the otter that I saw while I was out there. The sun was setting quickly so the brilliance of the day was gone with the growing shadows. Oh well. I'm not sure how many leaves will be left on the branches after today's rain and tomorrow's wind do their work. The seasons do change in a hurry.

I'm nearly finished with a sweater and have several other projects that I'm inching along so I'll have to photograph those soon. The kittens, who we affectionately call "thing one and thing two" in their current phase, are very active and entertaining even if they are a bit destructive too! I'm sure we're due to photograph them soon too.

We grew some large and odd pumpkins...maybe I'll get a photo there too. Lots to leave to the imagination tonight! I'm looking forward to sharing photos on the blog again soon.

~Rachel

Summer

2010-09-03T04:53:00.001-07:00

Ahhh Summer. The lazy days. We had quite a warm summer this year. One evening our little one came running to tell of a double rainbow. We enjoyed it and phone called all our neighbors to tell them to look outside. I will remember this one for all of the giggles my boys shared with me over the sharing of a beautiful sight with our friends.
Sailing was a great activity for the middle boy. Heading out on Lake Wentworth for the Point Breeze Race on this day. They didn't win but didn't lose either. I think the boys knew that crossing that line meant the end of sailing and they were simply having too much fun on the water! A competitive spirit they did not have and I couldn't be happier with their day.

I spent many Tuesday afternoons at the beach working away at my knitting and chatting with a circle of homeschooling moms while our kids waged battles with army men in the sand or played capture the flag in the trees or dove for fresh water clams and interesting rocks. Summer.
Kittens! I think there is nothing like kittens! We lost one of our dear cats just on the day or the day before she turned 12. She simply didn't come home. We were very saddened by our loss of Tiger Lily. 2 months later we brought home 2 little bundles of energy. A brother and sister from a litter in the neighborhood. Charlie is the black & white Tuxedo cat and Jest is his Calico sister. They are providing hours of kitten entertainment. As I type I can hear them chasing around upstairs.

Our middle son was very busy this summer with Driver's Ed and now has a license to drive. Can't believe that. Both teens worked at a local farm again and were busy with other odd jobs and friends. I realize they are young men now and not my little boys anymore. The oldest has odd jobs and requests for house-sitting, horse feeding, dog walking and other requests pretty consistantly as he is a reliable and hard worker.

Our anniversary found us getting away for a day of walking around some trails off the Kancamagus Highway. This remote pond was free of other tourists and we enjoyed walking the trail around it in the quiet.

~Rachel

Trail Ride Weekend

2010-07-05T14:35:00.001-07:00

What a weekend! After lots of preparation by many people, the 4th of July trail ride ended up a hit. The ride went out from our little Stone Bridge Farm and people from the Southern Maine Association of Riding Trails enjoyed 2 days of pleasure trail riding plus camping and meals. It's quite the event.

We have a professional photographer (and friend of mine, thanks Dusty!) who came out in the deerfly filled woods to photograph riders on their way through. This is the view on Saturday. I think she took a fabulous photo of the King and I. :)

check her work out at dustyperin.com

This was on the way over the mountain on our 20 mile day. I was actually riding the trails with another lady on "point" which means we go out early and check that all of our markings are still in place for the riders to follow. The day was hot and steamy and peak deerfly season so we all donated a lot of blood to those...but the trails were fantastic and I had a great time. We had some long sections of good trail for cantering as well as some very technical trail going over the mountain.

The folks who were camping we set up in the back field where everyone had plenty of room.

The day trippers parked out front. Sunday's ride was through Branch Hill so no mountains, but a good river and a good brook to cross as well as the emaculate trails in that conservation land. Riders had options to cut the ride short as the temperatures were soaring into the 90s with high humidity. I think we only had 15 miles of trail marked out there anyhow. I didn't ride on Sunday as I was working back at home and going to the parade in town with my family. There were too many things calling me to stay home so I couldn't go and ride it. That's okay, I rode most of it marking the trail and I'll be back out there taking down the markings...the work isn't over yet!

here is another view of the campers out back. I can't get everyone in a single photo but 13 horses spent the night out there. I heard rave reports of "the campground" with the nights filled with fireflies. The neighbor donkeys kept the horses entertained too.

Whew! What a weekend.

~Rachel

Monkey Trunks

2010-07-05T14:18:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a day at Monkey Trunks in Tamworth, NH with other homeschoolers recently. This place is amazing. Pricey, but well worth it we think! There are different courses and interesting challenges which all 3 boys enjoyed all afternoon. Here is our middle son out in "the jungle".

And our oldest in the jungle too.

The little guy doing a zipline.

The middle boy out on the big structure.

And our oldest on the big structure too.

~Rachel

June - so far

2010-06-13T16:18:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy time around here as usual. We're having loads of fun. The garden is mostly in but I have not taken photos yet. Each child's school year is almost done and my mind is already wrapped around summer.

The little guy and my mom and I made it to York Beach one day. He spent a long time in the water! Too cold for me, but not too cold for him I guess. He's the one in the black shirt. He made a fast friend at the ocean and rode the waves for a long time.

We have a "long story" about a couple of cochins, house-sitters, vacations and it all ends with a couple of hatched chicks. Here they are on their first outing. They are now fully integrated with the flock and doing well. The moms were enjoying a dust bath after sitting so long.

I've been trail riding every chance I can get! It's been a wonderful spring for riding as we didn't get floods. Here I paused on an overlook with friends who were willing to take a quick photo. On a good day we can see Mt. Washington from that spot. This is a hill that's just an hour's ride from my dooryard. Very pretty.

We enjoyed a visit with John's sibling, Judy and husband Nate one evening. Their cute little dog was timid of our slippery floors so our oldest boy made a "Biscuit Bridge". We really enjoyed the visit as they were passing through the state!

Oh, and I do still knit. This spring I've made some hats, socks, a sweater, several lace things, fingerless gloves, a gift bag....hmmm. I think that's it but I'm not sure. Anyhow here are a couple of little triangular lace shawls that I managed to remember to take a photo of!

I hope your spring is going as well as ours.

May

2010-05-17T04:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's certainly a nice spring around here. The ground is drying up beautifully. It's strange for us to see what a "normal" spring is like after having flooding during the past two!

I love this robin's nest in our yard. The nest is lined with horse hair, recycling at it's best. :)

It is also Trilium season. Usually I get out on some trail rides where the red trilium grow but that hasn't happened this year. Now the Indian Moccassin is out (Pink Ladyslipper) so I fear I've missed the season. In my yard there are lots of Trilium plants. It took me 2 years to realize that they were flowering. They are nodding! So here is a photo of those hidden beauties. The flower buds erect but then nods under the leaves to bloom!

It's not all work and no play around here. John plays golf during the summer for a team from his workplace. He gets out once a week to play. This year he got a treat of some hand-me-down clubs. It inspired him to buy a new bag! Quite dapper. He finds our front yard to be a good place to practice from. There are so many clubs in this set that he doesn't even know them yet. Irons he never had before. Fun!

The teens are back at work on the weekends to their summer jobs and I'm still enjoying as much saddle time as I can. My horse is really pleasing me this year! All of the work of the past two years to help this boy out is now paying off. He looks and feels healthy and strong. Boy, does he like to go! Here's hoping it is sunny where you are today!

~Rachel

Mystic

2010-05-08T07:55:00.001-07:00

We took a family vacation! It was the first time ever for these growing boys to stay in a hotel. Okay, the older 2 did that before when they were under the age of 4...so I guess they don't remember that.

We spent 3 nights away from our little farm to enjoy the sights of Mystic Connecticut. The older boys really loved the seaport and they could have spent a week there.

We enjoyed the staff at seaport village as they were some of the most forthcoming and enthusiastic folks we've encountered at a museum of this type. I think John & the older boys spent well over an hour each with a couple of the interpreters. One was in the print shop. The little one and I did lots of wandering around as he didn't find the conversations as stimulating. LOL

The boys all got to help "set sail" on one of the ships and we enjoyed seeing how they restore tall ships today.

We also spent a day at the Aquarium. Here is our little one petting a shark! He really enjoyed the beluga whales and the sea lions. We also got to touch the rays and that was a fun thing too. Slimy. Not rough like the sharks. We enjoyed the cable TV at the hotel and realized why we don't do cable TV here at home (so many commercials!) but it was fun to see what we're missing out on. The pool was a lot of fun too. John enjoyed the hot tub. I even got in there one night. Too many chemicals for me though. Too much sting for my eyes and nose. :)

We have some great memories and it was just the right size for a family vacation for us...people who like our vacations at home!

Hope your spring is a fun time too!

~Rachle

Happy Spring

2010-04-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

This was today. I got out for a 2 hour ride with friends. The horse was a muddy legged beast at the end so a good hosing, some tick removing and a little scrubbing later found us relaxing in the sun with the dog. We happily soaked up the moments out there until he was dry enough to return to the paddock. (which would most certainly inspire him to go rolling in the dirtiest spot.)

