Tree

It didn't take long once they got things set up. They first took the tree off the house and laid that on the ground in a position to cushion the rest of the tree as it was cut down. Thoroughly professional and expert at what they do.

PS - They estimate the piece that landed on the house weighed 3,000 pounds! Imagine how much the rest of the tree weighed.

Ice

Above: Several pictures of the house and property. Note the large trees that were uprooted in our front yard.

The picture above shows the highway immediately south of our driveway. The picture below was taken about a half mile from our house, near the Sharon Meeting House.

Chet's (not so) New Ride

I've been looking for a smaller vehicle to be my "daily driver." One of the motivations, of course, was to save gas. But I also wanted to avoid putting all those miles on the truck--it's great to have when we need it and, with fewer miles, it should serve us well for many years.

I looked at lots of cars on craigslist. Focused on Saturns because David had such great luck with his station wagon and because of their general reputation for economy and reliability. Finally found this one in Keene. It's a '94 SL-1. Small four cylinder, automatic, and has just over 100,000 miles. Owned by an elementary special education teacher who kept it in a garage--very clean. Even has a moonroof!

The Automotive students replaced the brakes and exhaust system and also did some other minor work. Runs great. Kinda fun to drive and it's certainly easier to park than the big 4-wheel drive truck!

Total investment? $1,614.50.

shoo - ga - GOCK - a - ler

Spent the weekend in NYC--stayed with Max while Brian and Lauren had some time alone to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. Here's a picture of Max demonstrating one of his Tinkertoy creations, a shoogagockaler.

It's fun being grandparents!

Voting

As most of you know, Sue is the Supervisor of the Checklist for the Town of Sharon -- she and her assistants are responsible for all voting records, checking voters in/out, etc. And, as a Selectman, I usually help count the votes when the polls close. Yesterday was pretty busy for our little town.

First, keep in mind that the current population is 372. Going into the election, 282 people were registered to vote, already a pretty high percentage. But, because NH has same-day registration, Sue processed 25 new voters bringing the total number of registered voters to 307. Yesterday, a total of 258 people cast ballots -- 85% of the registered voters and 70% of the population of the town. Pretty impressive, I think.

Oh, yes, the vote:
Obama - 165
McCain - 91

The Amazing Spider Man

Spider Man, Spider Man,

Does whatever a Spider can.

Spins a web pheew, pheew, pheew!

Trick-or-Treats like a pro,

Rock on!  Look at this Spider Man!

Pheew!  That's the sound of webslinging.  And this is what it looks like.

In the crowded Metropolis, sometimes you have to wait for the elevator.

All the webslinging pays off!  Oh man look at that pile of candy!

Ayup, ready for wintuh!

I loved this picture of our stacked and drying wood--a quintessential image of fall.

Also, last spring, we invested in a new wood stove insert that fits in the living room fireplace. It's a Jotul (Norwegian). There is a cast iron "surround" that fits around the outside of the stove. The surround completely hides the fireplace opening so the installation has a very nice, finished look.

In addition to being amazingly efficient, we think the stove is a beautiful addition to the living room. We miss the look of the open fireplace, but we never used it that much--just when we had company. Best of all, the new stove makes a huge difference in the temperature of the whole house.

Ayup, ready for wintuh!

She said yes!

Well yesterday was a big day...Amanda had a very long day at school, but still wanted to take the puppy we are dog sitting for a walk. I convinced her to run her errands then meet me at the apartment. After dropping her stuff off at home, we took the dog into the park. Having had the dog for a couple days, I had taken her around and used that as an excuse to get Amanda to the bridge near the boathouse. She was a little confused why I was so insistent on keeping her walking, when she was tired and wanted to sit. However as soon as we hit the bridge, I got on one knee and popped the question. After several stunned seconds and actually turning away from the ring in disbelief, she said yes!

We then had to go sit on the park bench and take in the moment before we walked back to the house to make the necessary phone calls.

(Added by Sue and Chet - Mom and Dad)
Welcome, Amanda! We are very happy and proud that David has found such a wonderful partner. We love you both.

Kevin & Chet's Excellent Adventure

A couple of months ago, Kevin Carne (ConVal's intrepid IT guy and resident raconteur) and I were asked if we would like to see a Red Sox game from the PC Connection suite. Kevin responded to the email in about 4 seconds; it took me about 2 seconds longer. We had our choice of games, but the final game of the season against the dreaded Yankees....What's not to like about that?

As it turned out, the Yankees didn't make it into the playoffs (too bad!). And the game was meaningless to the Sox' standing. Rainy day. Several delays in getting started--they kept taking off and putting on the tarp. And the Red Sox lost in a pretty lackluster performance. Still, though, watching any game from one of the suites is pretty good duty!

An added bonus was that we got to see the ceremony retiring Johnny Pesky's number 6. One of the good guys.

Lots of good beer and wine, pizza, hot dogs, snacks--even Caesar salad and Legal's chowdah.


All in all, an excellent adventure!

9/20/08 - 6:36 pm

Okay, I missed the Autumnal Equinox by a day, but you get the idea.

