Forrest Hike to the Golf Course & our neighbor, the Chipmunk

Tuesday, May 28th:

Yesterday was a good day, I spent most of the day unpacking and organizing. I still have a long way to go but we're shaping up now. We had to take an afternoon break to run over to Tractor Supply to pick up Beet Pulp for the horses and Kitty food and litter. While at the store, my daughter says "I'm hungry." "What!?!?" I say, "you *just* ate!" So after a short fussing, I swung into a pizza shop in town. One we've tried before. We got our pizza in a to-go box, but ate a couple of slices there and shared an Orange Fanta in a bottle. Like old times. It's been a long, long time since we've had any sodas. We kicked the soda habit long ago. We had a few slices left and we packed up and headed home. When we arrived back home it was such a beautiful day, again, that I decided we would go for a walk in the forrest. Since we went on the trail ride on Monday I am now somewhat oriented as to where some of the trails lead. Those that know me well know how I love a good explorative hike through the woods. My husband arrived home and he ate the remaining slices of pizza. We prodded him on because now that he was home, we all wanted to head down the trail WITH him. We leashed all 6 dogs and shoved off, only my husband led us on a different trail, one I was not familiar with. He assured us that he knew the way. We stormed over bush, bramble and rock. I kept finding myself glancing over my shoulder expecting to see a bear trailing us. Thankfully I did not, haha. My dogs were certain they were on to something. I felt like I was leashed to bloodhounds as they tore through the woods. We've been on many a trail walk, but I've never seen these guys behave so unruly. They were going NUTS with all the scents everywhere. We saw nothing, but their noses "saw" everything! Finally, the Aussies wore themselves out and settled into a comfortable, more regular pace. We reached the edge of the Forrest and broke out onto the golf course. I will admit that I was completely and utterly lost! My husband said that all the while he knew where we were. Hmmpphh, I have to believe him because he *did* get us to the golf course after all. I breathed a sigh of relief when we were standing on a hill just outside the Forrest line, our property line. The hill where we stood bore the remains of a party long past. Discarded fireworks, a campfire and a few cans littered the ground and the dogs heavily scented a spot where we crested out of the Forrest. I surmised it must have been the human potty for the party scene we stumbled upon.

After we gathered ourselves we headed towards the large pond. It was absolutely breathtaking. I know my Aussies would have loved to jump in the water for a swim but I knew that if they would have gone for a swim I would have 3 dogs to wash when we got home. My 3 Aussies, the Bulldog, the Pomeranian, and the Livestock Guardian dog would not be swimming. The Bulldog and Pom are NOT swimmers, and the LGD is still recovering. He did really well on our walk. He LOVES a good swim though. He would have totally gone for it under any other circumstances. We walked down the hills and over to the bridge where I took my fall on Monday when I was riding Justice. We saw lots of Canadian Geese some complete with families of little goslings in tow. They were incredibly adorable, but naturally, our "pack of dogs" worried them. All but two dogs were leashed. My 3 Aussies have a good recall, so I don't worry too much, but I like to air on the safe side of things. We headed back home and de-ticked everyone. The dogs, and then us. We found at least one tick on each dog, and only found one on one human. It was mobile, not latched on yet. I really despise ticks. I don't like fleas, but I despise ticks more I believe! Ick (...as I think about it suddenly my skin is crawling, haha, I know I'm good, but you can't help but check, just to be sure. lol) See the video below for a sample of what we saw.

When we got back we settle in for a relaxing evening, business as usual.

Wednesday, May 29th:

This morning we headed over to our local farm, Walnut Farm. We picked up some milk and honey and headed back home. My daughter reminds me that she is absolutely starving. She must be having a growth spurt, it's about that time, she sure has been hungry... ravishingly hungry, lately. So I set about making brunch as soon as I got home. A typical yummy breakfast around the Kelley home. Farm fresh eggs made to order and the fixins'. I had just served my daughter breakfast when we hear barking coming from the barn. It's one of our neighbors popping in to drop off something he had promised my husband. I invited him up for a cup of coffee. My dogs are still getting used to our many visitors dropping by on a regular basis. We LOVE it, but they don't understand, and they have what I like to call "stranger danger." They don't like everyone, they have to get to know you first. Like the movie "Meet the Parents" you have to get into their "circle of trust." Until then you are 'guilty until proven innocent.' So while I'm attempting to visit with my neighbor my dogs bark and whine their protests for the living room. They are on their assigned dog beds, but are just wiggling and NOT listening very well. We finally decide that the most unruly of the bunch needs a time-out in his kennel and my daughter delivers him to his kennel. He's none-to-pleased with this and from the basement he barks more protests. He certainly lives up to his name, Ronen, it means song or praise in Hebrew. Only right now, when he isn't behaving it's more like NOISE. I call him "the mouth," he always has something to say about something. After his cup of coffee, our neighbor heads out the door. I finish my brunch (it was a little cold, but still good) and start about doing my office work. I unpacked a little and organized, then sat back at my office. Every once in a while I would hear this "peeping" sound. I thought it was a little bird, but each time I heard it, it was inconvenient to get up and look for our visitor. At least one cat would scamper over to the front door to see who our visitor was though. I had opened the front door and the clear storm door provided an unimpeded view of the front yard and porch. It was my compromise for the kitties because I requested they stay out of my bay window. 

