Our November check in at NEADS... another month is here already (??) I think Rylie is getting a little bigger, but she's such a peanut and I don't see her growing. She can still wear a puppy size vest, in fact, the "big dog" vest really is still too big!!!!
Our check-in's are almost routine, but even though we seem to do the "same things', I always enjoy these days of dogs and good friends, and always come away with some good training advise. Rylie and Marv quietly converse while the humans do the same at the "round table" talks (as I call it!!)
Then, it's off to the city. This will be Vicki's last check in with us... she'll be turning in during the month of December. Both she and her handler have come a long way in their year together. It will be fun to hear about her next adventure... and one day, we hope to watch her cross the stage at graduation...
June and Vicki... Kathleen and Monty... Linda and Marv... "enjoying" the city on a fine fall day.
Rylie, just taking in the sights.....
At the hospital, we just took a few minutes and camped out at the front door. The floor there is a metal grate and it "shakes" a little when you walk across it. So, having the puppies sit on it while people walked by was a good little training session. Course the puppies always draw alot of attention.
From there it was onto the elevators. Rylie enjoyed her ride, and as you can see by the others... it's "old hat"... (that's Norton's butt you can see on the edge of the picture)... Moxie just lays down and waits for the door to open.. Vicki takes in the view....
Here are all the Maine puppies waiting at the elevators... Rylie, Moxie, Marv and Monty.... we won't be together too much longer... Monty's turn in date is getting close too....
After elevator work, we went to get some lunch. This young man and his Mom were waiting as well. When she told him about the puppies he just had to 'see" them. Rylie was more than happy to become friends, and as you can tell, he was delighted to meet her as well. Even if our puppies don't make "service dog".. they have already done "good work"....
Norton... as handsome as always.....
Rylie took a little snooze while we ate lunch. I do forget that she is still so little (four months) and runs out of steam much sooner than the older dogs do. But she is really catching onto this "service dog" thing and I have a good feeling about her future.
Our next stop was the train station. "Playing" on the stairs is always good work.. we practice going up and down at different speeds, stepping carefully on the "slippery" floor, and then we take turns with each other's dogs.. just to be sure that they will work with others as well as us...
Not only did we catch up with the commuter train, but a huge freight train went threw as well. Didn't bother Rylie one little bit. However, we did have a bit of trouble with the commuter train. When the train pulls up to the station, there is a space about 8-10 inches between the train and the platform. When I went to get on the train, I realized that Rylie would have to jump to get on, as she's too little to step on like the big dogs. Suddenly, in my mind, i could see her mis- stepping and "falling" between the train and the platform. It was all kind of silly, but I just couldn't get the thought out of my mind, and got so, I couldn't even get on the train with her. I ended up handing her off to Rick and he took her on for me. She actually was a little nervous having to jump on the train, so it was just as well her "nervous" Mother didn't try to do the training.
And after the train work, we chatted some more and headed for home. We won't be back at NEADS until "next year".. but December is going to be so busy... that I know it will be here before we know it.
oh no.... a delivery of wood... and not the burning kind.. the building kind. My dear Ed is onto another project.. our woodshed!!!
For those who may not know, we heat our home entirely by wood. There is no furnace in our house and no oil.. just wood that is burned in an outside furnace which sends the hot water into the house, and goes from there. The very first winter we had no shelter for our wood except covering the piles with a tarp. Not very efficient, especially after a heavy snow...
The next couple of winters, we used one of those "portable buildings" (aka tent).. which worked pretty well. But our tent building was an older one and the weather really took it's toll last year. So this year, Ed said it was time for a "real" building. He called our friend Ken (who helped build our barn) and the first day... the back wall was up....
When I got back on Tuesday after having gone to the doctor with Kas... the front wall was up. These two can really move when they work together like that.
We want it to look like a carriage building... which has a high front and a low back. There are many old carriage buildings here in new England where just the carriages and sleigh were stored...
With snow and yucky weather on its' way, Ed and Ken planned to get the walls done and spend the yucky days in the garage building the tresses for the roof.
this is kind of a funny picture.. when Ed's Dad was alive, he always commented on how "people worked in the doorway of the building" more than they worked inside... as you can see... that's where Ed and Ken worked this day... in the doorway....
but by the end of the day, they had most of the outside work done and brought in the pieces for the work to do inside the next day....
The garage worked perfectly.. while the winds howled and the snow fell... they built 27 roof tresses all inside...
And when the sun re-appeared on Friday.. up went the tresses.... This coming week, they'll get the end walls up, the roof done.. and then it will be "my" turn...
bringing all the wood (15 or so cords) inside!!! Hopefully I can beat the next snowfall....
It's been a wonderful week of "firsts".... and I'll start with baby news!!! On Tuesday, Kas invited Deb, Sadie, Abbie and I to go with her for her check up. We were more than excited to go, and hear baby Regan's heartbeat.
He's growing very well, and Kas is doing an amazing job. She is taking such good care of herself and giving baby Regan the best head start possible. Abbie was so excited to see Tee-tee's tummy and is trying to put it all together about "where Tee-tee's baby is right now"...
