Sunday-Tuesday

Brielle went out on a rainy day to see her cat and make sure he wasn't getting too wet. He is sitting in one of the flower boxes outside of our kitchen.

On Sunday we brought the Rotary Harley down to Concord for a motorcycle swap meet. We set it up and expected to sell raffle tickets until 12 but two Rotarians showed up to work so we got to leave early!! That night we went to Portsmouth to see Cherryholmes with Dad, Uncle Ralph, Aunt Ruth, Aunt Louise, and Sam. Here is a link to one of their songs on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7LzqvN2M5A

Today I went hiking up Mount Major while Cassandra went to several meetings. It was a beautiful day. The trail was a mix of snow, ice spots, and ledge. It was a fairly short hike that I would like to take Brielle on when the snow is gone. The view at the summit was great, a very nice panorama of Lake Winnipesaukee. I took the picture of the tree because as soon as I saw it I started thinking about how I could turn it into a chair or some other rustic creation. I also am constantly amazed by the little intricacies nature creates, must be why I like being in the woods so much.

Here is a video of Brielle performing a partial rendition of the heat miser cold miser song that she and her friend Corrine put together. Sorry it is so dark, our house doesn't have the best lighting.

We went north today do our taxes with Ken's tax program. While Cassandra did the taxes Mom and I went to donate blood...Unfortunately Mom's iron was too low so only I was able to donate. After I finished giving blood, it was one of the quickest process' I have been through, we went to Sam and Debbie's. I wanted to give them one of the friendship bread starters and to say hello. They are right into spring yard work, getting rid of snow to give their plants a head start on the season. Their Grandchildren were there visiting. Sabrina has the slime coming out of her nose and alleaya( had to guess on spelling), is riding the bicycle. Then it was back to Mom and Ken's to watch Mom and Brielle play with the big exercise ball. We just hung out till it was time for us to leave and pick up the Rotary trailer, with the Harley in it. We have to deliver it, set it up, and sell tickets at a swap meet in Concord tomorrow. I almost forgot about the picture of the chair that I made yesterday. This is the one that I made in the woods. I need to put more pieces on the seat and then find a cushion that will look good on it. Tomorrow after taking care of the motorcycle we are heading towards Portsmouth, maybe to a children's museum. At 7:00 we are going to Cherryholmes at The Music Hall with Dad, Grammy Bradley and some other family. Don't forget to leave comments PLEASE...

Hiking and Bowling

I have been meaning to fill in quiet days with Common Ground Fair pics but I am not sure which ones to post. I have seen slide shows on other sites, maybe I will try that. Today I am going to tell you about a nice hike Cassandra and I took in the Chamberlain-Reynolds Memorial Forest On College Rd. in Center harbor. It was an easy flat hike although it was a little icy! There were some very large pine trees that really should be harvested but never will. The trail has two sections, one goes to campsites on Squam Lake(I think), and the other is a boardwalk through a swamp. We walked both, enjoying the 50 degree day!! It is funny how 50 is so warm to us now and soon it will feel too cold as we get used to the warmer days yet to come. To top the day off we went to Funspot to go bowling and have pizza. We bowled with the big balls. The nice thing about this place for bowling is they have "bumpers" for anyone who needs them. You set it up on the computer for anyone who chooses and they pop up automatically for that competitor, and Brielle is a competitor. Brielle was acting very upset when I won the first game with a lot of lucky spares. I did not win the second game, losing by three points to Cassandra, but for some reason that was ok. I built a chair today out in the woods by screwing the pieces together, you can't mortise and tenon wet wood. It is very rustic looking. I will post a picture some other time. I prefer the look of my usual work.

play day and loon center

Brielle had her friend Emily over on Sunday. They had fun outside but I can't show you any of Brielle's pictures because she was grumpy. Maybe she will change her mind later on and let me post them... Today Cassandra and I went for a walk at the Loon Center in Moultonborough.
http://www.loon.org/facilities.html
Although it is to early for loons it was a very pleasant walk. We where originally going to go skiing but Cassandra's back has been bothering her so maybe Friday. I want to thank Aunt Judy for her e-mail, it is nice to know people are enjoying this blog. I also got an e-mail from Dad after he tried to leave a comment but couldn't, thanks for the confirmation that there are some people reading... After I start work I may not be able to write as much or have as much to write about, but I hope to. Cassandra is looking at jobs locally and abroad. If she gets one overseas I will certainly have some writing to do, if we can figure out how to make it all work. Cassandra got an Amish friendship bread starter ten days ago so I made the "bread" today. It is very sweet, more like a desert bread. If anyone would like a starter packet I have a couple and will have more until we stop the process. I also made some honey wheat bead which was very good but I had some unhappy family members who thought I was making Portuguese sweet bread :( Oh well I have been enjoying it.