After our 3PM snack, I was cleaning up in the kitchen and I heard the "peep." I quickly halt what I'm doing and sneak to the door to see who is doing all this peeping. I'm looking in the trees and on the rail but don't see anything. So I look down and THERE is a CHIPMUNK!! He is sooooo cute! Just sitting there, on the front porch, I tell my daughter to come see, so she comes. I sneak off to grab my phone to snap a photo, but before I can get to my phone, Timmy our "special kitty" scampers over and scares the little guy off. Only he doesn't completely leave, he is under my bay window. I snap a photo, but Timmy clamors about and scares the little guy AGAIN. I did manage to snap two photos. I apologize for the quality, I put out some organic corn and I am waiting for him to return to stuff his cute little cheeks. I can see where he lives, we have an old well that is covered and he is sun bathing on it. There is a rock right next to it, so he climbs on the rock and the top of the well cover for different vantage points. He is incredibly cute! :) 

I really hope you can see the pics. I know they are super small. I will get better pics when I can manage. 


After I finished in the kitchen, my dogs needed to go out for a potty break and a drink. I called the dogs to the door and as I opened the door this strange looking beetle with long antennae stumbled in the door. 

Asian Long-horned Beetle

 
He was a little shocked and somewhat grumpy. My daughter told me to step on him, I was wearing boots after all. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I chased him out the door with a dowel rod and when he slipped in between the deck slats I tapped hard above him and he fell to the lower level of the house and landed on the ground in front of the basement door. I had no idea what kind of a bug he was at the time. Now that I do, I can see that I probably should have stepped on him! 

Well this little bug reminded me of a story of a similar bug that occurred a few years back. 

We lived in a beautiful home in a gated community in Texas. It was a rental home, the story of how we ended up there is sort of long so I'll skip that part. I had several plants and it had been nice weather so I had all of our plants on the front porch. It was about September and some storms had been coming through the area and due to our porch being sort of high in the air some of my plants had gotten knocked over a bit so I opted to bring them inside. So one-by-one I brought them in and after I was done we sat down to watch a movie and enjoy the company of the plants in our downstairs formal living room. As we sat there my cat came over, she had noticed a small bug crawling across the rug in the living room. The bug paused then raised it's rear end and sprayed an offensive odor on my kitty. She scrambled away, appalled, shaking her head and sneezing! I realized it was a stink bug, so I ran and got my broom and dustpan and carefully scooped it up and took it out to the front porch and discarded it in some bushes. I figured that would be the last of it. I didn't want to step on it because I did not want it to stink up the place any more than it already had. The next day I, again, saw this SAME little bug walking purposefully across the carpet again ... in the house...headed for this one particular plant. Again, I grabbed my broom and dustpan, gently scooped up this bug and once again discarded it on the plants in the front yard. These plants are planted and were low to the ground, so it was quite a distance that this little bug had traveled to get back up the stairs and into my house. The NEXT morning, I opened the front door to go down the driveway to pick up the newspaper and was shocked to look down and find this SAME little bug standing on the threshold of my house. It was at this time that I realized that this little bug wanted to get in that plant that I brought inside. It was like, (in a little bug voice) "um excuse me, but someone took my house away and I just want to move back into it." I said, "that's it!" Once more I grabbed my broom and dustpan, scooped up the little bugger and this time I carried him all the way down, several houses down to the ditch/waterway. I took him over to a cluster of trees and discarded him there. I said, I hope you find a new suitable home, but I just can't have a stinkbug living in my house. Sorry mister. haha  ... The End.

This is what that Shield Bug/Stink Bug looked like.

Anyhow, that is all for now. Tomorrow we are going to the lake with some local Homeschoolers. If anything exciting happens you'll know about it. God bless! <3

The Weekend Post - Memorial Day Weekend

Friday, May 24th:

Jason was able to work from home this day. His boss gave him permission so he could avoid the impending Memorial Day congestion on the roads to and from Boston. It was very nice, but a busy day for all. My daughter and I went with our new Homeschool friends to watch a movie, Epic. It was a "good" movie overall. Fern Gully meets Avatar in my opinion. As expected I was disappointed to find some new age themes there. Not sure I would watch it again, but it was a good "one time watch."

When we got home I petitioned my hubby to go out to eat for Shabbat dinner because the house did not feel like "Shabbat." So we went to a Mexican restaurant near Worcester (pronounced "Woost-ah" <I've been practicing> kind of like "Rooster", but with an "ah" at the end.). It was pretty good, the restaurant had 4 stars. We were the last to leave the restaurant and gained an audience with the restaurant owner. I asked him where he was from, he said, "where do you think I'm from." I didn't want to guess and offend him (trick question) so I declined to answer and said, "I don't know." He said, "well I'm not Puerto Rican." He said, "I'm from Guadalajara." I was like, "wow, that's where my mom is from." He didn't believe me at first, but I gave some other details that confirmed the fact for him. We purchased some Tortillas from him and asked where he gets his Mexican food from. He told us and we went on our way back home. As soon as we arrived home, we received a message from one of the realtors saying they had scheduled an inspection of the lower beams of the house that had been recently treated for Powder Post Beetles. Just as their name suggests, they turn Posts into Powder, so naturally the VA wanted reassurance that the integrity of the beams were not going to be of concern.

Saturday, May 25th:
  
We were explained in the message we had received the night before that the inspector would come at 9AM and it would take only a few minutes to make the evaluation. So they arrived promptly at 9AM. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the "inspector" was a familiar face. He is a God fearing man. That is always important to us. He assured us that there was no reason for anyone to be concerned and we trusted his opinion. 

After the realtor got her written approval from the inspector she left and our friend, Mr. Dave, the inspector came up to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and a chat. After a nice visit we parted ways and he let us know that he would be back on Sunday for a trail ride with OUR horses!

