Scout's Obsession

Scout watches the chickens.

Scout spent the summer on the couch on the sun porch watching the chickens. She became obsessed with watching them, and would even run to the living room windows to follow them as they walked around the house. Daughter Amelia was concerned about her dog's behavior, but it hasn't done any harm to Scout. We tried prohibiting her from the couch and that didn't work. No dogs are on the sun porch now because of the rennovations. The sun porch is here, but it is partially demolished and is being rebuilt. New French doors have been installed to go into the new living room. But with a wall gone on the porch, there is free access to the outdoors and these dogs can't be let loose (or they will disappear up the mountain). Scout is once again calm and behaving normally. The chickens are spending their days in the woods now so they seldom come around the house. Catgirl took this photograph with the Olympus Tough 8000. She also took the photo of her brother, Ironman, below. Got to love little boys!

Funny face!

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Best Laid Plans: Moose Tracks

Route 16, which goes by the house, has been repaved. It's been a long process. On May 17, the crew finally had laid the new shoulders of blue stone. They had expensive machinery pounding the stone in the shoulder in a solid, hard mass. This isn't the soft, sandy shoulders of the old road. And then overnight . . . a big, old moose came out of the bog, walked down the road on the new shoulder for almost a quarter of a mile before it crossed the road to the mountain. The shoulder there is permanently holey now. So much for the hard work of that crew.

On the same day, Amelia and I took all three dogs for a walk. I have Willow, so you don't see her. Here is Amelia with Scout and Sophie. Our house is way, way back (that white speck), and the mountain is Barton Mountain, the middle hump. Barton Mountain has three humps: big, medium (in the middle) and small. From where we live, the mountain does not look like a mountain. But that is because we are only about 800 feet (244 m) from the summit, which is at 2, 235 feet (681 m).

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Snow, Oil, Dogs and Cellar Holes

On May 10, Ironman had the camera again and took photos of our oil delivery. We’ve never had to have a delivery in May, but it snowed the first two weeks of the month and we ran out of firewood. We should be set with oil now for a couple of years.

Then the 4 year old took the camera into the room that John is renovating and got this shot of the cellar hole. The boulder is part of the original 1900 stone foundation. It is a granite boulder that was quarried on Barton Mountain in our quarry.

These are some old farm implements that were tossed into the cellar hole. There were treasures and trash under the floor — some of it was over 100 years old.

Ironman’s self-portrait.

Scout (left) and Willow napping on the couch on the sun porch.

To see a naughty photo of Scout that Ironman took, click here. I won’t post the photo on the blog.

Ironman’s 6 year old sister, Catgirl. Ironman is on the right.

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Two Dogs

Amelia took this photo with my camera after John and I came back photographing bitterns, partridge, ducks and the waterfalls in town. It was a beautiful, warm day, a perfect spring day. Two of the dogs, Willow on the left and Scout on the right, were watching all of us from the sun porch window. Scout has her tongue out in this photo. John and I then mucked through the beaver bog and learned some interesting things about the beaver across the road (which will be in upcoming posts). That was Sunday. Monday was warm, also. Tuesday and today? Snow. All day. Over one foot deep. The trees in our woods were bent over so that I worried we would have more storm damage. We lost Internet for nearly the whole day. But it's going to be warm this coming weekend! The dogs (and cats and chickens) will be willing to go outside again!

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Two New Meeyauws

My daughter Amelia loves Nate. Nate has two children. Catgirl, above, is 6. Ironman, below, is 4. John and I have a lot of fun with them. We go to the library, do chores, read bedtime stories, go shopping and cook together. I gave them the Olympus camera the other day, taught them how to use it, and let them go at it. These are all of their photos!
Below, Ironman took a photo of Nate as he came home with Catgirl from school.

Below: Buddy napping in the sun.

Below: Willow on the left, Scout in the far background. And Sophie on the right.
And below is my favorite photograph! Ironman took a photo of John as he was brush hogging. John played monster for the camera, which caused Ironman to scream with delight. The kids love John — talking to him constantly and climbing on him whenever he sits.
In the future, you'll be hearing out our adventures with Catgirl and Ironman!

