OK, it is fall.
I can't believe it, still wondering where summer went!
It is pretty here.
The dogs love the cooler weather.
But do you see this! Its snow on the my screen porch roof! SNOW! This morning! SNOW!
Oh my, at least it is supposed to warm up again next week.
While on vacation my sister Dlyn gave me a few pointers on taking pictures. I have way too much learn. You should probably just go look at her photos, they are wonderful.
Here is just a small sample from my lesson.
I am still working on posts from vacation. come back and check them out.
In the meantime how do you like this pic?
My friend Judy has a cottage in the Adirondacks on a beautiful lake.
She's a teacher and at the end of each school year she heads up there to rest and regenerate. She graciously invites her friends to join her and it has become an annual girls weekend that kicks off the summer.
The school year was long this year because the winter was loooooooong. Lots of snow days so they didn't get out until June 26th!
We wasted no time, and drove up that evening. There were 6 of us and we had a simply wonderful time. I will probably write more about it but I want to tell you about one of the most special times of the trip for me.
Everyone else had headed back home a day before me so Judy and I spent my last day just the two of us. She has the cutest little pontoon boat we went and picked up from winter storage and she treated me to a fantastic sunset cruise. It gave me an opportunity to practice with my new camera and I am thrilled with the results.
I wish I had thought to take a picture of the boat but I didn't, take my word though it is really cute! Small but can seat 4 people and its battery powered so its quiet and so relaxing!
We set out just as the sun was starting to think about setting.
Judy's little dog Maggie gets the seat of honor on her mom's lap.
She was just adorable with the wind in her ears!
I took a lot of pictures that were all pretty spectacular. This new little camera is a gem! Here's a few I really love.
I think this one is my favorite.
We hated to head back to shore but as the light faded we motored back.
It was just a wonderful way to end the trip and such a wonderful memory. I am still going through the pictures so I am sure there will more I want to share with you all.
Hope you enjoyed these.
Well it seems this wild turkey has decided to move in. I have seen her everyday for about 2 weeks now. I decided if she is going to hang around she has to have a name and Henrietta just seems to fit.
Our Henrietta sashays about the yard and visits all the neighbors. She snacks on the leavings beneath the bird feeders.
She grows bolder every day so I am getting some really good pictures of her. The dogs are half crazed when she makes her daily visit but even they are getting used to her. If she sticks around til November we will be all set. I have to go throw some seed on the front lawn.
I love this tree. It's a Tulip Poplar. I was looking at it a couple days ago and thinking how much I enjoy it. Every season it does something wonderful and I love to watch the changes throughout the year. So I decided to share ir with you my bloggy friends.
Here it is in spring just as the leaves begin to open. 
This branch is just over our deck and you can see the leaves peeking out.
A close-up of the branch end.
My plan is to re-take these pictures each month throughout the next year. Just to share with y'all the changes of my favorite plant in my yard.
I'd love to see your favorite tree, flower, plant, whatever, in your yard. If you like, grab the idea and let me know you posted.
I have been doing battle with a family of gray squirrels who seem to think my bird feeders are their own private a buffet. You remember this post, Smorgasbord.
I love watching the birds so knew I had to find a way to discourage this squirrel gluttony.
I started with this baffle.
Because our squirrels had learned to shimmy this pole, the little buggers!
It has worked great!
This last weekend I got the first squirrel proof feeder.
They are a little pricey so I will wait a couple weeks to replace the other larger feeder by the driveway.
This morning while having my coffee and watching the birds, the gray gang arrived and were shocked to find the buffet closed to them. They tried a few approaches all to no avail.
Ha! It was satisfying to see them settle on the ground to munch on the leavings.
Too bad I didn't snap a few photos of the perplexed looks.
I can't wait to replace the other feeder.
How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 36:5-7
I think this lovely fellow was a bit confused when he visited last Sunday.
Or perhaps he thought it was safe to come feast at the bird feeders on Easter rather than Thanksgiving.
