Thursday, July 15, 2010

MOUNTAIN BIKING!!!

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." Mark Twain

I never miss my brothers more than when I am riding. Here are some pictures to tempt you two to come ride with me. Ian, Cornell, IC, SUNY Cortland; these fine schools are all at your disposal from Brooktondale. Just saying.





I wrecked here in a manner that'd've made Ian proud.

Drivin' fast on dirt roads, rockin out to Ulysses.

Well I sit and hear sentimental footsteps
Then a voice say, "Hi, so?
So what you got, what you got this time?
Come on, let's get high"

Come on, Lexo, what you got next-o?
Walk twenty-five miles-o
Well I'm bored, I'm bored
Come on, let's get high

Well I found a new way
I found a new way
Come on, don't amuse me
I don't need your sympathy

La, la-la-la-la
Ulysses
I've found a new way
I've found a new way, baby



Drive outta the woods to be greeted by beautiful little fluffy clouds. lalalalala

Pictures from Glen Highland Farm

I will be working at Glen Highland Farm in August as a counselor and naturalist (and apparently a bike mechanic). They have a camp each summer that brings at risk kids from NYC, the Bronx, and Newark out to the country. The program revolves around the rescued border collies that the farm saves, heals, and adopts out year round. To see more about the farm click here.

I took a trip out there on Tuesday and what follows are some of my pictures.






Saturday, July 10, 2010

Quick Update


Sarah's picture of one of the many woodpeckers visiting one of our many feeders. Note the tail used for balance and the grip of those zygodactyl toes.


Radishes. Starting to get food from the garden


Sprocket


Working on the 'ol Trek 8700

Sweating like a pig wearing a buffalo coat in the Amazon

Datura of some kind


Two of the three varieties of garlic we've harvested


Finally got the bird hotel in. Garden to come...tomorrow?



Detail of deer's nasal cavity. Deceased.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

More stuff around the house

This is the view of the homestead. She's comin' along nicely. The fence is a dream! It looks good, the dogs LOVE being outside to lay about, sniff, or help us around the yard. And, as an added bonus, Tony can't ride his scooter across my yard anymore. Yes, unfortunately that was a real problem


We have raspberries and blackberries ripening all over the place. In fact, I think I'll spend some of my day picking them. Delicious. Incidentally, I finally figured out how to use the macro setting on the camera...which explains (if not excuses) the following flower pictures.

Rudbeckia hirta Bellis perennis

This is from a nice little wildflower garden around the side of the house. Note the artistry achieved with a shallow depth of focus... very classy

Asclepias tuberosa: This is a butterfly weed that Sarah planted. We have had little luck attracting butterflies in any above average numbers, but our humming bird population has skyrocketed this season.

Our lettuce. Almost ready


Pisum sativum
The beautiful and delicious pea.

This last is of our cucumbers. Sarah picked one so far and there are several more that are ready to be pickled. Have to go get the canning supplies today I guess. Can't wait to start learning a new skill!


I, Keith Harrington have tamed the shed. And I fixed one of the rototillers. And I fixed my truck's tailgate. And I built a fire. It was a very manly day.

Still can't believe this is our backyard! I love it. Note the fence.

I really like taking pictures into the sun. This is one of the many aspens in our yard. I find it fitting that we have them.

Lilium canadense
This'ns not in our yard. There are a bunch of them growing down along the old railroad trestle down by the swamp.


Agway. My favorite store. TSC follows closely.



Proud Eva


Happy Eva

So, I've been thinking about this for a day now, and I still can't quite wrap my head around it. I'm really proud of our little dog. It's not that I wanted her to kill the groundhog or even that the groundhog was a bother, and I certainly didn't enjoy seeing it happen. On the contrary, I was scared that Eva was going to get hurt and I felt bad for the groundhog. But in a way, through this act, Eva seems to have achieved her dogness. There was no doubt in my mind, nor hers of course, that this was her job. She was supposed to keep the house and yard free of vermin. At any rate, she dispatched the gopher quickly and sustained no injuries. It's great that just the other day Sarah purchased a book on crock-pot stews.

Hope all is well in everyone's world. It's been nice to see the flurry of posting. Swing on by. Between the garden and the wildlife, we should be able to whip up a meal for ya anytime.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Things I've learned from two gates and 150 feet of fence

Haven't written anything in awhile, so I thought I'd do just that for a minute. As you can see, Sarah and I have been spending most of our free time working on or around the house. Sarah's worked hard with the garden this year and seems to be taking full advantage of the fact that it's seasoned for a year. We have 4 varieties of garlic coming up in different stages, corn stalks rising fast, broccoli, squash, cucumbers, carrots, snap peas and purple [green] beans, at least 6 or so varieties of tomato (stagger planted this year!), radishes, and a few types of lettuce! That's all her, too. All I did was rototill and weed a little bit. Our herb garden is looking good...lots of mint for mojitos of course, and our wild flowers are attracting hummingbirds. Sarah followed Mom H and Mom V in breaking up some plants, so the hostas are now planted, well, pretty much everywhere as far as I can tell.

We've been punishing the grill with some epic sessions as well. It's cooked two rounds of turkey, a cow's tucus worth of hamburger and several quivers of brauts, veggie and otherwise. It's holding up well and cleans up nicely. Ironically, for all the stink I made about the necessity of a side burner, I've yet to use it. But I've a family size can of baked beans that are ready to go.

I thought a lot of Granpa and Grandma H this past weekend for a couple reasons. First, because I neglected to call Grandma on her birthday despite repeated reminders from Sarah. Second, because memorial day is lost on me except for parades in Medina and then walking to the Harrington's for picnic and playing at the park. And lastly because I spent at least part of the day shooting at squirrels with my bb gun. I'm trying to condition them to pain in the rear whenever they are on the feeder, but they seem to be conditioning to the sound of the pump on my gun instead. It's effective when I'm sitting on the stoop watching for them, but otherwise useless.

So here's a list of things I've learned from fencing so far...about fencing and life.
  1. Always wear protection
On two separate occasions I would definitely have at least lost a finger nail and/or had to go to the hospital. Of course I whacked my thumb with a hammer in full swing. Surprisingly, when you hurt yourself really, really badly, curse words don't come easily. I reverted to the full-cro-magnon. I swear I've never made some of those noises in my life. Must be writ deep in my European DNA. The second occasion was less dramatic and more of a slow creeping, building pain after I almost ripped my finger off on a bit of fencing.

2. Repeating, "Fencing is not an exact science" is no substitute for measuring stuff.

3. 3' deep is two and a half feet deeper than a foot and a half.

4. 3' across the ground is in fact eight inches shorter than three and a half feet.

5. Gates are a pain in the ass.