T - 24ish Hours

The time is near for Mt. Rainier.  You can keep track of the weather and our progress while I am in Washington. We are on the 5 day summit climb that hopes to summit on Sunday the 30th.

Massive failure, Mr. Weatherman

I waited all morning to go for a hike.  Watching the weather forecast drop from a 50% chance of rain down to 0%.  I figured I was now safe to hike and stay dry. 

 

The spitting started as I pulled out of the driveway.  This progressed to a very light drizzle as I drove.  By the time I reached the Brownsville Trail parking lot (only a few minutes from the house), it was raining steadily.  And as if that weren't enough, a complete downpour began immediately upon me stepping out of the car!  I figured it couldn't rain this hard for too long, but 40 minutes later it was still going strong.  The dogs and myself were completely soaked.  I actually wished I had goggles to keep the water out of my eyes! Of course, as I got back to the car, the rain stopped as quickly as it had started!

 

 

All I can say is, "Wow, Mr. Weatherman, that was a massive failure!"

Garden update: #1 of the year

All of the vegetable starts seem to be doing well.  Lettuce, beet, bean, and sunflower seeds are all sprouting.  There are close to eight pounds of seed potatoes that still need to be planted.  In all, we might actually get to eat something from the garden this year despite our late start.  

 

The fruit trees are doing well for the most part.  Most exciting is that there are two tiny apples on the Haralson apple tree.

We also found three snakes inhabiting the south facing stone foundation of our house and the surrounding flower bed today.

Too Cold for Tubing.

Today we had a river adventure.  

The conditions seemed right:  

1.  A perfectly sunny day in the high 70's with not a cloud in the sky.  

2.  Tons of rain this past week (meaning the river water was plenty high and there was

      no risk of getting whacked in the bum with a rock).

Logical. 

Logical until half way down the river we couldn't even feel our bums to know if a rock was hitting us.  Not to mention, the 60 pound chocolate lab who had frantically crawled onto the tube and was sitting in Teresa's lap shivering, with her teeth chattering because despite all her fur, she was COLD!

Maybe not so logical, but fun.  Next tubing trip...set for July!

The Sweet Smell of Success.

 

After a long weekend of chasing, hissing, and playing....

 

Things are looking up!

Harvey is enjoying some freedom to roam the house now.  The vet said he's about 9 weeks old and we're referring to him as "mini monster".  Milo is being very patient with Harvey, hissing only occasionally when Harvey pounces on his back.  If Milo could talk I think he would be asking, "How much longer until this little grey fuzz ball goes home?"  Sorry Milo...this one is staying.

 

 

 



Izzy is no longer running from Harvey and has realized she can even "play with him".  I say play with him, however it seems Harvey is only interested in playing with Izzy's tail....it's a start!

Piper continues to get WAY TOO excited when she sees Harvey, so I think it'll be a little while until he plays with her.  I have caught him batting at her paws from under the couch a few times. 

Things are looking up!!!

Eric's new toys

What does every farm need?  A tractor, of course, and Silver Hill Farm is no different.  We are now the proud owners of two separate tractors with a total of six wheels.  Funny you say?  Let us start with something that is most recognizable.  John Deere tractors are iconic and the color scheme unmistakeable.  A little over a week ago our hand-me-down Cub Cadet started to circle the drain.  I thought that I had things figured out with some fiddling and a big drink of oil.  A few days after that, the PTO wet the bed and that was it.  I believe that tractor was over fifteen years old and it probably did not owe us a thing.  Enter the John Deere.  We obviously needed a new lawn tractor and I obviously chose the green and yellow.  Behold the X300.

 

 

While the X300 does and admirable job of mowing the grass, I was still looking for something with a bit more versatility.  The Grillo 85D fit that bill.  Comprising the other two wheels of our arsenal, the Grillo is a 10hp two wheeled walking tractor.  Many implements are available and ours is currently equipped with a rotary tiller. 

 

The Grillo and I made short work of putting the garden in today.  We are a bit behind in our timing of the garden but the powerful tiller allowed me to turn grass into garden in an afternoon.  Some organic vegetable starts from Killdeer Farm are already in the ground and there is more to come.  Here is hoping for another good garden year here in Vermont and for our first at Silver Hill.

Our Farm Continues to Grow...

Yesterday, Teresa managed to get suckered into bringing home a little grey kitten from work.  How do these things happen?!?! 

So, this is little Harvey. Welcome to the family little guy.