What Else Can We Burn?

Despite the deep snow, I am able to get a fire started in the pasture. I only burned a small part of this pile. The rest we are going to burn all at once instead of a bit at a time. The neighbors swear this will be okay...

Hulk tired.

The boys get a bath together.

First Burn

Finally, what we've looked forward to since we moved here! We've had this huge pile of ivy vines, tree branches, and other various yard debris left laying in a gigantic pile just outside of the goat barn by the previous owner. That pile is now gone! It took three weekends, but we did it, and we really enjoyed it. The first weekend, at the end of the first day of burning, it began to snow. It kept snowing until it was 17 inches deep.

All that snow didn't stop us, we went back out and dug out a fire pit in the snow, and began pulling the wood from under the deep snow and set it on fire! It burned, no problem. It's exhausting work - which surprised us; we were achy and totally spent at the end of each day's work. The boys had lots of fun too. Now we have one monstrous pile left in the pasture. On a windless day some weekend, that pile is going to go up in one glowing apocalyptic mushroom cloud. Our neighbors swear that it'll burn crazy-huge for about 15 minutes or so then will ease up. Apparently this type of event is no big deal around here. It scares the crap out of John and I, yet some small dark place inside of us can't wait to see it all go up...

Thank You, Josh!

Josh and Lily Blum came for a visit with us a week or so ago. Josh came to help John renovate the attic and turn it into either a guest bedroom, or possibly, our bedroom. Josh and John moved some beams, created a beadboard ceiling, and framed in one end of the room. It was a lot of hard work that was pretty time consuming. John could never have done the work himself, and we are very grateful for Josh's help.

During the visit, we got to really bond with Lily, who came to feel like a little sister to the boys. Her personality was a perfect compliment to our existing family vibe. Mr. Henry came along for the visit, and the poor guy, who is allergic to grass, had a skin reaction to our back yard grass, and a digestive reaction to all the kitchen waste that I've been tossing out there all winter long. Pee-You!! Mr. Henry gave Asa a run for his money in the gas department. Even still it was a wonderful visit and we were sad to see them go back to Brooklyn and Cherie after five days. Thanks again, Josh!!

Happy New Year!

Thanks to Sassa, John and I were able to go out on New Year's Eve. Sass hung out with Jake and Asa at G&Gs house in Columbia, and John and I went to the famous New Year's Eve party at the Randazzo's house. We got to see much of the old Tanglewood posse and catch up a bit. Some of us danced the night away to Paul's music mix, and some of us just took pictures of the people dancing! Lots of pictures. So many pictures. More than was needed. Pictures of things that you don't want to see. Lots of pictures of the Randazzo's ceiling. Lots of pictures of Glen Johnson's tongue. But still, it was great fun.

A Seven Valleys Christmas

The Blums visited us for Christmas. It has become something of a tradition for our families... we visit them for Thanksgiving, and they visit us for Christmas. It is a good way to ensure that we get a chance to catch up with each others lives at least yearly. It's easy to lose contact with friends across state lines - even friends on the other side of town.

The boys love Lily so much - she is such a great playmate for them - she has no trouble at all keeping up with them.

We hosted Christmas/Hannukah dinner at our house. The Coburns, Sass, and Margaret came to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with us. This was my first dinner - and boy, was I naiive about the amount of work involved in pulling off such a meal. Thank you everyone who helped for all your hard work to make what ended up being a very delicious meal. Cherie makes the Thanksgiving meal look so effortless, that I thought that I could do that too; I quickly realized that I was in over my head. There were at least three people in the kitchen at all times working non-stop until the meal was complete. This was not what I had visualized before hand, but it did end up very delicious despite my lack of organization. Cherie was gracious enough to give me a couple smart tips, and I hope to do much better next year. I look forward to the challenge. Josh and Cherie made homemade Potato Latkes, then shared with everyone the tradition of lighting the Menorah and both said the Jewish prayer in Hebrew.

A Walk to the Christmas Tree Farm

One thing I've been waiting for since we first saw our new home is getting this year's Christmas tree from our new neighbors down the road. We were able to hop on the garden tractor and drive over the one-lane bridge to Irene and Wayne's with the boys riding in the cart. Sadie the cat followed right behind. John brought along our chainsaw so he could finally use it, but unfortunately, when we found the perfect Fraser fir, he couldn't get it to start up. Luckily, a friendly family offered their hand saw to us so we could take home a tree.

Once we got the tree home, John was able to get the chainsaw working, so he was able to use it to trim some of the lower branches. Mom and the boys decorated the tree while John worked away at sanding the dining room floor.

Tile Removal in Dining Room

Two days after we began our dining room tile removal work, we realized that the tiles were most likely made with asbestos so we needed to remove them in a very specific way to avoid possible future health issues. John was able to finish the job of removing the tiles, then he sanded the dining room and bathroom floors. He worked really hard and did a great job.

Let It Snow

Yippee! It snowed about 3 inches! John was so happy to get to finally use the tractor to plow snow. He plowed our driveway, parking area, and our neighbor's driveway. He was surprised at how quickly he was able to clear it all out.

Jake got to stay home from school on Friday - he and Asa played outside for a good part of the day. The best part of playing in the snow for the boys was getting a mug of hot chocolate when they came inside.