Thank God...I'm finished!

Well....not completely finished.  I have this woodshed/woodworking shop I've been building, using hand tools & post and beam construction. Kind of a life sized model for adults using methods and materials circa 1800. I've got to tell you, todos, this project has been taxing my mental state for weeks. I've built, re-built, designed, redesigned, measured, re-measured and redesigned again, this foolish shed roof.  You might say I get a little obsessive sometimes ;)

Work goes in phases, based on the time I have on weekends, and after work daylight hours.  I've been attempting all autumn to finish the roof so I can park my woodworking tools in the shop and out of the moldy basement, and so I can stack my winters wood and keep it dry.

I wanted to completely finish this weekend, but 2 obstacles stood in my way...drenching downpours all Saturday, making working on a roof impossible, and the lack of proper funding for shingles. (I haven't been able to pick up any extra septic designs lately to subsidize my extra curricular activities) I've also been on the fence as to whether I should use cedar shakes or slate shingles.

Sunday, though...what a day! I was out in the yard by 9:00 and I worked until dark around 7pm. The whole roof is now framed and trimmed. Now all I need is shingles. Looks like slate is going to be pretty hard to come by and as luck would have it, Tracy said we have a bit extra this month, if I want to go buy cedar shingles this coming weekend. 

Its soooo beautiful out to day...a perfect cool, sunny autumn day...and it's almost beyond my physical capacity to remain at work while my project lies so close to completion...but without the ducats....I'm going to have to be satisfied with daydreaming. 

A day to break all records!

Yes, amigos, today was a record-breaker. So much news, so few minutes to type until the shows are on.  More on the records in a minute.
But first, I want to let you know that we did NOT make it to community night for Pumpkin Fest  :(  We were all too tired and the kids had been sick all week. We opted for TV and reading and early bed. We DID, in fact, go to the Pumpkin Fest proper on Saturday and had a great time. More on that in the next “Our New England Life,  2nd issue, part II”
So…Today started out with rain mixed with snow…the second snowstorm in New England this year and it’s not even Halloween yet. True, here in Westmoreland the snow didn’t accumulate even a smidge, but the damp, the wind and the cold cancelled my plans to finish the roof of my shed/woodworking shop. It had the makings of taking my good weekend and stomping the life right out of it. Its possible that I might even have become crabby. Only so many times you can check the weather radar before resigning to the fact that today will SUCK, because won’t get to do what I wanted to and had planned to do, all week.
Instead of letting it take me, I decided to go with the flow. I made a tasty frittata for breakfast, along with bagels and some habanero/pineapple jelly we bought at the fiesta yesterday. Qué Rico! Good thing number one (1). After breakfast, I decided to go to Keene and pick up some supplies for supper and our recently formed Sunday afternoon tradition of Patriots football and soup/stew family dinner in the living room, followed by desert and Sunday night shows.
Grace and I went to Keene. We bought our supplies and then hit a couple stores. I lost my leather Ivy cap sometime, somewhere, last week, and so we were looking for for a replacement, looking for the cost of a caphalon 12” omelet pan, for a white chefs hat and chef coat like Leo’s or Ashley's, for white table cloth for the breakfast table y de verdad, for any thing…mostly, just for fun, for spending time with my girl, Grace. We didn’t find one thing we were looking for (except for the fun). We had a great time together! Good thing number two (2)!
When we got home I started our Sunday Dinner. This week I made a delicious pozole, and Tracy made a fantastic apple pie from some apples we picked at Alyson’s. Tasty treats for Football…good thing number three (3).
We all spent the next hour or so doing our own thing, I read a little more of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, studied a little about the imperfect tense in Spanish and spent some quality time with Tracy ;) Good things four through seven (4-7) (quality time gets 2 points he he)
Four O’clock arrived and we descended to the living room for Football, a game of New and Improved Risk , coffee, cocoa and a snack plate of cotija and pepper jack cheeses, chorizo, fruit salad, apple tart and donuts…”Donuts?” you say…I know….I was hungry when we went shopping.
The record day started to build to heights hitherto unknown in this part of Westmoreland. The Patriots played this afternoon in an early autumn Nor'easter, the earliest blizzard in New England that I can remember, and it snowed really hard in Foxboro, Massachusetts all day. The game was a complete blow-out against the Titans…59-0. Not the best game for excitement, but fun nevertheless. Good thing number eight (8).
But THE BIGGEST, THE GRANDEST,  THE MOST RECORDBREAKING THING OF ALL…I totally dominated and squashed Tracy and Jeremiah in Risk. “That is big?” you’re wondering?  True…beating a 12 year old boy…not a feat to be proud of…BUT, whooping Tracy's ass…MAN!!!! WHAT A SPANKING!! Better than Sex (well, not really, but at least I can brag about Risk.    he he) In one turn I took out almost all of ASIA and captured the third objective in order to be crowned world dominator and so I won the game.
Tracy always, always wins…always! I play for fun, but I know that I’m probably going to lose…its been that way since we met  20 years ago. Of course then, Risk involved a lot of tequila, some beer and a bowl or bong hit, and my brother, my roommates and Tracy all designed to remove me from the game first, before I could be a threat (at least in their heads, since I never win)…but even long after those days were gone, she has always won…with questions like, “What is a continent?”, “Can I use more than one dice,” “I cant decide where to place my 15 new armies, can you help me?”… (all ploys to catch the uninitiated unaware and take them before they know they've been slaughtered by a master) Yet tonight…I gave her the smack down she had coming…I revel because now that she knows the rules to New and Improved Risk…I’ll never win again…but tonight…I reign supreme!! Good thing number nine (9)
We ate the pozole and afterwards the pie and the glow was complete. The kids are off to bed and now we are contemplating re-watching a movie that I slept though last night (too tired after a long day…la pelicula…Bajo la Sal), or a show.  I doesn’t matter. Maybe a haircut thrown in the mix, It’s all good. 
And by the way…I WON Risk! ha ha ha ha

