Cloudy day on Canadarago

Sorry to have been neglecting my blog lately...running around like a chicken with no head.

Here's a pretty photo from out on the lake yesterday with cousins Chris and Greg. I promise to post more when I get back from a trip to the Price Chopper.

Well so much for posting more after the PC...it is Tuesday evening that I am updating this...

As cloudy as it is in this photo, it actually turned out to be pretty nice just after that. On the party boat with Chris, we hung out just long enough for Greg to catch up to us on the Reef Shark. We hung out a bit too long actually, and just made it home in time to feed the dogs and make a spinach salad for the house concert we were attending at 6. It was a pretty good deal: bring something (the spinach salad) for the pot luck dinner, and stay for the concert for free. The best part was actually getting to meet some new locals and other north country folks. We were invited after attending a Joe Crookston concert at the little white church in Schuyler Lake on Sunday night. (excellent brownies at the church concert!)

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A perfectly loverly day

Goodies from the farmers' market and Anna

Porcupine quill: the one that got away

Can't beat the view from the porch

Sun and warmer temps are back, making this one of the nicest days since I came up this time. I took a little trip to the Cooperstown Farmer's Market for some of my favorite Painted Goat chevre. I also picked up some organic baby yellow carrots, an onion, and some luscious-looking grapes.

After the market, I ran some errands, including taking The Husband's chainsaw to Stu for sharpening, and recycling some egg boxes by giving them back to Anna at the junk store, my best supplier of fresh eggs. Congratulations to Stu for his recent nuptials on August 28, my parents' anniversary!

Lester and Sophie took me for 2 walks today, one to the creek, and one to The Dump. They willingly returned from The Dump, but were enjoying life too much to pay any attention to me calling them back from the creek. Sophie was the first to return, and PokerFace brought up the rear...eventually. I am happy to report that most of the pokers appear to have left his face. I even found a loose one resting on top of his nose yesterday. (see second pic)

I finished We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates, and am about halfway through John Updike's S.

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Summer to fall in one fell swoop

The first pic is of Lester from last week (pre-porcupine) trying to stay cool on the slate floor in the living room. I think it was in the low 90s last week, and it's barely 60° here today. I even put the heat on and had some hot tea while I was working this afternoon.

Lester's poor face seems better, mostly, except for the one (or more) quills that must be stuck inside his nostril. He keeps trying to sneeze them out. Overall though, he is back to normal. He is downstairs demanding his 5 p.m. feeding at 4:50 p.m.

The other 2 shots are from a sunnier day than today, when it was still appropriate end-of-summer weather. The Husband picked a good day to drive back to NJ. He wants to catch one last bluegrass night by the river (Holmesburg Jam) before making the final move up here.

Jesse the Electrician was here yesterday working in the garage. I was hoping to see him back today, but I guess that won't happen since I hear the 5 o'clock whistle going off.

And Jim the Builder seems to have abandoned us altogether—the only obvious missing part being the garage doors. I am sure he will use the age-old excuse "but my wife is having our child and I've been very busy." Yeah sure, Jim, like we haven't heard that one before!

A porcupine, two toads, and two new New Yorkers

Lester had his first bad day at Lester's Flat on Saturday: he found himself a porcupine in the side yard. Not being one to pass up a greeting with any critter, large or small, he managed to get himself a snout-full of quills. And, of course he does this on Labor Day weekend when the only vet to be found is the emergency vet who will charge us about $500 to remove them.

So we took matters into our own hands and bullied him into letting us pull 8 or 9 of the nasty things out of his nose and lip, but that was as much as he would allow. With advice from neighbors and the internet, I gave him Benadryl, both to calm him down and help with any reaction he might have. We tried a second time, but he had already managed to push the remaining quills further into his face. Overnight, he broke them off altogether, leaving probably 9 or 10 pieces in him.

Our NJ vet happened to have Sunday office hours, so I called to ask what to do. They said bring him to the emergency vet immediately because of the risk of infection. I was torn between running to the expensive vet in Sidney, and just keeping an eye on him until our local vet comes back. The Husband and I decided that, since he appeared to be fine, and the swelling had actually gone down some, that giving him cephalexin, an antibiotic that I had, would hold him over until Tuesday. I don't know how, but so far today, he seems just fine!

Photo #1: Lester swimming in the creek yesterday, looking almost like a porcupine himself (those are water drops, not quills). Just tell me, Lester, what's the point of shaking off the water when you are still in the water?

Photo #2: The Husband found this big guy and his smaller friend, who have taken up residency in our new garage. Guess when we finally get garage doors, we'll have to leave one open for them...they don't appear to be leaving anytime soon.

Photos #3 and 4: The finished (mostly) house and garage, with 2 cars sporting New York license plates. Too late to back out now, we are official New Yorkers.

The good thing about living here: our combined homeowner's and car insurance for the year is less than our car insurance alone in NJ.

The bad thing about living here: ask Lester!