Rotary District Conference

Play day and shed

Gardening, flowers

Happy Birthday Cassandra

It was Cassandra's 44th birthday today. She had her bird watch class all day and homework to do after we went to dinner so no big party. Ciara and Kyle did come over for cake and a short visit. Ciara is very excited to have finished with school for now. I think she will be going back in August but I am not sure about that. We were going to go to the Canoe restaurant but they were way to busy so we went to Country Cookin in Moultonboro.

As I mentioned before Cassandra had class today and apparently several other students and the professor have birthdays this month so Cassandra got a cake with an owl on it and brought it to class for everyone to celebrate. They left the owl intact so we got to see it and I get to post the pic.

While Cassandra was in class I planted some raspberry plants that Mom had given me before she left for Italy. I am not sure how they will like the spot I gave them but they should at least get started until I can find a prime location. Thank you Mom you seem to end up giving me seeds or plants every year. I always have extra liatris, cheddar pink dianthus, orange day lily, and other things if you need them. I love this white bleeding heart that I have had for several years. It is overshadowed by some beautiful lilac but certainly have their own beauty.

work

I have been shifted over to the fencing division at Tennis Courts Of New Hampshire. I got to help out with my first fencing project at a multi million dollar home in Wolfboro NH. We are also going to put in a tennis court there but this fence was going around the garden. Half the garden is fruit trees(apple it looked like so far) and the other half is going to be a planted garden. There is a small garage with a beautiful granite potting bench as you are headed to the garden. We use the bobcat with an auger wherever possible otherwise we dig by hand with a post hole digger. I put a picture up with the post hole digger on the end of a rock which my two co-workers were able to pull out of a three foot hole with just the digger! I was sure it would just slide off but they persevered.
So we dig all the holes, set all the cedar posts in, plumb them, back fill and compact the dirt around the post making sure it remains plumb. Then we hang the fencing, in this case 4" square plastic coated mesh on top with plastic coated chicken wire on the bottom. The corner posts and gate posts get cedar 5/4" decking for trim and the same material along the bottom of the fence. I am hoping we end up trimming each post and the seam where the wire and the mesh meet just to dress it up a bit. We have also started building the gates and apparently we are going to build a trellis entry too.

This white plastic fence was apparently an install from last year. It is in a location that is vulnerable to a lot of wind which has knocked it out of plumb, some of the posts have settled, the gates needed adjusting and some of the gate posts needed to be secured so they could not twist when being used(they could twist because they are just set on poles which have several "doughnut" bushings attached to them.

I am enjoying the variety of the work and the people I am working with plus the fact that I am learning new things all the time. I feel like I am slow and too apprehensive about jumping right in on some of what we do but I like to stick with the simple things until I have been able to observe and learn some of the tricks of the trade.

Garden and Cassandra

I threw in a picture of my wife who has to tolerate my craziness. She is a commercial lender who could work for you, especially if you are from a developing country and have lots of money to hire Americans. She is still looking for work if anyone knows of anything. I am also looking for a more permanent job so let us know if you hear of something.

Just some pictures of my sad looking garden that I hope will start to look more like a garden soon. Those are tomato plants that are surrounded by plastic that is reused from last year and maybe the year before that too. Last year my tomatoes did awful. This year I have already had some of my seedling die(I think I put them out a little early and we had some cold nights(no frosts)).
The bed that is just dirt has white radish seed from India and carrots. The bed that has some green in it is radish, peas and broccoli.

Anyone who has come to our house in the last couple years may have noticed that the deck has soft spots and a major sag in one area. I have been putting it off because I was worried about the cost of fixing it but it has gotten worse. This is probably the worst financial time to work on it but I figured it should come out even if we can't replace it right away. This way we will have to use the front door which never gets any use and is really a quite beautiful homemade door(not by me). The bend in the 2x8 is very noticeable in the pic. That is supposed to be two 2x8's sandwiched together, one is rotten through and the other is broken in several spots plus fairly rotten. Brielle helped out for a short time and then worked out a deal to mow the lawn which she put a lot of hard work into. This was her first time mowing and she did a very good job. Thank you Brielle!