The teens were off with friends, John went out golfing with friends, I went out riding with friends and then took the littlest one off bowling with a friend. It was a great day! Happy Spring Indeed!

~Rachel

2010-04-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

Where do you want it?

John decided to move a bridge. It started out as a "yard feature" up in the back field. It was on the property when we bought it in '05. This year it found a new home over the stream.

A Happy Birthday party was had in January. It was a sledding party complete with sugar on snow. What a wonderful day we had.

No spring seems complete without a trip to VT. John and the boys got to help the family with a little bit of tapping. Great fun for them. I was home dealing with a storm which took out the power. It was a nice and quiet time sitting by the fire, knitting. :)

~Rachel

Horses

2009-12-13T17:09:00.001-08:00

My riding year has been a fantastic one. We've had lots of fun out there on the trails. I've counted 31 rides plus 9 lessons. I've hosted a trail ride at my house and volunteered for other's rides too. I've invited a bunch of folks to the local Pub for monthly gatherings and we've enjoyed the fellowship of one another in our equine community. What a great year!

Lois C & Inde

Seneca

Paula G and Kodiak

My "got trails" truck.

The S.M.A.R.T. ride here

Mickey & Sandy's boys

Me & Lois C on Kita

Kent & Nancy with 2 of their 7, Zuza and Cupie

Sue S., Nancy M & Me (thanks Barbara)
Cochise, Keeper & King

What great fun. I also had rides with Sue D., Rose L., Tracey W., Andrea B. (can we call that a ride :) ) lessons with Terry McClare and Jenn too.

November

2009-12-13T16:34:00.001-08:00

Caching in Conway was one of the family things we did in November. The month was unseasonably warm and simply beautiful. We spent one afternoon in the north country enjoying the Weather Discovery Center and several area geocaches. (Yes Lyn, I forgot to log those in!)

The kids are so much fun to be with. They have me rolling laughing most of the time. Teenagers are a hoot. They are witty and fun and just loving every minute of their lives.

Of course that is sort of how my husband is too as you can see by his big grin. My how his boys have grown!

I'll end November with the frost that is sticking to our electric fence...a sure sign of the weather to come.

~Rachel

October

2009-12-13T16:22:00.001-08:00

October was a busy and good month. The seasons were changing between blinks around here and we played every minute we could!

The kids got to spend part of one foliage filled chilly day flying at the local airport. Two went up in this plane and the oldest boy got a real treat as he went up with one of the best stunt fliers around. Sigrid's plane was the envy of all that day. She trains stunt pilots and was an excellent host for his free flight. He got a very long ride all around NH in this Extra 200 plane.

The month had us fully into the school schedule and spending lots of family time together. Here is our oldest's pumpkin all carved for Halloween. We were lucky to have some pumpkins from the volunteer plants on the manure pile. Great pumpkins!

~Rachel

September part 2

2009-10-17T14:18:00.001-07:00

Just a few photos from our neck of the woods. September was a busy month around here. We were picking corn and freezing corn and picking corn and giving corn away and freezing more corn. We ate corn on the cob and then shepherd's pie and corn chowder and more of each of those. Did I mention that we grew potatoes too? More corn chowder and more shepherd's pie...leek and potato soup...potato salad, german potato salad, new potatoes on the grill, mashed potatoes. We were so ready for a new crop! LOL. The neighbors were not complaining! We traded corn & potatoes for cucumbers and made pickles. We traded for tomatoes and made salsa. And now it's apple season....

However in the middle of this gardening we discovered that the manure pile had it's own crop. Pumpkins! The best ones we grew...as the ones we actually planted, protected, weeded and tended did horribly! This crop which volunteered itself from the remains of last year's decorations tossed upon the pile produced some wonderful, large pumpkins...and a garden orb spider or two as well.

I was off horsing around again during much of September. I love this time of year 2nd best to that time between mud season and bug season. This is the post bug season-before rifle hunting of deer season. It is a wonderful time to go riding! This day had me with good friends enjoying the dirt roads and trails on another New Hampshire mountain. Ahhh.

Labor Day had us gathering with my folks and friends and it was chilly! The "chiminea" was a delight to hang around. We brought corn and potatoes with us to share.

Back at home we took a photo of the turkeys again. We have had 2 consistent groups here daily. This one is 5 or 6 birds and wanders through in the afternoon mostly. They enjoy walking right past the horse. We consider it obstacle training for him. I can say he's no longer worried about turkeys! They are often all out there just a few feet from one another. He's still a little nervous of those moving rocks...you know the kind which come up from the pond in the spring to lay eggs...snapping turtles. Those he's a little leary of. I am too.

~Rachel

September

2009-10-17T14:09:00.001-07:00

The first day of school around here was exciting this year. Our middle boy is off to a charter school for high school. He commutes the 30 miles with dad in the morning. So we were seeing them off at 6:30am for our first day of school photos. The little guy was very excited to be starting school too. 3rd grade this year in our homeschool.

The school year has been going along very well for us and we're all settled in to our routines now.

The oldest boy got his photos done after work. He does 1 1/2 hours of school from 7-8:30 then off to work from 9-12. He's working at a local farm still and really enjoys that. It won't be long before they close for the winter but he's enjoying every minute until then!

Sometimes photo taking and boys turns out more like this....but that's okay too. Silly boys.

~Rachel

July

2009-07-28T04:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, I do still knit. I haven't shared very much of my work lately. Here is one. It's a Faroese Shawl which is made from the leftover yarn from last year's big project.

The Canada Lily plants in our yard did seem to enjoy the weather this year as well as the wild berries on our property. One of the lilies is over 6 feet tall and had 16 flowers on it.

The boys now play enjoyable music and that has been a fun thing for us as a family to listen to.

Here is our little blueberry picker checking out the early berries. By the next week the majority were ripe. Our summer has been different this year with the teens working 5 days a week at a garden center near us. They enjoy the work. Off they go in their little car in the mornings and back they come at lunchtime. We do our family activities in the afternoons mostly. Teens are a fun thing to have around the house! I miss them while they are away...of course I'm glad they are spreading their wings too.

~Rachel

Tall Ships

2009-07-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

Sail Boston puts on a great Tall Ships event! We went down to Beantown to enjoy the sights.
We've been to plenty of tall ships activities before...but never quite like this one. There were dozens of ships in. Only a few were docked to be open to the public. Many were at private docks around the harbor. The floatilla of ships viewing from the harbor was worth seeing on it's own. While standing in line to board La Amistad (which had another ship rafted to her) we watched another of our favorites go by in the harbor, the Roseway. I can't say that we've ever watched tall ships go sailing (under motor) by while boarding another ship before. We really enjoyed the Picton Castle the most I think. As we approached there was a piper blaring out a tune on the bagpipes. Her home port is in Nova Scotia. The atmosphere on this ship was just happy. Most of the crew were young people and they were clearly having the time of their lives.
If we had the time we'd have gone back for another day of it. What a wonderful event!
~Rachel

June

2009-07-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

June was, well... April! It rained every day but 3 and those were a far cry from "sunny". The pattern has been continuing into July as well-only not as cold.

Here are a few photos of some of what's been going on around here. We replaced our dead GPS with a new used one and we are caching again.

The youngest boy is raising a small flock of chicks.

And, boys will be boys and play with swords. It is a common thing now to hear sudden foot noises in another room followed by laughter and "parry...repost" or something like that. Lessons are off for the summer but they have been a fun thing this winter/spring.

~Rachel

Camp

2009-05-25T16:03:00.001-07:00

What a place to spend a long weekend. Thanks again to John's folks for hosting us in this wonderful camp. We did such exciting things as napping, fishing and boating. Ahhh.

I'll let the photos tell the story....

~Rachel

May

2009-05-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

Big puddles are lots of fun...when you have your daddy's boots on to keep you dry. I think he's just so cute out there. This boy is certainly an outdoor boy and he's spent many an hour during May outside, on the ATV, in the sandpile, weeding in the garden, playing in puddles, shooting the BB Gun, collecting flowers. There's a world of opportunity out there!