The dogs were extremely upset about his visit and he almost moved on before I could bag a picture of him. (Why are the batteries always on the charger when this stuff happens?!)
He's actually quite handsome or maybe she is quite attractive.
Perhaps my brother in law big Lar can clear up the gender for us.
HEY LAR, is this a girl or boy turkey?
We've had some cold and rainy days recently and though it doesn't bother the dogs much, I am a wimp so we have not been outside as much.
This means little puppies have to settle for watching the world. 
Luckily there has been lots of activity at our front bird feeders. What with the return of the birds and the marauding band of squirrels its like a nature show.
Kindle likes to rearrange the pillows on the couch, creating a lovely perch to watch all the excitement.
I know spring is on its way because the bees were out last weekend. Buzzing about probably searching for a great place to build the new hive, checking out the status of flowers and projecting when honey production can commence. I think the queens are promised bonuses if there is a good yield this year.
Our own Jackaroo who seems to be a bee magnet had his first run-in this year with a Yellow Jacket. They're particularly nasty bees and really don't seem to need a lot of provocation to sting. They don't make honey either so really I see no purpose for them. I guess the cross pollination thing is a good reason for existence. But, do they have to be so ill tempered?
Now Jackaroo is no shrinking violet. I have seen him kill several snakes and he is fast and efficient about it and certainly not afraid of them. In fact if he sees a snake it is indeed difficult to keep him from killing it. He is very unhappy if I am present as I do not allow snake eating. (Is that a form of sushi, hmmmm no, I guess that would be eels not snakes.)
But, I digress.
Scott was out working on Sunday and all the dogs were out there helping (read getting in the way, chasing wheelbarrows and getting underfoot). Jack who is always bringing a ball just in case you want to take a break and toss it for him was milling about. He started crying (poor baby) and Scott saw a huge yellow jacket crawling away. He immediately realized it had stung our little red boy. Into the house they came for me to take charge of the patient. That's one of my jobs you know. Jack looked quite pitiful, limping and worrying over his foot. It was slightly swollen and if you've ever been stung by a yellow jacket you know it hurts!!
Thankfully it does not appear Jack is allergic to bees but I doctored him up. Have you ever tried to hold an ice pack on a Tasmanian devil's foot. Not an easy job.
After just a few minutes he was quite recovered but milked it for a while for some extra cookies and sympathy. He held the foot up off the floor and looked at us with big ole sad eyes.
He seems to have suffered no long term effects.
The bee didn't fare quite as well. Scott stepped on it.
Oh well at least this is a sure sign of spring!
It was lovely here this last weekend. The temperatures were in the high 40's and 50's and Saturday was beautiful and sunny. We took advantage of the day and started our spring clean up.
I want to take this moment to tell you about one of my worst gardening faux pas. Several years ago we realized we had termites. One night as we sat quietly watching a movie, Jackaroo suddenly leaped onto the couch peering over the side alerting us that something was amiss. We realized the floor was moving with millions of termites. EEEWWWWWWWW! Extremely disconcerting to say the least. Apparently in the spring termites hatch and a swarm leaves the nest in search of a new place to start a colony. They just couldn't find a way out of our house.
We hired an exterminator and they got rid of the vermin. But, they told us we should not use mulch in the gardens next to the house because it might attract more termites. Who would want that to happen. Well certainly not us!
So we got some gravel and replaced the mulch. For a time I was ok with it but the honeymoon was short lived. So here is my upper garden with the ugly stones.
I hate the way it looks and it keeps my flowers from growing well. So Saturday I decided that was it. Termites be damned! They've been gone for years and this garden is next to the deck not against the house. The stones are history! 
I am also going to pull up that landscaping cloth and replace it with cardboard. Just my way of leaving less plastic behind in the world. And I am going to use mulch!
This is one of my favorite gardens. It's full of day lilies my sister dlyn gave me plus a really nice peonie that was here when we bought the house. My one rose bush is there too and I also have a bunch of daffodils and crocus growing there. I think while I am working this garden I am going to add a clematis too. I hope to have the finished garden for you to see in a couple months.