As soon as Mr. Dave left I jumped online and got the address and meeting times of the Messianic congregation closest to us and we readied ourselves and headed out to Cherry Valley. The times listed a Scripture Study at 2:30PM that lasted to 3:30PM. We were disappointed to arrive and find the parking lot empty. :( They should have been having Oneg when we arrived, or just finishing. We were hoping for a snack and visit, then a study. Instead, we went to town and ordered a pizza. It was yummy! We headed back home, it was chilly. We started a fire and the warmth filled the house. We had the upstairs rooms closed to keep the cats out of the bedrooms, so the bedrooms unfortunately were still frigid. Bummer!

Sunday, May 26th:

This morning we had plans to go to a Renaissance Festival on the coast of Connecticut, it was a one and a half hour drive. We were meeting our friends there, our friends from Texas! We were excited to see them. As we were "buttoning up" the house, putting the dogs up and the cats too, we found one cat was missing. It was Namira, our Snow Bengal cat. We did a sweep through the house and could not find her ANYWHERE. We checked all the usual places, then we checked the unusual places. Still no Namira. So we were all standing in the basement contemplating what to do about this naughty kitty whose theme song is "Mission Impossible" when we noticed our Blue Point Balinese cat, Sir Rolf (aka Puppy-kitty) air scenting into the ceiling in the basement. So we got quiet and listened carefully. The kitties ALL wear bells, for this very reason. We heard a faint bell in the direction Sir Rolf was air scenting.  My husband climbed up and peered above the beam where we heard the bell and voila, there was this naughty little kitty! Except she would not come to my husband, so I tried to get her... nope, not me either. So we had my daughter call her, and Namira reluctantly came to her. Naughty girl!! We put her up and jumped in the car to head to the Renaissance Festival. We stopped for a quick bite to eat, and then off we went. 

The Renaissance Festival was fun, but not nearly as elaborate as the recent one we visited near Austin, TX. This was a temporary Festival whereas the one in Texas is a more permanent facility. Our friends met us there and we walked about and visited the shops, watched some shows, then we went and had a great fish dinner at Lenny & Joe's Fish Tail. We had fish sandwiches. They were very good! What fun. We parted ways with our friends and on the way back home we sort of took little jaunts driving by historical landmarks on the way, one was a "Historic Ferry" and another was "Dinosaur State Park." A stop at Dunkin Donuts and soon we were home. Again it was cold, this time we did not have as much wood, and what we did have was WET. It was a cooollld night! :(

Monday, May 27th, Memorial Day Happenings:

For some reason I had some difficulty sleeping. I was awakened very early in the morning thinking of friends "gone past" that for one reason or another we no longer talk or visit. I came to the realization that perhaps the reason that we were no longer talking was because it was ordained by God that we should not continue in our friendships for one reason or another. Later I realized too that I had some major anxiety about our upcoming 1st trail ride for my horse and my daughter's horse. I was worried for both of us. More so for my daughter than for me, although I had good enough reason to be concerned for myself as well.  
I made a delicious breakfast for the family and right on schedule our friends arrived, Mr. Dave and his sweet wife Louise. We saddled up Justice and Sky and headed to the arena for some pre-trail work. Everyone did really well. We decided that my daughter should walk her horse and I rode Justice with Dave and Louise riding their horses. We rode out to the Golf Course which was not far away at all. I thought it was further but it wasn't. In the Forrest by our house we had to cross a bridge, one we had successfully crossed before on "the ground" not under saddle. This time, with me under saddle, it was different and Justice refused it,  Jason was on foot and he took Justice's halter and walked him across the bridge. The rest of the ride through our trails on our property went well. Then we reached the open dirt road. We could hear dirt bikes in the distance so I asked for a game plan should we encounter some dirt bike riders near us. We decided that I should dismount in the even we had dirt bike riders show up. Thankfully we did not need to use that plan. So we went down the path to the golf course. There was a very nice arched footbridge. Mr. Dave led the way on his horse Mary. Justice followed, but then said "wait, we're doing WHAT??" Again he refused this giant bridge. I rephrased my request, but by now the other horse was making crazy sounding hoofbeats (to Justice) on the top of the arch and Justice lost it and turned out from under me and much like a cartoon I was in the air for a second as I kicked off the stirrup and landed abruptly on my HIP! OUCH! It knocked the wind out of me. I sat still for a second. Everyone was asking if I was ok, but I could not respond, I could hardly breathe! I barely got out the words, "wait, I got the wind knocked out of me!" I got up, dusted off, and realized I was thankfully OK! Hooray. Well got that "dump" out of the way, haha! My first dump EVER, hooray! I do hope it's my last! So Mr. Dave and Jason went and caught Justice, who was now grazing on a hill as far away from the bridge as possible, but he had it in his sights, lol. Stinker! So we got him back and I managed to remount him and off we went again. We decided to skip the "scary bridge" for now. We'll work on it on the ground and then later under saddle. No need to rush things. Remember... my first fall, but this was Justice's first trail ride EVER!