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The Granddogs

The new granddog, WillowScout Sophie

I haven't taken photos of these dogs in over a year. I have four granddogs. The fourth, Daisy, can be seen here. I have a new granddog now — Willow! She is a lady but a barker. Scout is the perfect dog: calm, secure and serene. And Sophie? Well, there is no describing her. She has behavioral problems. All three dogs belong to Nate and Amy.

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A Dog Visit on the Fourth

When Amy & Matt came on the Fourth of July, they brought Sophie (above) and Scout. The dogs loved the swimming in the pond and hunting in the woods for squirrels, chipmunks and mice. Sophie doesn't seem too happy here, but that is just the capture of the camera. She was running and swimming for hours.

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Happy Fourth of July!

see more Funny Graphs

Amy, Matt, Sophie & Scout came for a cookout today, which we managed to have. It rained harder than it has the past month. Thunderstorm after thunderstorm rolled through and the rain was blinding. But inbetween, we managed to cook and we had a great time. The dogs swam, went mouse and squirrel hunting and we walked them down the road. No fireworks tonite (see the above graph)!

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Orleans County Quests: Glover Runaway Pond Quest

On Sunday, Matt, Wingnut and I did the Glover Runaway Pond Quest.

In Commemoration of the breaking away of Long Pond
June 6, 1810. Erected by the Town of Glover
June 6, 1910.

Long Pond/Runaway Pond/Dry Pond

In 1810 the water level of Long Pond was 70 feet above this marker and the water flowed south into Greensboro and the Lamoille River.

Needing more water to power Aaron Willson's grist mill in Glover, 60 men and boys dug a ditch on the north shore (about 0.5 miles north of here) to cause the water to flow into the Glover/Barton River.

Due to the Quicksand in the earth, the entire hillside washed away and the pond "ran-a-way" discharging its billion gallons of water toward the mill in 1.5 hours.

Spencer Chamberlain raced ahead of the wall of water for 5 miles and saved the miller's wife.

Glover Historical Society 1996

An old millstone.

Runaway Pond today

The Old Road to the Clearing where the men and boys
tried to divert water to the Barton River.
The quicksand, where Matt got stuck, is up there.

A memorial in the Clearing

Old woods road in the Clearing.
Woods roads were made out of wood, as can be seen here.

Clark's Pond

If you look closely you can see an old stump in the pond. This is the last remaining stump of 12 stumps. The twelve trees that were here in 1810 were snapped off by the rushing waters of Long Pond.

Westlook Cemetery, Glover

Spencer Chamberlain's grave

Matt and Wingnut found the treasure box!

To view all the photos for this quest, visit my Runaway Pond Quest Set at Flickr.

Technorati Tags: Westlook Cemetery, Spencer Chamberlain, Clark's Pond, Glover, Vermont, Runaway Pond
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Wingnut: Brownington Prospect Hill Observatory Quest

Brownington Congregational Church

We did this quest on Wednesday, July 16 — a very short quest, appropriate for our schedule that day. I've been to Prospect Hill many times and always am astounded at the views. Wingnut didn't take any photographs of the mountains and lakes. But these photos give you a feeling for the area of the quest.

Old church bell.

The sign on the road to the observatory.

Hayfield sign.

Common milkweek

The observatory.

The original observatory was built in 1890 by William Barstow Strong. The present day observatory is a replica of the original and was built in 1976 as a Town Bicentennial project. Strong had attended the Orleans County Grammar School and gone on to become a prominent railroad builder. He also paid for extensive remodeling of the Brownington Congregational Church's interior and furnished a large bell and spire for the belfry.

Amelia and one-half of Scout

The treasure box!

The stamp for our quest book

A gentleman from Massachusetts was able to reach the treasure box in the rafters for us and he took this photo of me and Wingnut.

Red berries.

Technorati Tags: William Barstow Strong, Brownington Prospect Hill Observatory Quest, Orleans County Quests, Vermont
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