Hot Flashes

 On Marble Street in West Rutland, Vermont after a thunderstorm...

 Chipmunk at Lake Bomoseen. Carrying what looks like, but may not be, a nut.

 The grass was about a foot high (or more). Mowing became a top priority.

 Shelly paints.

 Shpackeling.

 The tractor done busted when we tried mowin'. Thought we might could fix it, an' that's what we done. Turn'd out, was the mower's belt. We got one at the Tractor Supply and put 'er on.

 Lake Bomoseen at the campground.

 More Lake Bomoseen. It's a big lake.

 Terlot, check. Vanity, check.

 Medicine cabinet, check.

 Inside an actual quarry near Wallingford, Vermont.

 One of the original doors that was in the barn, before rehab.

 Same door, after rehab (i.e. paint).

 The same sunset as before, that's Marble Street.

 West Rutland Marsh is in the foreground.

 Flowers is crazy. What is this? I have no idea.

 The neighbor's cat. Without a doubt, he's up to no good. If you let your cat outside; you ride with Hitler. I've been trying to work that into the blog for about a year now.

View of the church from the backyard...

Mow Season

 The first mow of 2011. Note the beer.

 Shelly on a tractor.

 Don't know what they are, but they're all over the place.

 Joe, one of the good people at Fabian Earth Moving, helping us "mod" the tractor. He made a hole for us to put a ball hitch on the back so we could pull a cart. It worked perfect. Thanks Joe!

Now the bathroom is really done. Really. Soon. Maybe.

Yup, we're still here

 Moving day, Part One. Rented a U-Haul to clear out the house in New Jersey so we can "work on it". We're still hoping for a "Summer of 2011" move. Sigh.

 Woodchuck butt. In Vermont.

 Castleton Depot in Vermont. It's actually a real train station. And they make sandwiches (or sangwiches, or sammitches).

Cows!

Mud Season

Beginning of what the locals (and everyone in Vermont) call "Mud Season". When all the snow melts it makes a sloppy, some might say "poopy", mess.

Dad, cuttin' somethin' (one of the ceiling planks for the bathroom).

The bathroom ceiling, about a third done with the planks.

Inspired by H.O. Edson (see earlier post), we put our names on the ceiling for posterity.

The finished bathroom ceiling.

Snowing again.

The slate bathroom floor; before grout.

With grout.

The West Rutland Marsh.

The backyard.

Animal tracks. Left by what may well have been a bear... or a cougar... but was probably just a fox.

Shelly sanding one of the original doors...

The shiny golden bulldog on Ed's (the neighbor) shiny new truck.

Grouting is not as much fun as I make it look.

My dinner with Ed.

The laundromat (aka the basement).

The Kidnap Note

 Our neighbor welcomes us back... Wait a minute, is that blood?!

 The bedroom ceiling wasn't even (cuz we tore a wall down), so we are sheetrocking it. This is the "before"...

 Our Vermont home theater. Featuring a 19 inch full color screen, dvd player and stereo sound!

 Snowing again.

 Putting sheetrock over the old tile ceiling.

 Snowing again.

 A ransom note from the neighbors? We still haven't figured out who's been kidnapped but "keep Vermont green bring money" makes their terms clear. What kind of threat is "The heat is on"? Sounds kind of nice.

 The bathroom floor, almost finished...

The bedroom ceiling, almost finished...

 View from the backyard.

Smokin', Drinkin' and Talkin'

 -10. Fahrenheit. What to do? The only thing you can do when it's ten below! Smoke, drink and talk!

 The Winter Watchman. When the temperature gets too low, it turns a light on in the house...  So the neighbors know your pipes are bursting.

 This is what spackle looks like.

 Footprints in the snow...

 Paintin' the windows.

 This is a Cooper's Hawk...  aka "chicken hawk".  They eats chickens.

Ooops. This picture is a typo.