May

May has been a good month around here.  We've been busy in the yard with lots of changes due to the kids growing up.  No more sandbox.  No more pool.  No more chickens.  More and more lawn and chairs.  Lots of archery, golf, and bocce ball.  I've been riding like a fiend this year and loving it.  This is a photo from Wanda Clowater who was the ride photographer at the Crooked River Ride in Maine on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  It was a 30 mile ECTRA ride and this photo was taken right toward the end of the ride.  He's still going strong at 30 miles.  :)  The day was horribly wet and cold and windy.  Challenging weather for sure.

Here is Charlie out with me on one of my walks around the yard.  He was enjoying the carpet of violets and the warm sun that day.  This year is a poison ivy year again.  It's back in areas where I thought we'd been rid of it before.  The yard is taking some attention this year.  Lots of mowing and weeding and cutting back of overgrown areas.  Clearing downed branches from trails.  Fun to have a kitty along for so many of those chores.

I'm still knitting.  This little shawlette was called Holden by the designer.  I knitted it up on some sock wool that was nice and drapey.  It became a mother's day gift to my mom.  

Speaking of moms....lots of them are around lately.  Here are the Canada Goose families moving from the little beaver pond where they hatched out to the bigger brook and eventually down to the river.  A nice sight to see on a Memorial Day Monday.

We were walking up to the game camera and our middle son noticed a doe bounding away and caught sight of this little one crouching on the ground.  It blended in so well that even pointing him out to our other children from 30 feet away they couldn't see him a all.  Neither could I.  It was a smart little fawn and stayed perfectly still and waited for a very long time until it's mom came back to collect it later on.

So nice to see them walking away on the game camera.  Many snapping turtles are out laying their eggs, the bluebirds are already out of the box and the swallows are getting really close to flying now.  The pheobe with a nest on top of the light in King's stall is still sitting on eggs.  Fun to watch the wildlife in the spring.  I'm finding it difficult to do the in the house chores now.  :)

Spring

Could it be thawing?  Is it more dirt than ice?  Hard to tell but it must be thawing.  Careful there King.  Lots of ice still.

A week later it is decidedly thawing.  The road is even getting some ruts from the tires.  Mud is on it's way

A week later even we see the shoulder of a road. see...some dirt at the edge...Spring is on it's way.  It must be....

Very muddy truck & trailer and even the horse's belly and legs got the mud spray.  It is coming.  I'm sure of it!

Later still the snow is releasing it's grip on the yard.  Turkeys are grouping up.  These hens came with this Tom each day for a couple of weeks until they all went their own ways to nest.

That little boy is now far too big for his little ATV.  The 80 is just too small.  So he's enjoy permission to use our 450.  We hope to sell the little one and get a dirtbike instead.  

Okay, the end of  April and sprig is really here!  Spring peepers were singing in the woods and it's ice out on the big lakes.  In another week or so this will all begin to look quite green....Spring at last!!

Catching up

Someone is 12!  Happy, happy day.

More beach days were found and this is why.  Out here it was almost possible to forget what it looked like at home.  The beach was such a wonderful escape from being buried in snow.

And on one trip I found a sand dollar while riding.  I hopped right off and picked it up and managed to find a safe enough pocket to bring it home.  I put it in the kitchen windowsill so that I would see it and remember the beach while looking out at snowstorm after snowstorm.  

We spent a fair amount of time and energy digging out.  It was beautiful though and often it was "real snow" with no crust.

Doing chores is more enjoyable when your black kitty follows you all around.  Here he is on the daily trudge to the manure pile.  

The views were fantastic though with sun breaking over the snow clad pines one morning.  Blue skies were beginning to replace grey ones....

Here are the tracks of most likely a mink.  It would bound along on the top of the snow for a bit and then tunnel for a while.  Neat tracks.

And some snowshoeing which is an activity we all enjoyed this winter.  

January

Another snow shoe trek out back.  This time with the youngest boy.  He got new snowshoes last year and we didn't have much snow to try them out on.  His keen eyes noticed this little wintergreen plant (or Checkerberry as I knew it from growing up).  He loved how it was still looking mighty alive amid all the snow and nestled in it's old stump home.

We went quite a long way into the woods so that I could show him where the deer travel during the winter.  We saw their tracks and moose too, before heading back.  Most of the animals closer to home are rabbits, fox, otter, beaver, porcupine and lots of coyote and turkey.

This was a photo I snapped of the parking lot at Wells Beach with my truck and trailer and Monica's rig too.  Not sure why I took this but as it turned out...it was the last trip in my trailer.  I found a new one and said goodbye to that trusty CM Circuit Champ.  It served me well in the 12+ years that I've owned it.  I bought it used and it goes on to another owner from my town who will enjoy it for some time to come I imagine.  

Here is a not so great shot of the new trailer on the night we brought it home.  Right after getting it home we went into a stretch of bitter cold weather.  Wind chills well into the negative numbers day after day.  So I didn't get to play with my new toy at all for the first 2 weeks anyhow.  

Here is a snap of Monica and Ember out on the beach.  The riding that day was fast.  Her morgan is a runner for sure!  

Another friend of ours, Kathy, came down to say hi and snapped a couple of photos with her iPad.  Thanks for the photo Kathy!  I love the reflection she got in this photo.  It was a wonderful "January thaw" beach day.

Lyre

Here are a series of photos of our high school senior working on a self designed study to make and learn to play a historical instrument.  It's a trossingen lyre.  Very, very cool project.  The instrument is hollow on the inside but without a hole like guitars have.  It also has no frets so the strings are all played open and chords are arranged by dampening the ones you don't want to resonate.  It's pretty to listen to.  Good work!

Family Time

Happy New Year to everyone!  We had a very nice visit with Cory & Justin and their 2 dogs recently.  We admired their tree and enjoyed their food.  So nice to visit when we all have the time off and can line up our schedules.  (A real challenge during this stage of life.)

Happy New Year!

Playing in the first good snow

This year we thought it would be fun to build a big snowpile in the front yard with the plow.  Why not?  The boys dug tunnels into it and generally had a great time playing on the pile.  Here is a quick video of snowplowing.  Usually the little guy is my co-pilot on most snowplowing trips.  He loves to use the plow controls while I drive.  We've done so much plowing together over the years that I hardly have to say a word to him.  He knows what we're doing next and aims the plow blade accordingly.  He is looking forward to a time when he has his license and can drive.  He has totally outgrown the little ATV and is using our Honda Foreman now.  He's discovered the joys of spinning circles in the snow with it too.  Now he really understands the benefit of 4 wheel drive as an option.  2 wheel, rear wheel drive is a joy...if you like to play in the snow that is!

I like this spot from up in the horse's paddock.  The house looks so pretty from here in the morning sun.

Time to try out John's brand new snowshoes.  We went out looking for tracks in the snow and made quite a few of our own.

This track is of a flying squirrel's landing.  It plopped into the snow and then scampered into a hollow log.  We loved the "squareness" of the track where it sunk into the soft snow.  

The snow was sticking to everything and making a  winter wonderland.  This guy, however, loved to shake it off the branches...especially when someone else could be the recipient of the snow shower.  Silly.

Here is our boy with his new camera taking in the view and capturing it. 

On the way back I caught sight of him lifting his snowshoes up high and playing in the snow.  I always love the "Christopher Robin" moments that my boys have.  These are not oversized wellies that he's wearing, but still...it reminds me of the little boys playing in puddles.  18 for this little boy.  My how time flies.