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.

May flowers!

As usual, our spring has been a little weird, here. The winter was long and cold and then we got off to fits and starts with warm spells broken up by snow. Anyway, it appears we're "full on" now with rain and blooms and sun and clouds and birds like crazy! We've been having a good time of it all.

Sam and I hunted last weekend.  Again, more of a naturalist's expedition than hunting, but it's amazing to be awake from 4 am until 10 pm.  Reflecting on the day feels like reflecting on a week.

This is the barn that Jay and I were thinking about deconstructing.  Thinking about it until we saw it, that is.  The owners have visions of people coming out and paying them to take wood and items from the barn.  Pretty funny.  Anyway, It's full of beautiful 150 year old oak beams, but obviously it's out of our league.

 

Sarah, Jenn, Zhora, and I went to celebrate Cinco de Star Wars at the Argos Inn on May 3.  They were playing Star Wars all day for May the Fourth and had the Tellez Mexican Grill catering.  We watched as they handmade our tortillas and filled them with fresh off the grill chicken, beef, and veggies, and loaded them up with pico de gallo... can you tell I was impressed?

The drinks at the Argos are pretty good, too.  I had a mint julep to celebrate the derby.  Go California Chrome!

Familiar light switches at the Argos.

Sarah got an airbrushed tattoo and we tried to encourage Zhora, but she was too shy.

Of course we spent some time with the horses, too.

Sometime last week Sarah and I took out the compost.

Trillium always mark the beginning of spring for me, and they just bloomed the middle of this past week.  I saw these ones while I was out on a run. 

The run went poorly, so I took some pictures while I waited around for the waves of nausea to pass.  This is my outfit for my lumberjack runs.  I think I'll go to the thrift store for a flannel to cut the arms off of and cut the legs off some jeans to make a summer lumberjack outfit.  Sometimes I have to stop running to laugh at myself... which is a good core work out.

Saturday night at the swamp.  I watched bats swoop down to grab insects off the water.  Mergansers flew overhead while a turkey gobbled on the far side of the hill.   Life is good.

 

All the best to the rest of you!  

If you get a chance, check out the blog below.  I'm trying to raise $500 for the Youth Farmers at LACS.  Any amount helps.  Just follow the link and donate to my page.  100% of the donations go straight to the young farmers who, in turn, support our community and our future.  Thanks for considering it.