On this rainy day we noticed a single turkey who just seemed to think it would be nice to be a chicken. She stood out there, shaking the rain off and staring into the coop for a long time. We have so much wildlife wandering through. Usually right around where that turkey is. They seem to use the bridge to cross Miller Brook at the foot of our driveway and then hug the treeline up to our bridge to cross the stream. Then off into the next big chunk of woods. We had a doe and her yearling son wander through the day before and our resident grey fox was greeting John from the middle of the horse paddock the next night. Many of our neighbors gave up on keeping chickens as the wildlife was such an issue. When we moved in we had a domestic "wildlife" issue so we went straight for the electrified netting. It has been so worth it. It kept out a large dog, and continues to keep out the fox who lives here, the fisher we've watched passing through, as well as any raccoons or weasels, both of which we've seen nearby. The coyote seem to have moved further away this year than they were last year. We had scat daily in the back field last year as well as many a loud howling session at night. Hawks continue to be a threat to the birds with this setup, but our scrappy little rooster took on the last Peregrin that made a try for the birds. The crows who nest in the pines by the barn seem to chase off most of the hawks as soon as they arrive. The chickens head for the coop at the first crow warning call. They are bi-lingual we think!
We got to setting up the pool when the sun came out. I think these boys are a bit confused...sledding or swimming? It's sort of like the front hall which as of late had everything from snowpants to sandals hanging around. The weather shifts in spring are amazing. I'm finally done putting away the snowpants and boots for the season. Summer is just around the bend now.

Happy spring.

~Rachel

School

2009-04-30T04:59:00.001-07:00

Some schooling happens in interesting places. Here is our oldest on the last day of lifeguard training. He's certified now for lifeguarding with CPR for the Professional Rescuer. He hopes to continue working at a local farm as well as get a part-time guarding job for the summer. I'll give him credit for that class for sure!

Here is one just finishing off a book for book club. I think that one was Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. I think such a book should be read outside in "the wilds". Or on a chicken coop's south roof to gain the extra heat from the sun.

How can I hold back the water? A question many engineers have been asking for eons. Sandpile science is a great way to start!

~Rachel

Trick Photo

2009-04-30T04:55:00.001-07:00

What a fun thing to do with your camera. Here she is, holding her smallest brother. She won't be able to do that much longer! He's already up to my chin and growing each day.

Dad is going to hop away before his son can smoosh him! Hope you enjoy our fun as much as we do!

~Rachel

April showers

2009-04-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, this is the view from here. Need I say more? A dry trail on a warm day with a good friend and a healthy horse...spring peepers and NO biting bugs! This is the good part of April for sure!
And this is the "other" part of April. Look at the yard work we have to do! The ice storm in December has left plenty of "slash" thoughout the woods. Our youngest will have plenty to do with his ATV in pulling all of this to the burn piles. We don't have tons of woods, mostly fields, but there is plenty of work out there to keep us busy for some time. I see lots of campfires this summer.

This is the stone bridge and it has quite a flowing stream after the rain early this week. This year is no where near the flooding of the last 2 springs though. We had water up to the top of that bridge and it was shooting out this side. It was truly frightening. This year it is rushing, but not at all scary. I just love this bridge!

I hope your April is going well too.

~Rachel

Spring?

2009-03-24T11:21:00.001-07:00

Spring? Could winter's icy grip be slowly releasing?

I think so. The stream is running hard as well as Miller Brook. The ice is trying to hold on, but I think the water will win.

I have found pussywillows opening up and that is a sure sign of the season to come.
There is bare ground showing in areas where the sun does it's good work.

King has been enjoying playing at grazing the dried up grasses out in the back field this windy day. I had my first ride of the season on Sunday with neighbors. We did a 2 hour walk along the roads. The weather fluctuated between sun and bursts of snow. It was a great time despite the weather and I am happy to be back in the saddle for the season. King was happy to have the company of good mares and light exercise too.

The poor hens were truly chicken of venturing out in the snow. After a trail was blazed with shovel and pickaxe to break through the tough ice the hens have made their way to "new ground" and enjoyed the first dustbaths of the season. So fun to listen to the sounds out there. Happy clucking, rushing water, song birds chirping and the wind pushing the snow clouds away. I do hope Spring is here for real this time!

Happy Spring to you too!

~Rachel

February

2009-03-03T06:02:00.001-08:00

This is the photo that I'll call "Before". Here is one of our cats out on the big rock. She's feeling good in our January...ahem...February thaw. I think the January one was postponed as we never got it! We had only a few inches of very crusty snow and spots of the ground showing here and there too! Then we had a snowstorm overnight Wed. the 18th. And another several inches the next night and after that it is sort of fuzzy for me until I'm quite certain that we had the 18 or 20 inches overnight the 22nd. So here is our "after" photo. Not sure when this photo was. Maybe the 23rd? Anyhow, we had another foot or so yesterday so it's already not the real picture of what it looks like here.

I have been knitting still and here is a hat that I made from leftover yarn. Our guitarist son is showing it off.

I was finding some other great photos of the knitted objects but found this one to show of several at once.

Okay, the tall guy is sporting "turn a square" in wool, the boy with his hand on dad's shoulder has on a seaman's cap I made out of alpaca yarn and the littlest one is wearing a honeycomb pattern hat out of merino wool. The kid in red has a store-bought hat on, but it works just as well for nerf battles!
We find exercise a little tricky with several feet of snow out there on the ground (and it's too cold for the snowball type of thing) so we have enjoyed many a nerf battle this winter.

Here's hoping your winter is as much fun as ours!

~Rachel

Schooling

2009-02-26T13:13:00.001-08:00

We have had some good progress in school this winter. We read The Tale of Two Cities and then Christy for our January & February book club books. Those are both long reads and it is nice to have them during the winter to snuggle up with. The kids in book club did a fantastic job discussing those books too.

Here is a Nature Journal underway from our very talented artistic son.

We have a cat overseeing a writing assignment, while birdwatching and "catnapping". Our cats are very talented!

Chemistry at home has been a fun subject for Dad to teach. The lab kit is sometimes quite interesting!

The older boys are also "accessing" at our Middle School and High School for their "A" block class. One has completed French I and is now doing French II in this second semester. The other is taking 2 classes during that block and they are Computers and Art. My 2nd grader and I get lots accomplished during our alone time while the big boys are away from 6:30am until 9:15 when they get in. It's so nice to have them driving there on their own too! Other classes outside the home are Art for the littlest one at the local Elementary, Recess with the area homeschoolers, Dr. Suess storytime, Lifeguarding Classes for the oldest, Fencing classes for the middle and my dear husband. We took a break from theater this spring. Of course there's book club and Piano & Guitar as well. Busy, busy! I get a lot more done though with another driver in the house!

~Rachel

January

2009-02-26T12:46:00.000-08:00

C-c-c-cold!

-24 was the lowest that day or the next. It's hard to remember. January had us sipping hot tea or hot cocoa and staying by the fire. It's been a busy month for schooling and a very good time to stay home to keep the fire burning and to keep the oil bill low.

Mouse has found her new favorite spots in the house. We agree. Outdoors we have enjoyed seeing all of the wild tracks in the snow and feeding the birds. Our huntress cats have enjoyed watching the feeder from the warmth of the indoors. Me too!

I've been doing plenty of knitting and I'll blog about that later.

~Rachel

Holidays

2009-01-04T12:13:00.001-08:00

Christmas Day.

We enjoyed the excellent company of friends and family in a very relaxed fashion. We have all "cut back" on the holiday gift-giving over a number of years and as it turns out...we spend more time together. Bonus.

This year, grumpy as I was, I decided to not even cook a traditional Christmas dinner. We had a soup and sandwich sort of day. John & I made Seafood Newburg Stoup and had sandwich fixings. My mom added a Minestone and more sandwich fixings and Auntie Lois added a Squash - Apple Bisque. We all brought fun desserts and set the table for dessert at 4:00. We snapped the crackers, and played with the toys, laughed at the silly jokes in the crackers and wore the silly hats. It was a very nice time.

There were lots of activities with Nerf gun battles and snowball fights, a 700 piece puzzle was worked on to 1/2 completion and many stories shared and memories made.

Daddy really enjoys his new gun. Too funny.

And Tide really enjoys his new "Jackolope" toy. He was seen carrying it around and sleeping on it.

The New Year had us going from gathering to gathering. There were many friends seen and lots of time to relax and enjoy.

I did find the time to knit up a "Honeycomb" hat...actually 2 of them during this break. We're gearing up for a nice January. We hope your holidays were as cheerful as ours.

~Rachel

Ice Storm

2008-12-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

The first weekend in December had us setting up our "recession" Christmas Tree. We picked a tree from the back yard this year. We think our free tree is simply beautiful. We are finding the holidays to be sneaking up on us this year. It's been so busy with traveling out of state for something or other during 3 weekends in November and lots of extra activities going on that it hardly seems like December yet!

We have had very little time in our yard lately beyond splitting and stacking wood or just trying to keep up with the routine maintenance. I guess we were due to notice our surroundings when the ice storm hit!

Wednesday the rain started and Thursday was hail at first, and then freezing rain to end it. The power went out around midnight Thursday and didn't come back on until suppertime on Sunday! We are very thankful to have a generator to run the necessities. We would run it for 4 hours at a time and then wait another 8 or 10 before turning it on again. We didn't want to run out of gas and there really wasn't a need beyond those short stints to re-cool the fridge and use the water.

The ice storm produced a stunning winter wonderland effect of our world.

