More from the Home Front

Snow is disappearing. There are snow banks remaining where piles were located from plows, but the next couple of days of rain may take care of those too. Green grass is showing next to foundations and robins have arrived. Yeah! You know what this means. Yes, it's time to start the seeds. Dick put in some pepper and tomato seeds. I have a few flower seeds to start in another week or so. I may start cucumbers and squash, but I will wait and see how these do first.


Dale had a birthday a month ago and he and Keely decided to come home. I took advantage of the event to make a "scratch cake" and we all liked it. We didn't have a single regret. It was an adaptation of a Black Forest Cake, made with raspberry instead of cherry.


After that I wanted to try a couple new recipes. One was Banana Bread Pudding. It was good, with rum raisins and whipped cream. I also made a new coffee cake recipe. Dick and I gave away most of these because we thought we may have a few regrets. it is too much stuff for us to eat. We have been eating more salads and vegetables. We have more chicken and less beef. Healthy enough to want to break the rules once in a while.
Moll still is a little smelly, but we love her anyway!

It Wasn't the Least Bit Polite

Poor little Molly had an encounter with a skunk Tuesday evening. She went out for business near bedtime and came back in short order. I could smell the skunk odor before I opened the door. She was quite upset about it and tried to hide inside the house "to get away from herself". I washed her head and back, but we didn't have any tomato juice or spray that could be used on pets, so we went to bed. The next morning Dick gave her a full bath and he spent the day getting the anti-stink spray and soaking down everything he could.All of you know this is an experience only time will eliminate completely, and we are still washing items days later. I am sorry my little girl has found out that some critters aren't the least bit polite.

Definitely a Snow Day

I was ready to go back to work today, but the weather had its own way. It started to snow a couple hours before we went to bed last night and it was still snowing this morning. No school. I shoveled a bit of the deck off and Dick finished it with his small snow blower. The birds were desperate today. They came to feed while I was on the deck, about 10 of them so hungry they ignored me standing off to the side on a break from shoveling.

If you compare this photo to one in my last post you can see that my bird bath is no longer visible. Dick thinks about 2 feet of snow fell. It was so high on the deck, he had to remove it in layers.

On a pleasant note, my amaryllis blossomed again. It bloomed shortly after Christmas and then the second stalk grew slowly. It was nice to have it bloom again during my week home. I have been sewing more little items. I also started on slacks for me, so will post some new sewing pics next time.

A Tail of Two Doggies

Molly met her cousin Cooper recently. It was the usual sniff and wag session for Molly. Cooper is a little shyer, but eventually relaxed. He is a great pooch and I wish he could visit more often. I think it would be good for Molly. Cooper has had other places to go and kitties to meet, so he has been busy traveling. Time for Treats!

Just about any excitement wears out the girl these days, after all she is 89 dog years-old! Meanwhile, this is what we go through to feed the birds around here, if I don't expect them to be right on my deck feeders.

I have been working on a few smallish type sewing projects, but not steady. Dick and I went to Bangor for a couple days, watched the kids from my school in the basketball tournament and visited Keely and Dale. It was a nice break.

Enough Already!

It's long-john weather! We have been in a deep freeze for a week and have a few more days to go of the most horrible cold.

Add to this temperature a breeze and you have wind chill of 20 to 30 below zero.

Even though there is snow, no one is taking advantage of having a snowmobile because it is too cold. The only people who are ice fishing are those with ice shacks they can heat. Mother Nature, a little mercy, please.

Fuss and Bother

I put away my Christmas stuff a few days ago. The only things I have left are for the whole of the winter season. We had a new print framed, called "Sleigh Bells Too" by Bill Breedon. I have liked it for a long time, so it is a gift to Dick and myself.