Brielle pitches for the first time

Brielle had a game today that she was really excited about because she was going to pitch for her first time! We where very anxious about it, worried that she would get down on herself if she didn't do well. She did very well for her first attempt. She pitched for one inning which I think was a good start. She walked quite a few batters but she managed to get three outs to end the inning. There are lots of times that pitchers walk so many batters that after five runs they just switch field positions to keep the game going. We plan on as much practise as possible before she pitches again and she definitely wants to do it again, she loved it. They did win this game 7-4 I think.

I have always kind of bragged to people about my first grade class and the fact that I got to have my Grandmother(Grammy Lowden)teach me. I have also enjoyed mentioning that there where three sets of twins in that class of 19. I have done a lot of scanning lately so here are some of those. I posted a rather mixed bunch and plan to do more soon. Sam and I are fraternal twins while the other sets of twins where, are, identical. We left thornton school after the second grade to go to Woodstock Elementary.

I have always wished Brielle could have known her great grandfathers and for that matter I wish I had gotten to know them better and learned more from them than I did. I like to think I have some of Grampa Lowden's carpentry ability although I enjoy rustic lately more than conventional craft. I was in high scool when this picture was taken of Grampa Lowden. I love the picture that Aunt Dorothy gave me of Grampa with his Indian motorcycle. I think she gave it to me because she had seen me with my Honda Interceptor way back when.

Grampa Bradley; I really feel I missed out on a wealth of Yankee know-how, more because of Mom and Dad's divorce than his death. There is a lot that cannot be taught in everyday life that can be taught growing up in a self reliant farm. Most of the things I remember from farm life was more as an observer than a participant. I am jealous of the Roy boys knowledge of how to do everything that it takes to run a farm from haying to slaughtering animals to making syrup. I was there for all of these things but only as a child observer. I wish it was possible for me to work in the Gore with Uncle Ralph in an apprentice type role, logging and learning and creating my own self reliant life but I don't think we could keep our lifestyle and make that work. Maybe that is the kind of change we need. I was fortunate to work with Dad for the last ten years so I could learn a great deal from him and others at Gunstock. Even more than the education I got was the opportunity to spend time with him and get to know him better than I could have any other way.

I don't want anyone reading this to think that my parents should have stayed together or that I led less of a life than I should have. Divorce happens for a reason and it happened for a reason in this case too. Mom and Ken have given us everything they could with love, affection, security, and everything that great parents give. I don't want to imply that I am not happy with my upbringing, only that I wish I could have participated more in the hard knock life of farming.

Well how was that for a ramble? I came across this picture of Cody, Brielle, and Ciara that Cassandra had taken years ago. I really like the goofiness of it so I thought I would share it.

softball softball softball

I see lots of foreign flags in the counter, anyone can leave a comment as long as it is appropriate and not advertisements.
Mom took some pictures that is why there is one of me at the game. Thanks to Ken and Mom for coming to support Brielle. I tried to get a video of Brielle getting a hit but she was walked at each at bat.

Kevin and his wife and stepdaughter come to the games to watch his other stepdaughter play. We have become our own little cheering section, along with Mom and Ken. It is nice to spend time with Kevin again, we have drifted apart over the years. Brielle is going to pitch her first game on Friday!!!! I am very anxious for her, I don't want her to get too down on herself if she does not do well. She came out of dance practice with broken glasses so I am also worried that may be an issue for her pitching.

This sunset was the view for us on our drive home from the game. Naturally the picture doesn't do it justice, it was beautiful.

Softball

Brielle at bat

Brielle had a game today in Franklin against a team she had lost against last week. Today Becca, one of Brielle's teammates, pitched a great game helping them win! It was the first win. The games end after an hour and a half of play and it is a good thing it did because they had taken Becca out to let another girl pitch and the other team was making a major come back. Cassandra went to her bird migration class which is turning into a lot more work than she anticipated. She has copious notes to write and has to get up early to be in Fryburg Me. tomorrow.
After the Game Brielle and I did a little work in the garden. I planted a raised bed with two kinds of cherry tomatoes and cucumber. Strange combo but I am strange. Brielle has a raised bed that has some perennials and she started to plant pole beans, sweet peas, cypress vine, cosmos, and pumpkins. She only got started and will hopefully finish tomorrow.

play day with Corrine

well I am saying hello to earth once agin.this day me and corinne played on the playgrond at the center harbor beach and were posing for my mom which was really fun.The day before we hade gone shopping at wal-mart and had gotten matching out fits!wellgood bye so long I hope to write again!