We returned home, I felt quite accomplished, this was the awesome result of all my hard work of retraining Justice. :) We went to the arena and dismounted, took the horses back down to the barn and untacked and brushed them out. I could tell they felt accomplished too! :) Mr. Dave and Mrs. Louis loaded up their horses and we shared drinks and chatted a bit, then they drove off. Just as they left, our wonderful neighbor Mr. Dick dropped by with his riding lawn mower. He had graciously offered to mow our lawn for us since we do not currently have our riding mower. We had to give it away when we left Texas, there was absolutely not an INCH of room left for it!! I mucked out the horse paddock, and Jason moved our horse trailer to a different location so Mr. Dick could mow in front of the barn. As I was finishing up with the horse paddock my tummy was grumbly and I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner, although I already had something in mind. Chicken! I hung my muck rake up behind the barn and when I walked back up towards the house two women were standing there speaking to my husband. They were our neighbors, the owner of the Greek Restaurant and her daughter-in-law. They were dropping by to invite us to their BBQ. We agreed to come, we had to freshen up. My hip was awful sore, but nursing it would have to wait. We all dressed and readied ourselves. Then we went over. They are a Greek family, and I found their lively family to be quite reminiscent of our Hispanic side of our family. It was very fun! We had a great time! I'm glad they invited us!

After the party we returned home, I ran myself a bath and soaked in Lavendar Magnesium Bath Salts, plus my BeautiControl Mineral Bath. Mmmmmm! It was divine! After my bath, my husband packed a bag of ice for me and now I am sitting, icing my hip. Oi! That was SMARTS! That's it for now. Have a blessed week! Tune in next time for a future installment of Starstruck in Southbridge. :) Shalom!

This Week's Happenings - to mid-week

Well, lots has happened this week and we've been having internet troubles since Sunday evening possibly due to a new router we installed in order to get internet service to the barn. We're sorting that issue out at the moment but for that reason I have not been able to blog so this is a catch-up blog.

Monday 5/20:

Due to our excessive, but welcome, amount of visitors over the last 13 days we have decided it is a GOOD idea to properly dress from head to toe (in other words, no bummy clothes) here at home. You never know who is going to drop by, so it seems it is best to be prepared for anything. So we began Monday morning with business as usual with the addition only of dressing with make-up, etc. As usual we began with chores, school, chores again and then after PM chores at around 3:20PM we loaded up in the truck and headed to the Town Clerk's office to apply for a kennel license. Around here if you have as many dogs as we do (6 in all) then you are required to get a kennel license. The Town Hall looks much to me like any town hall in a small town in Texas. It is very nice and clean. We stopped by the Tax Assessor's office for a quick chat about how we should file our taxes with a farm exemption as well. We'll have to make an appointment and go back, but in the meantime I plan to do some research because I'm getting mixed messages as to what we should do, so BEFORE we go to the meeting I plan to do my homework! After the Assessor's office, we stopped down the hall at the Town Clerk's office and it was so late that we had to just drop off photo copies of the documents and they assured us all would be ready the following day.

We left town and began to drive home and my daughter reminded me that she needed some notebook paper for her writing assignments and to write letters to her cousins and friends back in Texas. So we decided we should go to Walmart. The last visit to Walmart was Sunday and my hubby marked it on the GPS so I pulled over, keyed in my Favorites/Walmart and off we went. The route looked familiar. Up to this point I had only been a passenger and not a driver. As a passenger I do not tend to pay attention to the road. So we shove off on the path the GPS sends us. We got to the Highway and I vaguely remembered going this route so I continued on, then we got to a toll booth, I was confused... I do not remember going past a toll road on the way to Walmart, so now I'm guessing something ain't right! We drive a bit further and my GPS says, and I quote, "turn right and go 'off road'." I look at the "right turn" and there we are on a bridge and there is a guard rail. I laugh hysterically at my quandary and quickly map us back "home" just to get us going back in the right direction. We ended up paying a total of $1.25 in tolls for our mishap and in the end we ended up back by the house going to the Dollar Store to get our paper. Shoulda done that in the first place, haha. Oh and the problem with the Walmart is that our GPS is older and has older maps so when we added Walmart to our "favorites" it thought that Walmart was in the middle of a field or forrest in this case. So I'll have to drive up there next time and figure out the roads myself.

So we returned home and it was nice and WARM outside so we pulled out the dog wash tub and lined up the pooches, aside from Natsar, who is still currently convalescing from his mishap back in Texas. We washed 3 Aussies, 1 Pomeranian, and the Bulldog. We began outside but as I warned my daughter previous to this predicament, I told her the water would be ice cold. So she confirmed that with the Pomeranian and we quickly switched our operation to the downstairs bathroom in the house so we could be assured of warm water. My daughter scrubbed the dogs and handed them off to me and I took them to my grooming table in the tack room and blew them dry with my fancy air-force dryer. I scrubbed up their kennels too, they still had a hint of kitty litter scent from our trip up here. I'm sure the dogs didn't mind, but we did!

Our dog grooming operation took a lot longer as I expected, my daughter didn't believe me, but this isn't my first rodeo and I knew it would take a while. It took us at least 3-4 hours. I forgot to check the time before hand, but I assure you it took a loonnnggg time! So then we were done. We de-furred ourselves and decide to try out the Greek restaurant just a small jog down the road and around the corner. We arrived there at 8:30 PM. I have stopped eating after nightfall, but this was an exception because I was HUNGRY. We ordered Gyros and tried to be calm, but I'm sure we scarfed them, haha. The man that took our order was very nice. He entertained us and came and spoke to our daughter. He gave her a math problem to solve, which she did. Then when he picked up our dinner plates he did a magic trick and poured water in his hand from a cup, then poured it into my open palms I had over my plate by his request. Pretty neat, I still don't know how he did that. He came back and chit-chatted with us asking us where we were from. Turns out we are sort of neighbors with his sister and mother. So he introduced us to his Mom, she was working in the back, in the kitchen. They were all very nice, we'll look forward to visiting with them in the future.

