Tower Heist

Went to see this movie on Saturday night--Brian did the ADR editing.  He worked on it for several months, including the "25th Cabin Anniversary" week this summer in Maine.  Thanks to Amanda, we have a picture of Brian's name in the credits.  It's a lot of fun to see his name on the big screen!

MORE Snow in October!

Round two arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday and, by Sunday morning, we had upwards of two feet of new snow! 

Of course, the tractor wasn't ready for anything like this--the front loader and the lawn mower were still in place.  Plus, when I got the snowblower mounted and turned it on, the drive belt immediately snapped.  Yikes!  Fortunately, I had kept an old belt.  But that meant taking the snowblower off, installing the new belt, and re-mounting the snowblower.  Long story short, it took three hours to get the tractor ready and another two hours to do the driveway.

In the meantime, Sue, bless her heart, had shoveled the porch and sidewalk--not an easy task with two feet of snow.

Oh, did I mention that we lost power on Saturday night?  Happy Halloween!

 Just a little snow on the roof of the playhouse.

And, this pile of snow on the railing (about 12") came

after we had dealt with a similar amount the night before.

Snow in October!

A day of rain followed by wet snow made for a very pretty morning.  Bright blue skies and a forecast for temps in the mid 40s means it won't last.  But, still, October?

 Our resident eagle.  Note the playhouse in the background.

 This is the Corkscrew Willow we planted last summer.  

Fortunately, Willows are very flexible!

And, yes, we left the fountain running.

What's Missing?

Yes, the shed by the dock is gone--tore it down last weekend.  Actually, it was an old ice fishing shanty.  And, although it stored a lot of stuff, it was always an eyesore.  Glad it's gone.  In its place, I plan to build a small deck--should be a good location in the lee of the big rock and facing south toward the sun.

1 more haiku

my dear cablebox
your "channels" come in so clear
can you say "fox news?"

Cablebox Reunion (Update)

These two Haiku tell the story:

The maiden voyage

Of Cablebox Reunion:

Mooselookmeguntic!

July 1, 2011

Beautiful old boat

Floating, happy, at the dock.

At home on Mooselook.

July 2, 2011

Cablebox Reunion

Although I bought it about a year ago and have talked about it with many people, both family and non-family, I realized I had never posted anything about our "new" boat.

Bought it on eBay for a surprisingly low cost.  Not sure of the exact age, but probably about 50 years old.  However, in the 80s, a father-son team re-built it and registered it in Massachusetts as a handmade boat.  So, when I registered it in Maine, the title shows 1984 as the year it was built.

Since it was too late last year to use it in Maine, it lived in Sharon while I did some upgrades--changed out the steering and controls, added a bilge pump, etc.  Now, it's ready to go to its new home on Mooselookmeguntic.

A couple of interesting stories.

First, everyone groans when I say I bought a wooden boat.  Will it leak?  Well, the time-honored way to deal with wooden boats is to put about six inches of water in them until the wood swells and (hopefully) seals all the joints.  When I first put the water in it leaked like a sieve--all the water poured out in about two hours.  But a day or two later, amazingly, just an occasional drip.  Hooray!

Next, the question of what to name it?  Boats, especially wooden ones must have a name.  And, once named, it is very bad luck to change it.  I could find no evidence that it had ever been named, so I came up with a few traditional ideas and ran them by my family.  Okay, they thought, but Lauren decided to ask Max what he thought.  As she tells the story, Max immediately said "Cablebox Reunion."  What it means, and where it came from, only he knows.  However, that's what it is.

Cablebox is beautiful, isn't she?

Corkscrew Willow

We lost the big Maple tree next to the screen porch during the ice storm a couple of years ago.  We replaced the Maple with a Redbud which did fine the first year, but never budded this year.  So, today, we put in a new tree--a Corkscrew Willow.  A really interesting tree with lots of character.  We love it!

Playhouse

UPDATE:
The playhouse is now moved, leveled, and has a door.  And, thanks to the "Ooops" shelf in the paint section of the local hardware, it's been painted a dark green (Max's favorite color), with pale yellow trim.  Looks pretty good!

ORIGINAL POST:
The "Building Trades Boys" needed a small project for the end of the school year and I had been thinking of building a playhouse in the back yard for Max and Daphne.  Seemed like a good match.

It's not perfect.  Needs to be leveled and moved a foot or so.  And, obviously needs trim, a door, paint, etc.  However, the students had a good time.  They even found time to try out the swings including the new horse tire swing.  I had them all sign a wooden plaque that will hang in the playhouse.

