Back to School

This summer is coming to a close now with school back in session.  This little boy went back last Thursday.  He's been in pre season soccer practices for 2 weeks and Millie is still in school so summer has not been without any instruction.  Now it's all the high school classes beginning for this 9th grader.  She's weighing in at 38 lbs at 4 1/2 months old.  Not sure how big she will be just yet.  Or what her hair coat will be like.  Lots of changes yet to come.  She's lost a couple of baby teeth this week (canines) and her new big dog ones are growing in.

She still loves a puddle.  The Miller Brook that cuts through our land is just a dribble now but we did get that one storm last week which created this puddle in the driveway and got the brook flowing again for a few days.  Millie can't "swim" in the deep spot the way she could before but she still enjoys the water.

First day photo to record his height on the "Daddy scale" and he's officially off the scale now.  Sorry John, he really is taller now.

We brought this boy back to college on Saturday.  He's renting that room up there.  The one with those 2 windows.  It's off campus by just a few minutes.  He's got a packed fall schedule and plenty to do with Medieval Society and a nice work study in the Archives again.  We're rooting for you!

Changes and I was wrong

Puppy School!

Puppy classes are fun!  This was week 2 and we got to play a game of pass the puppy where we all had a chance to play with one another's puppy.  That was a fun game.  They are all so sweet.  Millie is the largest pup in the class but also a pretty good player with "excellent social skills".  She LOVES the playtime outside with the other puppies.  She's excited now just arriving at school.  We really are big fans of the Animal Welfare Society now.  We've had nothing but good experiences with them so far.

Learning to "targt" the hand.

This target game has already had some good things to come of it at home.  Millie can sometimes decide she just doesn't want to.  Mostly it's about coming back inside the house.  But she will follow that "target" hand now and it's got her moving when she was firmly planted to the lawn.

He can still hold her, but not for much longer.  34 pounds at 4 months and a week

We still have no idea what her final hair coat or size will be like.  We're still thinking large.  The lab in the class is two weeks younger than she is and he's probably heavier than she is although she's taller.  So she's not as muscular as a lab.  I think she'll be leaner like a german shepherd but we don't know.  She's still growing and changing all the time.

Cooking together.  Did you smell bacon?

So I was totally wrong.  This 17 year old cat has had a much better life since Millie's arrival than she has had in the past 4 years.  The arrival of our kittens wasn't too big an event at first but over the course of the next year or two we started to have a lot of trouble between the girl cats.  The calico has treated Mouse like prey.  Self fulfilling prophecy there with that name?  I don't know.  But the game of cat and mouse has had Mouse fearing for her safety whenever she was at ground level.  She'd taken to living her life atop the fridge, counters, my bureau or any place "up".  Even then she often had to sleep with one eye open.  She'd find herself trapped outside if she left the house.  Jester would not let her back in.  So we added cat litter boxes to all 3 floors inside as well as one in the shop.  We have multiple places for dry cat food and water as well.  I thought a puppy would be just too much for this old cat.  I thought we'd get a dog when she passed on.  At 17 she is not slowing down in the least.  So we gave up and I braced myself for what might happen to Mouse next.  I was wrong.  I was SOOOO wrong.  

Mouse slapped that puppy in the face the first day.  And she's stood her ground against that pup every day since.  They do well together.  Mouse is not in the least worried about Millie.  Jester, on the other hand, is terrified of her.  She hides in "cat sanctuary" which is a room we have gated so that a cat can slip under the gate and keep Millie out.  She just now has started to hiss and hold her ground a little but she is still worried about the dog.  Mouse has control of the house.  The power has shifted and her life with her new bodyguard is just the way she likes it.  She's thriving.  Here she is with Millie checking out the kielbasa that John is preparing for our German Potato Salad.

Attentive staff in the kitchen

The view from here.

New screen house

 The new screen house is mostly complete now.  We need to stain/paint it and also add a little screen to the spaces between the rafters where bugs could get in.  But otherwise it is quite ready for relaxing.  Which we've been doing as often as possible the last week.

a place to vacation at home

It's so nice to have this vacation right here in our own back field.

August

The puppy is still growing

The summer is just flying by.  We've spent a lot of time with these 2 growing young things.  Millie got to go to puppy class with this boy.  She was the largest puppy in the class.  They certainly are birds of a feather those two.

Riding through Joy's fields

There has not been much time for riding but I have sneaked in just a few rides in the last several weeks.  High and dry is the key to not being eaten alive by the biting flies.  So it's mountains or hilltops that I search for in my rides.  Neighbors have been along for a couple of these rides.

Nancy out riding through Hickey's fields

State forest

On one ride I couldn't help but notice the crop of blueberries just ripe for picking so we went back.

