Thursday, December 31, 2009

another year




New year's eve day...I can't say that I am a big fan of New Year's Eve, I know there are a lot of folks who do enjoy it, but it's not my fav. I always feel like we should be "doing something", and yet, I don't like being out too late on cold winter nights, we really aren't "party" folks, and in New England, who can ever count on the weather.




I had the grand idea of doing a hay ride with the team. And in fact, we had been working them quite regularly in preparation of it, but the weather wasn't in our favor... snow, ice, and cold for the "holiday". On top of that, work schedules, Deb had to work (she's a nurse) and wasn't sure when she would be free, and then other factors came into play and the plans sort of fell apart. I really couldn't come up with any "alternative" plans, so the day just went on like any other day.







We worked around the house some. Ed has been wanting to get a spot light up on the driveway side. When we go to load the wood furnace at night, it's dark... he's been using his CELL PHONE (of all things) as a flashlight. Works, but it's kind of silly. So, we went and got a nice bright light and he put that up ....it comes on automatically when you pull up to drive and aims perfectly on the furnace.





This furnace has really worked out well. I can't get over how it heats the house, and tending to it hasn't been a "bad" chore at all. We fill it up twice a day (usually at the horse's feeding time) and it chugs along the rest of the time. We are currently running a bit short of wood, but Rick has promised us a load very soon... so, I'm not too worried about that. I have been lugging wood from the pile at the camp.. which has been a little hassle, but just knowing more wood will be delivered, we're doing just fine. We have decided that it will be our main source of heat, even after we move in. Eventually, we will get an oil furnace too, but because this is going so well, that's not going to be a top propriety right now.


After puttering around the farm I called around to see what folks were up to. Kas and Nate had made plans just to "hang out" so they were "happy".. and then I gave Kelli and Rick a jingle and they didn't have too much going on. We decided just to order some Chinese food, crash in on their house and at least have an evening out. Abbie seemed pretty happy with this idea.. especially when we told her she could stay up until midnight!!!! (NOT that she has ever done anything like that before!!!)






It was a quiet but fun evening and it went by in a flash. I never intended to stay until midnight, but while we were visiting, we watched the "ball" drop.. and here we are...

2010!!! I say this over and over again, but truly where does the time go... it scares me sometimes...

Next year, maybe I will have my act together and we can pull that hay ride together...






Sunday, December 27, 2009

first Christmas

Christmas Day..a favorite and a special, but even more so this year with our little Abbie!!! We arrived fairly early at Kassy and Nate's for our traditional Christmas brunch. They had been busy and had everything all ready and so nicely set!!! So much yummy food, and I have to say that breakfast is one of my favorite meals.....





We opened gifts with the "Flagg" side of the family, and just enjoyed being all together!!! Camille had to be the center of attention.. and quickly claimed Dave's lap... they say that people often look like their dogs... but Camille doesn't belong to Dave.. so what's the "family resemblance here?"








Kassy quickly claimed Abbie, as did Banjo!! (all of our dogs are so good with this baby - they truly love her!!)




After Kassy and Nate's we went over to my parent's house to have Christmas with the rest of the family. My sisters and their hubbys and girls...
Little Naomi was such fun to be with and watch as she opened her gifts... at three, she was "really into Christmas" this year!!! I feel so blessed to have children at Christmas time.. nothing like kids at Christmas....








Abbie, of course won't remember this year, but we certainly will. She got a lot of wonderful things, but I think this little horse (a gift from Deb) is going to become a favorite... his name is Douglas, and she held him for the longest time!!!

So another lovely holiday, full of family, wonderful time together, peace and joy. We are so blessed that we can be together... but next year... it's going to be at our house -- one way or another!!!!









decorations....

I have to say, that one of the many things that I enjoy about Christmas are the decorations. Personally, I tend to keep to more of a "traditional New England" style (whatever that is)... but it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the "other styles" that people do. I really didn't do a lot in the decorating side of things this year, most of our "things" are still packed away, and I am anxiously waiting to decorate "my" house, but still.. we had our beautiful tree and a few little "goodies" around the house.



Last fall, at Halloween time, I took some shots of a little house that had some awesome decorations.. I think they had several "scarecrows" and some "ghosts" coming out of their windows and the like.. and they do no less for Christmas. Here we have Santa and Rudolph up on the house top....









While the rest of the "team and sleigh" wait down in the yard. The pictures really don't do it justice~~~ it is quite the display!!!







