Roaring In Like a Lion

Ah, it's March, almost the Ides of March so I'm glad my name is not Julius. Sue and I are so ready for Spring to arrive. There a few tantalizing hints. The Daffodils and Jonquils are up a few inches. The Indian Plum & wild red current shrubs have swollen buds. On the other hand, it's still cold with mixed rain & snow. We lost power this morning about 11:45 a.m. and it was not back on until around 5:30 p.m.  The NOAA forecast is for winds in the early morning hours, lasting maybe until 1 p.m.

Last week we were visited by one of the local Coyotes. Fortunately he/she did not stay around to scope-out our hens. I hung around the coop for awhile just to make sure. My makeshift cover for the coop's safety zone has worked as well as I would like - so, this Spring I'll be putting on a metal roof. The hens will stay a bit dryer and we hope, the eggs stay a bit cleaner. Oh, by the way, the hens finally started laying eggs again, after about 6 weeks of in-action. Several of the "girls" were moulting and we think that was the prime reason for the egg stopage.

Foothills Nor'easter

The beauty of our 16 or so, inches of snow, was blasted in the middle of the night by an East-Northeast wind, roaring out of Canada. Fortunately our power stayed on during the night and all the next day, until 4:50 pm that is, when the power went out. It had been such a wonderful day, sitting near the wood stove, reading a Tony Hillerman novel, Dance Hall of the Dead. The power loss occurred right when I was about to put a baking dish, full of homemade granola, into the oven. Sue was out loading up the firewood boxes and tending to our Hens. The "Girls" were having no part of the wind as they hung out in and around their coop. One of our local wild birds was much braver, a Blackcap Chickadee worked over some Blackeyed Susan seed-heads and then took a break on a grapevine.

The good news came fifteen or twenty minutes after the power outage, the power came back on. Sue and I were not sure  it would stay on, so we shoveled a path from our garage to the pump-house. We did this so I could drag our generator there, to use in case the power went out again. It's so nice to have running water when the power is off. One worries less about the water lines freezing when the water flows and there is power for the pump-house heater. My fingers got so cold I had to take my gloves off a few times, so I could put my hands into my pants pockets to warm them up. We did get the pathway cleared and the generator is now at the pump-house. I also got the granola baked and Sue, moments ago, put the finishing touches on a sweet-potato pie, oh yum! She is now making her famous vegetable soup.

By the way, Sue makes great pies. The crust is often made with some whole wheat pastry flour and butter, gosh is it good. The pictures are  of a Hubbard Squash pie and a mixed Berry pie she made a year or so ago. As you can tell, we do not go hungry at our place, and it's so much fun growing a good portion of the food we're now eating. As the NE Wind blows outside, I'm already thinking about the Spring Planting. ~ John

Snow New Year

The New Year came and most of my family gathered at my mother's home to support each other because my mother passed away. Family traveled from near and far to visit with mother during her last days and hours. My mother, Wanda Mae McDonald-Browne let her spirit take flight at 9:10 pm on Sunday, January 8th, 2012. She had a good long life and was ready to go, so the sadness I feel is for the loss of a kind and generous woman, interesting talks and her wise council, which we'll no longer be able to share over her kitchen table. My brother Sidney, sister Rebecca and I had wonderful parents who gave us so many practical skills but more importantly, they nurtured our minds to be creative in thought and curious about who we are and why we are here. I'll do a proper tribute to my mother in a later post.

The snow has returned to the foothills and this time in force. It started the morning of January 16th and snowed off and on, all day. 

The evening of the 17th,  Sue and I removed the Christmas ornaments from our Christmas Tree, which we left decorated due to my mother's illness and passing. We played Christmas music, Christmas with the Academy, as the ornaments were returned to their respective boxes. The tree was put out next to the South-side stairs and all this time the snow was falling. After the last of the fir needles were swept away, Sue put some Christmas Lights on the South-facing window ledge, along with three colored glass

birds. Christmas was over but we still have our Winter Lights to add cheer until Winter gives way to Spring.

As we awoke on Wednesday, January 18th, we saw that it had indeed snowed all night and was still snowing. It was at least 12 inches deep now and piling up fast. Sue and I came to the realization that we were not going to be able to get out of our driveway if this snow kepted up, and it did. I finally had to let my Masonic Brothers know that I would not likely be attending the Thursday evening meeting.