 

Ready to Ride

I saw one of these tire swings in a Tractor Supply Company store and thought they were pretty neat.  But, they were made with fake tires and I thought it would be fun to try it on my own.  An Internet search yielded the plans--seemed easy enough on paper.

The first challenge was to find the right kind of tire.  It had to be an old-fashioned bias ply tire because cutting radial tires would leave shards of the metal belt sticking out.  Not a good thing.  I tried the pile at the Recycling Center, but had no luck.  I asked our Automotive students.  No luck there either.  Finally, after about six months of casual checking, the Recycling Center came through.  Step one.

Using a Sharpie, I traced the template onto the tire, then started using metal snips to cut the pattern.  Whew, what a tough thing to do!

The final step was to turn the tire inside out, drill holes in the appropriate places, and install the bolts.  Ever try to turn a tire inside out?  That process took more than a little help from Sue.

Today, Horsey finally moved to his real home--hanging between two trees with about 10 feet of rope.  Looks pretty good, I think.  Hope Max and Daphne will enjoy the ride.

Cabin in Winter

A fellow CTE Director from Rochester, NH has a family cabin on Rangeley Lake.  He and his wife often visit during the winter and love to snowmobile on the many miles of trails in the region.  He shared the following pictures with me--great shots of the cabin on a beautiful day in late February.

Flyer for David's Group Photography Show

April 23, 2011

The day after Earth Day and we get snow. Figures.  Ironically, I took the snowblower off the tractor yesterday.

Not that we really celebrated Earth Day, but it was a nice day, sunny and fairly warm. I was on vacation and played golf at Shattuck (round #2 for the year--very pleased with how I played). Then we went to Kimball's. And, when we came home spent time walking around the yard.

Happy to report that we saw a pair of Cardinals, the first we've seen at our house in a very long time. Hope they are here to nest. The Broadwing Hawks are also back--watched a pair soaring in and out of our trees. It's just amazing to watch them fly.  Not sure where the nest is, but I think it's in the woods on the east side of the house.

Happy spring.

Peterborough Chamber Choir & WGBY-TV

Update: We recently learned that the PCC has now been selected as one of four semi-finalists. Now, we sing in a live performance on Saturday, April 30. If we are then chosen as the finalist, we will sing in another live performance on Sunday, May 1.

This is all good news except for the fact that the Monadnock Chorus concerts fall that same weekend! Fortunately, although it will be close, the timing works out okay. Lots of driving between Peterborough and Springfield, MA, though.


Back in December, I wrote about a choral competition being sponsored by WGBY, the public television station in Springfield, MA. We had to do an audition tape, then 10 groups were selected in five different categories. We are in the "small adult category." We went to the studios in Springfield to record our "competition" entry. Now, they are broadcasting the performances in a series of shows. Oddly, there are 4-5 barbershop groups in our category--quite a difference from the type of music our group sings.

It was hard to sing in that space. It was "dead" acoustically, so we had difficulty hearing each other. Also, we were limited to two "takes" that had to be complete, with no stops. In other words, they did not splice the best performance of each song together. But it's been a fun process. And grandson Max got to go to the studio with us during the taping. I think he enjoyed seeing Deeda on television and looking around at the cameras, lights, etc.

Click here to see my original post about the competition which has our "audition" recording.

And here is the recording done in the WGBY studios:

Max's 6th Birthday

It took us MUCH longer than expected to drive to NYC for Max's birthday party.  A 20 mile detour; followed by a 1.5 hour stoppage near Waterbury, CT; only to find the Saw Mill River Parkway closed because of flooding.  We made it though.  The party was held at a fitness club--Max seemed to be having a great time.

 

 

Spring!

The fantastic full moon last night followed by a beautiful first day of spring--42 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  We still have about 9 inches of snow in the yard, but that's going away quickly.  And the tulips are beginning to come up.  Things are looking up!

Yes, We've Got Snow

Sharon Invitational Golf-in-the-Snow Tournament

Gina and Rory Goff recently hosted the first (annual?) Sharon Invitational Golf-in-the-Snow Tournament.  (Very cold) beer on the course, followed by hot rum toddies, cornbread and chili. 

It was a bit awkward swinging a club while wearing heavy gloves, big boots and several layers of clothes.  However, most disconcerting, was trying to find a proper stance in thigh-deep snow and then being able to choke up enough on the club to actually hit the ball.

First, some still pictures showing our form during "warm up."  Then a brief video of the golfers playing hole #1.  Great fun!

CTE Director of the Year

I was recently selected as the Career-Technical Director of the Year by the NH Association of School Principals. Very nice ceremony in Concord with several hundred people plus the Governor.  And, best of all, Sue was able to be there with me.

A distinct honor. Plus, I can't recall ever seeing my name in lights!