Mother's Day 2015

Well, we've had another lovely Mother's Day weekend here at 54 Ridgeway.   Mom H and Mom B joined Sarah and I and Jenn and Bob and Zhora in the Ithaca era for a few days of eating, hiking, chatting, laughing, blacksmithing, cow roping and all kinds of other stuff.

These cool glass lanterns are at the Argos Inn.  We met there on Friday for drinks and amazing tacos and such from the Good Truck.

For Saturday, Sarah arranged for us to meet up with Leon at the Benjamin Patterson Inn's Cooley Blacksmith Shop.  Leon was incredible and gave us a lesson that lasted a couple hours.  Marjie met us there and had an opportunity to use her new hammer.

Zhora and the moms went on a tour of the museum, then met us back at the shop.  Zhora spent some time picking flowers and making bouquets.

Working the fire.

Want.

Jenn had found a place called FLX Wienery north of Corning and we headed there for lunch.  It's a GREAT little place, and incredibly, they had managed to get there hands on a few cans of Heady Topper, one of the holy grails of IPAs.  They're almost as hard to get as Pliny the Elder.  Great dog, great beer, great company.

Sunday we went out to Jenn and Bob's and also out to their neighbors' house to watch some horsemanship.  Zhora was excited to show off the baby goats.

Then it was back to our place for some steaks on the fire.  It was a little rainy, but the coals lasted and Sarah, Bob, and I managed to get some good steaks cooked for the crew.

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Thanks for another year of great memories!

Small miracles: Weekend round up

I went back to work yesterday and, while chatting with students, invariably asked, "How was your weekend?  Did you do anything fun?"  While a few kids will tell me about a movie they watched or even a sleep over, most of them reply with some variation of, "I was so bored."  This blows my mind.  I'm SURE that I said the same thing when I was in middle school, and am so glad to be out of there.  Boredom, to me, is a concept like conservatism; I know it exists and that some people experience it, but I can't imagine why, how, or the effect of it.  Sarah and I have been packing (over-stuffing) our weekends to a glorious extent.  I thought I'd share some of the happenings in and around 54 Ridgeway with you.  They're not earth shattering, but they keep us out of trouble.

A small miracle occurred the weekend before last when I tried to start one of my saws and it wouldn't keep running.  That wasn't the miracle, that was frustratingly predictable.  Anyway, after calling Agway for an estimate, I decided to clean out the carburetor, change the gas filter, gas line, spark plug, and air filter, myself.  It cost less to do all that than to take it in for a tune up.  The problem, of course, was I didn't know what I was doing.  But after viewing some Youtube, we were off and running.

After disassembling way more than I had any right to think I could put back together, and cleaning all the parts and replacing some parts, I managed to get it all put back together.  In between episodes of tinkering, we went into town, Sarah and Jenn and Zhora went to a ballet, Bob and I cut down, bucked, and moved a bunch more trees (with the saw that wasn't in a dozen pieces), Vinnie came over, we had a fire,  we looked at the moon and the stars and sat by the fire.  And then, as dusk set in, the last piece of the saw slid back in place, I pulled the cord, and it fired up on the first try.  So cool.  To be sure, working on engines is still not something I enjoy, but the feeling of accomplishment was great.

From left to right, Monkey, Zhora, Sarah, and Jonas get ready to look at the craters of the moon.  Will they see the princesses and zombies that live there?

On Sunday, Sarah made a grilled polenta cake with arugula, raspberries, and cucumbers.  It was quite a fun little dish.  So, that was weekend number one.  Weekend number two, this weekend past, follows.


Turkey season started on Friday, May 1, so on Thursday I made my donation to conservation by purchasing a hunting license.

Thursday night Sarah and I worked outside in the yard and in the garden.  Sarah has the veggie garden looking really good and we're stacking wood like it's our job.  Some of the logs are really big, so wedges were needed to split them.

Making wooden wedges is a great skill to have.  It comes in handy to be able to whip out some quick, functional wedges, and practice makes perfect.

Thursday evening I headed over to Jenn and Bob's new place to hang out, eat dinner, and hunt the next morning.  Zhora and I hung out some, too.  She is quite the little goat princess.

Friday morning was beautiful!  The view from the hill top was inspiring.  Although there were a few gobbles, none of the turkeys would come in.  Time ran out and I headed to work.

After hunting with Tony on Saturday morning, Sarah and I went to work on our new countertops.

Of course it took longer than we thought it would and there were some mistakes, but we got it done and enjoyed our time together.  Working with Sarah on the garden, with the horses, on the house, in the woods, etc. is one of the greatest happinesses in my life.  She was positive and incredibly helpful.

We finished up around 6 and took the rented mixer back to Home Depot, picked up some burritos from Moe's, and headed home for a well deserved sleep.

On Sunday I rolled out of bed around 3:50am and headed out to Pat's to hunt.  Although there were no gobbles (incredible), I saw a flying squirrel and had two piliated woodpeckers hammer on the tree I sat under.  Fortunately, Pat brought out some eggs for me and we sat in the sunny field watching the boys munch grass.  Then I met Sarah at Agway and we headed back to Pat's to fix the fence, put a new battery on the electric fence, pull some trees out of the woods, and fill the truck with compost.  Sarah learned to use the tractor and I stood by looking on, proud as punch.  She looks so good behind that bucket!

Came home and unloaded the compost.

Started working on this year's been tipis.

Burned some yard waste and had a beer.

The pile of fresh wood would have to wait until Monday.  "Bored", they say...