A nice strong heart beat, and a Mom who really cares about things... you can see how happy her doctor is with the progress.... It was a joyous day, and we anxiously await his arrival........
November 7th can go down in history as the first official snow fall of the year. It was just a few inches... but for a puppy who has never seen the snow.... exciting!!!!
For about 10 seconds, she was a bit worried about this whole idea... and after that, I could hardly get any pictures because she raced around so much. And a black dog against white snow... makes for so hard picture taking!!!!
Actually all the dogs were pretty excited about the snow. This is the kind the cockers like... just enough to have fun with and not have to plow threw.....
And it didn't take Abbie very long to be dressed and out the door. She says she remembers snows from last winter.. and that it's good to eat..... she had a great time running about....
And the first of snow angels. Fortunately, the weather is beginning to warm again, and the snow didn't last very long.. I'm not quite ready for winter.. but it was a nice little taste of "things to come".....
just some photos taken around the farm of the beautiful fall that we had...... we are so blessed....
I have just finished "this years" quilt square.. which will go into the 2013 Acton Fair quilt, and will be judged next summer when it is displayed. This year's theme (can you guess) was "Merry Christmas". The red fabric was the piece they gave us, and I made them into small yo-yo's - along with some green ones, and came up with a tree. I bet there will be a lot of nice squares with this theme and I can't wait to see the outcome.
It got me to thinking how many years have I entered the contest, and going back over the blogs I found almost every one...
2012 - was "back to the 60's"... my square took fourth place, and I won the quilt....
2011 - "meet me at the beach".... my square took a third.....
2010 - "school days".... this square took first place....
2009 - "in the garden".... this square took a third....
2008 - "down on the farm"... my square (lower right, with the yellow trim) took a fourth, I didn't think to take a picture of just the square...
and in 2007, the first time I entered, the theme was "stars".... I didn't take a picture of that one either, but it didn't place so....
Hard to believe I have done this for seven years... I think they have only made 10 fair quilts..so I have almost been in each one. Just a fun think to do.. and I hope to continue each year that they still do the quilt.....
For the second time - and thankfully again, not for one of our horses - we found ourselves at the Equine hospital. This is such an amazing place, and if it can be "done with a horse, it can be done here". Of course - affording that is another whole decision......
Our friend's horse, just as the hurricane was rolling in, some how banged her eye. Seriously banged her eye.. enough so it caused the cornea to be damaged. They called the vet, who came out and said.. this horse needs hospital care. After calling around, they got to us and asked if we could transport her to the clinic. By now the hurricane had passed, and we were "happy" to help. (never a happy moment when an animal is in pain).
The vet saw them right away, and sadly with no good outcomes. Treating the eye was an option, but not a good one.. the best idea -- removing the eye.... which they decided they had to do. So, Ed and I left and told them, we would be glad to bring her home when she was ready.
A few days later we were back. The hospital was quite busy, it's a teaching hospital as well as a care hospital, so there were lots of students working about. While I was waiting for them to release my friend's horse, I watched this clinic in "movement"... it was pretty fun, and I have to admit, had I "known in my younger days..." this might have been a route I chose to do....
Molly came out of the hospital really no worse for the wear. She was happy to see her family and after moving around - we loaded her on and headed for home. The last report I got, is she is all settled in and very comfortable at home. She had been out in her pasture and seems almost like nothing even happened. My friend said the thing that I always think.. for all their size and strength, it's amazing how delicate horses really are... and if they're going to be hurt or in trouble, you can pretty much plan on it being in the middle of storms or in the night.... "never when it's convenient"... so, I guess you just need to be ready.....
Last year, our Halloween trick was two feet of snow... this year... a hurricane... an extremely bad hurricane named Sandy. And though New England was mostly spared, the mid Atlantic coast was not. It's just days after, but there are folks who will be weeks - months - before life returns to normal.
Even though the path of the hurricane was pretty well tracked, we took it seriously here on the farm. Our main concern were the animals... and Ed wanted the turkeys to have some shelter against the wind and rain. Their pen is covered, but the sides are open, so we opted to tarp one side to keep the wind down.
I threw in some hay for warmth and dryness, and made sure there was plenty of food and water, and they weathered pretty well. They'll be gone in just a few weeks, but we have worked too hard to bring them this far along to have anything happen now.
We lost power for just a few hours, which we really found surprising. Ed had gone and got plenty of gas for the generator, and we ran it just a short time. The wind was "amazing", and we did fear losing the tent building that covers our wagons and sleighs... but again, fared very well. (we laid the wind mill down - it didn't fall over)...
Surprisingly too, we didn't get that much rain. I think the wind was the most damaging... Kas reported from the coast that the ocean put on quite a show, and much of the old home town was closed down due to the ocean. But again, all fared well.
We didn't have a place for the guinea hens.. I wanted to shoo them into the barn, but they wouldn't hear of it... so I was glad to see none had blown away...
In the meantime, I just want to say that my prayers go out to the folks who did not come threw very well. The reports that we see on TV are horrifying... and we just want to offer our support.....
I threw in some hay for warmth and dryness, and made sure there was plenty of food and water, and they weathered pretty well. They'll be gone in just a few weeks, but we have worked too hard to bring them this far along to have anything happen now.
