New Years Eve, -7F this morning, Brr

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Morning of Christmas Eve 2017

Morning Sunrise!

Getting ready for this evening, driveway is a frozen slush mess.  Sanded like crazy, stall have to be careful though.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

It's almost Christmas!

It's almost Christmas!

Snowed pretty good all day Friday int Friday night, it;s been icing here since I went out to snow-blow at 8am.  Lot of the trees are bent over we're sure to lose power momentarily based on past storms of this type.

James and Jason are here for the weekend, playing Monopoly quietly, hah, lol, yeah I laughed too...  Just some sibling bickering...

We're prepping for Xmas eve,  so lots to do.   Merry Christmas to all!


I almost forgot...
Quite the menagerie coming through the last month or so, couple of Foxes, a few nice bucks, bunches of crows, a Coyote, and some sparring bucks too.  

Fox & the Fawn

Last years fox cub and this years fawn out in the deer yard.  Doe eventually skittered off not sure if she saw the fox or not, instinct finally told her to get out of there, she ran off into the tall grass and sat down disappearing from sight.

Recent Grads

 

CONGRATULATIONS 

JAMES AND JASON SANBORN 

"Class of 2024!"

James and Jason Sanborn graduated this week on Thursday the 15th from Hillsboro/Deering Elementary school, they are now officially middle schoolers.  

Well done & Congrats guys!

Where are all the Bees in NH

BEES?

Getting concerned about the bees this year, other than a bumble or two we just weren't seeing any bees on the plants on the farm.  The blossoms came and went without the usual covering of bees on our seven or so apple trees on the farm .  The plum we got from Dad also normally covered in thousands of bees along with numerous varieties of mason bees was also devoid of life we normally saw in the spring.  Our weeping cherry likewise, dandelions, lilacs, and Russia olives and honeysuckle saw no bees either.  It has been an odd year, odd storms, 95 degree days seemed earlier than normal and wetter than I remember in recent years. 

I did a quick search as we became more concerned, found this study that seems to confirm what we're seeing, 65-percent-of-New-Hampshire-bee-hives-lost. This can't be good, we don't eat the apples we grow, the deer on the property do though, I have a sinking feeling that there simply won't be any this year without the pollinators.  Will be curious to see how the various harvests fare this year. 

Local Ace hardware is selling bee hive kits and accessories, I've been considering getting a hive, been collecting articles on getting started with bees for a couple years now, maybe this will be the push I need.  Time will tell how this die off will impact the local farms and orchards.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM 80th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM   80th

Fishing Derby 2017

Fishing Derby 2017

And so it begins, fishing season has arrived in NH.  Cool out but the rains held off.  Good time was had by all, watching the kids, especially the younger ones grapple with rod and fish was a blast!  Good turnout at the Fish & Game. The boys caught 5 nice trout. "Fish it's whats for dinner..."

Morning person, not...

"JASON"  Proud winner of a new camping chair

What a Sunday...

It's Sunday morning, March 12th and it's already been a fun day.

Gordon our mixed breed dog was not feeling well, that was an understatement.  I was drinking my coffee reading the days news, Rosie yells out from the kitchen "Oh yuck, Donnie come here, Gordon threw up...",  she was busy getting the dogs breakfast ready so it fell to me to get the mess cleaned up.  Rug #1 under the dining room table, 1/2 a roll of paper towels later, I'm done with the mess.

Gordon

We let Gordon outside in the frigid 6 degree F windy weather hoping he'd feel better.  He came in 5 minutes later.

Rose exclaimed, I have no Internet connection, "Jeesh I'm not even done my 1st cup of coffee and computer problems", she reloaded the page, closed and reopened her browser, still no internet, (my PC was fine...) I had her restart her PC and she was fine thereafter...

Not 10 minutes later Rose is headed back into the office not done her first cup of coffee and exclaims "he's done it again" this time on rug #2 in the office, I never heard, or saw it happen seated 5 feet away...  Rose took care of that mess, the other 1/2 of a paper towel roll...

We let Gordon outside once again hoping he'd feel better.  He came in 5 minutes later.

20 minutes later Gordon struck again, on rug #3 in the living room...  What is it with animals and rugs... Rose took care of that mess too. Yeah, another 1/2 a paper towel roll...

Rose went to the kitchen to get her second cup of coffee and discovered our coffee maker had drained a nearly full pot of coffee onto the counter.  "Donnie come here, something is wrong with the coffee maker" We cleaned the mess up and I took apart the coffee carafe to try and see what had jammed the spout dumping out the coffee all over the Island counter.  We cleaned up that mess using up the end of paper towel roll #2.  I got out the Mr Coffee coffee machine cleaning packets and started a cleaning cycle hoping that would help. 

Rose cooked Gordon up some rice with beef broth hoping that would help settle his stomach down, he ate a little and walked away.

Gordon is once again wagging his tail, still not eating but obviously feeling better.

Here's to hoping the remainder of the day goes well. It's a good thing we got a carpet cleaner for Christmas.  I guess time will tell...

How's your Sunday going?

Morning Rising

Quite the sunrise this morning Feb 18th.  Shot with my new camera.