Tuesday 5/21:

Tuesday morning, after chores, we had to go to a local farm to pick up milk and eggs. I needed to get some cash out and went to the local grocery store which has a bank inside to do so. I went inside by the bank, there was a row of people in line for the teller and there was an older lady that sort of rolled her eyes at us. I saw her but ignored her. She no doubt frowned on us for having my daughter "out of school" at this time of day, I try not to be out and about on a school day before 3PM just to avoid these sorts of people. Anyhow, I  swiped my card at the ATM and it would not read it. So plan B, I went to the cashier and asked if I could "swipe for over the amount if I made a purchase." She said "yes" so we bought a chocolate bar and got our cash. Out the door we went and when we got to the parking lot my daughter saw a blonde, curly-haired young girl with her mom by their car. My daughter whispers to me "Mom, do you think they might homeschool?" I say, "I don't know, why don't you ask them?" So she says, "no, you do it!" So we take a short detour over to them, they are parked an aisle over from our truck. We say, "sorry to bother you two, but do you homeschool?" The lady grins and says, "Yes we do!" I say, "so do we!!" So we chat for a few minutes and get the skinny on homeschooling activities in the area. My efforts to the point of meeting this lady had been sort of hit and miss in trying to find local homeschoolers. In addition to them being local she has girls and one of them is my daughter's age! How awesome is that?? So we exchange contact info and plan on a definite get together VERY soon!

We shove off again and head to the local farm in Dudley, MA. On the way, we spy a dead critter in the road that looks like a GIANT opossum. We turn the truck around just to see what it is, it looks to be a badger. I contemplate taking a picture, but it's quite dead and has been there sometime, so I opt not to. When we get home we look up badger pictures and what we saw looked more like a honey badger because of it's markings but honey badgers are an African animal. Very interesting. I may have to go back and photograph it to be certain I saw what I saw. We got to the farm and discover that the farmer's family are homeschoolers also! Too cool! So we pick up our order and head home.

We got home, attempted to check our emails (internet was being flaky) and took care of some things. Before the internet went down I got a weather alert for our area saying Severe Thunderstorms were on their way. I contemplated staying home but decided that we really should go to this Homeschool Open House in Upton, MA. It was a great networking opportunity and I felt we would miss out if we didn't go. So we went. We jumped in the car and headed up a little early to ensure we would have enough time should we encounter traffic on the way. We encountered very little traffic and arrived in Upton an hour before the Open House was to begin. We visited a roadside stand called Kelly Farm. We bought some apples and I couldn't resist the Coffee Cake and some chocolate bars. Then we asked the cashier what restaurants were nearby that they recommended. They recommended an Italian restaurant just down the road a bit. My hubby met us there and we ate there, it was good, the restaurant was called "Frescos" it was a little on the pricey side, but good.

After the meal we drove down the road to the Open House. We met some local homeschoolers and teachers and got to see their programs they were offering. It is very nice but quite the drive. It would be 40 minutes for us one way. My daughter was interested in their Shakespeare Program, but we'll have to see how, if at all, it can fit into our schedule. Classes start in September so we have the summer to think it over. In the meantime we plan to try and find some local Pony Clubs.

We drove back home and arrived at about 8:30 PM to find our home had received a deluge! Back at the restaurant we sat near some TVs and they showed the satellite images of the stores moving throughout Southbridge. We prayed for the safety of the animals and our home. We had left the horses in the pasture and worried about if they had gotten out. At the house, my husband went out to survey the damage since we found water in our basement!! The ground is extremely saturated and the road that goes to the upper pasture and arena has a newly carved trench in it from the torrential downpour. We believe we got about 4-5 inches of water in a very short period of time! Incredible! The horses, cats and dogs were a bit shaken up, but thankfully, they were all fine.

Wednesday 5/22:

Well we are only halfway through the day today, hubby gets to work from home which is really nice! I made him breakfast and the Pest guys came by to spray for Carpenter Ants in the barn area. On Monday, I discovered a HUGE Carpenter Ant nest in a tree just on the other side of the barn when I was out doing chores. The pest guys sprayed that also. Carpenter ants can do some devastating damage. I had seen these little guys walking about but didn't know what they were. My husband said, "if you see them, squish them, they are bad news!" They also sprayed for "Powder-post beetles" in the crawl space under the house.

Before the pest guys came into the basement to spray in the crawl space my husband went down and moved the dog crates out of the way and removed the crawl space cover. Incidentally at some point the basement door that leads to the outside did not get completely shut. A gentle breeze blew the door open. I had gone downstairs to tell the pest guys about the carpenter ant nest in the tree behind the barn when I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the basement door was WIDE OPEN and there was a spotty, Bengal kitty standing on the outside of the door. I calmly, hurried over to her and told her to "get back inside." She did. I shut the door and checked it to ensure it was fully closed and then I went back over to the pest guys to finish explaining the situation. My husband went outside and I came back in with my daughter who was doing her school work and hanging out with the dogs. I noticed that there were no cats about. No bells, no noise, no nothing. Just dogs! Hmmm, I thought. I told my daughter to go upstairs and check to see if there were any kitties up there. There were none. Uh oh, I thought. We quickly visited all their usual hang out hot spots and found NO KITTIES! So I called into the basement, I had not gone down there yet. Two out of four kitties came scurrying up the basement steps. The two girl kitties, my kitty Kefira, and my daughters spotty Bengal Kitty who has a habit of escaping and goes about to the theme song Mission Impossible, Namira, her whiskers are covered in cobwebs. We put the two girls in the Mudroom and I went downstairs to see what the matter was. I found the crawl space open (prior to this I did not realize it was open). I called into the crawl space and out runs our Orange long-haired "special kitty" Timothy or "Timmy" for short. His whiskers are also covered in cobwebs. I deliver Timmy to my daughter at the top of the basement steps and add him to our kitty collection in the mudroom. I return to the open crawl space and call very loudly now for our last missing kitty Sir Rolf. I even open the door and call outside in case he may have escaped before I discovered the Open basement door and Namira standing in front of it. Then I hear a reply to my call. Sir Rolf is a Blue-point Balinese and is very noisy, talking, at times. He is very cute and very fuzzy. I call him Cookie Monster and his theme song is "The Pink Panther" but we call him "The Blue Panther." I will share his personal story another time when I need something to write about ;) . Anyhow, he is in the crawl space but is worried about crossing over a rock because it is dark below the rock and he is nervous about the darkness there. It is a wonder he ever survived as an outdoor kitty when we originally found him.  He was about a foot and a half out of reach. I had to reach into the crawl space and really stretch out to pull him over by his scruff and back into the basement, silly boy! I brought him up and added him to the growing kitty pile in the mudroom. I shut them all in and we decided to keep them all there, where we KNEW where they were until the pest guys completed their job.

