Finally feels like winter

Another week has passed and we finally saw some snow. This means one thing to me. Cross country skiing!! Alas, we still have to work and clean house and buy groceries. I try not to let that stuff get in my way too much.  As I've told most of you, my job is pretty cool, and the work load is similar to what I did when I was teaching.  On the other hand, I have a lot less control about how I use my time after school hours and am often at the school until 8 or 9.  Honestly, the work is usually somewhere between fine and fun, but it does take a toll on me to be away from Sarah, the dogs, and my home.

We had teacher appreciation night last week at one of the girls basketball games.  It was really cool and lots of teachers showed up for the game.  We all wore red to show our support for the team.

The action was intense.

We had a house guest last weekend.  That's Carli in the background.  I love her.  She is such a dog.  Sarah nailed it when she said that Carli reminded her of the dog from Up!  She wanted to go for lots of walks and was a good natured pest about it.  So that's what we did.  Jonas was a little pouty about the attention she got, but he also played a little with her and benefited from her walk demands, so it was really a win win.

Walking the gingers... for like the third time in one day.

Margaret was kind enough to get us our first children's book.  It's got cardboard pages and is scratch and sniff!  I'm sure the kid is going to love it.  I like it alright, but it sure makes me thirsty!  Notice Carli in the background crashed out on Eva's queen bed.  It was quite a spectacle to watch everyone vie for nap space.

SNOW!  This is how I like it.  No tracks.  No people.

After I went skiing, and had to keep stopping to cross logs, I went home, got Carli (because she was at the door polishing the floor with her tail), and headed back out to do some trail maintenance.  My shadow was pretty cool with the axe slung over my shoulder.

Undercut champion.

Nathan gave me this awesome horse skull a long time ago and it sat in my shop.  It didn't look bad sitting on my desk, but I always wanted to figure out a way to hang it up.  Since Sarah got me a bandsaw for christmas, mitered joints have become a lot easier, so I slapped this frame together real quick and made some space on the desk... which I immediately filled with something else.

And on to another project!

Night skiing.  Because that's when I get home and it beats sitting on the couch watching TV.

Morning skiing!  Because it's awesome.  Still no tracks!

Afternoon hike with Jonas.  "You didn't finish the job, dummy."  

"Well, I got tired.  The axe isn't exactly meant for this kind of work."

"Excuses, excuses.  Get up here and fix my trail."

"Ok"

Note that I only cut it wide enough to walk or ski through.  No snowmobiles!

Gobble gobble!

A couple walks and some other stuff I'm thankful for.

This past weekend was lovely.  Actually, the weather has been pretty amazing for as long as I can remember, now.  We took advantage of the sunshine and brisk air to go for some walks.  Zhora came over, too and did some crafts and helped out around the house with whatever was going on.  She's a good egg.  She and I walked the dogs, as well, but I didn't get any pictures because she really keeps me moving.  We had to tag all the mailboxes, throw the biggest rocks and try to outrun Eva.

The swamp is low on water, but high on beauty.  Eva was excited to have some weeds to push through.

I still love taking these washed out, over exposed photos.

We went out to Pat's Sunday morning to cut some trees, visit with Pat, and see the boys.  I set my axe down in the woods again and couldn't find it again... for the last time!  We stopped at Agway on the way home and I picked up some spray paint.

No more searching for axes.  We had a nice time in spite of it being opening weekend for deer.

We've also been having a little snow.  Nothing major, but we've run the stove 24 hrs for the last few days.  I just got my boots back from the cobbler and am looking forward to getting the skis down.

Jonas was happy to take a snow bath on Monday while I studied for my test.  He'll go all out to brighten my day.

So I took a break after 4 hours of studying school law and we went for a little hike.  Here are a couple more over exposed pictures of the back yard.

We went to see Supaman at the Greater Ithaca Activity Center.  It was crazy.  It was a small space with only about 50-100 people.  He told a lot of really corny jokes, which was unexpected and funny.  He was all about audience participation.  Here he is having audience members make sounds while he samples and loops them.  He also had us pull stuff out of our pockets and he walked around and free styled and riffed off of whatever he saw.  It was silly and really impressive.  We were totally excited to here him perform Prayer Loop, and he sang Why, too.  His cousin and DJ sang a little also.  It was really a great time.  If you need a reminder of how awesome he is, here are a few links:

He didn't say much about Thanksgiving, but reminded us that there is a real story of thanksgiving and admonished the audience to treat the land as sacred since it belongs to another group of people.  Mostly, we were reminded to take care of one another, that we are all one people, and to be thankful.  It was one of the more uplifting hip hop events I've been to.

This is Eva's little toy nest.  She was trying to lay on all of them at the same time, even though nobody else in the house shows any interest in them.  So cute.

Happy summer vacation!

This is a hodge-podge from the past week's events. School finally ended on the 25th, about two weeks later than appropriate.  The kids were absolutely bonkers by the end of it.  Last Monday my truck broke down on the way to school.  Fortunately, Sarah had already gotten to work (her care was in the shop for new brakes), but that left me stranded on a school day.  Erik, being the chivalrous young man that he is, came to my aid and we got to work in time to take the kids to Taughannock park for a field day.  AAA towed my truck to Erik's so that we could work on it later.

Wednesday was a half day.  We spent the first part of the day dealing with chaos at school and the second half dealing with the truck.

 

The good old Hayne's book.

Oops.  New alternator had to be snaked down through all kinds of crap.  We had to remove a bunch of hoses, which went find, but when we reattached them, this one got tightened too much.  The plastic on the top of the radiator cracked right off like it was designed that way.

New radiator: $135.  Plastic pipe and epoxy: :$10.  Will it hold?  Time will tell.

While Erik and I worked on the car and made some grappa, Vinnie dug the dead woodchuck out from under Erik's stoop.  Truly yeoman work.  I was very impressed... also gagging.

So, for some time, I've wanted to have a way to carry my axe and saw and coffee all at the same time.  Obviously, that is one more tool than I have hands.  As usual, google had the answer.  And, as usual, someone else had already done something cool.  Ray Mears sells something like this on his website, but after looking at it, I figured with Sarah's help, this wouldn't be an impossible project.  After making a guard and a mask for the axe, the only thing left to do was to make a backpack.

Fine sewing and carpentry by Keith.

Looks good, but it's supposed to rain all week and rusty tools are no good.

Beeswax from the Farmer's Market.  Next year we'll just go to the back yard and harvest our own.

Mix linseed oil and beeswax, melt and paint on.  Use a hairdryer to melt it into the fabric, and let it dry.

Hands free axe carry.

Oil cloth will keep it all dry.

That's 50' of paracord woven into a strap.

Happy guy.  New toy.  Home made.

Another happy guy with his tools.  This is Erik's kid, the Bandit, with his new hammer and apron.

Vinnie and I are heading out on a canoeing trip tomorrow, so I took the canoe down to the swamp this morning to make sure it floated.

Jonas came along, too.

It was rainy, but beautiful, anyway.

The swamp looks like a rice paddy and reminds me of images of Vietnam.

Just a couple days too early for this flower.

Self portrait.

All packed up and ready to go.

Sit vis vobiscum.