The heavy buildup was a crystal palace when the sun came out. The kids and I had a wonderful time out in the yard taking in the beauty of it all!

~Rachel

Thanksgiving

2008-12-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was spent in Wolfeboro at my sister's home. They put on an excellent meal and we had lots of fun with family. We played Apples to Apples and went for a nice chilly walk to burn off the meal (before dessert.)

It was a nice weekend to spend together and we even snuck in a day trip to VT!

Here are the boys with Gramma & Grampa. We enjoyed visiting for the way-too-short time we were there. We felt fortunate to find a neighbor close by who was willing to do the evening chores around here as well as to walk our dog mid-day.

We spent Sunday in a recovery mode and beginning preparations for the month ahead.

Nice to visit with so many of our family in such a short time!

~Rachel

Knitting

2008-11-28T05:35:00.001-08:00

The name of this pattern is Frost Flowers and Leaves and it's from the "Gathering of Lace" book that I have. I gave this one to my Mom for her to wear during this holiday season.

It's Alpaca with a twist...70% Baby Alpaca and 30% Silk.

I've also done some socks lately, finished a little bolero for my niece and have a sweater on the needles right now!

~Rachel

November

2008-11-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

John is putting in lots of extra time at work, both there and working from home. The work at home is often in his robe, at the comfort of the dining room table and at times with the company of Tiger Lily! She is apparantly a very good editor as she is often very attentive to his e-mails.

Here is our young man with his brand new driver's license! It has been a big relief to me to have him driving himself to and from school for his early morning French class as well as to drop off his brother at Guitar lessons or just to run to the local store or library for errands. NICE!

We spent the weekend of the 22nd & 23rd in "Beantown". Brian had classes at MIT for Splash weekend. Loads of fun for him and the other teens which we carpooled down with. Some were strictly for fun such as Rugby or Duct Tape Design...but others were more serious about solar power and LEDs. Lots of fun at a wonderful event.

Andrew and I spent time at the Museum of Fine Arts and then over at "Old Ironsides." The USS Constitution is going through some repairs so she is not currently rigged. Here he is at the bow of the ship and enjoying the trip tremendously. Mom was a bit cold with the temperature holding at 28 and wind chill bringing it to zero or below quite often. The Constituion's museum was a warm and welcome place to be!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

~Rachel

Activites!

2008-11-27T08:17:00.001-08:00

Our fall has been filled with activities. Here I am coaching soccer...I'm the tallish kid in blue. It was too cold for my coach's tee alone. Coach French did better with the cold than I did. My "little guy" is there in his white hoodie...he might also have had an aversion to the cold too! Or he could just be stylin' in his sweatshirt.
We played 7 weekends with practices on Saturdays and games on Sunday afternoons.

The boys also had another year of their Shakespeare Theater group classes this fall, Guitar & Piano, Kindermusik, Book Club, Swim Lessons, Magazine Club, Milton Homeschooler's Meetings, Driver's Ed and French at the local High School. I'm very familiar with the "Mom's Taxi" game now.

Here is a little fun we had on the last day of that session of swim. And some more "serious" parts of the lessons too.

The boys have been growing and learning and playing. I just can't believe how fast time is passing!

~Rachel

Fall

2008-11-27T08:12:00.001-08:00

Well, here they are and growing! Fall went by very fast and we're not quite sure who's fault it is that we haven't been blogging. Any ideas?

So it's eveyone's fault!

We've been ultra busy! I'll try to put up a couple more photos today. I've been kicked out of blogger several times by my finicky computer so I'm keeping these short!

Here's hoping your busy fall has been as much fun as ours.

~Rachel

August

2008-09-06T06:35:00.001-07:00

Flooding seems the appropriate way to start this blog. We've had lots and lots of flooding. This might have been the storm which had the Tornado (about 10 miles north of us) or it was one of the daily thunderstorms we had...it's hard to tell anymore. We've had lots of rain! The back field has been a swamp. Many local roads have washouts. We've replaced lots of electrical devices after the storms and had several candlelight dinners. What weather!

We did get down to Portsmouth with our son and friends for his birthday during August. See that ship? It's the Friendship and see those clouds? They are the reason we didn't get to go on the Friendship. We did tour the Roseway and the Gundalo, but a severe thunderstorm rolled in and trapped us with another 200 or so people in a tent for over an hour. Par for the course this summer.

We took one Tuesday to go and visit my folks up in ME where they were camping. It rained for most of our visit, but we did get a break long enough to take a walk. My niece joined us for the day and it was a nice time for all.

Here is a giant sunflower that our youngest boy planted himself this spring. The sunflowers are doing well, so are the cucumbers and tomatos. We have good basil too. The carrots, peas, beans, corn and pumpkins have not done very well at all in this weather. We felt very fortunate to get in 120 bales of hay as many farmers have only had their first cut in the 2nd half of August! That would be haying your second cut with the old first in the mix. Not very good hay this season.

Another field trip we took was up to the Fort at No. 4 across the state. It was a fun day for sure. There was an encampment going on with a Sutler's Row (marketplace) and our history buff kids were in heaven. We watched a mock battle of the French and Indian War and spent the afternoon in the 1700s. Of course we went home a little early due to what...you knew it!... another thunderstorm.

I'll end this soggy blog with a September photo from yesterday's cache run. This is a bridge built in the 1800s for the railroad. It is still in use today with a daily train from Ossipee, NH to Boston, MA. It was a very nice trail. We spooked a fox and although Tide wanted to take up the chase he did come back right away. Good boy. And a dry day!

~Rachel

July

2008-07-21T04:04:00.000-07:00

Here's my Niece, Hannah! We had lots of fun for 2 weeks in July playing with her while my very busy, working-mom sister was out. My sister is a licensed therapist and has a busy schedule doing family counciling. Usually this post of babysitter goes to my mother, but she was away on vacation. We took Hannah to the beach and she just loved it.

The 4th of July parade here in town was cute and small. We enjoyed the entries of antique cars and our local firetrucks. There were floats from some local businesses and churches as well as this adorable horse entry. We spent the afternoon taking in the local bar-b-ques and activities.

Some of the day's fun included swimming downtown. Brian is the boy in the blue trunks on his way in. The local teenagers stuck together in a big mob and had a great time playing capture the flag and bar-b-que hopping in a group of about 20 or more.
In the evening we took the kids up to watch the fireworks in Wolfeboro. They were a spectacular show! One of the best in recent years.

We've been having our share of woes in July so we really enjoyed a nice day. A Thunderstorm took out a bunch of our possessions. Many of which we just don't want to replace. One of our TVs for instance. I've wanted to get rid of that thing for a long time anyway! John's computer and our modem got the shock too. We were without internet for many days before we could find one day to stay at home and wait for the repair guy. We had the brush-hog, our riding mower and weedwhacker all die together. Get eating there King! The horse could not clean up 11 acres of grass for us. Too bad. We've fixed or replaced them all. The truck & little ATV each went to the shop...it was not a boring month! On the upside...John spent lots of time golfing and I got to go riding a few times too. The boys spent some time camping in ME with their grandparents and have been to the beach lots and lots to hang out with their friends.
The kids have been working on their 4-H projects and here is one of our 7 year old's photos. He's getting a good eye for photography. We chose to have one pot of tomatos, but the rest of the plants are in our garden. He found these cherry tomatos to be a good subject. Very good work.
The older boys have been busy working at a local farm picking berries. Strawberries are done now and they are working at Raspberries. The boys really enjoy their jobs.
My youngest and I have enjoyed a few rounds of our own picking of our wild blueberries here at home.
With all of the rain we were very fortunate to get our 120 bales of hay put up for the winter. There was a break in our daily storms for 4 or 5 days last week. The hay farmers were very busy at long last. We have had spectacular storms here and it's really become a near daily routine of unplugging all sorts of things.
Here's hoping you are all enjoying your summers too!
~Rachel

Graduations & Visits

2008-06-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

Well, she did it! Cory graduated from UNH with a Betchelors of Art in Women Studies this spring. The commencement was great, the weater was wonderful, and the 2500 graduating students (2023 undergraduates and 475 graduate students) were just a sea of colors. Thank goodness for the large video monitor and camera crew.

The projects at the home front continue... Here is the new horse run-in shelter that Brian and I built with our new framing gun. I can't imagine how long it would have taken with just the standard hammers. As this "movable" structure was built in our back field it was definitely a chore to put it up with just the two of us. Thanks to the electric generator, air compressor, electrical saws and 3+ weekends, the horse has shelter during the heat/rain/whatever..

Well, have to get to work now. More postings later. Love to all and have a great summer.

May

2008-05-16T10:25:00.001-07:00

Here are 2 officers from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. What a performance they had this year! The play takes up most of our time during the end of April and then the shows April 30-May4. All 5 shows went off very well and we celebrated another good year in the Young People's Stage Company.

