Our Yard is Crazy-Town

Jay and I have spent waaaaaaaaaay more time doing work in the yard than in the house. Looks like Retro House is forever going to be retro at the rate we're going! But we've done a lot of cool stuff outside including gardening! We put in a raised bed, roto-tilled, planted grass, got some kick-ass compost, and planted a ton of stuff.

Here is a jalepeno plant with an eggplant plant (that sounds weird) behind it.

Here are my wittle tiny carrots. I can't wait to eat home grown carrots!

You can't really tell, but Jay is growing corn. They've just started poking up through the ground.Here's the monster sunflower plant that Jay secretly planted among my carrots!

Two types of radishes - and Hank's footprints (lovely, Hank. Just lovely).

We planted six tomato plants - a bunch of different kinds. And sprinkled some lettuce seed in the middle. We're crazy like that.

Here are our bean plants! We'll have to set up some sort of climbing device soon as these suckers grow. They're fast.

Here are our onions.

There's a lot going on this picture: chives, mint, parsely, basil, rosemary (and weeds: violets and grass for the most part).

Better pic of the chives. There's some herb growing behind the chives. I think it's oregano, but I'm not sure. There's something else oniony that grows in there, but I don't know what that is either. I'm planning on getting some sage and thyme for the herb garden, too.

And Jay decided to buy a truckload of trees. Yes, a tractor-trailer sized truckload of tree trunks! They came this afternoon and unloaded. Jay's out there right now with the chainsaw ripping. He's like a kid on Christmas morning he's so excited about his wood!

Camping at Otter River State Forest

I got to spend a few days with some wonderful folks at Otter River State Forest this week. We headed up there Wednesday evening after a meeting at Camp Nihan. Stopped to get fuel along the way - pizza! You can kind of see the yurt in the background. We stayed in that one. It has electricity, lights, two bunk beds and a table with two benches. Perfect accomodations!

Yes, Barb is on the phone here. Even though we were camping out we were still working! We even helped out with the Envirothon all day on Thursday.No camping trip is complete without a raging fire and s'mores!

Thea's Horse Show

Thea and her Daddy take part in a horse show!


Isn't that horse so pretty?

Just how cute is this little baby?

I Feel Sick

Honestly, I laughed so long and so hard at this post that I now feel sick

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/05/06/behind-the-awkwardness-facial/

Mothers of Boys: Read This!

My family does not have a good track record for raising boys. For example, one of my male cousins is in jail right now. Another hasn't had a job in YEARS (and he's 31) - just mooches off his mom. Anyway, since both my sisters are expecting boys and since my best friend has two little guys the topic of raising boys is interesting fodder for conversation. I read this blog post today: http://www.suburbanbliss.net/suburbanbliss/2010/05/i-never-told-that-lie-again.html#comments

Please, please mothers of boys: raise your boys to be like the one in this story. I want to find him and hug him!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!!

My Visit to the Little Cabin in the Wendell Woods

I had to work at Great Falls Discover Center yesterday, so Thursday I drove out to Wendell to spend the night with one of my favorite co-workers, Jen. She is a caretaker on an organic farm and lives in a little cabin right on the property. It is so cute and quaint and just perfect for Jen.

Jen and Emmie took me on a tour of the farm and the property. Just a few days ago, they had a visit by a black bear! No bird-feeders for Jen this year!

Jen took me to the see The Ladies - the farm's all organic chickens.

And we found a freshly laid egg! We used it to make pancakes the next morning!

The farm abuts conservation land and we took a walk. This used to be pastures but the woods have again taken over. The number of stone walls and cellar holes is amazing! This used to be a thriving sheep farm.

It was getting dark, but you can sort of see one of the cellar holes here (click on the pic to make bigger).

We went to Jen's favorite thinking spot. We hung out here and chatted as the sun dropped below the horizon. We imagined ourselves as sheep herders watching over our flock from this perch - 150 years ago!

This cool stone wall was quite high (sign that it was used to pen animals) and had a beautiful curve to it. Imagine doing this all by hand?

Thanks for letting me visit your wonderful spot in this world!

Myles Standish Monument

Yesterday a coworker and I opened the Myles Standish Monument in Duxbury for four hours to let folks climb up. It is a 10 story climb, about 125 stairs. It stands on the top of Captain's Hill, where Myles Standish set up his homestead after coming to the New World in the Mayflower. We had about 225 people come to climb the Monument and see the sights!

The view from the top was amazing! The weather was perfect so you could see Boston and Provincetown!

I love this picture! I stuck my camera out and down and clicked! That's about 116-feet down!

Traveling Lady!

This week I have been all over the place. I had to go to Western Gateway Heritage State Park on Wednesday for interviews, so I went out the night before and spent the night at Jessie's. The farm was so pretty in the afternoon light.

Jess and I packed up four kids into the truck and drove 40 minutes through beautiful countryside (after stopping for supplies including donuts!) to pick up haybales.

We had me, one pregnant lady, Jess's 13 year-old nephew, two 9 year-old girls, and a 3 year-old to load 150 bales of hay into the horse trailer. It was tough work - I got dirty, stuck with hay, raw spots on my hand from the baling twine but we did it! This entire trailer is full of bales!
Then we went into the auction house and saw some of the calves being auctioned. It was sad 'cause they looked so scared and lonely without their mamas. One of the girls started crying so we had to leave.

Here's my Thea Maya!!!!!!!!!

And then there was the breakdown! Thea wanted to walk Scooter, but Lizzie was walking him. Thea did not want to wait her turn. Here's a three year-old having a tantrum:

And two minutes later, she's happy as a clam walking Scooter! What a nut!