No, it can't be December 1st!

How can it be December 1st alreay? It seems like Fall only arrived. We have been so busy and time does seem to fly by. I know that everyone feels this way. There have been a few milestones to mention. This is one of the very special ones.



Brianna is my youngest granddaughter. She turned one on November 11. What a cutie. She now has 4 teeth in and screams at the top of her lungs, just for fun. We were blessed with family up from New Hampshire for Thanksgiving. Alex's son Jake came up as did his brother Cliff and his new wife Sara. They have 2 beautiful children, Mia and Peirce. Alex is so happy to have a grandson now. Welcome to the family. My daughter Sue and her girlfriend Tonya came up, and brought my other granddaughter Jasmine with them. Leah and Victor came and brought Brianna. Teddy came home from Thomas College and brought Tarra. We had a table full. It was truly a blessing. We all fit! i hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays.


We finally got the wall up in the mud room. We had to insulate and install new wall board.

Then we had to paint and put up shelves. This is where I store alot of my soap and lotion making supplies. If you don't know what this color is, it is called "Cow Belly". I know this because I found a sticker of a cow, took it to Home Depot and had them match the color on the cow belly. I then proceeded to name it. "COW BELLY"

We bought a pellet stove from Lowe's. Ted unloaded it from the truck and put it into the basement. Then Alex and I proceeded to "install" it. I'm very proud of us. It took a few frantic calles to the stove maker to get things right. At first not enough heat and too many pellets. Then we got the air intake right and now have a wonderful heat. Can't live in Maine without heat. The basement is downright warm. We have vents in the floor of the kitchen, office and mud room alowing for the heat to rise.

This is the other source of heat we use. The propane logs in the living room heat the whole second floor, my room, living room and dining room. Not bad and more reasonable than oil. We will be finishing the floors in the next few months.

We did get to have some fun. The Christmas tree is up and we are getting into the Holiday Spirit. I think it makes the house even warmer.

And, not to be forgotten. When I opened the door last night this was waiting for me. I love Maine. I love the snow.

May everyone stay warm, be surrounded by loved ones, and find peace. Good night all.

Kelly

Mid Week Blues

Here we are at work again and this month has a crappy schedule. Seems we are working 2 on and 2 off a lot. But as you sleep the whole first day you are off you can't get a lot done. I have felt crummy the last few days but Kelly actually got some things accomplished. She painted the stairwell. No mean feat with rigging boards to serve as scaffolding. And it is beautiful. A rich Sage with lots of white woodwork. The spindels for the railing are still in a pile in the barn as we slowly get the old paint off. There are multiple layers and no amount of paint remover or stripper gel etc seems to want to work on the innermost layers. So we scrape and sand and rub steelwool for hours for each spindle. But each is turned intricately till about half way up and then becomes an elegant spiral. You don't see anything like that today so we are trying to save them. And the railings are a dark wood, maybe mahogany. We will stain the treds to match all the other floors and the paint the risers white. the spindals will be white as they were originally and the rails dark. But not any time soon. Kelly also put another coat of mud on the kitchen cornices so we may be able to prime and paint soon. We picked out the colors for the dining room. This is the biggest room in the house. Lots of windows and 4 doorways. The area below the chairrail will be a deep colonial red and above a soft cream. All the woodwork in the house is white plus the beams in this room are boxed and white. Well the pellet stove came in and we picked it up yesterday. Ted managed to get it down to the basement today but now we have to move the water heater and redo some of the piping. that is not an outrageous job but its one you cant stop till its done once you start. So I need several days off as a margin of safety. then we can hook up the stove and get an electrician in for power to the controls and thermostat. Always something. Well the bugger chickens go to the butcher on Sat. I will be doing the chicken dance in front of the barn. Ted has one rooster who is not going. He is "the Captain " and he follows Ted around the yard and thru the barn. If he is going to stay he will have to go in with Sampson and the hens but so far 3 of the hens have been kicking his butt. Wish him luck. We need to go up to the wellhouse and check on the light that provides heat in there. Forgot to mention that during the summer we had to have the well casing and foot valve replaced as they were cracked and found the whole elect. outlets for the light had also failed. Now that entire mess was an unforseen expense. Just what we needed. Good thing we found it now and not when its 5 degrees and the well is frozen. I hope to get some apples picked and make some apple butter and pumpkin butter this weekend. Today, for the first time, all the windows were closed as it was cool and very windy. Kind of nice actually to curl up in a sweatshirt and warm socks. Of course cats and a dog snuggled in are nice too. Teddy called from college. He has already worn out his basketball shoes and needs new ones right away as he had an apparent blowout. He wears a size 16 shoes so these have to be ordered. But he loves his classes and has lots of friends so shoes are just part of the package. Hope his coach understands about shipping time. well folks I think thats about it for tonight. Alex