Here is King having his "close up". He is a freckled guy...it's called a flea bitten grey. We're doing really well and I've been out riding now that the ground is ready. Very happy. We are very happy with him!

Here is a promise of berries to come. A wild bee working away at the wild blueberry bushes in our yard. Won't it be yummy!
My daily walking partner out on our jaunt. Tide is still my constant companion--a shadow really.
Another sure sign of spring's full return is this frog, sunning himself on a rock near our stone bridge. Ahhh. Spring!

~Rachel

Portsmouth caching

2008-05-16T10:10:00.001-07:00

Hey! Kids! Wait up. You would think that they had never seen bare ground before. Okay. Well, they had not seen bare ground for 4 1/2 months. Portsmouth did not get the snow load that we did. Several of their storms were rain instead of snow. John would drive off to work each day in this springtime bliss and come home to the snowbanks and winter weather we were stuck in. We had had it! Into the cars with the kids and out to find a cache along this "exercise" trail.

Do you like the new look? I think he's handsome. He's a keeper for sure.

And there are 3 more handsome guys too. What a fun family day.

~Rachel

April

2008-05-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you know what it's like when you have put something off for so long that you feel like it's just to hard to get going again. Yeah.

Sort of like this blog.

Well...

I'm just going to get started and see what happens!

I don't remember much about April anymore. It seems that we started with feet of snow and lots of ice chopping and outdoor work. But some interesting things were going on inside too. Here is Ben knitting and Brian's Ukranian Egg for Easter.

Okay. So, I've started. Maybe I've got another one to do today too.

~Rachel

Got Snow?

2008-03-02T06:14:00.001-08:00

This is our horse fence. It is about 4 feet high. I took this photo before our last storm and now the fence has disappeared. It's a good thing that the horse does not want to walk through 4 feet of snow!

The next one is of Tide by our tent garage out in the back field We did move the snow off it as we were worried about losing that structure. There are lots of buildings caving in around NH this year. Through January we were able to plow over our stone bridge and into the back field. (We store hay in that tent.) Now we're limited to a path we make with the snowblower. The bridge became too narrow and icy to get safely across. It seemed to want to push our truck into the brook!

John was so good to plow the driveway Saturday morning for the latest storm March 1. He did end up using the snowblower as well as our driveway is getting really, really narrow.

This is what our parking area looks like.

Here is Andrew packing up his guitar. What snowpiles!!

This is my view of the barn. I really can't see much from the windows anymore. Just a winter wonderland! The news is saying that Concord, NH may break the record for the snowiest winter recorded (past 200 or so years.) We're within 12 inches of that record now. I think there's been 109 inches or something like that, for the season. I love driving along the roads here as they remind me of what the roads looked like when I was growing up. In our old town they had done lots of tree clearing on the edge of the road so we didn't have the overhanging branches. Here we do. We also have the frequent power outages which go with the overhanging tree limbs...but at this point we like those too.

Happy March!

~Rachel

Winter Events and Fun

2008-02-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful time we had through December and January. We had a chance to visit with the folks in Milton, VT and spend time with many of our family members. It's amazing how gray I've gotten and how much Dad and Mom haven't changed (what's with that??). The time spent was short, but fun. We are very thankful for the chance to say hello to many, and sad we didn't get a chance to spend time with everyone.

The snow this year has been a lot of fun for all. It really has made up for the minimal conditions we've had over the last two winters, and the boys have had a blast with it. The snow plow on the truck and the snowblower (when I haven't loaned it out to a friend) have been very busy. From the look on the kids faces it's obvious they enjoy the experience of a good New England winter.

One of the neat things about having a snow plow is the great snow banks you can create. The kids were having fun making snow tunnels and forts in the banks. I seem to remember times when Matt and I did much the same growing up. As it stayed in my mind, I'm sure our boys will remember the neat tunnels and snow-related times they've had this year.

In addition to the neat outdoor times in January, we had a good family get together for Ben's Birthday. He sure has grown and matured over this last year. He's been learning to read and doing great on the school front. All three boys are doing well in home school and are settling into our new home and community.
So ends our post of this day. Happy 2008 to all of you.

Our lives contine to grow
by the love and kindness we sow
by touching the hearts of our friends
we know that all bad times will end

We realize each day we are blessed
by family and friends that are best
for in our hearts we hold true
that at the end of the day "we love you"

December

2008-02-02T08:57:00.001-08:00

Even though it's Groundhog Day...we thought it time to post! December had some completed knitting projects. Here are the "retro rib" socks which were given to my mom and 3 "honeycomb" hats in different fibers each. The shiny one is Silk/Mohair. Nice.

We purchased a used piano for our 4th year student. He has had a small keyboard for practicing and was in need of a real instrument. This spinet is a 1940 "Winter". Here is our student with his Grandmother enjoying music together. She is an organist and is delighted with our new instrument.

The Christmas Day was spent here at home with an afternoon meal for 12. What a nice day we had. Even the dog is enjoying his present in background! Army men, tools, books and good food. What a wonderful day.

~Rachel

New Horse

2008-02-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

This handsome grey gelding is the newest addition to our farm. We let Lady pass and save her from further arthritis pain. 1-22-08

This new horse really likes the neighbors. Here he is playing "face" with Sugar next door. He has twice escaped from our fence and ended up in the neighbor's fence until we could round him up and fix the damage. Thankfully none of the damage was to him! He appears to be a good jumper! We ended up going higher with our fence by attaching it to their wooden posts until we can drive new posts in the spring.

Time for a snow bath! He's a funny one when he rolls. First one side and then the other. His bath is nice...but it doesn't remove the brown spots! We'd need some soap for that job!
John really is my groom. Grin. He really likes King. It's a personality thing, and King is a very likeable horse. He's an 8 year old Egyptian Arabian with the registered name Mufassa SS. A friend of mine told me Mufasa is translated as King so that is what we've decided to call him.
John and I took a nice walk with our dog around the back field this morning in our icy winter wonderland. At one point the ice even supported my weight to my relief after a trudge through crust atop a base of at least a foot of snow. Then John could walk on it in one spot too. Too much ice to plow off the 2 inches of snowy ice mix we got from last night's storm. As we were returning we caught the horses in committee. Not sure what big plans we were interrupting...but a cute photo for sure.

I'm really looking forward to riding this year!
~Rachel

Beautiful views

2007-12-15T06:32:00.001-08:00

Sunrise! What a beautiful spot to live. We are constantly in awe of the world around us here. This is a common site in the morning and our east-facing kitchen windows are the right spot to view it.

We have been finding all sorts of beautiful spots in NH through our geocaching adventures.
This is the Abenaki Tower overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee in Tuftonboro (near Melvin Village.) The kids have been up this tower several times in the past and this time was just as beautiful as we remembered it!

The view from the top was photo worthy on this blue sky, crisp fall day.

We went from this location to do a few caches (after grabbing the one here) and it was an adventure we will not soon forget. The "short" walk was much longer than anticipated so we were hoofing it back to the car at dusk, trying to beat the growing darkness.
I will bottle the moment toward the end when I passed our only flashlight off to Daddy and our youngest who were going to continue walking and then jogged up to the older boys. At my jogging approach they began to run. It was just like cross-country races from high school--only a little more giggling than I recall. We were certainly racing each other through the scrub pines on a single-track trail with uneven footing and laughing the whole way.
This track star mom could not catch those young teenagers who had wind enough to run, laugh and chatter while I had to concentrate on breathing just to keep up! They beat me to the car in the end, and I found one flat out on the moss to my relief as I would have taken the spot to rest too!
Muscles warm and a bit achy we stripped off the extra layers of clothes, popped the backpacks and walking sticks into the trunk of the car and then got in to warm it up. A moment to bottle for sure!

~Rachel

November

2007-12-15T06:05:00.001-08:00

November! What happened to that month?

It seems like it just flew by. We were busy with schooling the kids and preparing for winter and lots of geocaching.

This first photo is of Brian working with a NH Fish & Game Biologist during Salmon Sunday. On this day the lake-locked Salmon which have been rounded up are "stripped". The process is very interesting.

Andrew was learning about density in science during November and this is one of his experiments of solution stacking. He was able to stack 4 solutions in the straw by their density. He also floated eggs and watched videos and there have been too many "dense" jokes going on!

Benjamin and Andrew got their awards at the end of soccer season. It's Ben's first trophy. We had a nice pot-luck with all the teams and said goodbye to soccer season in a bittersweet way!

Other November happenings in our homeschool involved the book club book "The Scarlet Pimpernel". We really enjoyed the classic and it sparked a whole study of the French Revolution. So much for my earlier history plans! 'Cest la vie.

