Hiking, biking, bathing, and screaming

Yup. Doctors; no bueno.  Turns out Dude has some sense.  As Sarah says, "He's obviously highly intelligent."

We've been to the doctor a few times now.  The monkey man lost a little weight at first, but kept on growing.  Between our first and second visit he grew 1 3/4"!

Sarah's response to the growth.

By some miracle, the garden continues to do well.  It's nice to see all of our hard work paying off.  Duder seems to enjoy being in the Bjorn and outside, so that's been nice.  We have been harvesting kale, lettuce, spinach, and sweet peas.  The potatoes look great!  Sarah just sauteed up some summer squash and onions, and as you can see below, I pulled all the garlic.

That's about half of it.  The heads look really good this year!

Rode the new bike to Brookton's Market and back one day (9 miles round trip) and to work another day (23 miles round trip).  Sometimes even with my hands on the bars.  My initial assessment is that the fork is incredible and I didn't know what I was missing.  120 mm of travel is cool.  Handlebar lockout is a real luxury.  I'll reserve judgement on the 29" wheels until I get some trail time.  They are definitely better on the road!

Only took getting peed on once to figure out that having all the gear at the ready is the best plan.

El Duderino gets his first bath.  He was totally chill about it.

He smells better, too.

Eager to go.

This morning the man and I got up and went for a walk in the woods.  It was a little chilly so we got bundled up.  We grabbed Jonas and headed into the woods.

We got a second walk in with Jonas and the Mama this afternoon.  This time we used the jogging stroller that Uncle Zach and aunt Kristin gave us.  It was a lovely way to wrap up the day as a family.

Still cookin'!

It's been a fun and eventful early summer here at 54 Ridgeway. We've had many guests, lots of project support, and plenty of sunshine.  As you may know, May is turkey season here, in central New York.  As usual, I said I wasn't going to go this year.  Too early.  Don't want ticks.  Not a huge fan of killing anything, even though I love to grill it.  Then, May first came around, I bought my hunting license, and dug out the camo.

Also, as usual, I did not shoot a turkey.  On a particularly annoying morning Tony and I sat under the tree the turkeys were roosted in.  Getting close to the turkeys is good.  Getting that close to the turkeys is bad.  Anyway, we had fun, got to see many sunrises, saw some cool activity and animals that the majority of people never experience, and I didn't have to deal with my guilt.

Our friends Sam and Heather are expecting a child and hosted a baby shower, so we went back to the sewing machine.  I managed to stitch a few scraps together into shapes that resembled burp clothes without too much blood loss.  Sarah made a beautiful blanket.

Dude got a new grill!  On Memorial Day weekend, we took advantage of a sale and picked up a new, old school Weber charcoal grill.  Although it takes a little longer, I am really enjoying the ritual of grilling over charcoal.

And there's nothing like making some charcoal of your own.

We don't eat burgers too often, but we couldn't help christening the grill with the traditional meal.  I made some macaroni salad to go with it and drank a little Mexican style beer.

We set up the slack line for the first time this year.  Zach and Kristin and the girls had a great time on it.  Zach had so much fun that he went out and bought one for himself.

I got a new hat for the summer.  Keep searching for that perfect piece of head gear.  What I'm really looking for is a great lifeguard style straw hat made in the US, but this will have to do for now.

We have a nice tradition of hanging out at Zhora's house every couple of weekends.  Bob does a great job on the grill, and I'm taking notes.  Watching Zhora and her friends run around and scream in the hose reminded me of the great summers of childhood.

Mom and Dad H came out last weekend and worked like champs.  Between them and Veneta we feel like we are in pretty good shape.  It was lovely to get to visit with everyone and we enjoyed pretty low key fun... hiking, chatting, grilling, painting, and walking the dogs.

Everyone relaxed after a long day of working and hiking and chatting.

Grandma Cressman sent a dock box, which was expected and exciting as well as the collapsible picnic table from Fox Haven, which was unexpected and very handy.  We look forward to getting lots of use out of it.  Thanks Grandma!

We got a new camera and I've been playing around with it a bit.  Sarah watered the garden this morning.  We've been lucky with the garden so far this season and have put in some extra work to protect it from chipmunks and moths and the like.

This afternoon, we went over to Erik's and hung out at the river.  It was wonderful!  We watched the kids play and chatted and waded in the river.

This is Zach and Kristin's daughter, Nora.

The moon tonight, and the swamp.  It's been a nice weekend so far.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

This is not the post you're looking for.

So, we're still waiting on the cabinets to go under the sink, but in the meantime we're managing to keep pretty busy. Last weekend, in between taking care of the horses, filling the raised beds, Frank's birthday party, campfires, gardening, and torrential downpours, we also got the house painted. The difference is worth remarking on. At least in my humble opinion. 

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