Recap of Summer 2007

Here it is 2 weeks before Christmas and the last blog I posted was in ...June :( I have to say the summer got away from us and autumn rolled right along with it. We had a wonderful year that was full of excitement and joy. I hope you enjoy the highlights below.

We completed our home and moved in the first week of October. We love it here and still unpacking boxes. I have been given wonderful support from many of you telling stories of how it took you over a year to get unpacked. I am now realizing my goal to be unpacked by Christmas is a little unrealistic :) and now will be giving myself a year. Maybe we will be unpacked and ORGANIZED by Christmas of 2008.

We worked hard on our house most of the summer and enjoyed the farm. It was a great experience for the kids ...and for Mom and Dad.

We added another horse to our family...Rose Flower. We call her Rosie. She is a yearling palomino quarter horse and an absolute sweet heart! She is also a beauty. Jonathan calls Rosie his horse.

We vacationed in Ocracoke, one of our favorite places on earth. We almost did not go due to our home almost being finished and did not feel like packing up, coming home and packing to move. However the kids kicked, fussed and cried when we told them we may not go so dad and I figured maybe we should take a break. We had a great time but were anxious to get back home and start packing for the move.

We packed up our belongings and moved in two days. Most of our things were still in boxes in storage or the garage of our rental. We hired two laborers to help and thank goodness for Grammy and Pop Pop. They brought nutritious food and helped haul boxes and pack. It was exhausting but we just wanted to get in our home. We were tired of the shoe-box rental!

Hannah was busy with Lady much of the summer. We did a couple of shows which she did great at. The last show Hannah tried the walk class and did well. It is wonderful having the horses home. The children love to pet, brush, feed and even muck the stalls. Before we moved to the farm we kept the horses at a stable just down the road from our farm. Feeding and visiting them was convenient.

Daniel and Jonathan have become two little pea-pods. What Daniel says or does Jonathan follows or repeats. They love to explore the beach, hunting for treasures. The children have found various forms of broken pottery from stone ware to red ware. Daniel found an old pipe bulb from the late 1800's. Hannah has found an interesting black drum jaw with teeth which dates from 3mill to 10 million years. Oh, what treasures we find and the fun we have.

Its amazing how children keep you in line of what is important in life. I was going to skip the last horse show of the season because it was the weekend we were moving. Halloween- seemed impossible to assemble the costume and carve the pumpkins. Christmas decorating...more clutter in the house. I was amazed how the children pulled it together. Daniel came to me the day before Halloween with his horns made from cardboard. (He was a buck). Hannah pulled her costume together by rummaging though baby boxes in the attic. (she a baby - She says she would like to be a baby again so I could carry her all around). Hannah Daniel and Jonathan have been pulling Christmas decorations out of the attic and setting them around. Hannah decorated the front porch with garland and lights. It is humorous seeing how the lights run across the porch floor to reach the outlets but it works! The clutter in our home sometimes is overwhelming but it makes me smile when I see a Christmas decoration placed on the table from the kids.

I was not in the Christmas mood until we visited Grammy and Pop Pop. They had all their Christmas decorations up and they had snow! The Kids have worked so hard at getting the lights out and decorations from far up places - I still do not know how they reached them. I am now in the mood. unpacked boxes can wait in the corner-they are not going anywhere. It is a glorious time of the year and we have so much to celebrate and be grateful for. A few more highlight photos and I will sign off for now.

We have great perch fishing off the beach. We had many friends to share our home with over the summer. Grandfather black snake enjoyed our cool basement often surprising the workers. The Ospreys found the highest perch around to build their nest- our chimney. They were enjoyable to watch until we realized they were filling our chimney with cornstalks. Yes, our chimney was packed full with cornstalks and sticks. A tricky and expensive job for a chimney sweep. Hopefully this year the Osprey will use one of the perches we will install for them. And we did find time to visit the mountains.

She's a Keeper!

Our search for a pony has taken many turns from small ponies to palominos horses. By chance I found a large bay pony for Hannah in Ohio. I did not intend to search that far from home but Bambi came up on my pony search. The owners Robin and Don were kind enough to bring her to Maryland and because of holiday traffic it took them 11 hours to get lady here :o

We had a 10 day trial period to make sure Bambi was the right pony for Hannah. We have been riding Bambi for the last week almost daily and working with a trainer. It was off to a rough start but by the end of the week Bambi was settled in. Today was the big trial - a local 4-H horse show. Hannah and I attended and Bambi was great! By the end of the day Hannah and I looked at each other and confirmed Bambi was a keeper!