We had a great group activity of making mouse trap cars, theater class has been going well, music lessons too and lots of excellent writing projects. Ben is finally turning a corner with learning to read and it has been a really neat experience for me as teacher to see him get excited about learning. We're sort of unschoolish so we have waited for Ben to be ready to learn. When he decided to learn or matured enough or whatever it was...this time is when he got *ready* to go and wow! the progress is astounding! He also lost his first baby tooth and learned to power slide his ATV. Important things in the life of a 6 year old!

I think that's a good recap of the month of November!

~Rachel

Trail Ride

2007-10-22T04:33:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful day for a trail ride! This is my absolute favorite trail ride in the state. I have either ridden or volunteered on this ride for the last 8 years. Without a riding horse of my own this year I didn't think I'd be able to go. My friend Suzie called up and wanted a buddy! Yea! This is her beautiful mare Emily who I got to ride through 11 miles of the most beautiful scenery in fall foliage.
My friend was on her other horse Wind Dancer under this canopy of color.

We had so many beautiful spots to stop and take some photos. It was wonderful to meet up with friends out on the trail and back at the lunch. I feel so very thankful to have had such an incredible opportunity this fall.

Thanks Suzie! Thanks to Peggy Sue who puts on the best trail ride in NH too!

~Rachel

More Summer Activities - Yea!

2007-10-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

This summer has been full of neat, fun things so far. We bought a used 4-wheeler and the kids have been having a blast with it in the field. All three of them are light enough to ride it and it gives them some more balance and driving practice (and is a blast to ride). Ben's been using it to drag branches out of the woods (with a rope tied to the back handle) and to the brush pile. Every once in a while we get a chance to get both 4-wheelers out and play follow the leader (in a slow pace way).

Another first for the area is our semi-large Trebucet (about 7 1/2 feet high from the deck to the axle of the throwing arm). We built it to throw pumpkins this fall and had a great time building it and throwing 1 gallon water jugs into the field. We also gave a class to 4 home school families to teach physics principles associated with this type of catapult (force, moment arms, inertia, radial velocity). It was very exciting and we had a great day with it. We loaded up the weight basket with 300 lbs, then 400 lbs and finially 500 lbs of rocks and threw the jug of water 67 yards - what a great splash when it landed! At the end of the day with our final shot, the bottom of the weight basket finially fell out (great timing) which was our "school bell" to release the class.

We've also gotten involved with the local soccer groups this summer. The recreation teams are great and we have a great forum for the kids to learn how to play without a lot of stress. They've all increased their talents wonderfully over the short 4-week timeframe. Benjamin is playing for the first time (it's great to see him progress) and Andrew is continuing his annual fun. Rachel and I are helping to coach Andrew's team and it's plenty of fun for all (we both get a chance to work with the kids).

Well, I have to go to work now. The leaves are turning beautiful around us now and we get a chance to experience another beautiful fall, and my commute becomes a treat for the eyes. More pictures and text on that later. Love to all.

Visiting Friends

2007-09-11T07:50:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful weekend we had. We spent time relaxing (maybe not the right word) with friends in the Berkshires. We squished 2 huge suppers, 2 large breakfasts, a campfire, several geocaching expeditions, an ATV ride, a pontoon boat ride plus swimming, a horseback ride, a long stroll around Hancock Shaker Village and cave exploring all into about 42 hours...between thunderstorms!

WOW!

It was relaxing. We were keeping up our usual pace with friends who understand fun.
The first shot is of one of our long conversations on the back porch. The second is to capture a "first" in geocaching. We had 2 GPS units to work with and ours was clearly the lesser of them! This cache was tricky, it's near "Balance Rock and what a beautiful spot.

Night boating between thunderstorms had us a lake to ourselves! The pontoon boat was a highlight for the boys. Our captain, with a little chiming in from the first mate, anchored us over a really cool sand bar. The water was just 2 feet deep over the bar and the kids hopped off to swim and play until the storm started to light up the sky. Then off we headed for the dock with the first fat raindrops hitting just as we tied it up and headed for the cars.

This is a cave with one of the many Hidden Brooks in our friend's neighborhood. The boys are not much on spelunking but they were amazed at the rock formations and seeing the brooks disappear into underground places.

Hancock Shaker Village, the city of peace, was a wonderful field trip. We learned a ton and found it to be a city of peace. We watched their hydro powered mill work and toured many of the buildings. We watched a fabulous thunderstorm move across in the distance with clear strikes seen behind that round barn. Stunning. The gardens were remarkable and we all enjoyed our time at the village.

We all agreed that we needed to stay for at least a week to do all that we really wanted to do. Thanks again to our fabulous hosts. They run the best ever bed and breakfast in the Berkshires!

~Rachel

Caching in the Berkshires

2007-09-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

You want me to go up where? We did a couple of caches out here on this road in the Berkshires. The first one was "One for the Boys" and it was easily found right along the side of the road. Our boys were enchanted with the idea of climbing up this big hill from the moment they set eyes on it.

I was a little less excited about that idea.

We parked the trusty Subaru at the bottom and started to check the GPS. Only 300 feet from the car! We're close. The GPS wanted us to go a little right of the easy trail and a little left of the big hill. Which way to go. While I'm deciding the kids have already moved on. And UP!
John held my hand while we ascended this hill. My sandals were not the right choice for today! But what a view from the top! Maybe even worth it.
At the cache we found the typical fare of items, signed the log and headed back down the "easy" trail. The cache was named "Jeepin' cache" and it is obvious why!
Great fun.

~Rachel

Bird

2007-08-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so monday is Nature Journaling at our homeschool. We had a fun one last week where we went out to the back field for a sort of "picnic" and then were joined by a very curious horse! We had to cut that one short and head back to some land on "our side" of the fence. Sheesh. She found our animal crackers to be delightfully yummy. (personal note: don't feed the wildlife...especially when you don't want a 900 lb visitor on your picnic blanket.)

Today, it was wildlife of the bird kind.
The boys had been outside after lunch for a little while now. (long enough for me to move the laundry, check the e-mail and prepare a NetFlix for sending.) Tide and I finally are getting out the door and we find this Phoebe flapping around the front porch. It lands on a nearby bucket. Tide goes over to investigate and it doesn't even move. After a quick "no" and "lie down" to Tide, which he does follow in an obiedient way...good dog, I called the kids to come over quickly and quietly. Not quite as obediently they arrive to find this Pheobe. It certainly was a bit stunned. We decided that it could see us and the boys offered it a finger to rest on so that we could place it "up" out of the reach of cats.
Okay, that spot was hard to find. We did a little searching around and then settled for a spot on our big rocks. While there we fed a few bugs to it. (Need I refer to the note of last week? The Phoebe decided to stay for a bit.)

After searching around for a good branch to shift it to we decided to give it a moment on the birdbath. The boys hurried into the house to grab their nature journals to catch the event on paper. We began to record and the bird flew onto us. Time and again. Once on a shoulder. Another time on the paper. Again to an arm
Even to land on the dog! Stay still Tide, there's a good dog.
Phoebe did decide to fly away to a tree after we returned it's little weightless body to the birdbath for at least the 6th time.

What fun! I'm certain that not all of our nature journals will involve such active and willing participants!

~Rachel

Busy Fun Weekend

2007-08-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

We had back-to-back events this weekend. On Saturday we were at the Moose Mountain Regional Greenways "Trail Day" event. A good time was had by all. I went ahead of the rest of the family as I was volunteering for 1/2 of the day. This first photo is of the boys down at the estuary learning about the wildlife that lives on and in the river. There are fish in that case. It was a neat hayride down to the river too. The boys also saw a wildlife demonstration by Squam Lakes Science Center and went on a tree identification walk too. I was not on those as I was by then in a 2 1/2 hour GPS workshop. I know more about our GPS than I thought I ever would! Very informative.
There was even a little "cookie cutting" going on. The kids activity of painting a tree cookie also involved cutting some too.

The next day had as at the NH Farm Museum for their "Olde Time Farm Days" event. We made little sheep, hammered tin for candles to shine through, husked corn etc. Another good time was had by all. We were out on another hayride here to see the trails and cider mill. We were certainly enjoying the local events this weekend. Back at home we got some more work put in on a few projects. It was a pleasure to be outside in the beautiful fall-like air.

Here's hoping your weekends were as good!

~Rachel

Trip to VT

2007-08-12T09:02:00.001-07:00

We're on our way. What a fun trip to Vermont! We stuffed 6 people in the truck and drove for 4 hours to visit some of the extended family (about 60 of them) at a family reunion. Cory brought along "Betty" which is her new Garmin device that gives you blow by blow directions on how to get somewhere. We thought we had upset "Betty" several times as we did not take her advice in NH. She wanted us to take a shorter route which we knew to be longer in time. But in her defense, after we took all of those "wrong" turns and she proclaimed "recalculating" then her time estimates were right on track. It's hard to read in this photo, but she's telling us to go another 108 miles on Rte. 89 with an ETA of 12:09. That's before we stopped to do a quick geocache in Milton VT.