After the pest guys left we had another visitor. He is a friend of the Home Owner of this place. He was very nice and assured us of a visit this weekend with his own horses, to introduce our horses to the local trails. Sounds exciting, he was very nice and told us the name of his equine vet they use in this area. So it turns out this home used to belong to a legacy of a horse trainer, Nancy Adams. Pretty nice. I hope I can be even a shadow of a horse trainer that I hear she is. :)

That's all for now, tune in next time for all the happenings around our place. We are trying to think of a name for our farm. There are some sign makers around here that make those cool looking English signs. I told my hubby "I want one" and he said he does too! :) Only we have to figure out what the name should be. We'll seek Abba in prayer and see what He wants us to name it. After all, He brought us here. It's His place!

The Weekend Post ;)

On my last post I forgot to include the pictures of the the Robin's nest that is under our back deck. They hatched out 4 babies. They are too cute. When we first arrived and pulled into the driveway at this, our new home, there was a robin standing in the driveway. This represented "new beginnings" to me.

We had a great weekend this weekend. We were able to rest... some. We have a very friendly neighbor that has been incredibly helpful. He took us on a tour of the town which we very much appreciated. Then on Sunday we went and picked up a new-to-us desk and then went to visit the town of Worcester. The main reason was to check out the shops, but the secondary was to pick up a few items and to shop for some couches. We found a used couch we liked but it ended up being too big so we found one at a furniture store that is the same style as the one we really liked, but this one will fit, and we get to "break it in" ourselves. ;) Hubby is upstairs now setting up our office with our 3 desks in place and computers, etc. We'll be all set in that department soon. Well that's all to report at this time. Will write again soon...

Robin's Nest when we first found it.

Robin's nest on Friday with babies hatching out. One egg left to go... they are all hatched out now and doing well. 

The Kitty Caper

So I did not anticipate that I would have something worthy of blogging every single day, and indeed I may not continue at this pace. Today, however, gave some humorous things worthy of blogging about. 

Well, it started out as a rather "normal" morning. We got up and did chores, came back inside and were sitting down eating breakfast and preparing to do our lessons when suddenly a vehicle pulls up the driveway. Not just any vehicle, but an Animal Control vehicle. We were like "uh-oh, what's this about?" So I scramble out the back door to greet the Officer and find out what we did to deserve the honor of such a visit. Well as it turns out it was a friendly introductory visit to meet and greet us and check out our place. The Officer was very nice and we had lots to talk about. Anyway, I was on the upper, back deck, dressed properly but I only had socks, no shoes on. Well, we were chatting, the Officer was standing below near her vehicle when suddenly one of my cats, Namira, our Snow Bengal, takes a DIVE out of the mudroom window! We are all standing there shocked. So I'm like "oh NO" I dash back in and grab my boots, thrusting them on, I holler at my daughter and tell her what is going on as I rush, calmly again around the deck, down the stairs and over to my escaping kitty. Namira sees me coming and is inclined to come to me. She has never been out doors off of a leash. She didn't run away and I didn't run after her, I walked calmly and called her (little stinker) and she walked away from me until I managed to slyly corner her by the front steps. I picked her up and breathed a sigh of relief. I walked over to the Animal Control Officer to show off her beautiful colorings and spots, but Namira started to squirm at the sight of the Officer so I had to opt to toss her gently, mind you into the basement. Silly girl!! Meanwhile my daughter made a mad dash around the house shutting all the windows to avoid any further mishaps of a similar sort. 

Namira

So during the visit the Animal Control Officer let us know that she would be visiting us once annually to check on our place. She informed us of all the critters in our woods that might be inclined to pay us a visit. Bears, Mountain Lions, and Coyotes where on her list, and she stated that Coyotes would be the most worrisome as some had been crossed to domestic dogs and had lost their fear of humans. She warned me to be careful walking in the woods and to take some protection with me. 

When I got back inside I called my Mom, we chatted for a bit and then when we got off it was 2PM. We went to the tack room in the barn and groomed the dogs just in case they have any more visitors!! We did not realize we would be so popular! haha

My hubby arrived home at nearly 7 pm and took us to eat dinner at a Chinese buffet in Sturbridge. It was "ok" I'm not inclined to have to eat there again personally. After that we went to the grocery store to pick up some things, but naturally, I forgot my list! Doh!