Keene Pumpkin-fest 2009

Our New England Life ~ 2nd issue

Pumpkin-fest festivities start tonight with community night. The locals actually can come and enjoy the pumpkins, the vendors and tasty tidbit without the hordes of out-of-staters massing around Main Street and the side streets.

For years, Keene had the Guinness book record for the most lit jack-O-lanterns in one place...something like 28,900+/-.  Now some bigger city has it...not quite fair for a city of 25,000 to compete with a city of 500,000, but oh- well.

We will probably carve a Jack-o-lantern or two and bring them down tonight. We'll eat some naughty food...sausage and peppers, fried dough, hot chocolate, maybe canoli, it's up in the air still.  Despues de check out the sights, watch the people, and then steer clear tomorrow

None of us (the family) do well in huge crowds. We get kind of shell shocked, almost like being too stoned to walk or something and nobody enjoys themselves. Who know's, we still might stop down....lots of fun to see, smell ,taste and listen too. Live music, people in costumes, tasty treats, goodies to buy...it's a big PARTY.

 

Photos Courtesy of Al Braden

2009 NESS Conference

Save the Date!

NHLSA 40th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Equipment Show and NESS 3 day Conference

December 10-12, 2009

Radisson Hotel, 11 Tara Blvd., Nashua, NH

Three days of New England surveyors meetings, seminars, vendors showing the latest in technology and a chance to meet and talk with fellow surveyors from across New England, New York and even beyond.

Here is a link to an updated agenda and details

For more information:NHLSA Office @ 603-895-4822 E-mail: info@nhlsa.org

NHLSA Director of Education: Russ Huntley @ (603) 355-1532 E-mail:  rhuntley@sveassoc.com

Keene Pumpkin Festival

It’s coming…

The Keene Pumpkin Festival …80,000 converge on Keene

 

Alyson’s Orchard ~ Walpole, NH

Our New England Life ~ 1st issue

Last weekend, we made our annual fall excursion to Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole, about 10 minutes drive north of here. Each September or October, we try to pick a beautiful day, with lots of sunshine and fall foliage to go and spend some time at Alyson’s. We usually spend an entire afternoon.

Alyson’s is a 500+ acre orchard/farm on a beautiful hilltop overlooking the Connecticut River valley and over into Vermont. A long gravel drive winds upward from Route 12, through the apple orchard, to the crest of the hill. At the top there is small parking lot, a farm stand, a small pond for boating, a bocce court, a small playground for kids, a pen with little Bantam Chickens and piglets, an area to picnic in and a large beautiful function hall. The BBQ tent is outside the farm stand, and there is usually wine tasting, beer, and fall produce to buy. This year, there was live music, too.

This year our timing was perfect. The day turned out to be dry, sunny, with a slight breeze and about 65 degrees…completely perfect! We usually try to arrive around 11:30, in order to partake of the delicious pulled pork sandwiches that are always being created in the tent outside the farm stand. This year, we were trying to be a little more economical, so we settled for giant home-made chocolate chip cookies from the farm stand. We bought our bags for picking apples and meandered down the hill into the orchard.