Hike and Square Dance

I had a great day. First, after getting Brielle, I finally hiked up Red Hill to the fire tower. Unfortunately I did this alone because Brielle went to sleep as soon as she got home. The weather was perfect and the trail was well packed, no snowshoes. There were a couple of icy spots but nothing bad. Then we headed to Thornton school for the Grange sugar on snow and square dance.... We had a great time and did all but the first set of square dances. Mom and ken came for the dancing and did quite a few even though Ken's back was bothering him. It is one of those dances where you just start to smile as soon as you start. It has a great camaraderie that even a somewhat introverted person like me can really enjoy. Brielle had a dance partner who latched on to her for several sets and they even danced some of the waltzes. They had a great crowd and you just can't beat the sugar on snow, sour pickle, and homemade donut combination. I only had two servings of sugar on snow but I had several of the pickles and donuts, yum. The picture of Brielle and Paige also has the boy who danced most of the night with Brielle. What square dance would be complete without the bones being played? At one point they had three people playing them at once!!!

bad to worse

I don't know if I talked about my work situation before but I quit working at Gunstock at the end of January. I had a new supervisor, who had started in the late spring, who I felt was lazy and incompetent. I struggled, along with my coworker Geoff Howe, to work it out with him. In the end we were told we would have to learn to deal with how our supervisor "worked". Geoff signed up for school and quit a couple weeks before I told the operations manager that I needed to transfer or I would be leaving as soon as I found other work. He did not have any positions for me and did not want me to continue working if I wasn't willing to work with my new supervisor. In the end I was pressured to quit which I did. I am very glad to have gotten out from under my new supervisor. I do miss the mountain and the work that I did there. The whole reason for bringing this up is today Cassandra was let go from Northway. Her position was "eliminated". They have hired another commercial lender/development officer, her position was development officer. This puts us in a rather precarious position....I start seasonal work at the beginning of April for tennis courts of NH. The pay is a little more than half what I was getting, but it is work. I have some applications in and am still looking. If anyone sees something that looks like a fit for either Cassandra or I let us know. That is enough gloom and doom. I have posted a picture of our dog Patches. I wrote about brielle's pets but neglected some of our others. My memory fails me but we have had Patches since Brielle was very young, 3-4? He is very calm for a dalmatian and extremely friendly. I have heard that dalmatians can get vicious with age but not patches.... Brielle and I finally had a chance to play catch. This was the first time since she started softball. The other two pictures are our friends Janet and John Kimball. Janet had Cassandra over for wine and a hot tub to try to help her feel better after such a stressful day. Thank you both for you kindness. We actually left Brielle there for a sleepover and she might read this from their house in the morning. Hi..... Well tomorrow is the sugar on snow/square dance so I should have some good pictures and more positive things to write about.

Common Ground Fair plug

For the last four years I have gone to the common ground fair in September. This fair has only organic Maine grown food and products. That might not sound to appealing to some people but I don't want to sell the fair short. The food is always great and you can find a huge variety. It is not just vegan there are also lots of food vendors selling a variety of organic meat products. There is an incredible variety of things to do and participate in at this fair. There are no "rides" but there is a wonderful interactive children's area with entertainment and numerous educational activities. The sheep dog demos are one of the most popular demonstrations and they even let some of the kids have a try, Brielle got in the sheep pen last year!! Apple tasting is fun and an education. There are so many seminars on so many subjects that quite often you have to miss one to go to another. Take a look at their site http://mofga.org/ . Click on the fair button for info. It is well worth the time to look at the schedule of events where you can find lots of things that might interest you. I suggest this fair for just about anyone. I could write about all the different things I find fascinating but it would go on and on. The fair is Sept 25, 26, and 27, in Unity Maine. There is info on places to stay on the web site. The pictures don't do justice to the scope of this fair, but they are a peek. This is a video of a couple of wandering bagpipers, very good... If I get good (any) feedback I will post more pictures and write more about the fair because I think it is incredible...

making a scrapbook and music sharing.

