beluga

beluga

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Grateful



We're sitting here watching the Thanksgiving parade, enjoying second cup with a slice of  cranberry/orange bread.    The dogs are snoring softly at our feet.    Life is good.

We're thankful for the life we're able to lead, the choices we're able to make and especially thankful for the love and friendship you all have shared with us.  

Monday, November 24, 2014

Climate change

My last post was "snow".... and today it was 67 degrees.    Now thats what I call  climate change!

We took advantage of the warm weather to give the dogs their Christmas bath, perhaps this year we should call it their Holiday Bath.     I know its not Christmas yet, but we ascribe to the "make hay while the sun shines" theory.  I'll not gamble on another day like this anymore this year.


Lewis is washed, dried, clipped and dear Sasha is squeaky clean.   Lewis is used to the procedure,  his lot in life.    Sasha doesn't really enjoy the bathing but does enjoy the frequent cookies dolled out during the bathing/drying process and is genetically programmed to do what we ask of her.

All in all, we've finished all our temperature sensitive jobs so we're just awaiting the next round of winter's wrath (unless we can get out of town first!).      

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Snow

I'm sure you've all heard how bad the snow has been here in the east.   Poor Buffalo and the south towns got hammered, record snows, the NYS thruway closed for many days, roofs collapsing under their load of snow, people stranded in their homes.

Luckily we're just far enough east of the Lake Erie lake effect belt that we didn't have the devastation.  We did, however, have more than enough for me.....The dogs are adjusting to the white stuff in their own very different ways.

ice balls
Lewis loves the snow and the way it makes his ball and/or fish bounce unpredictably.  He loves the way it hides them.  He loves the way the snowballs melt in his mouth.   He loves the feel of it, the look of it, he LOVES it.  He loves how he can push it with his nose to cover up Sasha's poop...... He comes in completely covered in hard white snowballs that melt and drop everywhere.   They form on his legs, his belly, his long beautiful ears...He loves it!!!!!!   Me, not so much.


comfort is at the top of this old girl's list

Sasha doesn't really care for the snow.   She wanders all the way to the end of the yard looking for that "special" spot, then realizes that her delicate little feet are frozen, that she can't possibly stand on them, they're just too cold.   Help me Dave, I can't walk.   How will I get back to the house?   Once safely back inside, she prefers to lay in the hall with her belly to the heat run, soaking up every possible btu.

Dave has found a few woodworking jobs that can be done in the basement while old man winter visits.

the master woodworker ponders his next move

tis summer no more




We're not letting this snow keep us down.  Thursday night we tucked in behind a school bus so we could follow its lights through the whiteout conditions.   We had dinner reservations at the Rabbit Room don't you know......a little snow can't keep us from our favorite restaurant!

Monday, November 17, 2014

just in time

This weekend, the weather "forecasters"  warned us that lake effect snow was coming....There were a few last outside jobs that needed to be done before snow fell including the final gutter cleaning on the house.  The leaves on the top were dry, the ones underneath were icy....Dave's fingers were frozen when he came in for lunch.


the two supervisors


We needed to figure out where Beluga will park at the lake so we could move and replace dog fencing there.

Beluga's spot marked out in left over lumber




Fence posts needed to be removed and then replaced in their new configuration before the ground freezes and Dave can no longer dig.  



digging fence posts by hand is a real back breaker
  
We didn't get everything done, but we're hoping (yes, hope springs eternal) there will be another above freezing day to finish the jobs.    Dave is a real trooper, working all day in the cold with aching back and stiff hands.   I helped where I could, but my best contribution to the day was a hearty roast beef and homemade noodle dinner topped off with hot apple betty and ice cream.


 The weather people were right this time.   As we left the lake at the end of a long day of work outdoors, the western sky  showed us what was coming....

snow clouds overtaking the sunsset


This morning we awoke to the predicted snow...





More is on the way.   Tomorrow will bring 8-12 more inches with wind chills making it feel like 8 degrees.    Brrrr... 

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Movember

Lewis wants his friends to know he is growing his moustache in order to support the Movember movement to raise awareness of men's health issues.

 



Shhhhhhh.......please don't tell him that he has an appointment with Mr. David's Mobile Poodle Grooming Salon next week.......

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Veteran's Day

This post has nothing to do with Veteran's Day, but I do want to thank those who have been willing to  leave their comforts, their families, their jobs, their lives to do what their country has asked of them....






Our open house came and went with everyone loving the farm, but no one handing us an offer.... sigh.        The two huge yellow maples in the front and side yard kindly held on to the last of their leaves until the open house ended.    We got rid of the majority of our leaf load last week in preparation for the Sunday showing, but these two maples were still magnificent and fairly glowing in their fall clothes.  As if they were holding their breaths for us on Sunday,  Monday they relaxed and released all the hangers on.


