Lester's Flat

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Let's all be lazy...but Lester

The cats spend most of their time either sleeping or watching the birds at the birdfeeders. The dogs spend most of their time sleeping, chasing critters on the back forty, or eating dead stuff. The Deer Diner is closed for the season, nothing left but bones, so they have to search for more presents from the coyotes, or whatever it is that is on the prowl out there.

Jane and I missed our walk yesterday, so we are going to try for today. Earlier this week we took her beagles, Murphy and Ridley for a wander up Van Court Road. Today we will take Lester and Sophie down Tunnicliff Road and maybe stop at the Post Office to pick up my mail.

When I get back, I have to get more serious about hunting for work. I have finished up all of the loose ends on the jobs I was working on: AMH, MEOC, and RE. None of them seem to have anything else coming my way, and it's about time I started some serious job-hunting in the North Country anyway. I have to do something to hold up my end, now that The Husband is back to the daily grind.

Our newly finished house is holding up well to all the weather has to bring. Radiant floor heat and spray foam insulation make this house warm and toasty all the time. I started up the woodstove a few times just to make sure it was working (and because I am a real firebug) but even though it was cold enough outside and the heat was not on inside, the stove made it so warm that I had to crack open a few windows. I imagine that when the winter winds start to blow, that will be a welcome warmth.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Fall is for the birds

The big news is that we are calling the house DONE! Yesterday Chris the Garage Door Guy came out and installed the new doors. Even though there are a few minor details to finish inside the house, and a few bills to be paid to Jim the Builder, we're calling it done as of October 26!

Other news: the house in NJ is listed with a new realtor. We shall see if his more aggressive marketing techniques truly increase the interest in our cool old house. It would be nice to finally make the move and bring all of our furniture up here. As it is, I can only bring what will fit in the CR-V.

Mid-October in NY and the fall color is pretty much gone, we are down to a brown-olive-gold color scheme. Even though the weather is still on the warm side, it seems that the only trees that still have leaves are the apples and willows.

Adding 2 birdfeeders to the apple tree out back here has definitely made bird-watching more fun. My David Sibley bird book has been useful in identifying the Eastern Phoebe, Slate-colored Junco, Downy Woodpecker, nuthatches, and several varieties of finches and sparrows. In the spring there were Baltimore Orioles, a Great Blue Heron, maybe a Green Heron, maybe a Golden Eagle and a little blue bird yet to be identified.

In NJ, the evil squirrels made feeding the birds near impossible. We did see goldfinches, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, purple finches, far too many starlings and house sparrows, and a Carolina Wren for the first time a few weeks ago. But NJ has a greater population of hawks and eagles than up here. I have seen a bald eagle at least 4 times in NJ, one flying just above the roof of my house.

Since The Husband has been working during the week, my friend Jane and I have started up a walking routine. We'll see if we can continue it through the winter...the winter that everyone has warned us about!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

It's beautiful in the fall, let's get out for a walk!

I took the kids on a late afternoon walk, although they were more interested in their dining spot (you don't want to know...) than actually walking down to the creek.

Even though we are pretty much past the peak colors, it is still autumnal here in the north country. Too bad The Husband has started his new job, and doesn't get to appreciate it as much as before. At least he had a few months off this summer to relax and enjoy the quiet.

I keep saying I will get better at posting on the blog, but until the house in NJ sells, there is not much free time for playing with the loads of new photos I have taken. Eventually I will share them with you.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Fine fall day at the front door (and side door)

Lester and Sophie, maybe for the first time this year, willingly came back together with me from the creek. Perhaps it was due to the recurring belly aches they have from munching on dead stuff (a deer from last week), or maybe because the creek is still too powerful to cross after all that rain, so they don't have access to their usual favorite places.

The second pic is the side of the garage (and house)...the side that DOES have a door. It is sunny, but still chilly up here today. We did fire up the woodstove last night, but this house is so tight we didn't really need it. And that can only be a good thing in the north country!

I am headed back to NJ today, to pack up some more stuff, fill up the car and come back on Thursday. I thought the Garage Door guy was coming this week, but I just checked his e-mail and it probably won't be until the week of the 11th. And Jesse promised he'd "button things up" by Sunday at the latest, but still no Jesse at 2 pm. I was hoping to be here to guide him, but if he doesn't show in the next hour or so, he'll have to figure it out on his own.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

More orange sky and door-less garage pics

I just can't get enough of these sunset photos, so you'll have to put up with me! The first one shows our property line: the little birch tree in the center of the field is the first in a line going back to the creek (the treeline at the back). To the left of the birch is our land, to the right is Charlie's (the Magic Museum guy who owns the barn by the road).

Chris the Garage Door guy is supposed to come this week to install the doors. We are finally approaching the grand finale of this house-building project. Richie came out to finish up the last things on the punchlist for the house, but, unfortunately Jim the Builder pulled him off the job before he was done. I could live with it as is (very happily) but I just want some closure Jim! Since I have not made my final payment, I have some leverage.

And the last one who needs to finish work here is Jesse the Electrician. He was supposed to come out yesterday and finish up, but called and put it off until today or tomorrow. I think I have been very patient with these guys, and I still don't get why they don't seem to want to finish up, get their money and be done with me.

I think we might have to fire up the woodstove for the first time tonight. We seem to have gone pretty quickly from unusually warm temps to some really cool fall weather. After another trip to the Farmers Market for some NY hard cider and goat cheese, we're ready for a night by the fire. We have plenty of leftovers from this week: lasagna, meatloaf, and chicken pot pie—all homemade of course!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Red Sunset Maples, and a great sunset to show them off

Again, I have been busy (actually working) and haven't had much time to post. We had a "showing" of the NJ house again today, and I hope one of these showings will finally bring me a buyer. The running back and forth between states and houses is getting tiresome.

We bought 3 new trees last week, red maples (Red Sunset). You can see them on either side of the driveway in the second photo. They were delivered today, and conveniently dropped off the truck right near the holes that The Husband dug for them. We figure it might be useful to point out the direction of the long driveway when it is covered in snow...

After about 24 hours of solid heavy rain, the creek has been running ragged. The horse field across the street looked like a lake this morning. But this evening, post-storm, provided a fantastic sunset, with the most perfect light to show off the new trees and our new house.

Monday, September 27, 2010

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!)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

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.

Related articles by Zemanta

Thursday, September 9, 2010

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!

Monday, September 6, 2010

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!

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Husband, the farmer

In just a few short months, my husband the bureaucrat has become my husband the farmer.

For anyone wondering how The Husband is adjusting to his new life in NY, I am posting this as my response. If only he would allow me to post the smiling photo of him, in his straw hat and sunglasses, proudly surveying his humble garden plot... (Don't cross me Mr. P, or I just might post it anyway!)

As for The Wifey, she is still in NJ, adjusting to her new role as squirrel wrangler. As fast as I set the trap is as fast as they fill it. This is my last summer in the Garden State, and I'll will not be cheated out of my last Jersey tomatoes.

Now if only Wifey and Husband could just find new jobs that offer paychecks AND health insurance! We are both dreading the arrival of our first COBRA bill...