We have had an appliance adventure here for the last two weeks. It all started on December 19, when I tried to leave for work. Our garage door was broken and my truck was inside. Dick took me to work and began figuring out what would need to be done. To replace the main springs that pull up the door it has taken: at least 10 phone calls to PDQ Door in Bangor and a service technician in Calais, one shipment of replacement springs (which turned out to be the wrong size, even though custom-made) one 4 hour work session with the technician(only to find out that the springs were wrong), one trip to Bangor to drop off the wrong springs and return later that day to pick up the new correctly custom-made springs, one more two and a half hour work session with the technician to put in the correct springs and payment for the springs and each visit by the technician. Over the two week period my vehicle had to be moved in and out of the garage to keep the driveway clearer when snow came, so there was less to clear snow around. Due to moving the door when broken, Dick now has to make some adjustment to the door motor, or replace that.

Two days after the garage door broke, my washing machine broke. It was full of towels and water. No spin cycle and no draining. I had to take care of that by hand baling and rinsing and wringing the towels. Fun. The next day Dick went to Machais and bought a new washer. After Christmas we decided to buy a new dryer too, since the dryer had been fixed once and we couldn't remember how old it was. We have never had a matching set until now, after 28 years. A nice working washer and dryer are not to be taken for granted.

A Few Little Projects

I have enjoyed my vacation and relaxed enough to do a few little projects. I made Mom a couple embroidered handles on kitchen towels, but I didn't take any pictures. Mom hangs her towels from a drawer handle near her sink, so the towel hangs differently than another project I have done with towels. I adopted this project from a friend at work and made a few for family last Thanksgiving (yes, 2007). The problem I have found with this is that the "dress" hangs so low you have to bend over to dry your hands if you hang it from your oven door. So I moved on to other items. One I liked making because it gave me a chance to learn a few new feet or attachments on my sewing machine was an embellished bag. I have to sew the button on and open the button hole. This project required a special bobbin case so that the thick metallic thread could be used. The bag is a little overdone, but I learned from the process of making it.
A niece's daughter has dolls that need to be clothed, so I have had fun helping with that. I am working on a few things at present, because there is a birthday coming up in a few months. My doll, Shelby, doesn't mind being a stand-in for fittings for the American Girls. I needed Shelby because I am always altering patterns to make something different, so she's my model.
I have a few other types of things in various stages, waiting for the mood to strike.

I'm Sadly Lacking and I Know it!

I have been a Blog skipper. A Blog no-show. A Blog-awol-er.

Over a month ago I was told what a slacker I was, I admitted guilt, and promised to do better. Then life happened. Without going into all the in-between, I can cover some of the stuff. Not only did we get a frost, we had snow. Several times. And some right now. More to come.

Related to that, please note above is Dick's latest toy. He says it is his Christmas present, but it was really a necessity. He doesn't like being out in the worst of the storms trying to move snow on his tractor. It has no cab and he gets a little cold. The advantage with the plow is obvious. However, none of that equipment displaces the shovel for steps.

What a hard working crew!

There are also new family members to introduce. The first one lives in Bangor and is a cousin to Sienna. His name is Dunkin Gus Brown.

Another new member is Cooper Greene and he lives in Scarborough. He has had an exciting week with all kinds of company. I expect to hear middle name anytime- update folks, Cooper will be the middle name and Mini is the first name.

I received a new toy for Christmas too. I have not tried it yet because I did some cooking before Christmas, but it will lighten up a lot of work in the future.

There Could be a Frost Any Day

Afternoons are still very nice, so I try to take a little walk outside after I get home from work. Molly likes to come out with me. It was nice Saturday and Sunday too. We cleared all the wilted vines off the garden last weekend, so it is ready for when we get some manure. We haven't put any in the soil for about 5 years, and the people we bought from last time don't have cows any more. We have friends with horses, so we are going to try horse poop! It works for their garden, so we will see.

Our other four-legged friends have been around. They have inspected every bit of what is left in the garden (only carrots) and ate the tops of some of the carrots.

There are five of these visitors. One Mom has two little ones and another only one. We have watched all five together and the babies play and chase each other.

