2013 finished with a fleeting but much needed trip back to
Europe. We went to see Phennie graduate from Chester, the ceremony was held at the
Cathedral; a wonderful medieval occasion both in architecture and ceremonial format.
It rained in true English style and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. The
cobblestones were near damned impossible to walk on and hellish uncomfortable
although very beautiful (how do women do it)? Poor Olly wore new Brogues with
leather soles which were slipping all over the place, so he was in trouble too
– alas the woes of rarely worn shoes for these special occasions. We dined and
thanked with those that had helped Phennie in our absence from the U.K. and
then all made our way south to France for some much needed ‘down-time’ in a
gite in Manché, where we would find my Mum and her husband William - which was
equally wonderful and much needed as we have not spent enough time with my Mum
since arriving in America, four years ago. Although loving my new home very
much indeed, I do so miss being able to just drive over for a coffee or tea
with her…
Common consensus was that this past winter was particularly long
and hard, so when spring arrived and we finally de-thawed for good (sometime in
mid-May), we hit the ground running and have not stopped, yet. Felled ten smallish dead trees for fire wood
for this coming winter and will need to do a few more to see us through a full
season, this should yield about three plus cords (Tom will be cutting down to log
size and splitting for his ‘summer job’). He still delights in bringing me
every single snake he finds, the last one being a corn snake measuring in at
just over three feet (Tom is now around six feet and the snake from the ground
was just up to his waist, when dangled by the back of the head). I have decided
they do not get much bigger than that, so that is good. Now today, whilst
strimming, I found one that was twice as thick, and assumed it was going to be
a whopper but the poor thing was only a about foot long, it had a huge scar around
its midriff and then a stubbly little tail, it looked like it had met a mower
at some point in its short life, or Frankenstein…. I do hope it was not my
mower.
With the help of a wonderful local craftsman, Mr Hempel, we
completed two big projects this month. I gave him a drawing and asked if he would consider making it. We really wanted
something in keeping with the house and desperately wanted to use our own
materials from the farm, keeping costs down and being resourceful with what we
had here, which he thought was a great idea, so off we went to find some trees
which needed thinning. He felled then split, planed, prepared and then made our
fence and beams (actually, he made everything by hand for the porch and fence (other
than the shingles and the nails used for attaching them to the roof) the Locust
trees used for the roof porch/cover/ to the rear of the house steps to help
with sun shade and snow/ice in the winter. The three of us somehow managed to
load four huge tree trunks into the back of his 260,000+ mile pick up truck,
with no machinery, which we took to MBF to use their saw mill to cut the beams.
I have now learnt how to put up siding
and how to put up shingles, I replaced all the siding on each side and up to
the gable, then painted, yup, someone purchased the wrong outside colour paint….
Mr Becker. It looks great and does the job; at least it gives shade at present
and keeps the rain off, hope it will keep the snow off also, which I am sure it
will do, it managed to keep several humans up on it safely, so I am sure it can
handle a few feet of snow and ice, we shall see soon enough. Humming birds have
been arriving within moments of the feeder going up, so they approve of the
addition to the house.
Finally got to burn my three year burn piles (May 16th
this year’s burn ban was over), these
ones had been previously ignored due to their size but now had to be dealt
with. Some nervous moments but took all my usual precautions and all went well,
did not cause any explosions this time (a previous one had blown Thomas off his
feet, quite literally) he avoided joining me, which was an added plus in more
ways than one. Blow your son off his feet just once and you will likely not use
petrol again. No, not explaining that one. Only used a match this time, some
dry honeysuckle and dry vines – nobodies’ feet even left the ground this time,
improvements made, I am learning.
Only two incidents with Will to report; In the autumn Will-de-beast
managed to get stuck between the Stone wall and cow fence between the north
neighbors and us – he can bank really well from a stand, thankfully – he is
totally calm with a chainsaw cutting down trees around him (Steven had to cut
an exit for him as there were downed trees that were too big for us to move
between the three of us that were blocking his route). Wish I had pictures of
that, in hindsight, it was not so funny at the time but hysterically funny
after the fact, being freed from his own trap making. He is now enjoying his
summer pasture below Murdock with the ducks to keep him company and better
views of all that is going on while we work on the barns and veggies gardens. During
hunting season, there was one morning when all the fencing was intact and Will
was no-where to be found, which was of course, not right at all. We searched
high and low and found no sign of him. I walked the outer fence line to see if
he had pulled another escape route tactic to the neighbors’ cows and finally found
a trail of muddy hoof prints through the bogs into their property, outside our
fence. For what-ever reason I ran out to the barns and the road in front of the
house, it was by now 6.30am, I had his feed in a bucket still with me and I
stood there thinking where on earth should I start next, we are surrounded by
open fields and woods he could be anywhere? Then the sound of cantering hooves
greeted me as Will appeared at the top of Bain road coming south down the hill
at full speed towards the house and barns, it was a good sight and such a
relief, he slowed and quietly came in between the barns back into the paddock,
straight into his house for breakfast, covered in mud from head to tail,
looking very pleased with himself after his mornings exploits, thankfully and amazingly
he was not injured/did not hit a car/get hit by a car or cause any other type
of accident.
Duck additions are now at twelve, no idea of sexes but they
appear to be all female, we shall see, Pekins and Khaki Campbells, we hope to
have eggs by August? Unfortunately neither of us researched ducks before their
purchase and we now appear to have six huge eating ducks who are the size of
geese and getting larger every day (apparently Pekins are the Meat Duck of
choice and not good layers), the Campbells however should be good egg producers
and we hope to be releasing them into the pen today to join the big fellows and
keep them a little more active.
Bee colony arrived from Florida on May 15th, we
were expecting Russian bees from Georgia but they never arrived so we luckily
received better bees in a Nucleus colony form, from Italian stock, about three
and a half thousand and counting. Their Aviary is looking really healthy and
very busy, their slides are well covered and combs are being built up on most.
We don’t expect to collect honey this year as the winter was so harsh, they
will need to keep their stock for themselves, maybe next year in the spring
harvest. Bees are fascinating and the hardest working subjects on this planet –
some humans could learn a great deal from their life philosophy.
Phennie came to visit in April and finally got to ski and
see snow, which to date had somehow always evaded her. She came with a lovely
friend Rose who was pleasant company and a great sport. They ice skated at
home, tubed at West Mountain, skied at Stratton in VT and best of all, we had a
fantastic walk up to Murdock and used our coats to slide back down (it was
soooo cold and sooo icy) and we laughed and laughed all the way down. A family trip to see
Hotel Budapest, which was just the most hysterical film and full of the most
wonderful characters ~ a must see. Sounds silly, but having the whole bunch of
us together is a rare thing nowadays, so very special and a huge treat, for
which I was very happy. We had gone to Max London’s for supper and we all had
left overs, which we managed to sneak into our bags/coats for ‘snacks’ for the
show, an added bonus as the theatre charges an arm and a leg for their revolting
foods.
Phennie is off to Japan in August for a year of teaching English with the JET program, exact location is still to be determined, I am sure she will be thrilled with where ever they end up sending her.
Spring is magnificent and makes me feel so too, may it
continue a little longer.