This cache was one of the most interesting we've done yet. The cache container is an old Fleetwood Cadillac! It's the Fleetwood Arts Center and the request is to leave a piece of art behind. We left a poem and a drawing. What an interesting find.

After the reunion we stopped by the farm for a short visit with Gramma and Grampa before hitting the road for another 4 hour drive in the truck to get home. It will be a trip to remember! The kids are far too big to stuff into the truck for 8 hours in a day!!

Our month of July just zoomed on by with parties, cookouts, trips and lots of swimming. I don't know where the time went!

~Rachel

Visitors and Summer Pool

2007-07-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

We've been blessed with some very special visitors over the last month. We had an excellent visit from Chris & Rosie and Dad & Mom at the end of June. Rachel had a good time showing them the house and land and letting them get out and stretch on their trip through New Hampshire toward home. We're so glad they stopped in for a visit!

Last weekend we had another wonderful couple from Vermont stop by for a visit. John & Annie stopped by Saturday and got a chance to view the home and area. It sure was nice to have them over and we enjoyed their visit. They also got to see us put in the leveling pad for the above-ground swimming pool. Thanks again for the visit!

I thought I'd also include one of the flowers we've put into the "butterfly" garden at the top of our driveway (directly opposit the vegtable/flower garden that seems to finally be growing).

Well I have to go for now and get the kids into bed for the night. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are. Love to all.

Higgens Museum

2007-07-18T05:36:00.001-07:00

We went to the Higgens Museum in Worcestor, MA yesterday. 2 of the boys are in their renissance shirts which we made at home.
We met up with 2 other families there for an educational treat.

We learned all about the armor and weapons of the middle ages here. The boys enjoyed a program on arms and armor in which 2 of them were called up to volunteer in the show. Here is one pointing out all of the vulnerable spots in field armor.

We especially enjoyed the hands on "discovery" room where we could try on helmets and play chess. "Rook threatens Queen," or something like that. Chess had a whole new dimension here with at times 9 children on the board for pieces. John lost this match to his oldest son who cornered him with 2 of his highly opinionated pieces. Lots of the game sounded like, "rook, move back 3". To which the rook replies, "What? Retreat?" Pawn chimes in, "Can I move now?" while Knight leans in to whisper his/her attack ideas. The good king listened to his pieces and got the game won. We're thinking up how to have a life size chess game at our upcoming birthday celebration in August. Our 13 year old would like a middle ages theme. We'll decorate goblets, challenge each other with staff on a bridge. (staff: styrofoam noodles, bridge: balance beam) There will be crossbows and trebuchets. (Marshmallow flinging devices.) And of course food and swimming in our new backyard pool.

~Rachel

Canada Lily

2007-07-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

This is the Canada Lily in bloom. What a spectacular wildflower. We have probably 12 or so plants around the property. They do not grow in a group the way day lilies do. They seem to come back each year in the same spot too, so transplanting might work. This one is over 6 feet tall and growing in one of our larger patches of poison ivy. It will stay put!

I've also found a few plants of clematis vining along our stone bridge and near the wood pile. My father has transplanted these in the past and now has a beautiful and well established vine on his trellis. Spring brought loads of Jack in the Pulpit. Some of those were over 2 feet tall this year! The flowers were about 6 inches in length. What fun to go finding wildflowers.

Summer...yummy

2007-07-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

Summer is a yummy time. The little wild bushes are producing the most tasty of snacks.

We are in a race with the wildlife for our share!

Each trip across the bridge starts a chorus of alarm, flapping up to the nearby pines; birds heavy with bellies full of berries.

Last night's walk included our first monarch caterpillar sightings on the milkweed. I think of Nina Towne breathing in the sweet smell of the milkweed in bloom. I'll try to get some photos of the Canada Lily that is in bloom...spectacular. Summer....yummy! ~Rachel

Caching

2007-07-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Look who came to visit!! Cory had a couple of days off in a row from her job as a waitress at The Wentworth and she decided to come play with us. John could not get the time off from work with such short notice on that Thursday and Friday, so we were almost happy to find that her car had a flat tire when she was preparing to leave Friday night. She stayed another night. John got the tire plugged for her in the morning and enjoyed his "bonus" time with her too. We went to the beach on Thursday as well as a short visit with Ken & Louise and another short visit with Laurie, Rob & baby Hannah. Cory proved more daring than I as she did get swimming with her brothers. I only waded out to my belly. It's so much more difficult to get in these days!

On Friday I asked the kids if they'd like to do a "quick" cache on the trails near our house to drop off a Jeep Travel Bug that we had. This 'easy 2 mile walk on level trails' ended up having an unintended bushwhack when we realized we were on the wrong trail. The kids had great fun teasing me about that!! Note: now I'm very thankful for all those bushwhacks through the woods with my dad. I have no fear of doing that, and a very good sense of direction from his teaching it over the years. The boys are now developing this skill.
Andrew found the cache and grinning, carried it to us . We all traded trinkets with the cache and enjoyed this beautiful "beach" spot way out along the branch river. The cache would be very easy to arrive at by canoe or kayak (or correct trail).
Large rocks attract boys, naturally. Cory was "good" on the ground and I took advantage of the photo op. Tide enjoyed wading around in the river. We were very lucky that he did not see the deer cross the trail in front of us on our way in. Cory & I did. Another went crashing through the woods on our way back out, but Tide was on the leash for that one. He thouroughly enjoyed the walk. In case you are noticing in the photo...Benjamin has a granola bar in his mouth. He refused to take it out for the camera.

We are really enjoying caching together (geocaching.com) whenever we can. I'm pleased that we were able to bring Cory along for this one. It really was an easy walk...even if it was more than 2 miles.

~Rachel

Crayfish

2007-07-03T04:18:00.001-07:00

The brook has been a fun place to play lately. The boys enjoy netting crayfish. There are little brook trout swimming around too. Yesterday Benjamin was asking for "teatime". This is something we have been doing this year out of our BraveWriter activities. We decided to sit down for a time together and read about crayfish...which lead to thinking about drawing crayfish, and then they boys had to catch a few...

Once we had 2 in a couple of jars on the table we all were able to do some Nature Journaling about them. It's fascinating to see the boys want to do schoolwork during summer vacation. Okay, maybe schoolwork is a harsh word, as with BraveWriter they have not felt so much like they were doing schoolwork: just loving writing activities. I did a nature journal too. Reading aloud from Anna Comstock's book Handbook of Nature Study we learned the names for all of the parts of the crayfish. Andrew was taken with the swimmeretes under the tails. These are missed on first glance...but noticed and drawn when carefully observing. Benjamin was happy to learn that all of the pieces of crayfish which he had been finding were not from dead crayfish, rather from molting ones! He kept a claw and examined it under the magnifying glass. We learned that one of our prisoners was female and one was male, and that the male's missing claw would grow back. We released them along the bank to watch them move awkwardly across the ground on legs and pincers even. Then so gracefully through the water with their swimmerets.

I hope the boys continue to enjoy the natural world their whole lives. What a great way to grow up.

~Rachel

Summer has started (really..)

2007-06-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and family, it's been quite a while since Rachel and I last contributed to our Blog. We've packed in a lot of living since May and we just wanted to share it with you.
We finished off the Shakespear play "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and got through the stomach virus that seem to afflict the cast and families like a plague (sort of in-keeping with the Shakespearian times).

The boys have now finished school for the year and we're just getting into the summer routine. Brian and Andrew finished their music lessons (Brian on piano and Andrew on guitar) and they are only practicing every once-in-a-while to keep their fingers and mind active. It's been a good school semester and each has done very well. Ben is learning his letters and numbers and is enjoying school (like his brothers). Cory has finished her Junior year at UNH and is working at the Wentworth By The Sea banquet hall again.

Rachel is activly choosing curriculum for next fall's school year. Brian will be in 9th, Andrew in 7th and Ben in 1st grades this fall (homeschooled) and will continue taking music (at the Music Mill) and theater (at Perform It!). I propose we give Rachel an honorary degree in Teaching for the amount of work and dedication she puts into getting the boys a wonderful education.

We have taken time to enjoy life while we accomplish the items above. Cory joined Rachel, our boys, and other Homeschool families for a Geocach outing near the Powder Mill Fish Hatchery (New Durham, NH). We've had many other Geocach outings at the ocean, in the mountains and into Maine (Freeport, ME). It's a neat way to get out with other families for a common, inexpensive outing in a nature setting (and gives them a bit of treasure hunting and geography at the same time). I can see us doing this for many years.

Brian and I got to go with family (Ken Shields & Rob Vachon) and friends (Lois Crowley and Dick McCormack) for a half-day deep sea fishing this month. Great boat ride with plenty of sun, sea, and smiles. Oh, Brian, Ken & I also caught soume mackeral (as bonus points to the ride), but all of us had fun and hope to do it again soon.