In the meantime we will be continuing to clean up the winter and hopefully we will see the last of it soon. Its been a long one.
Ok, I know I said I would do my Frontdoor/Backdoor meme today but I got busy training with Kindle and we went for a nice long walk in the woods. so, the meme will have to be tomorrow.
In the meantime I found this on YouTube and its so adorable I had to share it with you all.
Enjoy!
Just around the corner from our house there is this beautiful waterfall. I love to go there and just watch the water.
We stopped by after our hike on Sunday. Look what a gorgeous day we had.
Now listen!
Ok, I am really trying not to go stark raving mad but geez, how much snow do we have to have?
I officially have spring fever. I am so ready to plant something, put my agility equipment back in the yard. I want to de-winterize the camper and pack it up for a dog show. I want to grill burger and sit on the screen porch with a beer.
But not yet. Yesterday it was over 60 degrees and we trekked through the woods practically in shirt sleeves. But today it was snowing when I got up at 6:30 and continued for most of the day. So now we have about 4 new inches of snow that will have to melt. If my crocuses were coming up I can't tell now. Oh well, I keep telling myself this can't last forever!
Here are some pictures of our trek in the woods yesterday. I have been training Kindle to run off leash and she is doing really great. They all had a great run except Tyler who was looking a little too gimpy to go with us.
There was much running
Lots of play!
Arguments over the best sticks
A bit of resting now and again.
Even when we were done they wanted to go again!
Doesn't Scott look relaxed after our hike?
I was just fooling around when the snow started meltin last week. this is our stone wall out in front of our house. I like how these came out so much one became my new banner.
Pretty!
Melt snow melt!!!
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1,2
Whew Christmas Open House is over. Everyone had an awesome time.
I just have to get a few stocking stuffers for Scott and I will be set for Christmas morning. Well except for all the baking I will be doing since I could not do that last weekend with my electric stove (I hate that stove!)during our ice storm and power outage.
I told you I had more pictures of the ice storm of last week so I wanted to get those up here. By the by, there are still scads of people without power, especially in the little town of Lunenburg just a few miles down the road from us. The Governor has launched an investigation into the delay and I saw about 25 electric company trucks while on my way to church today. The worst part is that it is snowing here today. In fact it has been snowing since Friday. It started about 2:00PM Friday and I really think it has not stopped since. From flurries to blizzard like conditions it has just been snowing.
First here is what we saw when we got up Friday 12/12.
This is the top of a birch tree used to be totally just outside our fence. We're lucky it fell in the fence and not on it.
You can just see the top of the broken tree in this pic. Pretty tall huh?
and here is a close-up of that, the rest encased in ice.
Scott and I usually go and cut down our Christmas tree each year. We go to a tree farm in Lunenburg but they had to close down this year due to ice damage. We set out last Saturday and were astounded by the absolute devastation we saw in that little town. I keep saying it looked like a tornado went through and left a wave of ice behind. This was a typical look down a side road. The glare from ice everywhere made it difficult to take pictures.
This was also a far too common site for the whole week.
This video shows what it was like when the sun came out and melted everything that day.
I have more pics I will share later on. But for now I'd like to focus on Christmas. Uh oh, the lights just flickered. I hope we stay in the current century. I am not much of a pioneer woman.
It has been quite a week. Last Friday we woke up here in Central Massachusetts to a world of ice and no power. I was reminded of Narnia except we really only had a touch of snow but most of our world was encased in ice.
Here is the front yard:
and the back yard:
We were very lucky just some minor tree damage and only one tree fell into our fence instead of on it. but we were without power from Friday at 2:00 AM to Tuesday at 3:30 PM. That was way too long but again we are lucky. There are many who still don't have power and won't until Christmas or after, because of downed trees like this one. 
It is amazing to see what ice can do to our modern convenience filled lives. I came to the conclusion that I am way too spoiled but really I am ok with that.
I love this picture.
