You might be a redneck if...

You spend a free afternoon down by the river drinking and using the empty cans for target practice with a pellet gun.

Yes, Dom and I gave onto the rural atmosphere and while the kids were away at Nonna's we spent quite a bit of time down by the river just hanging out. For anyone who doesn't know we have a river that runs through the back of our property and is about a ten minute hike from the house.

Dom did some fishing. I took some pictures and we did some drinking and had a little shooting competition with a pellet gun. Good, cheap fun. Plus, the weather has been pretty crappy with thunderstorms and rain pretty much everyday we didn't really want to take a chance out on the boat or heading up to the mountains to go hiking. The good thing about all the rain was the river which is usually not much more than a trickle this time of year is rushing pretty good making it a nice place to hang out.

I realize the picture above looks crooked but it is actually the top of the stump that is crooked making the cans lean to the right not because I was intoxicated while taking the picture. I am just too lazy to correct it in photoshop right now.

Boating with Boomer

A week or so ago we took Boomer out on the boat with us to see how he would do since he loves to go swimming. I admit I was the most reluctant to bring him for two reasons. 1-he has a tendency to get car sick which of course just driving to the lake could mean a mess to clean up. Also if he gets sick in the car there's a pretty good chance he'd get sick in the boat. 2-He is just two years old pretty much still a puppy and pretty much like having another kid, not a huge deal but I like my time on the boat to be relaxing and peaceful and there was a good chance with the dog along it could be loud(barking and whining) and chaotic(pacing and stepping all over everyone) But I finally agreed. We purchased a doggy lifejacket for him mostly so we would have a handle to pull him up out of the water into the boat.

It was very successful. Boomer loved the water and the kids love having him along. He did do some pacing and whining but not too much. As long as the whole family was in one spot, either on the boat or in the water he was fine. But when some of us were in the water and some of us were on the boat he didn't know where to be and got a little anxious. Mostly we stayed on the sandbar and swam and then we took a little cruise around and Boomer lay right down and enjoyed the ride. He didn't get sick on the boat or in the car and that in itself was a relief. I expect we will have many more adventures with Boomer on the boat!

Amazing

Anyone who knows me really well knows that as a teenager I was a huge Wham!/George Michael fan. Now, at 37, I still am. Even though he hasn't released an album in the US in many many years . Even though he hasn't toured the US in 20 years. Even though he's been arrested. More than once. I'm still a fan. It's the music and the voice. It's amazing.
So when I found out he was touring the US and coming to Boston I was psyched. Until I realized no one would want to go with me. The day the tickets went on sale I was talking to my husband on the phone and casually asked him if he would go. I was expecting him to reply with a very firm, "Not in this lifetime!" and was suprised to hear him say "Okay." I almost dropped the phone in shock. I must of heard wrong. My classic rock loving pop hating husband just agreed to go to a George Michael concert with me?? Had aliens invaded the earth and taken over his body? Surely I had entered an alternate universe "Did you just say yes?" I asked

"Yeah, just don't tell anyone." he replied

So Sunday afternoon we headed to Boston after dropping the kids at a friends house for the night and the dogs at the kennel we were off to spend the night in the big city! We left in the middle of a huge thunderstorm that we followed all the way to Boston. The traffic was horrible and we tried to check into the wrong hotel. After checking into the correct hotel it was just a short walk to the Garden just in time for the 8:00 show.

Not.

It turns out the crappy weather had delayed George's plane and he hadn't even arrived yet.

so the show started an hour late. So I got to people watch which was interesting cause I'm a small town girl and well George is gay and has quite a gay and lesbian fan base as well as a large female fan base that just made for a fascinating mix of people.

But none of that mattered. I was just happy to get a night with my husband and to get to see George in concert. It was lots of fun and after several beers my husband even enjoyed the show.

So thanks George for finally returning to the US and thanks Dom for going with me to the show-I think you're amazing!

Going Batty??

So I was just sitting in the living room by myself last night after putting the kids to bed, surfing the internet and half listening to the TV, when I catch a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. I thought it was maybe a moth since sometimes they get in the house when we let the dogs in at night. I glance up at the TV and this black thing swoops by and disappears up the stairs.

Not a moth.

A bat.

So I want to go upstairs and tell Dom who is in his office, But that means getting past the bat which is flying back and forth in the hallway. I make a run for it ducking as the bat swoops by.
Now let me clarify I am not afraid of bats. Anything that eats mosquitoes is cool in my book, it's just a natural reaction to duck for cover when something comes flying at your head.So I told Dom there was a bat in the house and he walks out into the hall turns the corner and gets buzzed by the bat and turns around and comes back into his office and closes the door.

"Okay we need a plan." he says.

"yeah we need to catch it." I have a keen sense of the obvious.