I've finally got my new home computer working well now, but it was a struggle. I bought a Dell Dimension E521 with the new "Vista" windows operating system. My advice to those interested is wait a few years before any "new" operating system is released to allow all the bugs (and new drivers to be developed for printers, etc) to be worked out. I'm getting used to it.

I'm enjoying playing each week in my works golf league. I've played at 4 different courses already this year and am having fun with the folks I play with. My scores aren't great (47 best game, 54 worst game so far), but the walk on a golf course each week is well worth my time. My trusty clubs (actually, they are the clubs Chris and I bought in 1978 timeframe) still seem to hit the ball well. Our sons hit golf balls from our house down our driveway now and I'm glad we have such a beautiful long distance to the road (over 400 feet).

Work is going well for me at Tyco Integrated Cable Systems (TICS). We are very busy and are ramping up this year with contracts through next year and bidding jobs for the follow-up years. I had trained a technician to support me on evenings, but he has since given his notice and we're looking for a replacement now. Eventually we'll find the right person and it'll take much of the load off me.

Rachel and I are establishing our new garden, lawn & field this year. Our main objective is to map-out where everything will go (eventually) so we don't have to relocate things too many times. Our fight against poison ivy is ongoing and will be a long-term thing. Ken's tractor is at our house at the moment and we're making good use of it for moving loam, sand, manure and possibly small rocks (although I've not been very successful on the rock thing so far - seem to be "big" ones around the back field).

We also had some sand delivered to our place and we've built a sandbox for the boys. We missed our big sandbox at the old place and the kids have really enjoyed the new one. I even put sitting benches around 3 sides so we/they can sit down when they want to.

Of course, there has to be a picture of a horse. Lady is enjoying the back field and the large cherry tree with it's shade.

Also, we have to show pictures of the local wildlife on our front lawn. A snapping turtle was looking for a "quiet place" to lay her eggs - poor choice if you ask me.

Anyway, I'll have to sign-off now. Ken invited the boys and myself to go sailing on his boat this afternoon. There will be pictures of that on the our next blog.
Summer has begun. Love to all,

Rachel, John, Cory, Brian, Andrew and Benjamin

Perform It!

2007-05-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

The show is on! We've been ultra busy with the preparations for the play this spring. Especially during the last few weeks of April. Brian & Andrew have been very much enjoying their experiences in Perform It! young people's stage company. The play this year is Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor". There is a cast of 52 students and a student runs the lights, one plays guitar and many have painted the set. The moms made all of the costumes and we have put in hours and hours of rehearsals.

Benjamin goes along for many of the rehearsals and plays with other younger siblings while hanging out at the theater. I help out where they need me. We've had 3 of the shows and there is another tonight and a matinee tomorrow. Wednesday's show was a daytime one for local schoolchildren to watch. Thursday's was about 3/4 of a house and we are sold out for Friday, Saturday & Sunday.

Here are the "Windsor Boys" posing for the camera. I'll try to get a full cast photo sometime. Or, there might be one posted on http://www.performitstagecompany.org/

John has been busy lately but expects to blog soon!

~Rachel

Critters

2007-04-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

Critters!

This is Tide relaxing and enjoying a summer sunset. I'll find, er...take better photos of him soon. He loves it here. His favorite activity is to chase the ATV when I'm driving it. I can honestly say he runs at 25+ mph. He is (in typical Border Collie fashion) my shadow and constant companion. We love our daily walks on the land.

Tigerlily is not a friendly Critter. She does love Brian though and sleeps on his bed every night. That is, when she is not out hunting bats.

Mouse is the sister to Tiger and she is a lap cat. She is usually on a warm lap, but this day had to find a good spot and found our towels!

Lady only looks this "arab" on special occasions. This is when she was meeting her new friends. There are 2 horses on the other side of their fence. She likes her little barn and the new pasture.

Brian's rooster from his 4-H project last year. Isn't he pretty? You should see him today...he's molted and has just one of those fantastic tail feathers. Pitiful!

Brian also keeps a dozen or so laying hens and we enjoy the fresh eggs.

Ben's guinea pig already made it in here and Andrew's hamster, Velvet, finishes out our Roll Call of pets!

Happy Easter everyone! And to Mary H. : It is spring around here!! even with another 10 inches of snow. Happy sugaring in VT.

Knitting

2007-04-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

John's been encouraging me to post something. It's been a struggle. With the computer dying and going to the shop, then a power outage for 26 hours with our last storm and the usual challenge of getting us both in the same room at the same time in order to learn about blogging!!!

Here goes...

I've spent my early mornings watching the 6:30 local news and knitting. I usually get some free time to knit while the kids are at rehearsals for their upcoming play, Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. And on occasion I still drive over to New Durham to check in with the ladies of knitting club. This winter's projects have been little tiny mittens for ornaments, a cotton baby blanket for my sister's adorable newborn baby Hannah, and a very large lace shawl.

I have very much enjoyed knitting lace and I'm working on a tiny shawl to use up the extra yarn. The project I've shared here was knit with a 70% Alpaca 30% Silk yarn and it is very soft. I'm off and running again now, but hope to post again this weekend about our "4 legged family members". John tells me that Mike N. in Kuwait was asking about them. (the border collie I assume) and Lyn M. in the Berkshire's was asking about that too...(the horse I know!) So I'll do my best.

Fun outdoors again

2007-04-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

With spring finially arriving we took advantage of the weekend to do some geocashing (using a Global Positional Sensor - GPS, to locate caches other people have hid). It's a great way to have a "goal" for a family walk out in the woods. Our "pirate savy" boys like the idea of buried treasure and "maps" to unravel.

We've also added another pet to our family. Our grown-up Benjamin (6 years old now) now has a guinea pig of his own.

The house is still being arranged and will come to equilibrium in a year or two. It's neat trying out new arrangements and trying to see what works the best for the family. For now, we'll just enjoy the place and let the calmness of the area slow our lives down a bit so we can enjoy it more.

There once was a family of 6,
who lived way out in the stix.
They slowed to a walk,
and had more time to talk,
and that's how they got all their kicks.

They had one girl and three boys,
who always were frantic about toys.
Till they found a new place,
with plenty of space,
now everything brings them much joy.

The parents were Rachel and John,
whos lives were too fast and soon gone.
New sunrises they found,
in this quaint little town,
and wildlife settled by the pond.

Take care and have a nice evening. Cheers!

Spring is here

2007-03-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

Finally, spring seems to have arrived. We had, I believe, our last snowstorm which gave us a beautiful memory of the view from our bedroom.

Most of the snow has left our fields and the stream and brook are running full. Brian and I are enjoying a bit of wood splitting (from the logs we had delivered in January). As my knee gets stronger and more flexable, I hope to spend more time laying out the new garden and clearing up the poison ivy patches along the woods line. We figure in 2 or 3 years we should have the worst ivy areas thinned down (along the stream and brook) so we can enjoy the land without fears (our first year on the land we had gotten a severe case of P.I. to the point of going the the emergency room for medication).

Spring has sprung and life has begun, to come out of its sleep. We never know, just when things grow, to make our spirits leap. The sun warms all, and plants grow tall, the better to help the land. In gracious health, with visual wealth, it shows the createors hand. (JAT 3/27/07)

Enjoy your seasons!

New Home & Land

2007-03-22T02:43:00.000-07:00

Most of you have seen pictures of the house and land, but I thought we'd put some photos into the blog for interest sake. Enjoy (I know we are)!

This is our "stone bridge" connecting the front half of the land to the back pasture. The craftsmanship is wonderful and very functional (they harvested logs by truck over this bridge for years).

This is a picture of the back field from standing on the bridge. Very peaceful and wonderful for the horse. Lots of rock removal in our future.

This is our home from the front. What a wonderful place to live! Many cudos to Rachel for the majority of the design. It is definitely becoming our "home" over just a short time.

Louise (Shields) & Rachel on our 4-wheeler. Don't they look dangerous?

Well, it's fun sending out a quick snapshot of our lives. There is so much to be thankful for, especially our family. Enjoy and have a good day!

John's Work Place Link

2007-03-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

If folks are interested, the home page for the company I work for is: http://www.tycotelecom.com/SystemSupply/index.asp
Check it out.

Welcome to our Family

2007-03-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon family and friends. This is our first entry into the word of blogging. Once again, many thanks to our neices and nephews for introducing us to the world of blog.

Our last six months have been filled with many changes and great happenings. We found and purchased a wonderful piece of land in Milton Mills, NH almost 2 years ago. We just moved into our new house in October 2006. What a wonderful place and great community. Last fall was filled with Lego Robotics, intoducing Andrew to Nute Public School, and getting to know our neighbors and community. This winter has been a beautiful place with fantastic night skies and quiet calm times.

The homeschooling has been going well and the boys are growing nicely in many ways. They enjoy the land and especially the brook and stream that's part of our place.