From Brielle: Today I met a pro guitarist and he gave us free Cd's wowowowowow!!!Now I know every single person here loves to get to business so lets do it. Today I thought I would make a scrapbook and I wanted to know if you had any ideas. Also I shared a violin from India and I played hard rock blues on my flute. That is pretty much all I have to say so bye !!!!!!!!!! Peter: That was cut short by her mothers announcement that she was going to watch American Idol. I spent much of the day working on two soft maple chairs. I started gluing one and should be able to finish both tomorrow. One will have a woven seat and back, the other just a woven seat. It is so nice when a chair just comes together. These are pieces that I stripped in the spring, last year, so there is little to no bark residue and they are very smooth,no sanding!! I use a hole saw to make my tenons but I have modified one to make a rough tenon. Then I use consecutively smaller hole saws until I am at the size I want. It doesn't sound to easy but it is easier than how I used to do it and they are very consistent. A retail tenon cutter starts at around $80, $160 for a high end one. Then there are commercial machines in the thousands. The one I made was around $15 but does not do as nice a job as one for $80. I still plan on trying to make a better one, then I can become rich from my invention...

Visiting Day

I had planned on taking a picture of Grammy Bradley but I completely forgot once I got there. I had a nice visit. The conversation tends to get repeated several times and she forgets names etc. quite a bit but she seems very physically healthy. If asked about past trips she seems to have a better recollection than I do at this stage of my life. I often worry what my memory is going to be like later on as it is so bad now!! After I left Grammy's I went to see the progress of the demolition of the barn. I was surprised to see such chaos but since they are not re-selling it as a complete reassembly project then I guess how it comes apart doesn't really matter. There are piles of roofing and boards all around and still quite a bit to disassemble. I hope to get some of the scrap boards that are not worth salvage but I have not talked to the men who bought it. I have posted a picture that I took in 2006 so anyone who is not familiar with the barn can see what it looked like before. I then went to see Dad who is back from an exploratory trip to north Carolina (I think, there is my memory again). He found what sounded like very nice "ocean front" houses. He has been doing a lot around his house since retiring. He tore down his old house and leveled the ground where it was, expanding his yard. He put down WIDE pine floors in his sun room and living room. Then he logged much of the winter. I am sure there are other things I am forgetting but he has been busy. Then it was off to Sam's. He was working on that lemon I sold him two or three years ago. I thought it was a nice truck with a long life ahead of it but it has not been so kind to him. Hopefully it will be back on the road and dependable again, soon... Sam showed me a chest that he built, it was absolutely beautiful. I can't remember the type of wood and of course I forgot to take a picture. I am posting a pic of the rocker he gave me a couple years ago, very fancy with gorgeous wood... Brielle had dance until 6:15 today so with dinner and homework she had no time for blogging....sorry....

Another beautiful day

I just love this kind of weather. What a great day to head out for a short hike. Mom brought me to Hamlin Park which is in Meredith about ten minutes from home. The trail was packed so we never did put on the snow shoes. The dot in the top picture is an otter. There were actually two, you might just make out the head in the water to the right of the other one. We got lucky and saw them on the way home, but only because Mom decided to take a back way through a rather rough back road... The swamp view was part of the hike. Thank you Mom for taking me on the hike, I am glad you could do it on such short notice.

More summer?? fun

Brielle and one of her "crashes". This one hurt a little, she hit a little harder than she intended I think. The photo of Josh shows just how much snow is in the yard. There is a two foot stone wall to his right that we walked over to get into the garden. There is hardly a bump in the snow from it. The swing was popular for a few minutes but the rope under it is frozen in the snow so there is only a few feet of slack to swing. Alanna was pretty wiped out as you can see in the top photo. She was ready for the nap she took (I think) when they left. Thanks for coming up Josh It was great to see the two of you.....

I sat on the deck a little too long today and got myself a "nice" sunburn. I never seem to think of sunscreen soon enough. A small price to pay to enjoy the energy of the spring sun.
I now have a new follower...Myself....Cassandra tried to become a follower but accidentally made me a follower of my own blog.. Other than blocking myself I haven't figured out how to fix it.. I have changed a setting for comments that I think will make it easier to leave a comment. Give it a try and let me know...

Summer sliding ???

What an incredible weekend!!! Had a great visit with Josh and Alanna. We sat outside the house today and soaked up the warm sun, watching the kids, mostly, slide down our hill. The snow was firm enough to walk on but was soft from the sun on top. Alanna enjoyed one of our sleds that has a steering wheel. She did awesome. Brielle had this thing about going into the woods to crash the sled!!!