June 19th, 2011

Molly and John cleaning up the wood pile.

We had been having issues with our dish, signal and picture fading in and out, unable to watch many stations.  All the symptoms began when the leaves came out on the trees so we figured it was related to that.  I decided I didn't want to hear John grumbling about cutting more trees so I had him call the Dish Service people...we pay a little extra every month but it entitles us to 1 free service call per year.  The guy was very knowledgeable, told John which trees to cut.  Molly and I hung out by the picnic table and watched.  The first tree fell and got hung up on some others, then managed to wedge the chain saw in the tree.  This got worse when John  took the Kubota out and got hung up on a stump behind my garden.  He ended up using an old chain saw that hasn't started in years to cut the stump, then hooked a chain onto the tree and pulled it down.  1 more tree cut after and the serviceman went in to check reception.  It was improved by about 20 units, yet the stations were still fading in and out (the picture was very fuzzy)  He then got a new receiver out of his truck and hooked that up and the problem was solved and the actual reception numbers were now in the 50's (good per the service guy)  Unfortunately he couldn't leave the new receiver as he was doing an install at the next customers home.  He got on the phone and we should be getting a receiver in the next 3-4 business days.  There' always something!!!


Well today was Father's Day so we decided to take John out to breakfast.  Molly and I got up very early and went for a trail ride.  Kacee managed to pull off a front shoe that was put on last week so we ended up just walking her.  Molly rode Ansel on the way home.  She can manage to get on him without a mounting block. I can't!

We went to the Halfway House and had a great breakfast, then stopped at Douglas's orchard and picked 4 quarts of strawberries...very sweet and good sized berries.  Cherries should be ready next week.

We decided to mow the lawn and weed wack for John then ended up giving Ansel a  bath.  He was very good...not sure if he's ever had a bath before.

The sweat scaper that Ansel accidently stepped on!

Oh my veggies are up, peas, beans, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, radishes, spinich and pumpkins.  It's fenced in by electric...I hope it doesn't get eaten by wildlife!  I have tomatoes too!

May, June, 2011

As many of you know we had to put down our beloved Austin early in May.  He had a wonderful life, living 14 years which is pretty awesome for a setter.  It was very, very hard, but we will remember all the good times and great companionship he provided.

Mom's name is Mud flaps, all the pups have Mud in their names, Mudbog, Muddy waters, Raymud, Mudtracks, Mudslinger, Mudpie, Mudslide, Mudpuddles.

We have always had a dog in the family and after a month or so decided to start looking for a puppy.  John has always been interested in English Springer Spaniels.  I did a bit of research and found a breeder in NH that seemed to have really nice dogs and good values.  We made an appointment to go see her.  She lives in Tamsworth, NH, very close to North Conway.  It was a beautiful, but long drive.  (3 1/2 hours from Benson)  She had lovely dogs and a new litter when we first visited.  We asked lots of questions and met her other dogs and ended up putting a deposit down on a male puppy in the litter.  We won't know which one we are getting for a while.  We have 4th pick of males (there were 5 in the litter)  All the pups are sweet, even the runt male, although I probably would not choose the runt as he was very timid on our last visit.