Friday, July 3rd... Ready for the Wedding Tomorrow... Watching for Family...

We’ve completed everything necessary for the renewal of our vows tomorrow in Tannersville and we’re simply awaiting Bill, Loraine and Andrew’s arrival this afternoon. We will exchange vows tomorrow at the Villa Vosilla in Tannersville before Mayor Lee McGunnigle, an old family friend and Vicki’s previous Chiropractor. After the ceremony, we will enjoy dinner, wine and entertainment in the Villa’s dining room where we will celebrate with family. Vick’s Mom, Dad, brother, his wife, son and daughter will venture from the mountain area beyond, to arrive at the Vosilla’s resort and our son, wife and grandson will arrive with us.
Nada Vosilla, her daughter Doria and husband Lee, along with their two daughters and one son run the Villa Vosilla year round, with great summertime outdoor activities, an outdoor and indoor pool, sauna and game room with a luxurious restaurant and dining area with an adjacent night club ballroom. We told Lee we would have our celebration anywhere in the Villa they chose to cater to us.
The Villa Vosilla is a beautiful, large Italian Resort nestled in the Catskill Mountains near all the scenic attractions, such as Haines Falls, the Katterskill Falls, Bastian Falls, the Catskill Mountain Preserve State Park, Tannersville, Hunter Mountain and Devils Tombstone State Park.

Perhaps I will work a little on the rear deck project, as far as getting the posts into position and possibly some of the header construction before family arrives. We really want to complete that project so we can cook, sit or just lounge on the rear deck even if it rains. It will also keep the rain off of the rear door and kitchen floor when a rainstorm, driven from the north east, (the ol’ Nor’easter) blows in, which presently drenches everything, even through the screens.

And........ As usual......... maybe I won’t do anything except relax until they arrive!

Thurs. July 2nd... There’s Habitat for Humanity... Then There’s Habitat for Critters.......

Thank God there are those who build homes under the program of “Habitat for Humanity” and if we felt it wasn’t a substantially supported program, we would volunteer our time. However.... many times these homes are built and occupied by under achievers and unfortunates of their own making. They willfully trash the very building or home, they were given to improve their lives. They simply are too lazy to care for the free gift, given them by others who want to give them a chance. They want to love like pigs and you cannot change that. We choose to work toward providing “Habitat for Critters”, because they have no choice. How many times have you seen deer decimate the woodlot with garbage or broken, junked items they no longer need or can use? How many times have you seen a commode in the woods with buckwheat “flowers” growing out of the bowl, that a rabbit planted or a bunch of discarded deer hides or piles of “antler sheds” lying around. We have 9 acres of land here on the farm and we developed approximately four to five of the nine, yet still allow for the wildlife to utilize, feed from and live on it all. There are still areas on the outer perimeter that we will continue to clean up from the pigs that occupied this land before us. They buried car parts, carpet, shingles, bricks and ashes all over the place and decimated trees and piled them in the swamp and woods for everyone else to look at and trip over. They had a truly poor regard for wildlife, nature and cleanliness. Slowly we are returning the area to a wildlife friendly atmosphere capable of sustaining the young of any critters that choose to call our land their home.
We have several litters of wild rabbits nesting here and under the decks. Every year in the spring, we host a large number of Canadian Wild Geese on the pond and grassy banks and the adults bring the young to within 10 feet of us as we work and watch them as they come to feed with our chickens. It’s as if they want us to meet their brood, for they know we will never hurt them. They will not even allow another Goose within 10 feet of their young without dropping their head, spreading their wings, hissing and running the other goose off, yet they allow us to be closer..... The wild rabbits don’t run from us and the Blue Heron fishes from the banks of our pond daily. We have deer that come into the yard and within 20 feet of us as they feed or bed down on the banks of the pond in shade during the mid-day heat. Occasionally, I make them move when I run the garden tractor to mow the grass, but usually they do not move to far. We love it here and appreciate everything given us to enjoy. We truly feel like stewards of the wild.

Wed. July 1st... Well Now, The Verdict is In..... Vick is allergic to the bunnies!!!!!