And then, there are the folks that go "all out!!" Again not my style, but you have to appreciate all the time and effort (and clean up!!) that goes into all of this!! and I certainly enjoy it... it's great fun to bundle up in the truck and drive about and see what "things" people come up!! Can't wait until Abbie is old enough to travel with us and see all the sights!!!




Christmas Eve (day)

Christmas Eve day turned out to be as busy as I thought it might be. First things first.. Chester had a visit to the vet for the last of his puppy shots. Even though I adore my vet from the "old town", I decided to take Chester to a vet here, mainly for convenience. NEADS operates a lot on donations, so we asked this vet.. Dr. Spahn .. if he might contribute some of his services for Chester - which he gladly did... not charging me or NEADS for any of this visit!!! (thank you so very much!!!!) Chester is such a good puppy, and is taking to training like a "duck to water"!!! Here he sits proudly on the scale!!!!



And then waited quietly with Camille until it was his turn to go in and see Dr. Spahn. I have to keep reminding myself, that he is NOT a cocker spaniel!!! He's growing so quickly and even though his dinner bowl looks so big and so full of food... he's NOT a cocker. For this visit, he weighed in at 20lbs, already bigger than the others!!! He was a very good boy for his shots and doesn't have to go back again until spring time (for the big operation!!!)



Returning home, I noticed that the Channel 8 news truck was at the fire station. Certainly "something" must be up to have the news truck at the fire station, I had heard some "rumors" around town that a very special person had said something about "making a special stop" in Acton. Seeing this news truck could only mean one thing... that "he" had decided to come......








could it be?? Yes, I am quite certain...

It's SANTA!!!! seems there are some very special children in Acton that he needed to see, so he left the sleigh at the North Pole (to have the elves pack) and borrowing a fire truck, Santa and a few helpers from the fire department, made some deliveries around town.....




Course, we took advantage of this private encounter ... and introduced Abbie to Santa, making sure that he added her name to his list....












She seemed pretty comfy in his arms, almost like she had been there before!!! :-)







and then Chester had to say hello, and make sure that he was also on Santa's list.. especially after being such a good puppy at the vet. He wasn't one bit afraid of this gentlemen in the long white beard....

After visiting with Santa, it was back home.. barn chores waiting and Christmas Eve beginning. Now, I must confess here, I was actually feeling rather sad about Christmas Eve... we had made plans to be with Kas and Nate , going to their church and then over to Pease Air base to welcome home the soldiers returning from Iraq. Well, when the bell choir plans changed, it meant that I would have to "give up" our plans and be at our church. Since everyone had other plans, it would mean that just Sadie, Abbie and Ed would see me play with the choir..I had been hoping for a much bigger audience!!! About two hours before church, Ed got called out with the fire department to a structure fire... a barn - fully involved. Now, I've been around the fire department for many years, and "fully involved structure" means one thing for sure... hours of work!!! Ed would now miss the bells too.


So, Sadie and I packed up Abbie and headed to the church. Going there in such a "bad mood" certainly was not the way to begin the Christmas celebration... but, I just couldn't help it.

As we were doing a quick practice and the folks were coming into church, I noticed a pretty gal in a pink coat, and thought to myself.. "Kas has a coat like that"... and then, looking a bit closer.. it was Kas!! and Nate!!! Plans had changed again (the flight bringing home the soldiers was bumped to an earlier time that they couldn't make).. so they surprised me and came to hear the bells. Then, just before service began.. in came Ed. The barn fire was a total loss, but no one - including animals - were hurt, and since it was in a neighboring town, Ed felt he could leave and come to hear me..... so, for all my fretting - Christmas Eve turned out to be a very nice time. AND a good reminder to me as to "why" we celebrate this very special season!! The birth of our Lord and Savior -Jesus!!!!



We had a short visit with Kas and Nate after church.. it was late and they had a drive home, we would be with them all Christmas Day...

then it was time for bed and wait for "Santa" to do his work (he was probably at church too!!!) but looking at some beautiful gifts sitting on the counter, I would say that Santa had already made some drops!!!! (right, Rick??)






















day before the day before....

I think I might be "back in business" in the bloggin world!! It's been a long road, and technically our computer still isn't fixed, but Ed graciously went to his office and brought this one home, just to keep me sane. So, even though the real date is 1-17-2010, I am going to pick the blog up where I left off.. back in December, and bring you up to date on all the news. Happy reading everyone.. you have no idea how happy I am to be back!!!!!