Note that the sun is setting in the notch just to the right of Observatory Mountain (Aziscohos is the two-peaked mountain to the left of Observatory). We've been at the cabin for both Equinoxes (Equinoxi??) and the Summer Solstice, but never for the Winter Solstice. Some day.

Visitor

As the family will tell you, I never have campaign signs in the yard or bumper stickers on the car. However, I'll make an exception for this "sign" for Sarah Palin that was in our woods this morning.

Sorry for the lousy picture, but it was early and still fairly dark. This is a young female, probably about two years old. She was grazing peacefully in the woods beside our driveway. Sue saw her while walking a couple of days ago, so she clearly enjoys living in Sharon.

Added on 9/21: The automatic flash was on when I took the first picture of the moose. I thought it was a wasted shot; didn't see the reflecting eyes until I looked more closely. Pretty funny!

The Cousins at Drumlin Farm

Lauren and Max visited us in NH this past weekend. Brian had work commitments, so couldn't come. We missed Brian, of course, but it sure was fun to watch Max experiencing all those non-New York activities: going to the dump; washing cars (and spraying people with water); riding on the tractor; the rope swing; and playing in the dirt.

We also called Karl and Renata to see if we could find a convenient time for a family visit. Renata made the fabulous suggestion that the NH/NY clan come to Drumlin Farm on Sunday for a picnic and tour.

Drumlin Farm is owned and operated by Mass Audubon--it is a working farm and wildlife sanctuary. Renata has worked there for several years, but has just taken a new job as Coordinator of Visitor Education and Interpretation. DF is specifically designed to be a fun, hands-on learning experience for children and school groups. It was also the perfect place for a family gathering. Clearly, the cousins enjoyed getting to know each other better.

Sea Pine

We recently painted a wall in our apartment.  After months of color swatches taped to the wall and weeks of swaths of color painted on the wall we decided that we weren't happy with any one of them.  So I took the bold step of picking a color blind.  Armed only with the colors we didn't like.  I feel that luck was on my side.  This is Sea Pine from Benjamin Moore with an eggshell finish.  It is amazing what the right color can do for a room.

Close Encounters (of the animal kind)

Two Haiku that describe the memorable drive to the cabin on Friday night:

Black Bear
A large Black Bear goes
Lumbering across the road.
Surprisingly fast!

Moose
The moose spattered mud
On the windshield of the car.
That was much too close.

Projects

Summer always means lots of outdoor projects (It's interesting how one thing often leads to another). Here's a sampling of what we've been doing--some completed, some still in progress.

First, I sanded and re-painted the wrought iron table. It was pretty rusty, but it had also been about 20 years since the last paint job. Not bad. And I'm pleased with the result. The chairs will probably need to wait 'till next year.


Next, I re-sealed the deck. Actually, it had to be done in sections. First, I did the small porch and the stairs (you can see them in the background). Then, the screened porch. I've done about half of the remaining deck, but rain has meant the rest will have to wait for a while.


Somewhere along the way, we decided to plant climbing roses in the space between the garage windows at the front of the house. Of course, that meant installing a trellis. But, before I could do that, I had to stain the garage. You'll see that the top half of the garage still needs to be stained. Remember that rain?


Sue is always dividing plants in her gardens. This time, it's iris in the bags that will be going to neighbors, friends, and the Sharon Meeting House.


I've also cut three trees. Now it needs to be split and stacked. Also need to burn the brush (that's one time rain is welcome!).


In the meantime, Sue's daylilies and hosta are lookin' good! Summer is great, isn't it?

New England Forest Rally

Okay, imagine a bunch of (barely) street-legal cars (mostly all-wheel-drive Subarus) doing timed races on gravel logging roads. Now imagine that these cars reach speeds well in excess of 100 mph! As Brian said so eloquently, "WHOA!"

I heard a story on NH Public Radio about the race and thought it sounded pretty amazing. So, I visited the web site just to look around. That's when I discovered that one of the spectator viewing areas was only about 10 miles from the cabin. Why not?

This was very much a last-minute affair so, on a whim, I stopped to see if our neighbor, Don Corkran (Windswept) wanted to go with me. Don's a trooper. He said, "Sure." So, off we went.

What we didn't anticipate was the choking dust and the ROCKS that the cars throw up as they hurtle down the road! Don, at least, was prepared with a creative solution to the problem.

Here's a video clip of one of the lead cars going past. Don and I were sitting on the top of a rocky outcropping, maybe 10 feet high, but very close to the road. We estimate that the cars were going at least 60 mph as they made their way around the sweeping turn right at our feet. Amazing!



Here's another clip, this time of a local favorite from Maine. It's not one of the faster cars, but it's fun to hear all the cheers. Also note that the car is a grey VW Golf. Maybe it's Davey's old car, "Bob!"

Hummingbirds

Watching these little aerial daredevils come to our feeder is one of the great pleasures of being at the cabin.

Sunset/Moonset

Very nice sunsets again this weekend. But, once the sun set, we were able to see that the new moon was also sitting low on the horizon. A sunset followed by a moonset was an added treat!