Rope and Surgery

Greg surprised me two weeks ago with this rope.  Yes, it is in the house.  It was hanging and ready to climb when I came home from working at the barn.  It is really a Christmas present, but since I was scheduled to have surgery on the 23rd, Greg thought I should be able to use it before I was laid up.

I did have hernia repair surgery yesterday.  I was super nervous to be anesthetized, but it all went well.   I am super sore and really bored.  It is a good thing I got some use out of the rope earlier, because I can't even sit up by myself right now.  I'm hoping to be a little more active in a few days.

Christmas Card Bloopers

We did our Christmas photo ourselves with the camera placed on a muck bucket and on time delay.  We lucked out with the final picture, but overall, it was a pretty comical experience.

Someday

This is land that Greg already owned when we got married.  We can't afford to build the house we want yet, but someday this will be our backyard.

Late Fall Biking and Hiking

We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Acadia today.  The roads were a bit snowy, but mostly OK for biking.  We finished the day off with a quick hike up the Beehive and lunch at EPI's.  A little chilly, but totally worth it!

Thanksgiving

This was the first year that I hosted Thanksgiving.  I actually cooked everything and other than a little smoke from the apple pie dripping in the oven, I think I did quite well.  My mom, sister, brother in law and niece came for dinner and were able to stay and go to the christmas tree farm on Friday.  Ella liked the horses, the donut and the pink ballerina ornament that she picked out.

Greg cut down the tree.

Then we took it home and decorated.  This is the earliest that I have ever decorated for Christmas, and the most excited that I have ever been to decorate and to have people come over to celebrate.  We have about a million lights.  See...

 catwalk

 sunroom

 entry

 looking down the driveway

It has been a really great year.  I am so thankful for my wonderful, hardworking husband, my family, friends, and my many animals.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Odie

Earlier this fall, we added a new member to the farm.  Odie is a two year old quarter horse who will hopefully turn into a decent ranch sorting horse next summer and eventually become a team penning pony. I don't really know a lot about either sport, so the two of us are going to learn as we go.  He is not afraid of the dogs, goats or chickens, so I am hoping that he feels the same about cows.

So far, Odie has been very good.  He didn't know much of anything when I picked him up, but can now walk and trot very well under saddle.  He has even cantered a few times.  He wears hula hoops, walks over carpets and logs.  He has been on a mini trail ride all by himself and this weekend I even rode him bareback in the snow.  Odie is such a star!

Great Adventure Challenge

On August 20th, we competed in the 4th annual Great Adventure Challenge.  The race is held at Shawnee Peak in Bridgton and consists of a 2.5 mile kayak in Moose Pond, a 14.5 mile mountain bike ride on local logging roads and snowmobile trails, and a hike to the top of Shawnee Peak and back down again.  This was our third year doing it.  It is definitely a challenge and I am always really nervous at the start, but it really is a fun race.  The proceeds go towards a local organization for adults with disabilities.  

I won my age group and was the fastest overall female this year.  I am still 3 minutes off the course record.  Maybe next year.


Here's the link if you want to check it out.  http://maineadventureracing.com

Acadia

I went trail riding in Acadia with my friends Melanie and Becky.  It was a beautiful day and the horses all took everything in stride.  A great bunch of bay ponies.  It must be the M names.  Good boys Max, Maverick and Milo!

Vermont

Last year we competed in an adventure race near Stowe, VT.  If you want to check it out, the link is http://www.gmara.org.  We were planning to do the race again this year, but they limited the registration to teams of 3.  We couldn't find a third team member (if anyone is interested in doing it next year, let me know), so we decided to get married instead and travel to Vermont on our own.

This year, we stayed at Little River State Park and despite starting the trip off by arriving at the park when the paramedics and state troopers were responding to a drowning, we had a great time.

On Saturday, we went zip lining at Smuggler's Notch.  A big thank you to my family for this gift.  It was a blast!

We hiked Camel's Hump, biked around the park, kayaked in the Waterbury Reservoir and visited Quechee Gorge in the pouring rain on our way home.

Wedding

We got married on July 30th at a friend's lake house.  My sister married us and one of my best friends sang during the ceremony.  It was a beautiful, but emotional day.  We were so blessed to share a perfect day with wonderful friends.

I know it is weird that there are not any pictures of us together.  I will post some when I have the professional photos.  