By mid afternoon our backyard table was piled high with snow. You can compare the two photos and see how the snow added up. The snow slowed down around 2 pm and a bit of sun tried to peek in. Sue went for a walk and I went out around  3:30 pm to clear pathways. When Sue got back she brought in more firewood and then fed the "Girls." Our girls were having none of this snow stuff, they mostly hung out in their coop and told stories or played a game of cards, I should think. After dark I took a few more photos to show what our place looks like in the cold of a Foothills Winter Night.

Thanks for visting ~ John

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Tis the Holiday Season and in keeping with spending our $$ locally Sue and I have been annually cutting our Christmas tree at a local tree farm. Unlike those folks who put up a tree right after Thanksgiving and often take it down a few days after Christmas Day or the day after New Year's Day, we have a different plan. Back in the day, you know, when Christmas was less commercial and a bit more of a religious observance, Christmas was more than two weeks long.

Several years ago, in part due to slower economic times, but more out of a desire to put our Christmas back into the spiritual sphere by de-emphasizing gift-giving, Sue and I started breaking our old habits. One thing we did was to limit the number of and cost of individual presents.  After a few years we radically changed the gift-giving to our Grandchildren, we now have six. No longer do we give toys or clothes -  because with clothes its too hard to get the sizes right, the kids growth so fast. As for toys, they already get so many from their own parents and the "other" grandparents, it seemed to us the value of an individual toy was lost shortly after the next present was opened. What we did was to start buying EE Savings Bonds for each grandchild, one for each birthday and one for each Christmas. So far this system is working pretty well, for us anyway.

A number of years ago my daughter Sasha, I think it was her anyway, gave me a very nice book for Christmas, 'One Hundred Saints'. I learned from this book that December 6th used to be the official feast day for St. Nicholas, who we all know now as Santa Claus. It occurred to me that the Christmas Season ought to start with a nice dinner on December 6th. I even penned a short work on how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus which I read the evening of December 6th. The next event in our season is to cut our own Christmas Tree.

Christmas Tree cutting, for us,  takes place about mid-December. Cutting our own tree gives us the freshest tree, which we want to last through January 6th, Epiphany. By our

system the Christmas Holiday lasts one full month. Though we are not Church-goers, Sue and I observe the Advent Sundays and Sue reads the Advent Calendar. On Christmas Eve we read the Nativity Story and watch a Christmas movie. We do give a few gifts, a good proportion of which are food treats, but some may be DVDs, books, CDs and this year I sent a Teaching Company Course, it was a 12 lecture course and it was on sale - I referred to it as "food for the mind."

Christmas at Berryridge Farm is truly a season and it gets more fun each year.

Snow Falling on Berryridge Farm

We had a little dusting of snow a week or two ago but Thursday evening, November 17th, the first real snow fell. I was in town at a Masonic Lodge meeting and returned home to find almost four inches of snow had already collected on the back door porch. There had been no snow falling in town, nor any until I was well into the foothills, but six or seven miles from home the flakes were coming down. The real accumulation came at the four mile from home mark.

The timing was perfect because earlier in the day I had taken the Ford Escort to the tire place that we use and had the studded snow tires put on. Our little Escort is a very good snow-mobile when the snow is less that 8 inches deep, its not a very good snowplow however. The arrival of snow is not a big deal, unless of course it drops more than 8 inches, then we just don't plan to go anywhere. Three of our neighbors have tractors with bucket loaders and they often keep the road open for all of us to use.

The "Girls" (our Hens) actually do OK in the snow. We take them warm water when their water dispenser freezes. Last Winter, it was only a few times I hooked up a heater (60 watt light-bulb) to stave-off serious cold (single-digit numbers like 3 deg F). The girls are not thrilled about the snow or frozen ground because they like to scratch the earth and so frozen ground really slows them down. So what do they do, they just hang out as best they can. Only a week ago or so Susan saw a Bobcat pacing back and forth next to our Girls pen - so we have been more careful to lock the girls in for the night.

Just recently, our nearest neighbor Tina, got some Hens of her own, four I think. She has an interesting coop, sort of a Gypsy Coop. Since she has a horse and her sons visit frequently with their dogs we hope her hens are safe from the local Bobcat and the Coyotes we often hear after dark.

During the past five days we've had several vists from Jack Frost. I took a turn around the yard to photograph the jewel-like quality the leaves take on when covered in frost. Who knows, one of the photos may end up on the Christmas Card we send or in the Berryridge Farm Star Christmas newsletter.