Today is perhaps the last of the really beautiful fall days, so I headed to the store to buy fixings for a grilled steak dinner while Dave and Lewis worked on those leaves.       I should say Dave worked on the leaves.....Lewis jumped into the piles after his ball or his fish and came up decorated with leaves and sticks all over his curly little body.    What fun he had!  

The cottage build is coming along and if we don't get this farm sold we'll have two houses to look after.    Weren't we trying to downsize?




Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Wednesday

This week we've been taking care of business and battening down the hatches for what is sure to come sooner than later - winter.

Mr. David's Home Maintenance Group had things well in hand, he sent his best worker out to empty Beluga of all things liable to freeze or be eaten by mice.      Once that was taken care of he donned his high Muck boots and spent time washing the road grime off  Beluga before bedding her down in the Morton building for her long winter's sleep.   Sigh....


We're having another open house on Sunday so I called Mr. David's Lawnmowing and Leaf Removal Service to remove the tons of maple leaves that have fallen.  Fall is beautiful, but it leaves a ruddy mess!      Today was very windy and I thought it would be a good day to take care of this nasty fall job.       One man climbed a tall ladder to empty the gutters while the rest mowed, plowed, blew and raked the leaves to the huge truck vacuum.   In a few hours we were leaf free!   We look forward to not looking forward to this job in the future.

vacuum working in the front yard

beautiful fall leaves are not so beautiful when they're on the ground.......



Saturday, November 1, 2014

We're back home

We got home last night, just in time to enjoy the predicted snow flurries.   The "weather guessers" are not suggesting that it will accumulate, but still.....Its cold and windy and the rain has substance, it stings our faces when we're taking supplies out of Beluga.  We had another house showing this morning so we stayed in Beluga last night  to avoid soiling the perfectly prepared house.....once again, finger's crossed.

Our last days in Ohio were very pleasant.   The weather wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad.  We went out for breakfast, explored some back roads, stopped at a number of furniture stores and found a farm market with a bakery attached.   The season's bounty was displayed in bins outside and inside were all manner of goodies.





Unfortunately, this market had more than veggies and baked goods for sale.   Puppies, puppies, puppies.    Yep, it was probably connected to one of the infamous Amish puppy mills.    On display were many breeds of babies.  A doberman, a german shepherd, an old english bulldog bitch with her litter of little piggies, a scottie mama with her tiny ones, a little pug with buggy eyes, a few golden retriever fluff balls, two tiny daschundss and a few other designer breeds.   To be fair, they looked to be in good shape, clean and relatively lively.   The Amish girl attending them was careful about who she let hold them and monitored the children's attention, but still.......I have to wonder what their lives are like back in the beautiful barns we see from the road.   Sigh.   I suppose they are looked at as a  commodity to their breeders, much like any other thing they have for sale.   Difficult to get my head around that concept.



Horses are everywhere.  In the fields working, or grazing quietly.  Mostly they're seen pulling all manner of conveyance down the narrow, winding and hilly roads of Holmes county.


In some places, traffic was heavy.   Horses, bicycles, pedestrians, heavy trucks and tourists.   Some of the roads were little more than paths, luckily these were lightly traveled.  Driving in this area is unnerving as coming up over a steep hill could very well reveal a slow moving horse carriage just in front of you.    Thanks Dave.

waiting at the laundromat

waiting at the grocery store

a sports car

We passed a very small school house with a pony tied to a hitching post in front, his cart removed and stowed for the day.   Hind leg cocked, he  was sound asleep. He must be used to spending the day there waiting for his child to finish school and the return trip home.

can you see Beluga waiting for us?

The purpose of our trip, other than a pleasant motorhome getaway before winter, was to find a small chest of drawers for our bedroom in the cottage.   Its a tiny place and our furniture here at the farm simply won't fit.   In the past we've enjoyed seeing the quality furniture produced in the mills surrounding Mt. Eaton so we thought we'd look for our dresser there.

We found just what we were looking for, but the delivery charges were substantial.  Could we fit it in Beluga I asked?    Dave spent a fair bit of time with a tape measure and decided that if he took out my front seat it would just make it in the door.    Once inside, it could ride on its back on our bed.
  So, Friday morning we were waiting when Homestead Furniture Company opened its doors.  

The beautiful, simple, hand made Shaker cherry man chest did indeed fit through the door and it rode quietly on the bed for the 7 hour trip home.  I took no pictures of the deed,  the lads that helped Dave get it inside were Amish and don't allow photographs.     When we got home we called wonderful Fred and he came right up and helped Dave with the unloading.   Thanks Fred.



So....now we're home and are still waiting, more or less patiently, for someone to come along and fall hopelessly in love with this farm.