a librul woodchuck

We had an opportunity to visit Baja California Sur, Mexico this past week.  Cabo San Lucas, specifically.  During what has been a very busy spring for J and I, it was a great escape to another world, literally and figuratively.  Hot, dry weather, plenty of sun, a bit of snorkeling, great food, water volleyball, huge waves, great visiting, and of course a few margaritas.  Now we’re back in VT with snow showers welcoming us home along with Daisy and Logan.  Sometimes the cloudy, cool days are a welcome break.

An incredible bond and illustration of training success - along with some pretty joyful dogs.  Impressive.

We are having an absolutely wonderful fall weather day with incredibly blue skies, fall colors beginning to peak and crisp, cool temperatures.

Here’s a sampling of the colors from around the house including a few photos of our local poultry, both domestic and wild.  Enjoy.

After a long week of surgery, a complication and a start on recovery, Logan’s at home and the biopsy test on the tumor came back benign.  So we’re celebrating dogs - both Logan and Daisy - tonight.

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Here’s a gallery of photos from my recent visit to our property in Baddeck.  Enjoy.

(you can click through twice on each to see a larger version.)

Just got back from a quick trip to Cape Breton to check on the homestead property.  Safe drive with the two dogs and great weather.  It truly is a special place.  Here’s a slideshow of a few photos of the trip along with some from here in VT this late summer.  The weather has been absolutely marvelous lately.  Ah Fall in VT… Read more »

It’s tempting to put winter behind you and think about all the great spring and  summer activities such as gardening, tending to the flower beds, mowing, BBQing, playing frisbee, biking, hiking, etc.  And then we get a good shot of reality and wake up to a fresh 6 inches of heavy snow.  Read more »

We’ve come to the end of March and it’s been a month of dramatic changes.  We’ve lost 95% of the snow across the yard and mud season has hit hard.  We’ve been able to drive to our house just a half dozen times in the past 3 weeks even with a full size pickup.  Granted some of our neighbors are still powering up the hill, but we are of the mind set that a little exercise walking up the hill to the house is good for us and better than paying for repairs to the truck or getting it stuck.

The robins are flitting about, a moose and coyote both left their marks on trails out back, and we can hear the sputtering of the neighbor’s motor bikes on the surrounding hills.  Sugaring season is in full swing and we’ve had our furnace off for at least 48 hours continuously now.  Ample daylight helps to heat the house passively.

Daisy and Logan are whimping out and refuse to venture far off the step stones in the yard as it’s “squishy”.  It’s actually quite comical to see them try to keep their feet dry as they go out to do their business.

April arrives this week and with it we’ll be closer to the green for which these mountains are named.  In the meantime we’ll keep pulling on our mud boots and count our blessings that there aren’t any bugs yet and we have over 12 hours of potential sunlight and an average low temperature of 27 degrees.

Till next time, enjoy.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and as I look back it’s probably for a variety of reasons.  First, it seems in some ways that our life has become more ordinary and less remarkable since we’ve moved back to VT.  Even though we’re living in the mountains and have to deal with a bit of winter weather, it’s not quite like AK.

I think I’ve also taken a break as the election in November saw a goal achieved and disaster averted, depending on your perspective.  Read more »