Luckily my husband is a fisherman and we have a net so he goes to get the net and tells me to try to corner it in the bathroom.
Yeah, right.
Eventually we corner it in the upstairs hallway and attempt to get it in the net. When I say 'we' I mean Dom because really all I can do is stand back and try not to get hit by the flailing net and swooping bat and yell ,"there it is, get it!"
Very helpful.
Suddenly, I hear Becca's bedroom door open and both Dom and I yell "Close the door!"
She closes the door. Dom catches the bat, who is really pissed off at this point and is chattering away. He was successfully realeased outside to continue to eat up mosquitioes and hopefully remain outside!
Afterwards I went up to explaing to Becca what was going on. She thought it was kinda funny and so did Dom and I!

Lovely Lupines

On Saturday we took a trip up to Sugar Hill to see the lupines. There are several fields of these tall beautiful flowers in Purples, pinks and white. We took a wagon ride around two fields and poked around the Sugar Hill Sampler which is gift shop full of crafty stuff and yummy treats. They also have a little museum in the back of heirlooms, farm equipment, pictures and newspaper articles of the generations of family that owned the farm.

We picked up some goodies including some lupine seeds so hopefully we can have some in our own yard next year!

Smoked Salmon Pizza

I love quick, easy recipes especially in the summer so I thought I would share one of our favorite pizza recipes. This makes a really good appetizer if your having a party or we just like to eat it for a meal. I usually only make one pizza and use the leftover topping for bagels the next morning.

Ingredients:

Two 12 inch store bought parial baked pizza crusts

Extra virgin olive oil

Pepper

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 Cup finely chopped shallots

1/4 Cup drained capers

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Juice of 1/2 one lemon

3/4 pounds sliced smoked salmon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle the crusts with olive oil, season with pepper and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a meduim bowl, combine cream cheese, shallots, 2 Tablespoons dill and lemon juice.

Spread cream cheese mixture on the crusts. Top with the smoked salmon, remaining 2 Tablespoons capers and 1 Tablespoon dill. Cut into wedges and enjoy!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a frog..

A frog????

No, it's Muddy Dog!

Not bird, nor plane, nor even frog.

It's just little ol' me,

Muddy Dog.

Mad Scientists or Destroyers of Worlds?

My children that is. You see at least once a week I come across some concoction that my children have made. Usually when I think that are playing nicely together while I try to get something done I then come across something like this:
I have no idea what that flourescent color came from...

Or this:
Apparently the stuffing of some poor unsuspecting stuffed animal was used for this one...



Or sometimes it involves a whole bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap while I think they are bathing they are actually mixing together whatever they can find in the bathroom cabinet.
Now I am all for my children exploring, creating and experimenting and I try really hard not to squash thier need to mix things together just to see what happens but when it ends up spilt all over the carpet or involves emptying a whole brand new bottle of my favorite Bath and Body works handsoap (which has been recently discontinued) I freak out a bit before reminding myself that, maybe because they were able to do "experiments" they could grow up to become the next scientist to find a cure for disease.

Or it could lead them to blow up the house.

But I have recently found several books to channel their curiosity for good instead of evil and under adult supervision this summer we will do some exploring together.
Outside.
Far away from the carpets and my favorite handsoap.

Some Daily Inspiration

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without rain, there would be no rainbow." -G.K. Chesterton

Welcome to the lake

For several years Dom and I have discussed putting the boat in a marina so that we would get more use out of it because quite honestly, trailering a boat is a pain in the butt. Finding a good ramp with adequate parking isn't easy and timing is everything as far a getting a space and waiting to put the boat in and pull it back out. But dock space can be hard to come by and pricey so we put in on the "someday" list. About a month ago we drove by a marina with a sign that said "dock space available" so we stopped by to check it out. We decided on the spot to go for it.

Along with our dock we get a little chunk of land where we put up a screen house, added some patio furniture and a little grill and voila, our own cozy little home away from home. We also have an electric hook-up, cable and water! It is kinda funny because we are part of this whole new little boating community now which is just little screenhouse next to screenhouse and some people really go all out with their set-ups- TV's, bars, grills, refrigerators, etc. There is also a little campground, bathhouse, and gas dock as well as boat maintenance and storage.

So we are going to try it out for the summer and see if it is worth it. Of course the gas prices have put a little damper on our fun. Luckily we filled up the boat at the end of last summer so we are good to go for the first part of the summer. We spent our first official weekend up there this past weekend getting everything set up and finally getting out on the water. It has been hot and humid all weekend and we even went swimming despite the fact that the water temp was still pretty cool, just barely 70 but as hot as it was it felt good!

So this is the view of our little space as I was standing on the back of the boat.

The kids were sitting inside but they scattered like cockroaches when I pulled out the camera.

And here is the view from inside our screenhouse

looking out at the boat. I hope to get more pictures of a wider angle so you can see the rows of screenhouses. It started to rain so this is all I got yesterday.

Maybe someday we'll be able to afford a real house on the lake but until then this will do pretty nicely!

And here is one last picture of the girls playing in the water when we went swimming off the boat. They were having a blast cracking each other up!

Lady's Slipper

Pink lady's slippers are my favorite wildflower and I am always on the search for them when we go hiking in the spring and early summer. They are not easy to find which always makes it more exciting to find one. Since we have moved here I have been on the lookout hoping that somewhere on our 14 acres there must be at least one. Of course trying to find one wildflower amongst 14 acres is much akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Dom was very insistent that he had seen them 'around' but could never remember where exactly.

