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!!!!

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)

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!!!"

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!!!!

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".......

party & movie

On Wednesday, when we had all the snow, my women's church group was not able to come to the camp for their Christmas gathering, I was disappointed to say the least, because I do enjoy entertaining during the holidays (well, anytime for that matter, but especially during the holidays) However, the weather did clear and so the next day (Thursday) we were able to have the dog club Christmas party in the barn. (which by the way, was cancelled LAST year due to the ice storm!!!)

the nice thing about holding this party in the barn (where I teach dog classes) is that there is plenty of room for everyone. We usually get a pretty good crowd for this event, as the members bring their spouses and friends. We do it potluck style which is a guarantee that there will be LOTS of good food!!! The meeting is always a very short one, because it's nice just to have social event and catch up and talk - at regular meetings, you may not always have that time.




After the meeting and the "eats", it's onto our mystery auction. We bring wrapped gifts with clues and then bid on them. (and we donate the money to a "cause" of our choice).. this always brings a lot of laughing, because the gifts can be anything, so you just never know. I hit the jack pot this year though, and got a painting portrait. Maxine is quite an artist and she put in a gift certificate to do a painting of your dog.... and I won it!!! I have a couple of her paintings so I was very happy to get this one!!!




Course, baby Abbie came to visit for a bit. Kassy watched her so that Sadie could enjoy the bulk of the party, and brought her up later for everyone to see.

She was a big hit, especially with some of the little gals that were there. It so nice to see "kids" at the party... when I first joined the club, I (along with a couple of others) was the "new" Mom.. and now, dare I say, there is another new group of "little ones" showing up.....

Abbie was slightly less than impressed with all the fussing and fell asleep... she won't be like this next year!!! Sadie will more than likely be on her feet!!!

On Saturday, my sister Rachel had "all the Mom's and kids (cousins)" get together to go and see a movie. This was Naomi's very first movie and so it was a big event. We saw the "Princess and the Frog" and Naomi was just awed by the size of the movie screen!!! It was so much fun to just have some "family time" and do something all together.... we need to continue to do these types of things.

It wasn't Abbie's first movie (she had gone to the Christmas Carol) but she certainly was "more awake" for this one, and actually sat and watched the movie for a bit.

and then, all too soon it was over, and we were dashing off in our separate directions.....

me to bell practice

bigger snow...

Well it turns out that "they" were right this time, and yesterday we spent much of the day "getting ready", just in case "they" were right. Big snow predicted for today. Ed got some wood moved with the tractor, we brought the wagons into the barn, made sure all the wood was covered and anything/everything was out of the way of the plow.. good thing...

this was "yesterday"









This was "today"...












We turned the horses out for a while in the morning, that way I could do stalls without them under foot, but after a couple of hours, everyone was more than ready to come back into their cozy barn. The drafts (this is Duke) have such a thick coat that the snow doesn't even melt on them...

And for most of the day, it looked just like this. Kas called and said that on the coast they got all rain, and hardly had any snow at all... not the case here.. by supper time, we had nearly a foot and then it did rain for a short time there after.

Since we were out anyways, we decided to do some work in the house. Ed got all the "first coat" sanded, and I went around and got a second coat on all the nail holes. Ed will second the seams tomorrow, and then some mud around the timbers, bit of sanding, and I can start priming the walls....

Camille just loves the windows in the new house, they're all "cocker size" and she spent much of the time peering out the window at the snow...

It must have been an exhausting day for her, because she curled up in any chair that was available... this one is baby Abbie's....

and then mine, when I got up to come and do this blog....by the way, she only has her coat on because I haven't take two seconds to take it off...

so, last Thursday we had record breaking temps and rain, this week, over a foot of snow... welcome to New England... and welcome to winter, because I think it's here to stay

muddin & tapin'

The tree is all decorated and ready for the holiday!!! This is such a nice tree, and for the first time... in a long time... every ornament that I have is on the tree!!! This one has good sturdy branches, so it holds the ornaments and I didn't have to pick and choose which ones could go on the tree. We will definitely get our future trees from that farm!!!

