Saying goodbye to a good friend

We said a very sad goodbye to our Indy.  She came into our lives unwanted and unloved and we worked hard for the last decade to make her every moment the opposite.

Of course, she gave us back more than we could have ever asked for.  We'll always miss her and keep her in our hearts.

Walking the plank

It's raining now, so I thought a few photos should get thrown up real quick.  We had a lovely weekend that started with putting new brakes and rotors on Sarah's Element.  At some point, Jonas got to go for a swim at the B-dale swimming hole, and we had a nice campfire on Saturday evening.  Sarah and I have been working on some little projects as well, but since none of them are done yet, you'll have to wait on the pictures for those.

I think Jonas turned 13 this year!  Crazy.  Except for the fact that he doesn't run with me anymore, and needs to take shorter walks, it's really hard to tell that he's an old man.  Sarah has been reminding me lately how lucky we are.  She sees a lot of animals younger than ours who are in worse shape.  We ran a bunch of errands Thursday getting ready for the brake job and the weekend.  Jonas was a trooper, so at the end, we walked from Brookton's Market down to the swimming hole and played stick for awhile.  He and I had the place to ourselves.  It was really nice.

There is a long story about how I wound up doing Sarah's brakes, but in the end, it saved us a bunch of money and I got yet another lesson in car maintenance.  If you're ever looking, Advance Auto always has 30% off coupons available (find them on retailmenot.com).  Buy the parts online to use the coupons, then go to the store to pick them up.

I don't feel like writing too much.  There's a story here, but let's leave it at, these springs are really hard to put back together.  Thanks to Erik and Nathan for moral and informational support.

Indy's been doing pretty well.  You can see she's sitting with that leg kicked out a little here, but overall, she seems much happier and in significantly less pain.  It doesn't hurt that we're in the middle of squirrel season; her favorite.

On Saturday Nathan came down from 'Cuse and Erik and Margaret and The Bandit joined us and Jenn, Bob, and Zhora for a cookout.  At some point, the kids started playing with the grown up Lincoln logs we have strewn all over the yard.  I got the idea that it would be fun to make a little jungle gym, so out came the chainsaw.  After a few minutes, we had a respectable little play thing.  El Bandito was happy to have a plank to walk and told a few pirate jokes.

Zhora and The Bandit ran back and forth and jumped off of the logs for the remainder of the night.  It provided a nice diversion for the adults as well.  I tried to give lessons on the "tuck and roll", but no one really understood the importance of a good exit strategy.  Once they've broken a few bones or voted for a few presidents they'll appreciate it more.

Note my expression.  This was an authentic moment.  The Bandit developed an impressive gap crossing strategy on his own.  Man, learning is fun!

Don't blame him... Would you trust that guy?

Keeps the voices out.  Added benefit; keeps strangers away.  Also, the hat went surprisingly well with the beard.

Foil Bull!

On Sunday Nathan helped me go back and grease the caliper slides.  Then Sarah and I crafted for a bit, then we went riding.  Rambo is doing great, old and blind or otherwise.

It was a lovely day except for the bugs.  We had a nice little breeze that helped to keep them down.  When we came home, we worked on our projects a little more, watched a movie, and called it the weekend.  Not bad.

Now we're looking ahead and see our trip to Ohio on the horizon.  Zhora will be coming with us and two of the dogs, I think, so it should be an interesting trip.  We'll be in Ohizzy for 3 1/2 days and have Art in the Park, Drumms, and family time on the agenda, so it'll be the usual busy fun.  Well, the rain has stopped, so I guess I should bet back out there.  Sit vis vobiscum!

Home on the range

We're now solidly into the spring (thankfully) and have been outside a lot. We get out in the winter, too, and we try not to complain about it, but the warm sun really gets us going. What follows are a few photos of our recent weeks since we got back from Philadelphia.

Now that we're not burning so much wood in our stove, it's time to start cutting wood for next year.  In the spring we approach this chore at a leisurely pace, so for a little bet of fun and exercise I've been dropping some of the trees with my axes.  And lookin a bit menacing at the same time.

Don't worry, I always have attentive supervision.

One day a couple weeks ago Hobbs came out to help me with some homework.  He was so happy and active... I have to admit he was a bit of a distraction for me.

He seems to be asking, "Is that all you've gotten done.  Here, let me poop on your computer; maybe that'll help."

This is an axe head that Nathan gave me awhile ago.  It was a big, beautiful, rusty mess.  After some clean up and a new handle, it looks pretty good.  It cuts even better.  Seriously, this is my new favorite felling axe.

I had to rehang my favorite limbing axe, too.  I love this little axe, and learned, again, about using the right tool for the right job.  This axe is for limbing and chopping kindling.  It is NOT for splitting logs.  So... learned that the hard way.

Three rehung axes and a rejuvenated blacksmithing hammer that I can't wait to use.

One day of my spring break I helped Jenn and Zhora transport some hay bales from one farm to their farm.  They have goats now and goats need food.  We went for a hike to the top of their beautiful property and looked out over the valley.

The farmer's market is officially open!  Cold, but open.

Sarah is teaching me to sew and to use her sewing machine!  I LOVE working with her on anything.  It's such an amazing feeling to teach and learn from/with her.  As always, we have close supervision.

We are in the early days of this complex sewing machine, so there are a lot of direction reading breaks.

This is what it would look like if you put a machine in front of a cave man.  Unfortunately, I am not acting.  This is what I actually look like.

April 7.  Happy anniversary 21st amendment!

Take a close look.  This is what the kitchen looks like right now.  If all goes well, in two weeks it will look completely new!  ... Well, not the nasty linoleum, that has to wait, but the counters will be new at least.

Mom and dad came for a visit last weekend and we had so much fun.  This photo is of the result of the fun.  Everyone needed to take a nap!  I think this is after the Cornell Vet Hospital's open house.  Mom helped out all morning, then we toured it ourselves, then we went to lunch, then we worked around the house... then we napped.  That huge box from frozen turkey taco filling is full of papers that I still need to grade.  Teaching is so cool because we get so much time off and tenure is easy and all we have to do is put some overheads up.

We also worked in the yard and did A LOT of problem solving and prep for the concrete counter tops.  It was great to have Dad around for measuring and problem solving.

On the final night of their visit we carved a few more hours out and had a fire and looked at the stars through the astronomical binoculars Ian and Eleftheria got us as a wedding present.  It was amazing to see the Pleiades and the Orion nebula.  Sarah and I are really looking forward to the next full moon!  Hopefully there will be a full moon sometime this summer when everyone is around.

The next day I had to take a little nap after school.

 

Indy tried to help rock my hammock.

Sarah has been talking about this drink for a month or so now.  She and Jenn went to a mixology class at the Argos Inn and learned all about shrub and sampled lots of amazing sounding drinks.  I'm pretty skeptical about any drink made with bourbon besides a glass of bourbon, but I'd heard so much about the Woodsman that I had to try it.  We had a wonderful time sipping our drinks, chatting in the sunshine, and trying to tune out the sound of "jazz" coming from the other room.  It sounded like a bunch of drugged emus running through a music shop.  There was quite a crowd gathered pretending to understand it, too.  Kind of like modern art.  I know... no culture.

And this is from this past Sunday.  Sarah  and I finished up the forms to pour the concrete into for the counter tops.  It was a lovely day, made all the more lovely by working together on a house project. 

Strict supervision.

Not related to the countertops.

Not related to the chainsaw.

FINALLY!

What's next?!

Till next time!