Bambi is a bay quarter horse, pony size and 7 years old. Her registered name is Coosa's Chip Lady and her barn name 'was' Bambi. We have decided to call her Lady for she definitely is a young lady! She was a western pleasure horse in her previous life and we are now training her to do hunter-jumper (english).

Lady is very affectionate and loves attention. During the show she constantly nestled Hannah and the two of them chummed around all day. Thank you Robin - Lady (your Bambi) will be with us forever!

Hannah's Little Bit of Honey

Hannah's puppy has finally arrived. We have looked and waited for almost one year. Hannah dug into her savings and contributed for this little girl - Honey. She is a sweetie and quite the clown! We purchased her from Canvasback Labs in Maryland.

On With the Porches

The brick on the house is complete. The next step is to build the porches.

Chimney is complete, on w/ the porches!

Footers for piers to porch

Setting the beams on the piers

Joists are installed

The steps arrived today - No more using ladders to enter into the house!

Light in the Soul

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. - Chinese Proverb

AMEN!

Songs of Spring

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the shades of night to you,
Moon and stars always giving light to you.
~ a traditional Gaelic blessing

I love this time of year. New leaves sprinkle the barren branches with vibrancy, the animals sing and dance their courtships and the sunshine warms the soul. One can not help but smile. Today was the first day we made ice cream - eat brought ear to ear smiles. Enjoy our spring pictures.

Spring opening at Dominick's Farm. Kathy, Rickishay and Hannah. Kathy's flowers in full bloom.

Daniel sowing the pasture and plowing the garden. Old Grand Father Black Snake slowly chasing the sunshine.

Kill-Dear Guarding her 4 eggs. Den of 6 fox pups at a curious age

Dog Woods - little star maidens. First bubble blowing of the year




Jonathan's first poopy; a tiny one! Hannah and her bunny, Poke-a-Dot.

Spring Rock Fish season opens. Our bunnies, Poke-a-Dot and Cocoa.

Easter gathering with Mikes Family. Hannah's first Horse show riding Jane

with instructor Carlene

First Ice cream of the year!

I

Record Rock Fish

Cast Iron was launched, Fishing poles, lines and lures were prepped and cleaned for the 2007 Rock Fish season. Daniel and Jonathan have practiced reeling in their wooden and rubber fish now for weeks...they have the the motor sound down and the words "Get the Net, Get the Net" rings enthusiastically as they fish the deep seas from our couch. They are ready for the big day.

This year Dad skipped the opening day of fishing. On this day his usual fishing holes are heaped with captains and their boats trolling their lines trying their luck. He chose to avoid the tangled confusion. They spent much of the day loading the boat and checking tackle.

The night before Daniel spent at least one-half hour picking and laying out his clothes. He chose his fishing pants, fishing shirt and fishing hat, sunglasses and socks. He called it his fishing scare-crow.

It was also his idea that all the boys should sleep together so as not to wake up the girls in the morning. Poor Dad, the boys like to stretch out!

Hannah usually is right in there ready to go but had decided she does not like to get up at the crack of dawn. This year She and I were going to NJ to look at a pony. Yes Hannah is in the market for a palomino pony/horse... another time, another blog. To my surprise she got up at the crack of dawn to go see this pony prospect. We were all up with happy faces eager to search out our passions. As you can see, the boys had their game face on!

It was a great day on the boat. The boys trolled for an hour before they hooked the Record Rock Fish for Cast Iron. It was 42"-44" (I forget ??). Ask Dad or the boys and I am sure they can fill you in with the details. As for Hannah and I, well we concluded maybe we should look for a palomino horse rather than a pony :)

Framing

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built. ~ James Allen

We started Framing! The floor joists and plywood floor is put on. For the children it was the first real sign of a house (there was a roof over them in the basement! :) They are like scavengers, searching for scrap wood to build their own house and pier. The walls started to go up and it was not long before the the second floor was finished and the roof trusses were put on.

Hannah, Daniel and Jonathan claim their rooms. Daniel and Jonathan will be in the rear of the house so they may watch the oyster boats and Hannah's room will be in the front overlooking the pastures and her horse. She will get a wonderful sunrise and the boys will see the sunset!

The final stages of framing. The trusses are complete, and the plywood is applied to the roof and the dormers are framed and enclosed. Soon the Tyvec will be wrapped on the exterior of the house and the windows will be installed. Framing took approximatley one month. We have been blessed with great weather and great workers!