Armed with my camera and macro lens I was determined that I would find some to photograph. Well Mother Nature smiled on me and while sitting in the backyard over the weekend I spotted one right on the edge of the woods. I ran into the house to grab my camera. Giddy with excitement, I crawled around on my hands and knees taking shot after shot while my husband shook his head and said, "I told you I'd seen some."

I scanned the perimeter of the yard and found seven more. Each and every one has posed perfectly to have their photos taken and not one of them has run away screaming. Now my children on the other hand.....

By the way, Pink lady's slippers are the New Hampshire state wildflower, while Purple lilacs are the state flower.

A Sticky Situation

We've put a little fire ring in the backyard and have been enjoying hanging out outdoors in the evenings around the fire. And if you have a campfire you gotta have s'mores, right?

Right.

Now Kenzie who is a great eater doesn't like marshmallows, but she does love to toast them over the fire and she does a great job. She even has the whole s'more technique of sliding the marshmallows off the stick between the graham crackers (I have yet to catch her on film, but trust me she has it down to a science.) Becca, on the other hand loves to eat s'mores but is not so keen on toasting the marshmallows so they make a great team. And when Kenzie is not toasting marshmallows she is entertaining everyone with her antics. Sunday was a case of you had to be there to really appreciate it but I will quote her when she got marshmallow all over her fingers and exclaimed, "Well this is a sticky situation!"

Smile!

More First Communion pics

These were a few I took at home with my high tech paper background that was duct taped to the deck outside. I did some post processing to these in photoshop elements. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out! I'm still working on a few more.

First Communion

Sunday, May 4th was Becca's first communion. It was very sweet. We were very blessed to have many people join us and appreciate that several of you traveled from many hours away to join us on this special day!

Becca led the procession down the aisle and we were lucky enough to have a front row seat.

After the service we had a cookout at our house all in all in was a very nice day, despite the rainy weather!

It took me a month to convince Becca to do a little photoshoot in her dress. Tomorrow I will share the results!

Spring suprise!

Yesterday afternoon when I returned home from picking up Becca at school I found a basket of Spring daisies outside my front door. I was pleasantly suprised and couldn't imagine who they were from. I was even more suprised to read the card and find out they were from my husband!

You see, as wonderful as my husband is, romance is not one of his strong points and he really doesn't like the "hallmark holidays" when people generally give flowers . And that's okay because when it comes to the really important stuff he is spot on and he spoils me in other ways. But I have to admit it was really nice to receive flowers for no special reason!

Thanks honey, I love you!

Fashion Statement

This is the latest in Spring fashion here in the northeast. When the temperature gets above 60 degrees it is time to pull out the shorts and t-shirts. But one also needs to be practical as well as fashionable and rubber boots are a must to navigate the mud puddles, spring creeks and remaining piles of snow(and dog poo!).

Just check out these lovely fashionistas!

Becca is modeling the more subltle "Fireman" style, while Kenzie prefers "Cute and Cuddly" with her Cow boots.

Special thanks to Grampie who provided the boots for todays fashion segment.

House For Rent: Cheep!

For several year now we have been wanting to put up some birdhouses around the yard in the hopes that we could get some birds to raise a family that we could watch. So the other day Dom came home with one and we proceeded to put it up in the front yard. Since the children still are not too keen on me taking thier picture and the current landscape is pretty dull and drab Dom became a willing subject as he put up the house.

Hopefully sometime this Spring we will get it some tenants and get a chance to see some baby birds. I'll keep you posted!

And speaking of birds here is a favorite picture of mine of an Evening Grosbeak. Usually we have a whole flock of them show up at one time to feed at the feeders and they are ususally easily scared away. This guy was all alone and let me get really close, relatively speaking as I was using a telephoto lense. He hung around for several days and I haven't seen him since, but I am glad to have got some pictures of him!

Life is Good

The Bruins made the playoffs for the first time in four years and they are playing Montreal in the first round. We have had significant snow meltage this week(I can actually see large areas of grass!) and for the first time in three weeks everyone in the house is healthy.
Life is good.

Mud

Poem To Mud

- Poem to ooze- Patted in pies, or coating the shoes. Poem to slooze- Poem to crud- Fed by a leak, or spread by a flood. Wherever, whenever, whyever it goes, Stirred by your finger or strained by your toes, There's nothing sloppier, slipperier, floppier, There's nothing slickier, stickier, thickier, There's nothing quickier to make grown-ups sickier, Trulier coolier, Than wonderful mud.

-Zilpha Keatley Snyder

So we are full on in mud season which is obvious from the photos. As you can also see from the photos we were actually able to go outside without snowpants, coats, hats and mittens! Yes Spring has finally arrived and after three weeks of one person or another being sick it has been a very welcome reprieve! We still have piles of snow but there are patches of grass to be seen here and there and for the next several days we are supposed to get temperatures in the 50s and 60s so we should have some significant melting. But with the melting comes the mud and I have given up trying to keep my floors clean until it dries up!