Sue is working hard to get a Christmas short story finished in time to publish before Christmas. I've been looking for a snow scene to use as part of the cover. This is an Irish story so Sue would like a scene of an Irish Cottage or village, at night, when its snowing - Dreamstime has some good snow stuff but nothing that fits what we'd like - I may have to improvise.

I'll close for now. Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave your comments, questions and suggestions. Grand John

Grandkids Rock II

The next grandkids I'm going to feature are the three whose parents are Sean and Sasha. (I have to check-in with Aunt Meghann to make sure its OK to post pics of Seamus and Rowan).

Sean and Sasha were married in the Spring of 2006, both having waited into their 30's before tying the knot. With the biological clock ticking away they got started on a family and the first bundle of joy arrived in July of 2007. "Devan"

Devan was an instant hit with all who got to meet her. In the photo at left, she has her uncle Collin right where she wants him.

Having two very active parents, Devan soon started collecting frequent flyer miles. If memory serves me correctly, before she even had her 2nd Birthday, Devan had flown to Hawaii and to Paris, not to mention several trips across the USA, both east to west and north to south.

Devan became an 'Older' sister in November of 2008 when the 2nd bundle of joy, Bria, joined the family. Devan was fascinated by her baby sister and enjoyed being right at hand to assist with bath time and other baby care duties.

Devan was always very careful when holding and playing with her little sister. Little sister's do not, however, stay little. They get bigger, start to crawl and well they begin to get into your stuff!  Mom and dad do their best to keep things in order.  Daddy really enjoys his two "Irish" girls.

Something was missing though, oh yes, a boy! That oversight was fixed on April 1st of 2010 when the 3rd bundle of Joy arrived. Conor came to join the happy family and he had not one, but two big sisters to give him all the love and affection a boy could stand. It is a wonder he survived the attention. Devan actually showed a great touch with her baby brother.  Bria, however, did not yet have command of her own strength. Conor, in the pic at right, wonders - "who is this girl?"

Sean, Sasha, Devan, Bria and Conor are lots of fun. Conor, who turns two next April, is walking and now holds his own with his two sister's. In fact, he even invites the rough n' tumble with Bria, they'll probably enroll in Judo together.

One of the great things the kids enjoy is lots of attention from family and friends. At right the kids pose for a photo with uncle Kevin, earlier this Summer - 2011.

Grandkids Rock

Now that the firewood preparation is under control, I'm taking a little time to reflect on what it means to be a grandparent. Sue and I have six grandchildren in our combined family: I had two kids with my first wife, a daughter Sasha and a son, Collin, while Sue had two daughters with her first husband: Carrie and Meghann. I guess you could say we are right in step with the modern American Family.

There are many things I like about being a grandfather. One is that you can sort of get "do-overs," experiences you might have missed the first time round. For one, I take lots more photos now than I did when Sasha and Collin were very little. I did take quite a few photos on our boating trips, starting when they 6 and 4 respectively, so that was good, but I didn't take many everyday photos - so to speak.  With our grandchildren I've tried to capture everyday life, when we visit them or they visit us. This Summer Sue and

I were blessed to have all our grand kids visit Berryridge Farm.


I guess the place to begin is with our oldest grandchild, Meghan, who is now ten years old,

Meghan's family at left,  L to R are Carrie, Meghan and Kevin.

Meghan is named after auntie Meghann, Carrie's sister. Little Megs was a very cute baby from the git-go but especially so the older she got. She stole many a heart at almost 2, when she danced at her Aunt Meghann's Wedding, see photo at right. Meghan's mom has a flare for the dramatic and Meghan often has Great Halloween costumes. A couple of years ago Meghan dressed up as 'Dorothy' from the 'Wizard of Oz', as you can see at left. 

In 2010 she dressed up as a 'Corpse Bride', as shown in the photo at right. 

This costume was the inspiration for Susan's Middle-Grade novelette, The Curse of the Corpse Bride. I actually hope that Sue is inspired by many more of Meghan's Halloween costume choices, because it is fun to see what books might spring from said inspiration. In fact it won't surprise me if Megs takes up acting, perhaps in High School. Both her mother and aunt were putting on little skits as girls growing up.  One of Meghan's talents is that of being a good baby sitter. She gained lots of valuable skills playing with her two younger boy cousins, Seamus and Rowan, who are aunt Meghann's sons.

OK, that is the introduction of the 1st of 6 grandkids. Stay tuned for more.