After many years of tasting and sampling the various kinds of apples, we’ve decided that our favorite kind is Honey Crisp. They are, just as the name implies, crisp and sweet, with a subtle taste of honey. These apples also keep superbly, last year we had apples in the bags on our porch until they froze rock solid around Christmas time. Of course, you really never can tell from year to year and we still haven’t tried all the apple varieties, so we were forced to eat a few apples here and there before we settled on the perfect row. Even though the parking lot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

was full and there were more people walking around the farm stand than we had seen in previous years, it’s still easy to find a private row and be able to play together without bumping into anyone else. 

We picked apples, Jeremiah, Grace & I wrestled some,  Tracy took all kinds of pictures. Tracy usually tries to find a couple of good pictures to use for our family Christmas card. She is such an excellent photographer. She has taken most of the good pictures in this blog. (the crappy ones are mine from the cell phone)

After we had filled our bags to overflowing, we brought the bags to the car and took a walk down to the big oak tree. This tree is enormous, the 4 of us together can’t reach around it. It has to be at least 250 years old.

There is this great hammock swing hanging from one of the huge branches and it is so relaxing to sit and swing in the breeze and watch the clouds drift across the valley. 

Around 5 O’clock we decided to walk up the hill, back to the car and head to mom’s for supper. Alyson’s is such a great way to pass a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and something we look forward to each year.

Weekend Update

Friday night -

Bought supplies after work and made JP’s Fish Tacos. They were a huge hit! Only problem is that I made them too big, more like a large burrito, and we all couldn’t move afterward. I may have been guilty of finishing off the fish in Jeremiah’s taco too  :)  Must learn moderation...

We ate down stairs and watched an episode of Craig Ferguson. Tracy & I watched a DVR'd episode of Trauma - some new show. It was OK...I'd watch it again.

Thanks for the NY invite. I don't have a Facebook account anymore, so I miss out on a lot of friends activities. Maybe again someday in the future.

Saturday –

Went to Tracy’s uncle Paul’s house up north (who is incidentally 2 years YOUNGER than me.) Haven’t seen his family in a long time, there are actually 3 more daughters now. (4 in total) His youngest, of 14 months, hung on me all day, giving me hugs and little presents like dollys, pieces of apple etc. What a cutie! Ken & Judy, The Jessies and Natalie (my super–cute niece) and Ray & Alice were there. It was a pretty rainy crappy day, outside and we just sat around and visited, looked at some of Paul and Doreen’s videos and ate, and ate and ate!!! We finally waddled out of there around 5:00, after spending a very enjoyable afternoon.

I liked Paul’s man-cave. Found out he ships off to Afghanistan, in 10 months I think. Paul is a huge guy, he towers at least a foot over me and he is built like Hulk Hogan. Very kind hearted, yet no one gives him, or anyone in his family, any crap. Weird to think he’ll be over there for a year.

After we got home and put the kids to bed Saturday night, Tracy & I watched Crank II. What a bizarre movie. It didn’t rate high on my list of movies, but maybe I needed to see Crank. After that debacle, we watched Saturday Night Live with Ryan Reynolds hosting and Lady Gaga as the musical guest. She isn’t what I thought. Sexy, but in a weird kind of way, I guess. Her music didn’t really do it for me.

Sunday

Got up early and made breakfast then Black Bean, Pumpkin and Turkey Chipotle chili. Went to Keene while it was still cloudy and crappy out and bought some needed supplies, then came back and listened to tunes while working on my shed. I put in in 2 more floor joists. One more to go, then the last corner brace, then the roof. All of a sudden it was 5:30, so I cleaned up and washed. We went down and watched a fantastic Patriots Game that I had DVR’d (I can’t stand watching 1 O'clock games and wasting my Sunday. Anyway, Pats won!!!)

We ate delicious chili and had brownies that Jem made for dessert. The kids went to bed after the game and I started working on an Our New England Life ~ 1st issue, until Larry David came on. Very funny, with the Seinfeld stuff. Also, we watched the season finale of Entourage...it's one of my guilty pleasure shows, but I love it. The finales always end the season completely, with a story for next year, but with current issues resolved, usually for the better. I’m glad we get to see more of Sloan (Emanuelle Chriqui) next year. Está una buenissima!