Tomorrow I plan to venture out and drive to a small farm a 53 minute drive away, unless, I can talk to my neighbor before then and find out where he says a similar farm is only 15 minutes away. If anything funny or adventuresome happens I'll be sure to blog about it. Talk to you later, we are 20 minutes late for bed. :) 

Unpacking and Checking fences

Yesterday I spent the day unpacking the kitchen. I'm still far from done! I have a challenge of getting a lot of stuff in a small space (we really didn't think we had that much, we were wrong). We don't have a pantry but we have an amazing amount of space in the barn to use, should the need arise. We'll just have to figure out how to "critter proof" everything we decide to store out there.

I took a break from unpacking at about 2:50 pm to do our 3pm chores. I went out and fed the dogs and horses, as usual. When we were done my daughter asked if she could return inside to watch "Love's Enduring Promise." I agreed and she took the dogs inside with her. Meanwhile, I set about to unload our horse tack and other items from the horse trailer into the tack room. I had just put the last item in the tack room when my daughter came to the top of the deck and waved my cell phone. I returned inside to take the call. I was on the phone for at least 40 minutes. It was a good call, lots of info for my local networking endeavors. After the phone call I headed over to the kitchen window for a quick glance over the barn, etc. and I notice something ... odd. I see two horses down at the barn... outside of a fence. My two horses, that were supposed to be in the upper pasture are standing, outside a fence, behind the barn!! I grab my jacket as it was a bit chilly for a May for any Texas girl, and jetted, calmly, to the barn. I happened to have been eating an apple so I figured that might come in handy to persuade said horses to do my bidding in this moment of supposed freedom. I tried to get them to follow me, I did not have their halters in hand, only an apple. I knew exactly where their halters were because I had just hung them in the tack room, I simply did not grab them because I figured the apple would be an easy catch. Well it didn't work but the good news is that they were not inclined to run away anywhere at this point. So now, my daughter arrives on scene because last she heard was me saying, "the horses are OUT!" as I made a mad , but calm, dash for the barn. I ask her to retrieve the halters and at that moment the horses think, "maybe we should make run for it." Prior to this they are simply standing there and nosing about the outside of the barn. I wave my apple and split the core in two and beckon them to stay. They do! We slip their halters on and take them to the arena for a jaunt and as a holding place until we figure out where they made their escape from. The horses enjoyed racing around the arena unimpeded at full gallop. They are so out of shape and the sand in the arena quickly wears them out. I will have to video Justice in a full gallop in the arena, he is breathtaking! Little Sky looks incredibly cute as well. So while they exercise in the arena we check ALL the gates. There are about 20, just kidding, actually there are like 8 I believe in the upper pasture. Well thought out in my opinion. It would be easy to split the pasture into separate areas if you had multiple horses or other critters to house. It's great, no complaints here. I grabbed more chains and clips from the barn to ensure I had enough to fix the trouble. We hiked up the hill to the manure pile, we found what we believe to be coyote scat up here just a couple of days ago.

This marks the end of the fenced horse pasture. Then we walked downhill checking the security of the fence and each gate. They were all fine except one. Apparently the chain was left but the clip was taken by the former tenants. There were three of us out there when we put the horses out and so it seems that we all assumed the each other had checked this gate. So the horses, they like to bump the gates with their noses. Just to see if they'll open. This one did and they simply walked out. I'm soooo thankful that they did not take off! I think they are a little worried about the woods.

We went back to the arena where the horses were exercising. They were quite done. Breathing heavy and a little sweaty. We took them back down to the barn and groomed them and fly sprayed them. I notice that Sky had two ticks crawling on him when I first caught him at the barn. Then we sprayed our clothes with Deep Woods off. Sky gave me his "Mr. Ed" face for that smell, haha, and then we took the boys out for a walk in the woods. No saddles, only a lead rope. We wanted to show them the place. We got to a little wooden bridge in the woods that covers a small brook. The brook had some stones in it. The horses were like "maybe we should go back now." Instead we sat there for 20 minutes trying to convince them that they really wanted to cross the brook. Neither one of them had been across a bridge ever, but they had gone over a "faux" stream at our former home in Lockhart, TX when we build a trail course. They did not want to go through the actual water. I didn't blame them, the footing was unsure because of the smallish rocks. We were persistent and with much persuading on our parts with only praise and tufts of grass the stepped across and then back again! We had treats with us but the horses did not desire them at all. We offered but they snubbed their noses at them. When we were in Texas they could not get enough of them. I guess the lush green grass here is more than enough. Wave that in front of them (plus an apple) and they will do just about anything for you, just about.

Today was a quiet day, we had the pest inspector out to do a recheck. They've already done all of this, but because of our delay it all has to be done again. Our livestock guardian is doing much better. He is getting stronger each and every day. We're praying for him! Tune in next time... God bless!

Oh, I almost forgot!! I saw this snake this morning... comment me if you know what she is. I have another pic of her coiled up from the other day but I can't seem to locate it on my computer. I spied her today, sunning on a rock up by the house. :) (I took a pic and will add it later, internet is crawling, it loaded on FB, so my FB friends can see it. Sorry Blogger.com followers!!)

The Big News

So first we start with a little background ... after a series of frustrations at my husband's former job we had "the straw that broke the camel's back" in February 2012 when the company he worked for decided to "garnish wages" to "make ends meet one month." It was at that point that I recommended once again that my husband might begin looking for another job. So my husband began the arduous process of refreshing his resume and interviewing with companies. One company after another considered my husband but for one reason or another they were just not the right fits.

One day my husband and I were reminiscing about a time, long ago, 18 years ago to be exact when we lived in England. We loved it there. Some other friends of ours had gotten jobs there so we considered that. Then we realized what a difficult time it would be with our animals to try and relocate to England. So we both said, "well maybe New England."

