I never made for a good pen-pal either.

So I guess it should be of little surprise that blogging often is a bit challenging for me.

We finally found our way to the Friendly Farm last weekend.

Annabell was a little overwhelmed at first.

In her defense, the goats were extremely eager to make new aquaintances. Especially small ones carrying the little brown bag of animal feed they sell you on the way in.

Dont you just love her 'zone of safety'? lolShe seemed to relax when we were in the chicken house where you could hold the chicks.

Matt had a ton of fun, I dare say more than Bell. He has been talking about it for days. He said it was therapeutic for him.

Me too- I love farms. I would love to have my own. (No snickering from family members who believe I would never work hard enuff!) My favorite animals there were the little brown sheep and of course, the peacock. He was guarding an egg so he opened his feathers a couple times. I dont know when the last time was I saw a peacock in person, but it was AWESOME.

I toally stole a cuddle with a bunny while no one was looking, despite the sign asking not to pick them up. It was just too irresistable.

I should note that in spite of the infamous chicken chase story of Matts childhood, I turned around to catch this:

And, while we were feeding the EXTREMELY greedy (& nearly violent) Geese,

Annabell was making new friends with the big guy.

Finally, to send us off in laughter was this odd duck, or rather chicken.

It was a nice little peak into what living in harmony with animals could be like ;-).

We cant wait to return!

Lately...

We have really been taking advantage of the warmer weather. Over the Holiday weekend there was lots to be done in the garden. Annabell got to plant her own garden. Matt stayed true to his promise and pulled out the ugly yews that flanked the breezeway door in a most unimaginative way. I was thrilled to put some very fragrant roses in their place. I also picked up some Cleomes and sunflowers seeds as both of these did really well last year. My clematis vine has taken off but I am still waiting on the blue flowers. I am planning to extend Annabells garden area and take up more of the front lawn. The grass is not anything to write home about so I am just going to plant some perrenials in there. Matt is not aware of my plan yet, but I am confident he'll be grateful for less lawn to mow. In all my efforts in the yard I discovered we have more than a few red ants out there this year. I also overdid it just a little bit. Sunday I was a bit dehydrated and sunburned and what have you. By Monday I was feeling much better again and right back out in the dirt.

The town has contacted us about trying to aid in the drainage problem we have out back. The Ashuelot River sends water out behind our back yard. Its a bout 1/2 way into our property. If they are actually able to dry this up a bit the possibility of having a huge garden out back is so exciting!!! Right now it is too difficult to get beyond the brook/mud. But if I could past it, I have a huge wide open field just begging for attention! Matt has been trying to tell me all along its not worth it. But Im thinking he's looking at it from a lawn mowing perspective. He made sure to tell me again this weekend how much he detests mowing. I guess if I am to get anywhere close to convincing him of the benefits of extending our yard, I will have to start doing some mowing. Altho if we were able to get a secondhand ride-on mower, Im betting he would enjoy the chore...

anywho thats all the excitement here!

Playing catch-up

I know I go too long between posts. Especially when I look at some friends blogs and see some of them are able to check in (yikes) DAILY. I continue to attribute my lack of continuity on my ENFP-ness.

Its easiest to update by thinking most recent back.

This weekend we had our special assembly day. I heard about 20 minutes of the program. Reason being, A. It was hot as hades in the auditorium. Seriously, over a thosand people need cooler temps than the 75 degrees we were all sitting in. Combine that with the various perfumes, deodorants, hair products and flourescent lighting and its just a recipe for disaster. B. We arrived a little later than we would have liked. Natick is now an hour and a half drive for us in Keene. Due to the fact we arrived after the session began, we got less than choice seating. I was hot and in the middle of the row which only served to remind me of my claustrophobia. C. This the first assembly day we have attended since Annabell became toilet trained. (footnote- she hadn't pooped in 2 days) All the factors considered made for a miserable almost 4 year old. She was wearing a gorgeous ivory 'Princess Dress' that I feared for in view of the fact that her potty- regression has taken the form of pooping in her big-girl panties. (YES- this is what the post is about.) Needless to say I brought her to the potty every time i thought I smelled something. By 11 am it was painfully obvious annabell has an issue using foreign bathrooms. She would not even pee there. I planned for this tho and we had brought her potty in the truck with us. After lunch we tried to get her to use her potty but she wouldnt and was just becoming more and more irritable. In the end, we decided it would be best to leave. Based on the fact that we werent getting anything out of the program and Annabell had begun crying a lot and was pretty much distracting everyone who she was near. A few pics of us in the parking lot trying to convince her to potty.