Trying out the borrowed rake

Then we made pie.  And blueberry cake.  And blueberry pancakes.  Ate them on cereal.  And in our green salads.  And froze a lot of them for later.

Looking for the best berries

What is he thinking?

This little boy had a fun time up there.  21 years young this one.  We had a nice time celebrating that too.

Oh!  That!

But he's still my little boy at heart.

Carrying the "mother ship" with all our berries back out to the car

Horse Camping

In Maine for a 30 mile CTR

This spring I had 3 opportunities to go camping with King.  2 were competitive and one was all for pleasure.  I hope to get out camping again in the fall.  We've had a door installed in the trailer between the dressing room and cargo area in the back so now when we camp we can use that back cargo area too.  Our little guy liked his own space in the truck bed tent.

Crew!  At the 50 in Rhode Island

Happy Camper in RI

Relaxing in the evening

Kathy's good cooking.

I'm learning new things about camping.  I've never been much of a camper.  Give me a hotel room and a meal at a diner.  I'm good with that.  Kathy had precooked chicken and rice pilaf in those packets of aluminum.  She shook up some prebagged salad with dressing a voila!  A beautiful balanced, hot meal.  What more could you ask for?  I think she may have gone a long way in converting me to a pleasure horse camping person.  So much less stress!  I found myself unwinding and really enjoying the weekend.

The trails at Myles Standish

Happy Camper in MA

Summer

Summer is just flying along.  Too busy to write.  Some nice photos to share though!

New Puppy from AWS in Kennebunk, ME

Very sleepy on her first day here.

Not sure how many weeks he can hold her like this

Amelia (as she is well travelled)

A couple of weeks later....

Canada Lily

My "little" boys at Willowbrook Museum on a very rare day to have all 3 off from work.

Slap hockey anyone?

Old fashioned basketball...

Resting in the shade of the bandstand.

Some turkey babies in the yard.

February - Got Snow?

First week

2nd week

Just filling a bird feeder can be a challenge with so much snow.  The bird bath can still be seen week one.  The top of it is visible in week 2 and it's totally buried after that.  I have to dig down to the can we keep the feed in.  It's sort of fun walking through our snow blowed aisle ways that we have to get to places such as the wood pile or bird feeders.  

3rd week

First week

We thought we were pushing the snowbanks back far enough to start but we didn't.  Now the banks are well into the area of gravel so John has been parking where we normally have lawn.  What a mess this will be come spring.  That bank is solid and 20 feet thick now.  We've done our best to keep things cleaned up and spent a LOT of time plowing this winter.  But it is quite a snow load we'll be working with for some time to come.

2nd week

today

Beautiful snow

Who needs a fence?

King has never had it so good though.  His pasture is no good to him with all the snow.  About 3 feet, give or take with the drifting snow...so he's been spending time in the area we snowplow to get out to the shed.  This has given him quite a lot of room to move around compared to other snowy winters we've had.  Still.  He'd be happier if we could find a way to go riding.  We'll have to wait a little longer.  We did do some "driveway dressage" recently but it was more of "driveway rodeo" on a horse who wanted to GO.  So waiting is what it will be for now.

When will it be spring?

January

C-c-cold

January went by in a hurry.  The first weeks we were 5 of us living here.  By the end of the month just 3.  The oldest is in his new apartment now and the middle boy is back in his dorm at college.

We moved furniture out and then around which brings great joy to the cats.  We move many a bookshelf before deciding where they all go (for now) and this cat thought each bookshelf should really be a cat toy.  

Bookshelf fun

Knitted fingerless gloves

I did enjoy knitting up 4 or 5 pair of these "treads" fingerless gloves this season.  The boys seem to like wearing them.  Even when playing rock, paper, scissors.  The cold outside saw us spending a lot of time inside.  So many games to play!  Hearts is a favorite still but Spades has been a new favorite of the crew.

Turkeys

The turkeys were hoping to find birdseed spilled on the ground for them.  We have had large flocks visit the yard a lot this winter.

Cat TV

When it's too cold to hunt outside the cats enjoy the window bird feeder.  They spend a lot of time just staring at that feeder.

Favorite ice breaking activity

The Miller Brook is mostly frozen again which means it's time to break the ice.  I'm not sure why this is the most fun thing ever but all of the boys have enjoyed this activity over the years.

Beach Ride

January 25th found us going to the ocean for the "last hurrah" before real snow arrived.  It was a very windy day but with the help of crew we were able to get this last ride in.  I don't expect to get back to the ocean again to ride for a very long time now.  It was a day to bottle and remember.

Crew!!

Post "blizzard"

First big snow came on the 26th.  It's hasn't slowed down since then.