Dogs Days of Winter

Sira becomes a Champion

Milos turns 10 years old!  

Two major events for our 4 footed family members.

Gone a week in winter - no heat - no freezing - a Testimonial to a bermed home

Testimonial for our bermed home in the Maine foothills - Closed it up on a Monday morning - no furnace - drapes pulled 1/2 way - temperatures ranged from the low 30's to single digits at night - and it snowed about 10-12 inches one day with wind - we returned in the middle of the night on the next Saturday - living room was 63 degrees and the back bedroom was 61.  Can anyone beat that?

Trip to Asheville

We met our long time friends and travelling companions in Asheville, NC for a wonderful short week of sight-seeing, reminiscing and dining in style.  Asheville is a very interesting city to visit with quite a mix of different cultures and places.

We spent a lot of the first day on touring the grounds and buildings of the Biltmore (Vanderbilt estate).  Found it to be quite interesting and it brought to life the episodes of Downton Abbey I have enjoyed.

The food scene is one not to be missed - the first night, we had a marvelous French dinner at an outside table - the Bouchon was very authentic and reminded us of our trips to Paris.  The next evening found us at the Mela Indian restaurant http://melaasheville.com/for some wonderful dishes with just a bit of zing.  And we could not leave North Carololina without BBQ - the casual atmosphere and delicious plates of steaming BBQ with real southern sides was enjoy by everyone at Luella's BBQ.

Following all these great meals and tourist attractions, we returned to The Lion and the Rose, our BandB for the trip.  A beautifully restored 1898 residence located in the quiet residential neighborhood of Montford.  This Inn is extremely welcoming and the proprietors could not be more helpful and friendly.   I could not close without mentioning the coffee delivered to our door every morning followed by a fabulous breakfast (the waffles were to die for)!

The route home took us through peak leaf season in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and then home. Just a few pictures of the trip - I certainly would enjoy spending more time in Asheville!

Signs of Fall - Maine foothills 2014

We have had extraordinary warm (hot) weather these last few days.  The solar system is chugging away full time and the trees are being painted by mother nature.  Here are a few signs of Fall.

Apples - loved by all

Empty beds

Last delphinium - they bloomed all summer

Final flocks

Garden and painted trees

Guess which one is hungriest.

Sad sunflowers - the birds have nearly cleaned them out

Love the reds.

Milos - 9 years and 9 months old

Final pollen gatherer

Sira - 2 years and 9 months old

Beautiful backdrop - solar panels

makes me smile

Barn Hunting

Trying the sport of Barn Hunt with Sira.

Sira tries weight pull

The sport of canine weight pulling is interesting and now recognized by the UKC.  I do not believe it is something that I would really like to get into deeply - and Sira was not totally thrilled.  But we did attend a clinic this weekend - and managed to not get thrown out.

A couple of shots of her 1st and 2nd attempts.

Valentines Day 2014 snow

We ended up with about a foot of new snow this Valentine's Day - this has been a long winter.  But, the dogs enjoy it?

Feb2014 snowplay

2013 Solar synopsis

Calculated that our solar installation produced nearly 90% of our electric use during 2013 - and has a payback of 8.5 years without including any rise in the price of propane etc. Good stuff.

We could use air conditioning - as the humidity is increasing every summer.  Maybe there is a way to increase our solar panels and get the house cooler..............   we will see.