Some more time passed and more job offers came and went for the same reasons as before. Then in July 2012 my husband received a call from a company in New England, from Boston. The company found my husband to be a perfect fit EXCEPT for the fact that we lived in Texas. Every other week the company would contact my husband to see if he was still available while they continued to search for a person that would fit their bill that was from New England. This went on for MONTHS then finally in October the company had him come in person for yet a 3rd interview. It went over very well. The agreements were made and our family committed to make the trip to move to New England... but FIRST we had to find a home.

My husband and I traveled up in early November with his vehicle for two reasons. One was to take his vehicle and leave it in New England. The second reason was to look for a home. The house search was riveting, we had a very difficult order to fill. We were going to potentially be traveling with several animals which included dogs, cats, and horses. We placed and rehomed several of the animals to help reduce our criteria but we still found ourselves struggling to find a suitable home. We searched and searched, After a week and a half I returned home. Just prior to leaving I had an epiphany, It dawned on me that there HAD to be SOMEONE out there like me SOMEWHERE that was in a similar situation to me. What did THEY do? So I explored that option by finding some local dog show people, breeders, herding dog people, etc.  My search was successful and I found a man that lived in New Hampshire. He was a wealth of information and put us in contact with his sister, a realtor from Massachusetts that happened to live in the geographical location of Massachusetts where we decided would best suit our needs logistically. I set a "tight" criteria:

1. No HOAs
2. Minimum of 3 acres
3. Preferably a barn, but not a deal breaker but the place had to at least be horse friendly.

We started out with 80 properties, my husband and I went through and culled about 30, then we culled 15 more after that, we whittled the list down until we were left with 6 homes. My husband and I found ourselves on different pages on our needs list so we ended up doing a secret list and put the remaining 6 homes in preferential order. Upon showing each other our lists my husband's list only had 5 homes. There was one home that I was quite interested in that he had taken out. I insisted that he place it back in and reorder his house list. We finally got a topsy-turvy sort of order. A few days later my husband got together with the realtor and went on a house viewing marathon. They traveled far and wide that day viewing all 6 homes across the entire state of Massachusetts. When they returned my husband dutifully called me to give me the report of his findings. He began giving me the story play-by-play much like I usually do to him. He said 1st we went to this house, and then we went to that house, so I said "well which one did you choose??? He kept me in suspense and then he FINALLY told me the house that he had omitted, the one that I told him to put back in his list was the home he chose! He said "you're going to love it!"

I have learned to not get too excited about things until they are finalized. On one-too-many occasions I had gotten overly excited about things and they ended up turning belly up leaving me dismayed and disappointed. I was excited, but I refrained from outwardly showing my elation. We were told by the realtors of the house we chose that the home would be ready mid-January. So we packed feverishly to prepare for our impending move. Sadly January came and went, then February, when we got to March we began to re-evaluate the prospects of this home because we were unsure that it was going to be a green light anymore. The problem was that the home had tenants living in it. Without getting into the particulars, basically there was misinformation about the tenants lease and there were 3 lawyers involved and 3 realtors. Really THAT was the main problem. The owners were not allowed to speak with us, nor us to them. IF we could have done so, things might have been a lot more simple. I suppose lawyers and such are there to make the process more... simple (sense my sarcasm). Anyhow, after another TWO more months we FINALLY got word that we had to move out of our home in Texas that we had been leasing. We told the owners of the home we were preparing to purchase (we were no longer locked in a contract because of all the delays) that "ready or not, here we come." We said if they don't have the home ready for us we would find another place if need be. Instead they invited us to come on up and that when we arrived they would have the key ready for us. They were going to rent the home to us pre-closing.

We began our journey and drove up a four-day road trip. It was harrowing. We were a caravan of a Moving Truck hauling a 3 horse slant trailer with a cabin and I followed behind in our Dodge Ram. The trip was chocked full of potty breaks, hotel stays, coffee, and junk food. There was lots of ominous rain clouds and showers along the way. There were beautiful hills and dales throughout all the states we traveled. We started in Texas on a Saturday afternoon and went through the states in this order: Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and then FINALLY we arrived in Massachusetts on Thursday evening. We had the code for the lock box on the door to get the key. I arrived first after we got separated in New York traffic. I climbed the stairs of the deck and went to the lock box only to find that it was open and EMPTY!!! We were so upset! When my husband arrived he was so frustrated. No one was available right away but we called every number in our phone book. All the lawyers, all the realtors, we were so upset about the whole ordeal. We were exhausted, starving, ready to sleep for days. So the call came that "they had the key" and we had to come sign some paperwork. My husband and I went and had a "sit down" with the people and signed their documents and received the key. What a relief. On the way back we picked up some more "junk food" for dinner, some air mattresses (at one point during our trip we drove through a flood and we had some items "water-proofed" tied in plastic bags and covered in a tarp but we did not anticipate the back of the truck FILLING with rain water. Many of our things were soaked, including bedding and clothing that was in our suitcases.)

So we finally are HERE, up to our necks in boxes still, but we are here! We've met a few people here and they are very cordial. We took my Mom, who graciously helped us drive up here from Texas, to sight see on her last day here. We drove to Plymouth and then by the Boston Harbor. She returned home after a very pleasant breakfast at the Cracker Barrel (the only place around here that we KNOW you can order Iced Sweet Tea without getting funny looks, hee hee).

So here we are unpacking, etc. As our time here unfolds I plan to blog about our adventures and share them with you here. So tune in... it's only just begun. :)