So, it's the "day before the day before" and if you were reading this blog last year (or the year before) you already know that I love the 23rd!! To me, the excitement of Christmas is just around the corner, and still waiting to happen, sadly, once the 24th arrives, then it is Christmas and the celebration is happening and beginning to end.. sort of a strange way to look at things.. but...




Kas had the idea of doing a "girls" lunch on this day before the day before, so, we all met at a great little restaurant and just enjoyed each other's company and the day. Abbie was as good as gold, and pretty much slept thru this great adventure, but there are many more to come and I think she will appreciate this day as much as her silly Grandma does...






She woke up happy just as we were about to leave, isn't that smile just the greatest???


















It was back to the farm and chores after our lunch. Not as much snow as last year (fine with me) and I have to say, I think Turkey Manor looks much better with lots of "green" around it... but here it sits, waiting for next year's residents.....















Early Christmas gift... help with barn chores!!! Talk about "knowing what to give someone!!"












And later that evening, finishing up in the gift wrapping department, though I think Abbie was more tired than interested.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the bell choir is scheduled to play. We were suppose to play "Christmas Sunday", but snow kept our choir director from coming to church, so, she called to see if we were available to play tomorrow night. We did have other plans with the kids, so everything had to be changed on our end.. but I didn't want to be the one that kept the choir from playing.. so change it is...

















Tuesday, December 22, 2009

no blogs for a bit..


Well, I won't be putting any blogs up for a little while, we have a sick computer AGAIN!!! seems we went thru this last summer and here we go again. I can "blog" but without photos, and I don't like "not having photos".. so, I'll just wait. Or rough blog until I can add the photos in and then print them. I don't understand these "bugs" that computers get, but someone must have "invented" them and I wished they had spent that time in a better way. Not only is it a pain that we can't use our computer, but it costs money every time we ship it into the computer doctor... and yes, we have all the "firewalls" and protective things... just once in awhile some bug can make it's way thru. So, dear readers,... sorry.... I have much to tell you... stories about Abbie, and Christmas, and Chester.. and the horses, the farm ... etc, etc. etc..... hopefully I'll be back soon......


Monday, December 21, 2009

tomorrow will be longer....

Today is the shortest day of the year, tomorrow, the days will begin to lengthen.. and it's surprising how that one or two minutes of extra light will quickly make a difference...And on this shortest day of the year, I have had some news. On a "whim" a month or so back, I put in for a part time position at our local post office. I saw the "ad" in the lobby and it's only for 10-20 hours a week. I have always had "part time" jobs in my life, they- along with the dog training - have been a great help every so often in the financial part of this family, and I like "doing my part".. anywho, since the post office is three houses away from the farm (I can SO easily walk to work!!!) and I thought it would be a fun way to get to know the town folks and be a "face" in the community... I applied. The interview was the week before last, and last week I had to go for a "drug test" (welcome to the real world I guess) and today... I got the note that I will need to "report for training" on January 4th..... all of sudden I'm a bit nervous.. there's a lot to learn with the post office and I just hope my brain can take it all in.... time will tell I guess!!! so, something new again in my life, seems like I have had a lot of "new" in the past couple of years but the Good Lord has given me just so much time here on the earth and I want to take advantage of it all, and live my life to the fullest... including trying new things!!!!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

we got an egg...



I really should get some up dated photos of our "birdies" because when I went to write this blog, I realized that I had "nothing" to go with it... so, here are the "girls" from a photo last summer... but the "story" goes like this...


Last night our neighbor - the photographer, Dusty - contacted me to say that she needed "photos of chickens" and knew I had a couple. I told her we had the black and white "rocks" and the "silkies" and she was quite pleased, as she was looking for "something different/unusual".. (Ed says, that describes our farm!!!) So, anyways, she popped over this morning and spent a couple of hours "shooting" chickens.


they're hard to work with, unlike dogs, cats or horses, what kind of noise do you make to get a chicken to look at you??? and how do you keep them in one place or another or make them stand a certain way... I guess you don't... because Dusty just followed them about, getting shots of whatever she could. NOW, Mr. G. on the other hand, was more than happy to pose and get right in the middle of things.. I swear that bird knows what a camera is!!! but she didn't need photos of Guinea Hens!!!


