Got Snow?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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