Last Friday at work a bomb threat was found on a wall in a bathroom, so the building had to be evacuated and all the students taken in groups by grade to five different sites. A few teachers escorted each group and everyone stayed there for the day. Quite a few were picked up by parents and those that were left were not happy campers. It was a long day. This week has been quiet so far.

Goldfinch Feast

I was so glad that I was home, having my morning tea at the kitchen table when this goldfinch came along for his breakfast. I was hoping to catch him one day, because I could tell that he had been around picking the seeds out of the sunflowers. I had to take the photo through the window, so it is a little fuzzy, but there he is on top of the biggest flower. He was reaching down and having a great breakfast. Next, along came a hummingbird, and he is even harder to catch. He is in the bigger photo, but in this blog photo he is hard to see, on the right side, just before the sunflower, almost in a c shape againt the background of the grass.

I am enjoying some other end-of- summer blossoms. There is some lupine that has just gotten big enough to bloom, and roses again. I know that when what we call Brown-eyed Susans appear there is not much left to blossom. At that point in the year I begin to make plans for next year. "Let me think, next year I will try to move that plant over there, and I want a new plant here".. and on and on. The planning ahead begins so I can look forward to next year!

Another year has Begun

School opened on August 25 with workshop and all students began on the 27th. I have been a little busy since then, but it has been the normal begin-the-year stuff. After I took out many,many old books in the library, I have been adding in the new ones. I am not on many committees this year, since our accreditation study and visit are done. The school staff finds out the results of that later in the fall. Several extra things (yearbook, newspaper) I used to do I have passed on to newer younger members of staff, and I am not union president this year. In other words, I am beginning to have a life during work season. My daughter was home this past weekend, and her boyfriend too. It was so good to see them and have them here. Molly loved it, she had someone else to sleep with and watch over. Keely baked a bunch of cookies to take back to school. She also called her Dad today to find out how he makes his oyster stew. I think she misses our home cooking. I have baked more recently for my in-laws. Neither is very healthy or can move around a kitchen much, so they like cookies and quick breads and some meals we take to them. A flock of Canada geese have decided to take up residence on the high school soccer field. They are beautiful and fun to watch, but I don't envy the kids playing soccer and sliding around in their doo.

Summer Vacation Coming to a Close

We have been busy with appointments and day trips. In the meantime, it has been raining constantly, so there has not been much activity outside. We have to catch sunny weather when we can to mow the lawn or do the weeding. The flower garden hasn't cared and there are new blooms, so it looks nice, but some of them are end-of-season blooms. That means that work is in sight. Molly and I had a surprise the other day. A dog that we have never seen before came for a visit. Molly chased it off and it just about wore her out. She hasn't done that much running for quite a while. Her hips have been worse lately and I gave her a Tylenol that night. Now she thinks she needs to do guard duty on the deck to keep bad pooches away.

A few minutes of this and she is ready to come in. She's a lovely girl.

My husband left for Virginia today. He is going with a friend to pick up a truckload of computers for the local schools. The computers are donated and our students rebuild them in vocational class. Then the schools either use them or sell them.

The deer are constant visitors. We have left the fence up on the garden and a neighbor told us he saw a deer standing by the fence looking in at the garden. Must have been during a moment of wishful thinking. I usually see them in the field and noticed there are two Bambis with Mom. I haven't been able to get two babies in one photo yet. they won't stop runing and playing and hold still for a picture. Baby one is a little tan speck to the left.

Horses are There Too!

Since the last post I have made another visit to the farm. It was a day when my daughter would be working, and lots of family was going to be around. First, I took my Mom so she could see where my daughter works. She liked the ponies and I think everyone else did also. Six other family members visited at the farm shortly after us, and were given a tour by my daughter. The ponies were a favorite, but there are lots of other horses.
They all get lots of care and attention. 20 horses take a lot of work. All of the horses are beautiful. However, the ponies, being front and center, are noticed and appreciated by everyone, and probably get more than their share of luv.