My women's bible study group was suppose to come tomorrow for their fellowship/meeting/party, but according to this morning's weather report we are in for another messy day. So, thinking of some of the older ladies and such, the word has just come thru that it will be cancelled. Bummer, I was hoping to show off this nice tree.. though I was a bit concerned of "where" I would "put" everyone!!! I did tell the committee that if they want to "slate me for next year", we should be in the farm house and then I would have lots of space!!! Our dog club party is also on for this week (Thursday to be exact) so maybe this weather will blow out of here and we can still plan on that.

Just a shot of our back yard... at the farm. I do wonder when we get moved in... if I will ever get anything done.. or just spend time gazing out the window.

Not that the house was cold by any means, but we went to start the mudding and taping the sheet rock yesterday morning, I decided to get the "little stove" chugging. It didn't take long to have a nice toasty fire and it warmed the room up beautifully!!! However, the wood furnace is doing a perfect job keeping the house nice and warm, so we don't have any worries about the "mud" drying on the walls.

Ed is in charge of taping and mudding the seams... I don't feel confident enough to do that job, but I can fill the nail holes... lot and lots of nail holes!!! And by the early afternoon, we had the entire down stairs done, first coat!!! It went quick, and I dare say the upstairs will go just as well.. which we hope to be doing before the end of the week... then a couple more coats of the mud, and we can start to talk.... PAINT!!!!

At this point... even a wall that looks like this is... beautiful!!!!

it's beginning....

Saturday afternoon.. after bell choir practice, we zipped down to the "old town" to visit with Kas and Nate, and celebrate with Dave and Deb their 28th wedding anniversary. They had all been to the little Christmas parade in town, which we missed out on (just need to be able to be in two places at once!!!) and the town was all lit and very Christmas looking. On top of that, the snow was really beginning to fall and the roads were a bit on the messy side.

We had a great time with everyone and then made our way back home. I couldn't believe the number of cars that were off the road in different places!!! Shame on them in a way, because you could tell that they were off due to driving way too fast!!! It always takes a couple of snows to get used to winter driving, but people need to slow down and take it easy until they are "used" to it again...



Chester was totally in love with all this "white" stuff. If you are ever "sick of snow" or not ready to deal with the winter, take a puppy out that has never seen it before!!! He had a ball, and actually was buzzing around so fast that I was lucky to get this one shot of him. It had already been quite a day, he couldn't believe that we had brought a "real live tree" in the house to start with, and now this... "amazing!!"





Sunday morning I was up with the sun, and headed down to the barn. I knew there would be some great photo opts and I didn't want to miss them... here are a few that I got....

Then we were out for church.. I loved church, we are singing so many of the old Christmas hymns and it's just so joyous there. We know everyone now (unlike last year when we were still newbies) and it's like "home" to us.

After church, Rick was out to do another driving lesson with us. I wanted some pictures for our Christmas card, and asked Rick to shoot a couple for us. This one and another were the favorite two.. so, this one is on the blog and the other will be on the card. I am holding Tonka and Ed has Duke, gives you a good idea of how much they do look alike.



After our photo shot, we began to work the boys, and I have to say this week... it didn't go so well. I don't know what was (is) up with Tonka, but he was not being a good boy at all. He was pulling against Duke and really just "fighting" in the harness. We did a lot of ground driving and thankfully, Duke was very patient. We did hitch them to the wagon, thinking that if Tonka had more "to do" he might settled down.. but he didn't, time to call my "guru" Butch and see what we might have been doing "wrong"...

I actually had to leave Ed and Rick to the team, because there was a "workshop" at church later in the day. They had all sorts of activities, and needed help decorating the church. So it was a nice get together.





Lots of fresh greens for making wreaths. I invited Kelli to come along, as she wanted to learn how to do a wreath. She made a beautiful big wreath (which I DO NOT get a picture of !!!) and she got to meet many of my friends at church.

And the day ended with a nice church supper for anyone who had come to help or for anyone for that matter. So, Ed and Rick... cold and tired from horse play, came over to the church and had supper there. Such a nice day.. nice evening... with the new snow, the Christmas decorations going up... it certainly is that special time of year..