Growing

The goats, chickens and garden are all growing like crazy.  Gauge is enjoying  stalking the chickens.  He is convinced that I brought them home just for his entertainment.  We don't have any eggs yet, but the chickens are still here and I will take that for now.

The goats eat like crazy, but are staying in the fence except for one short period where they pushed the fence out.  I don't think that they even realized that they had escaped.  They love to climb and they love people.

We have an overabundance of zucchini, cucumbers and beans.  I am trying canning for the first time.  I don't love it, mostly because I don't have the patience for waiting for the water to boil for sterilizing, packing the jars, then boiling again.  Overall though, I think everything is going to be edible and that is what is important.

Backyard Adventures

We were running short on time one day and decided to ride our bikes locally instead of heading to the University trails.  We rode down an old road to a waterfall that I have ridden the horses past several times, but never walked down to the falls on foot.  The water and falls are amazing.  It is so nice to have something like this so close.

Adding Chickens Part 2

After returning from the horse show, Greg checked on Henry who was inside the coop.  When he saw Greg, he came out of the coop and heard the other three chickens who had survived the night and were milling around outside of the coop.  He tried to fly away and even with his wings clipped, somehow managed to make it over the fence......directly into Gauge's line of vision.  Gauge grabbed the bird, but released him after Greg chased and scolded him.  All four chickens flew/scampered/ran into the woods in the dark.

Sunday morning, three chickens were spotted in the woods behind the house, but were not seen again during the day.  We were certain that they had been or would be eaten by coyotes.  However, after returning from grocery shopping at 6 pm.  The three chickens were outside the goat fence and appeared to be trying to get inside.  We we able to catch all three and clip their wings fairly easily.

Tonight, the three hens are sleeping inside the coop and I am fairly certain that the rooster has been eaten.  If the chickens decide to stay for a while, I might name them, hopefully all girl names.

Adding Chickens

Sounds simple enough, right?  Not in this case.

We have been wanting to add chickens to our menagerie for a while now, but the timing has not been right.  On Thursday night, we were finally ready for our chickens.  We went to a friend's house to pick them up.  That is where the fun began.  We had to go after dark so that they would be roosting (this should have been a sign).  We then had to close up the barn so that they couldn't get out when we tried to catch them.  Next, we chased them with fishing nets until we caught a few.  We were hoping to catch six, but gave up after a while and came home with four adolescent hens.

Because the hens were not tame, we decided to cover the top of the chicken area with bird netting until they became more familiar with their home.  On Friday morning I covered the pen with the netting and released the chickens.  All seemed to be going well until Moose noticed them and began wagging around the fence.  This frightened the chickens, who tried to fly.  Three of them hit the netting and came back down.  One found a hole and escaped (very smart to join the dog that it was trying to avoid).  I was annoyed, but OK with the fact that I still had three chickens and I hoped to catch the escapee at dusk when Greg returned and the others had decided to roost for the night.  The three remaining chickens seemed content all day and were pecking around the fence at 7:00 pm.  I researched "How to Clip Chicken Wings" and was prepared to keep my remaining chickens in the fence.  At 7:45 when we went out to shut them in for the night, only one was roosting and the others were gone.  Frustrated, I clipped her wings and decided that she was the smartest of the bunch to roost in the coop within the fence.

Saturday, during some downtime at the horse show, Greg and I were discussing the chickens.  I said that I thought our remaining chicken deserved a name and suggested "Henrietta".  Greg kind of giggled and said "How about Henry?".  I gave him a puzzled look and questioned "For a girl?", at which point, he laughed and stated "I'm pretty sure she cock-a-doodle-dooed this morning when I let her out".

Seriously?  Our one remaining hen is a rooster?

Finally a Farm

Things have been pretty hectic around here.  Between work, taking classes, being sick and trying to fit a little fun in on the side, we have really been scrambling to get the fencing finished and the garden in.
I was beginning to worry that we wouldn't have anything growing this year.


We picked up our two baby goats, Fergus and Herbie, last weekend.   They are already proving to be great brush clearers.

 Coming to check out the camera.

 Fergus

Herbie

This weekend we were able to finish up the garden.

Pallet chicken coop.  Chicks will be the next addition to the farm.

There is still a little work to be done to the fencing before moving on to the deck and patio.  So much to do!