Monday, December 27, 2010

After the Blizzard

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Over the past few days a blizzard has been making its way up the east coast of the USA. New York City was hit hard and Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. Along with the snow came strong gusts of wind that drove the snow in to every nook and cranny. This morning we awoke to an average of about 12 inches in the yard. The driveway wasn't quite as deep and we knew it would take a while to clear even with a snow blower. Mountain Road was closed for most of the day because of a fallen tree but thankfully they all stayed standing in our yard. I knew I should have put the glass panels in the three season porch. It seems that it's not suited for the fourth season. The wind pushed all this snow through the bug screens. I've never really needed to shovel snow off furniture. It took about 20 minutes to clean it out.Sophie wasn't a big fan of the deep snow so Jen was excited to get out with the snow blower and clear some tracks. It took another 2 hours to actually clear the entire driveway down to the road. Luckily we had nowhere to go today and it's better than paying someone to plough.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Baking Bonanza

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This Christmas was filled with plenty of baked goods. Jenny slaved in the kitchen to make these culinary delights and they all tasted great. The sausage rolls are usually a favorite and this year featured a hot and spicy version.
Here are some scones being carefully spaced out on the baking tray to go in the oven. The final decision was to have nine scones per batch so as not to overcrowd them while they baked.They even got their own special Christmas tins.Shortbread straight out of the oven in various Christmas themed shapes.The mince pies were also delicious.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

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Last night we went up to Jamaica Plain, MA for a party at Carrie's house. What a ghoulish bunch, no?

Rodney and I went as the officers from Reno 911.
Well, hello there, Lieutenant Dangle. Deputy Clementine Johnson. So scandalous she's not even on the show anymore.
Tera, being the ultra-conservative Evangelical Christian that she is, went as her idol Christine O'Donnell. (For the UK folks, she is a senate candidate who has admitted to dabbling in witchcraft... who better to help lead the nation than an Evangelical witch?).
There was a Zumba demonstration.Carrie made a great Robin - as far as we could tell, Robin didn't have any superpowers per se, but was very good at coming up with awesome plans, which is one of Carrie's many talents. She also makes lists like nobody's business.

It's a good thing there were leggings under this Robin suit.
Robin takes a break to go wash some dishes. Lieutenant Dangle's sexy mustache.
And the best costume of the night - Sophie - who went as a bee.A caveman and a pumpkin.
Stewie decided to pay homage to the great state of Oregon and came as an Emo lumberjack.
Bzzzz.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Sophie's Birthday Tricks

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Sophie turned one year old last week. She got some new toys for being such a good pet and she's proud to show off the new tricks she has learned. She's mastering the tunnel and soon she'll be adding weave poles to her repertoire.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Trevin Farms

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A couple of weekends ago we went up to Trevin Farms in Sudbury, Vermont. It's a B&B and dairy goat farm all in one... what more could we ask for?! We signed up for their 3-day cheese making class. We arrived on Saturday evening with Sophie in tow. We went to visit the girly goats in the barn.Troy, one of the owners, is *really* into his goats and treats them like they're part of the family, which was right up our alley. The second day we gave goat milking a whirl. Troy asked if we had ever milked an animal before. Rodney had milked a cow once when he was much younger and I'd only ever milked a human, so neither of us were very well prepared. :) Sophie made some new friends: Zeus and Zoe. Luckily they were very friendly because they could have swallowed Sophie whole if they had been so inclined.This is one of their two horses - can't remember if this is Tyrone or Texas. Either way, he was HUGE. Enjoying the crisp Vermont air. Cheesemaking class: on day 1 we learned how to cook the milk then add the rennet and starter. We left this out overnight to set. In the morning we had to separate the curds and whey.I have no idea why Little Miss Muffet would have wanted to eat curds and whey, it looked rather unappealing to me at this stage.After ladling out the curds and hanging them to dry, we went for a drive around the roads of Vermont. The foliage was not quite as spectacular this year as I've seen it other years, but the country roads are still nice and scenic. All in all we had a great weekend. I'm still working out some of the finer details but Nelson Farms B&B Farmstay should be opening some time soon.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Durham Fair 2010

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Durham Fair has to be one of our favorite fairs in Connecticut. We went along for the last day and we were not disappointed this year. The weather was great and it wasn't too busy. As you will see in the video below, there's everything from tractor pulls to pig racing. www.durhamfair.com/

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Can't Touch This

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Yesterday we had some friends over for a little party to celebrate Rodney's turning 33 earlier this week, as well as my 25th birthday which is today (give or take a few years). There was lots of food and apparently too much margarita. We knew it was going to be a fun night when about half an hour after arriving, Andy announced that he was 2.5 sheets to the wind. Toward the end of the night, we busted out the PS3 Karaoke and all hell let loose. We were asked not to reveal the identities of those involved, so all names have been changed. It started with 2 of our friends we'll call "Erin" and "Tera" "feeling the heat" with a hot little Whitney Houston duet:



But the highlight of the evening had to be "Andy's" rendition of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This". Minus the hammer pants, you wouldn't be able to tell "Andy" from the real deal. Prepare yourselves, this guy has some serious moves:



All in all it was a really fun night and was great to see the peeps again. BBs, we missed you guys but maybe next time?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Apples, Bees, Strawberries & Golf

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It's starting to feel like fall. The weather is perfect and the leaves will soon be turning. Monday was labor day and we decided to visit a local orchard just a few minutes from our house. We just missed raspberry season but there were some varieties of apples for picking and the pears are just ripening. We picked a few of those but they'll need to sit for a few days to fully ripen. Who would have thought we would have bees to write about. I mean Jess and Glenn are the bee people. Well they aren't our bees. This little hive is inside the store at the orchard. They have one comb inside an enclosure which has clear Plexiglas sides. A clear pipe leads to the exterior wall of the store so the bees can come and go as they please. There were a lot of them heading in both directions. There were plenty of bees in there and it did seem a little cramped, but perhaps bees like it that way. There's a jar of liquid attached to the hive which I thought might be some sort of sugar water. Jess or Glenn, you'll probably know.
It just so happens that Monday was also my birthday and this is the fabulous birthday pavlova that Jen made. It was her first time making pavlova and it turned out great. I've never had a birthday pavlova before but I have to say it's a good idea. Since the weather was so nice, we headed to the driving range down the road. This range is a little obscure. They have a red pickup truck for you to hit golf balls at. While we were there, the guy working there decided to head out and pick up some balls. Normally I would expect him to use a vehicle that kind of looks like a golf cart with metal cages on all sides for protection. Not this guy though. He was out in his old Buick pushing the ball collecting machine around. He even had the drivers side window down as he went back and forth. Try as I might, I didn't manage to hit him though. However, I did notice someone must have had a direct hit to his windshield at some point. It had a very nasty crack in it. Here's how not to play golf.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Basement Shelving

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So we really do need to get caught up on this blogging thing. There's a whole bunch of things that we've been meaning to put on here but somehow we just never get around to it.
Anyway, here's a quick update on one of the recent house projects. I think the last one was adding a door to the basement. Our basement was getting pretty unruly with boxes piled up all over the place. We decided that the best course of action would be to build a shelving system that would accommodate about 40 boxes and then organize those boxes so that we can find everything easily. Well the shelves got built but the box organization still needs to happen. At least they're on the shelves. Sophie wasn't helping much but gave us some moral support. Hold on to your hats - it's another fast build.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Edinburgh - 8 Years Later

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How do you know when you're in a Scottish airport? Well, when we were standing at the luggage carousel waiting on our bags I counted at least six sets of golf clubs that were on our flight alone. Not surprising since everyone wants to come here and play the old course at St.Andrews. I think you need to book your tee time at least a year in advance.

It's great to be back in Edinburgh and the place hasn't changed a bit. It's been 8 years since we lived here. I thought that I'd feel like a tourist but when you know every street, shop, pub, nook and cranny it's difficult not to feel like a local. I probably know Edinburgh better than anywhere else I've lived and as soon as we stepped onto the streets it was like we never left. One thing that we had both forgotten about is the smell. I don't mean that in a negative way. Edinburgh has a very distinctive smell. There's a huge brewery in the city centre (McEwans) and the smell of the hops fills the air. Generally it's in the morning when it is most noticeable. We love the smell and it brings back just as many memories as anything else.
Sunday was spent walking around and meeting up with my old flatmate, and Jen's childhood buddy, Jayne. We had a nice pub lunch and some good chatter. We'll be meeting up again before we leave. Today (Monday) we plan to visit some of the key tourist attractions. Here's to enjoying some good Scottish food, drink and entertainment over the next few days.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Annual Plainville GE 5K Road Race

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Almost 2000 people turned out for this run to benefit the Petit Family Foundation. It was our first attempt at running a 5K. In fact we hadn't planned on taking part because we've only started running a couple of weeks ago and figured that we might be pushing it to run 5K so soon, especially in this hot weather we've been having. As expected it was sunny and hot.We took it at a reasonable pace and we were both pleased with our times:

Rodney - 31:41 (10:11 Pace)

Jenny - 37:22 (12:01 pace)

The race was a very well organized event with plenty of free water and food to keep all the competitors hydrated and fueled up. I encourage you to add this race to your calendar for next year.

This terrible tragedy happened in our neighborhood and this very worthy charity has grown to carry on the charitable efforts of the family members that were lost.

Find out about the foundation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYsWZlxK98I

A news story on the tragedy can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXLFm7LWIhw

Monday, July 5, 2010

Cheshire Fireworks Extravaganza

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It turns out that Cheshire doesn't have its own fireworks display. A good thing really because there are better things for our tax dollars to be spent on. I think it costs about $100,000 for one of those big shows. Anyway, we decided to buy some much cheaper, but not any less impressive, fireworks from one of those temporary fireworks stores that are only open for a week before July 4th. Money well spent and now you all get to see it too.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Puppy from the future

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Sophie just loves her neon collar, especially for night time walks. Unfortunately it probably won't be glowing for long.

Vegetables

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Jenny's vegetable garden is flourishing. We put up the green fence to keep our burrowing and biting little friends out.