After the "shoot" Dusty puttered around the barn with me for a bit, and we discovered one of the hens laying in the hay pile, I left her .. it was a cold morning, and I figured she was just trying to warm up after her big picture shoot, but before I left, I shooed her out of the hay, only to find her first egg!!!! This is pretty exciting, because we haven't had eggs in a while, one of the older black hens died a few months ago, and the other hen is too old to lay now, so we have been waiting for the "rocks" to get going in the egg department. I set up another "nesting" box in the bird stall, so hopefully she'll be happy with that, and maybe her sister will get to work as well. The silkies might even begin to lay, so I will have to make a daily check for eggs now.... pretty good!!!!
(and here is one of the photos that Dusty took!!! - Chicken Butt)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

two months...

Yesterday was Abbie's two month "birthday".. and goodness knows where the time has gone. It seems like she has always been with us, and yet, it has been for only such a short time.

She is doing so well... (so is Sadie) she sleeps mostly thru the night and is now taking interest in the things around her. Especially things that move... she watched Titus for the longest time the other night.... and she loves the lights on the Christmas tree.




In keeping with her "theme" Sadie took Tatter and set up for the monthly photo.







Working on "sitting up" here... but still a bit rolly polly in the bum.....











there's that smile that we all like to see!!!!






"poor" Tatter... "why me?"










"why you?.... because you are the best!!!"

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

a parade....


All last winter, Mocha's driving lessons looked like this. Betty and I spent hours (in the cold) working with this little mare and getting her to be a good driver. There were days when I was about to give up, as it seemed like we would get one "kink" worked out and she would come up with another.

In June, at the driving clinic, her work looked like this, and I even went so far as to put a time limit on it, if she wasn't going to be a driving horse, she was going to become some one else's pet. Not that I want to sound harsh, but
with horses, they need to "pull their weight" (pun intended) and be of some use, only Silver has the joy of being called "a pet". Mocha was better at the driving clinic, Butch and Becky found some other ways to work her, and Betty and I continued all summer. And then, somewhere along the line, it clicked... she became FUN and we began to do different things.. like going over to Deb's for a woods drive.



this past Sunday was the huge Christmas parade in a neighboring town. My dog club had put together a great float and wanted some "walkers" with dogs to go with the float, I thought it would be fun to throw Mocha into the mix.. after all the theme was "Winter Day activities" and after last winter's work.. I thought Mocha qualified. When we got there, the parade line up was bigger than I remembered from past years... firetrucks, bands, lots of floats, kids, dogs... and I was just hoping that Mocha would handle it all. We hitched her up, and Rick was happy to do some driving around the parking lot while I kept an eye on her, no sense in setting us up for failure. But she went like a little dream and never missed a step.


We had some time to wait for our place in the line to come up. Which worked out well, because Mocha had the chance to look all around, she was actually bored by the time we stepped into line... but isn't this a good looking group of folks and canines/equine???



We stepped in behind the float and Mocha walked along like she had been in a hundred parades (and maybe she has, I don't know her history)... Ed walked along side, just in case, but we never needed him. Even Camille rode in the cart most of the way, but she couldn't stand being so far from the crowd and did jump out and walked the rest of the route with Ed.








And Mocha just bee-bopped along and I had such a
great time. Needless to say, there were many comments from the crowd about her little cart and jingle bells, and you can be sure that we have many more parades that we will do in the future...
who knows, maybe next year, we'll bring the big boys out!!!!



Monday, December 14, 2009

the life of Jesus....

A local church and a private collector of these porcelain figurines set up this whole display honoring the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We had heard that it was a "not to be missed" event, so Saturday night, we went to see it. Even though these pictures are pretty good, it really doesn't do justice...but I am so glad that we went to see it, and definitely a great way to celebrate Christmas.


"they" started us out in Bethlehem with the arrival of Mary and Joseph... and wanted to show that Bethlehem was just a normal little town, going about it's business with no idea of the great happenings yet to come...











(so much detail.. I could have spent hours there)







then the moved us to the arrival of the wise men and the run in with King Herod...







the flight to Egypt to save "baby Jesus" from the slaughter of Kind Herod








and several "scenes" later, the celebration of "Palm Sunday" when Jesus rode a colt into the city












the last supper (with a bit of artistic flare)













and the crucifixion













and the celebration.. "For He is not here, He has arose as He has said that He would"

"For God so loved the world that He sent His Only Son, and he that believe will have ever lasting life".......