A few pictures to share

So we're having the normal Ithaca spring weather.  Growing up in Northeastern Ohio prepared us for this, hardening our souls to the prospects of sun and predictability.  We started gardening a couple weeks ago in spite of cold temps, grey skies, and snowflakes.  I was not thrilled to begin with.  Dressed as Nanook of the North it was hard to get into the spirit.

But Sarah "dug right in" and her enthusiasm and smile warmed my heart, and soon the day itself began to warm, if ever so slightly.

In addition to our almost 200 garlic plants that are already coming up from last fall, we planted two rows of beans, a row of spinach, two rows of lettuce, some carrots, some onions, and some green onions.  For better or worse, our available space is full, so I grabbed one of my favorite tools, the mattock, and went to work pulling up sod on another 12x12' section of lawn.

Sarah mentioned, as I stretched my back and then collapsed onto the ground, that "this is why people have bigger plots and then use horses to plow".  That is my new goal in life.

Cold grey mornings make the coffee taste better.  I love standing in my backyard and looking out at the trees, and am looking forward to this scene with buds, and then leaves.

Saturday morning I got up early and went to cut some more trees.  These are the four pines that were in the middle of the lawn.  They shaded the whole lawn and one side of the house and were where Rob wants to put his garden.

I cut a couple trees in the morning, then Sarah picked me up and we took our first trip to the Farmers Market for this season.  It was surprisingly crowded with both people and produce.  In addition to veggie dumplings and breakfast burritos, we picked up some carrots and some fresh beef for a minestrone soup that Sarah mad for dinner.

Then it was back to work, and down they came.  I'm really proud of this one.  It's overall lean was toward the house, and had a really large branch coming off the trunk that pulled it awkwardly 90 degrees to the direction of lean, but still away from where I wanted it to fall.  With some careful planning, wedging, and a good cut, I dropped it 3' left of the marker I'd put down, 180 degrees of the lean.

The yard as it stands now.

This is another awesome scalloped potato dish that Sarah made.  It has eggs and broccoli and tomatoes and bacon on top.  It's a great take on the traditional eggs and hash browns breakfast.

We went for an incredible ride Sunday morning.  Sarah rode Rambo who hasn't been out in awhile and they did great!  Rambo was so happy and alert; he nearly ran half the ride and Sarah had to try to slow him down!  I rode Bodie in a new snaffle bit bridle.  I've wanted to get him out of the mechanical hackamore for awhile and this was the opportunity.  He did great and had no major freak outs.  We've been working on his gate more, too and trying to keep him in his gated walk for longer periods of time (partly his laziness and partly my lack of ability to communicate clearly).  He did much better on Sunday.  As you can see, the sun was out for a bit, too.

Just some of the ingredients that go into my trademark macaroni salad.  Maybe I'll make up a big batch for the wedding this summer.

On my quest to expand my wilderiness, I cut down a tree with my knife.

I was successful in both cutting down the tree and in learning to bring an axe whenever possible,

After school Tuesday I cut trees until 8pm...

Then I rocked out in the truck on the way home, which makes me happy, healthy, and free.

More general fall pictures

 Look what I did!

 No, really I did this!  Why doesn't anybody believe me?

 This is how I look when I'm hiking with the boy.  Had a beautiful fall out here this year.  Lots of great colours and the weather was fantastic.  Got a lot of hiking and trail running in.  The trail shoes are just about shot though.  Gonna have to go find a new pair.

 Sarah and I went for an incredible ride the other weekend.  Just really stellar.  The boys did great on the slick fall trails and nobody got shot, so it was a successful day.  How good do Sarah and Bodie look?!

Sarah took this shot of Murphey and I.  It was such a gorgeous fall day!

 We had a field day at school last week.  A couple other teachers and I planned and executed it, and by all accounts it was a success.  My team's name was Trechter's Roadkill Stew.  This is the shirt I made to lead them into competition.

 Here is a massive and intricate fungus I saw while hunting last weekend.  Thought mom would enjoy it.  I believe it is called a bearded tooth fungus (Hericium erinaceus).  Supposedly it's edible.  Think I'll just enjoy it with my eyes.

 I'm really good at knowing where turkeys will be... (this is a scratch where one was looking for grubs or insects).... but not so good at being in the right place at the right time.  This scratch was made in a 20 minute period between my two passes.  They are wily creatures.

 The feathers often indicate a roosting location as they are lost in the laughable and incompetent attempts to fly into and out of treetops.  Found this one right by the tree I'd planned to sit under, but didn't at the last minute.  

 Murphy's report on my hunting attempts lately.

 From this past Sunday after Shannon left.  Grey day pose number 1.

My hurricane survival kit.

Hope everyone is doing well.  Things are good here.  The wood stove has been on a few times, but until this past weekend the weather was pretty mild.  I have been incredibly busy with school this year.  I'm involved in a lot of different activities: Saturday school, field trip planning, field day, 9th period (an extra hour after the school day for reteaching and homework help), rewriting the technology plan for the school, and two PLCs.  Plus I have a study hall for the first time, which is miserable.  I lost 39 minutes that I used for grading and got 39 minutes of yelling at kids to stop talking.  Awesome.  But outside of the job things are going pretty well.  Sarah and I have been blessed with many house guests lately and have been riding and hiking and working in the yard.  We need to plant the garlic this weekend, which is fun and exciting.  I'm looking out the windows as I write and can see a red bellied woodpecker, two downies, a hairy woodpecker, gold finches, chickadees, a red breasted and two white breasted nuthatches, mourning doves, a couple robins, some sparrows, and four bluejays.   All without moving from my seat.  We watched a movie, called The Big Year, last night about bird watching that was pretty funny... if you like watching birds.  We also went to see Argo over the weekend.  That movie really stressed me out.  Sarah says she was stressed, too, but I wouldn't know because I was busy hiding behind my had and holding my breath until I almost passed out.  That's about all the news that's fit to print.  Going to stop procrastinating and get back to school work.  Cheers.