A Trip down the MOOSE RIVER!

While the girls were at camp for a week - we took a canoe trip. These signs struck me very funny - it's a wonder anyone can navigate their way thru the Adirondacks with signage like this!
The Moose River is a quiet ambling river - very twisty. This outfitter trip is billed as 5-6 hours. We had no idea it was FOURTEEN miles of one twist after another. Let's just say - we're REAL good at turning sharp corners now!

The scenery was plentiful - no houses - very few other paddlers - and a gorgeous day. I'd guess 78F, calm and almost NO bugs. There were SO many little sand bars along the way. Finally we picked one to enjoy our lunch on.

At one point there is a 1/4 mile carry. There are rapids and lots of rocks. Good thing we saw these signs.

David is really good at portaging the canoe. He did wonder however, where Gretchen wandered off to - and why she let go of the aft end! Nice picture - it was worth it! g

We didn't camp - rather stayed in an old inn in Inlet, NY. It is along the Fulton Chain on 4th Lake. The next day we paddled down the channel to 5th lake (original ehh - kind of like the Adirondack highway sign)... Along this channel around 8am - we saw a deer munching in someones yard - she jumped into the canal - I quickly grabbed the camera and caught her fawn following her across. It was a stunning scene. I wish the picture did it more justice.

This is up on 5th Lake. A large pond really and perfectly still in the early morning.

Grace Turns Eleven!

Those of you who follow Harry Potter will know that the 11th birthday is QUITE special. Here we celebrated with dinner and a toast with pumpkin juice.
Hagrid baked Harry his FIRST birthday cake ever. We had a HP cookbook - and so used his recipe. You can see Grace is THRILLED.

There were presents and lots of good friends who mostly brought HP themed presents.

Then we laid back - relaxed - and watched part ONE of the DEATHLY HALLOWS. Part TWO was released just a couple weeks ago - so in late June - we needed to prepare! Here is the whole Harry Potter crew!

Summer Comes to Brunswick

Ingrid - participating in some Spring Cleanign - putting a nice shine on the sliding glass doors. Outside you can see all the chicken coop parts, the door and more spread out on the lawn. It was time for the annual bleach-bearing cleaning of everything. A productive day.
One very windy day - Gretchen was sitting - well, indisposed - when she watched this little Quaking Aspen go over in a wind shear bearing storm. It was kind of scary - and odd being inside and not able to do a thing about losing this cute little tree.

After a few weeks in the garage - it is time to SOCIALIZE the new birds and get them acquainted with life outside - and with the older hens. Not sure who was more curious about who! Cookie the ROOSTER is in the foregrond with the big tail feathers. Not sure what the new chicks are going to think about him in REAL LIFE!

Ingrid has done great in Middle School. Here she is all dressed up with her 4H outfit - ready for the National Junior Honor Society Induction ceremony. Grandma even sent flowers for her.

David was busy this spring making a trailer for our canoes. It is great to be able to take both of them without having to take both cars. He did a great job modifying a used boat trailer. The most difficult part was getting it Registered with good ole NYS.

Grace is loving her baking.... Here she is making cookies - DIPPED in chocolate. And - the usual springtime chore of splitting up and stacking 5 cords of wood for next winter. It's hard to believe this will be our 7th winter at Stille Skov (Quiet Place in the Woods - Danish)

Mortons in May

Here are our 25 new chicks. Hatched 4/25 in Ohio. We raised 1/2 of these for David's friend Jennifer. It was something having 2 dozen chicks in the house for 3 weeks.
Mid May found Ingrid at NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association). Here she played her flute and was judged. She did great for her first time out.

Late April and May found us cramming for 4H Fashion Review. Here Ingrid is finish up her skirt - she copied one Grandma gave her - and Grace putting the final touches on her Harry Potter apron.

Ingrid and two 4H'ers in their skirts right before they were judged. I think they all got blue ribbons.

Here are five of the Thrills & Skills crew. After the Review - showing off their sewing and the tree planted in honor of David's Grandfather 20 years ago. This is the centerpiece of one of the gardens at the Albany County Cornell Cooperative Extension gardens. He was one of their first Master Gardeners in 1977 and is still talked about as a great gardener.

Well- the Subaru - after almost 13 years finally needed rear brakes. Here is David in true form - puttign on the anti-seize so that 13 years from now the job will be just as easy as it was this Spring. That's my David - always thinking ahead - WAY ahead!

After 3 weeks (well not even 3 weeks this year ) they HAD TO GET OUT OF THE MUDROOM. David built a pallet style brooder for them in the garage. They are all nice and cozy and the house is much sweeter without them! Everyone still alive and thriving.

Not only did we have birds IN the house - we had them roosting in the rafters on the front porch. This robin was really down to business with 5 eggs. Unfortunately they didn't make it. I think she got sick of flying in and out every time we came out to enjoy the porch.

Mornings can get hectic sometimes. On this particular morning, Ingrid used the wrong detergent in the dishwasher. Joy is for the sink, not the dishwasher. It could have been worse, it all stayed in the dishwasher, and only took 5 rinse cycles to clean out.
As the winter progressed, the driveway got narrower and narrower. It reached a point where there wasn't any room to plow more snow, so we had a friend come over with a bigger plow to widen it a bit. We didn't realize that his 'bigger' plow would be larger than the ones that the town uses. I'm still not sure how he turned it around to get it out.

Long cold dark winter evenings lead to interesting projects. This time the girls played with the hot rollers for the first time. Here is Grace with the rollers still in.

And Ingrid after taking them out.

The girls also like going to the Mocha Blend. This was during a half day of school during another week when David was away. They enjoy hot chocolate and smoothies there. They also like playing chess. Grace is hoping to win the 'human chess' tournament next year.

January 2011

While I was away in January (in beautiful downtown Columbus), Gretchen spent some time outside hiking.

During the week I was gone, we had another big snowfall. She had to plow the driveway on her own. The kids had yet another snowday that week.

Here Eliza and Ingrid are coming back from the henhouse after gathering eggs.

Later that day we went to the Grafton winter carnival at Grafton Lakes State Park. Grace was VERY excited because she knew there would be sled dogs there.

And here Ingrid, Eliza, Grace and Will enjoy a snack while we try and warm up indoors for a few minutes.

Early Winter and the Holidays

And then winter came along, bringing the holidays and everything that goes with. Before the school winter concert, Ingrid took part in a flute trio with another friend and the flute teacher. They played in the entryway while people came in for the concert.

And of course all the holiday cooking and baking. Here Gretchen and Grace are making rosettes.

And were they yummy.

And then Ingrid and Gretchen made spaetzel to go with a german meal we were preparing.

The chickens aren't real happy with the snow, but thats the way it is.

One of Grace's favorite presents this year. David's old BB gun is a bit big for her, but this one is just her size.

Ingrid with one of her favorites, a camera. She has named it 'Bob'.

Grace playing with her new 'mindflex' game. Excersising her mental powers for her eventual world takeover.

Sitting down for our traditional Christmas breakfast of eggs benedict. Boy is that good, but I wouldn't want to eat it all that often. It takes a LOT of eggs. Good thing we have the chickens.

Grace pretending to be like Harry Potter catching the snitch.

and then David's favorite Christmas present - a nice snowstorm that started on the 26th. We got a total of 19 inches of nice powdery snow. This is looking up the driveway from near the street at about 9am.

And the house in the falling snow

and another view of the yard. You can see from the tracks there is already about 3 inches of new snow since the last time David plowed, and it was only about an hour. The unfortunate thing is that less than a week later it was almost all gone.