The plan all along had been to go visit nana and nunu after the assembly. So we left and went there early. It was so nice to visit with them. Being far from them over a long hard winter made visiting difficult. I talk to them on the phone but Nana reminded me it had been quite a while since they saw us. Nanas health isnt great to say the least and she is very tired. But she and Nunu loved seeing Annabell. Ama and Papa came by as well as Auntie Di. Annabell entertained the crowd by entertaining herself and singing 'My Girl'. We hope Nana and Nunu are able to come up with ama and papa next time they visit the 'good side of the mountain'.

now for your viewing pleasure, the latest song Annabell has stuck in her head...

Mawwage.

... Mawwage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam. And wove, twue wove, wiww fowwow you fowevah...
So tweasuwe youw wove...

Today is mine and Matt's 7th wedding anniversary. The celebration of the day us 2 best friends decided to announce to the world (actually, we eloped so it was more like 2 friends we asked to join us and be our witnesses) how much we meant to one another. I am so lucky to have him in my life, as my friend, partner and well, twue wove.

April 29, 2001

green acres is the place to be...

This post is dedcated to those of our family and friends still stuck in Taxachusetts who maybe still cant understand why we moved our family to New Hampshire. This is how we spent our April 20th...

This is a little place known to us locals as Dort Road. Its wonderful and there is soooooo much space and land for Maizy and Annabell to run like crazy. Even tho the water is still pretty cold (about 44 degrees) that didnt stop Maizy from jumping in the rapids and treating the place like it was her own water park. She would swim in place for a few minutes and then, when she got tired she would let the current carry her down river and somewhere she climbed onto the banks, ran back to us and jumped in to do it all over again. Annabell didnt seem put off by the cold water either. She enjoyed stepping in and throwing rocks for Maizy to chase.

In other news I was delirously happy to get out and start playing in the garden this weekend. I did mostly spring cleaning. But I was able to get my planters all planted with coleus and pansies for now. ( I know they will change over the season.) Here are some pics that will end up as 'before' shots to compare at the end of the summer.

really, I am happiest when I have soil under my fingernails. AND I even have strap marks from the sun!!! How loverly.

shes got the bug too.

It would seem Annabell's itching just as much as me to start the fun. Today little girl- promise!

doe-a-deer

Having been born and raised in the Boston area, my own personal experience with wildlife near my yard is somewhat 'challenged'. Our idea of wild animals were pesky squirells ripping into garbage bags an occasional skunk and many, many pigeons. Not to be forgotten was the year that the MBTA built Alewife Station at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, driving Cambridge's version of wildlife (RATS!) into the adjacent Arlington neighborhoods where I lived. So you can probably guess moving to New Hampshire was a totally new experience for big city-Jen. And you can also imagine my reaction the first time we spotted deer in our back forty. I gathered up my (then) 2 year old daughter and (then) puppy Maizy and in an honest attempt to keep them quiet and non-threatening went out back. The dog of course, flipped out immediately. While trying to contain her, Annabell noticed a ball and became extremely loud in her requests to play with it. Hindsight being what it is I probably should have just appeased them both and given them the ball to play with. But in my excitement over the newly discovered sanctuary that was my back yard I opted to make them wait. You can probably guess this scene did not sit well with our 4 legged guests. As they ran off I moped and kicked myself for not being satisfied with watching them from the window. They never returned- at least not when the crazy lady and her screaming brat and mangey mutt were in sight.

Until,

Can you see them? These are clearly young, possibly new deer. Im almost positive they have not been informed of our past mis-adventures in trying to observe them peacefully. They seem curious but not threatened by Maizy's barking at them. At some point they just become annoyed with her (as do I) and move on. I am SOOOO EXCITED to see these 2. I told Matt I want to name them. They are in my yard repeatedly- they are MY deer. Tho I decided its better not to try to explain this to them. My dad says there must be a buck around too if I am seeing these 2 young ones. How COOL would it be for him to grace us with his presence. I hope he finds my yard worthy! I have not decided on names for (my) deer. Any suggestions? Bambi and Filene seem way too obvious BTW.