We got the idea that perhaps she was allergic to them the other night when she was scratched by one and her arm welted and started to itch, but then who doesn’t react to a scratch similarly? We held our assumption in reserve and again today, without being scratched by a bunny, she started to sneeze and itch. After remarking about it though, she said she did scratch her arm on the cage door. Again, we decided to wait until she interacted without a scratch from anything. Tonight, it happened..... she simply opened the cage door and petted the bunny inside, without picking her up and didn’t scrape her arms on the edge of the cut wires of the door opening and she reacted by sneezing and itching on the back of her hands, wrists and forearms. She is definitely allergic to the Angora bunnies.
I’ll have to do all the handling of them in the processing of the fiber and anything else needing done with them. Vick can specialize on the Alpacas. We finished hanging the cages and fitting the feed dispensers and water bottles to make them ready for occupation in two more weeks, like Claudia suggested. We can use the time, because we are a feeder short, so that will give us time to get one. Once we get past the two week mark, we will separate the four baby bunnies and they will start their lives as young adults. We will be able to harvest their fiber at five inches in length unless it becomes extremely warm. If that happens, we’ll cut their fiber and scrap it rather than risk the health of the rabbit in the extreme heat. We’ll keep a bunch of gel ice packs in the freezer of the refrigerator in the barn, so we can place a wet towel over the top of the cage with ice inside to drop the temperature in the cage below. That will work in some cases.... we must just watch the rabbit for signs of distress or relaxation, to know what to do. Well, anyway... the bunny brothel is done and we can move to the gift shop or the rear deck project. I think we’ll do the rear deck, so we can start to use it and enjoy some of the summer, eating outside or grilling, even if it rains.
Below are a bunch of pictures of the inside of the bunny brothel..... it was a neat building to utilize and we are about to release a portion of the chickens into the general population of the hen house. They’re ready now.

Today I mowed the entire farm where ever I could. Both sides of the Pupskill Bay Lake Pond were mowed to assure access for fishing to Bill for his visit. I then mowed everything else on the estate in preparation for their arrival.

Tomorrow we blend bunny feed in the big brown trash can.... should be fun!

Wed. July 1st... Wow...Where Does the Time Go and What Does it Ride On???

Time must ride on the wind or the rays of sun, traveling at the speed of light! It’s July already and we wanted to be finished with all the planned work so we could put the boat on the Hudson, trout fish in the streams, go to all the summer fests and take in all the sights. Didn’t happen and if we don’t get our butts in gear we’ll miss summer!
Speaking of missing something... we’re taking the car to be inspected at 11:00Am because it ran out yesterday. ANOTHER MISS! Jeeze um... The truck and utility trailer is due this month too. I guess we’ll get them scheduled before they run out too, but for a different day.
We will travel to Agway for chick starter too as soon as we return from the inspection station this morning, then make sure we’re home for Anita and Joe’s visit on the way from his therapy session. We’ll have a bite of cold cuts, cake and coffee with them. When they leave, I believe we’ll cut a few 2x4’s as planned unless it is raining cats and dogs. Stay tuned for pictures this afternoon.

Tues. Eve, June 30th... Another Month Gone... Only 6 Months, 25 Days Till Christmas!!!

My how time does fly... I just said to someone yesterday, “You know... in no time at all, we’ll be shoveling snow and shivering again!” How true that statement really is!

Today, we finished all the bunny cages and installed a new, rigid bottom on Wuzzy’s old cage which made him happy. I also gave him another ear mite treatment since the first was so successful. I didn’t want to miss any second generation mites that may have been in egg form when we gave Wuzzy his first treatment. If there was, he will need the treatment I just gave him to kill those mites which would have hatched by now. Soon we will start to mainstream some of the new chicks from the bunny brothel into the adult chicken population in preparation of emptying the brothel of chickens and getting it back to housing bunnies only.

Tomorrow I would like to do a little work on the gift shop. I need only to cut ten 2x4’s about 20” long for outriggers for the fly rafters on each end of the roof and I can install the overhangs and figure the porch deck material list. It must all be treated lumber, so it can’t come from Ed at Middle Field Lumber. I’ll have to get it from GNH or Lowes. Once the deck is installed, we can use Ed’s lumber for the long length porch roof rafters which will span from the peak of the roof to the porch post header. That way the front roof is all one pitch and we can use full length steel roofing that we will special order. Anyway... As soon as we order the lumber, we can go to the rear deck project which we have started, because we have all the materials for that project..... And we want to finish it so we can start using it in the evenings, even if it is raining.

We’ll have to go to Agway in the morning for chick starter crumble mix. We’re out in the bunny brothel and they still need some. I do throw a lot of layer/maintainer pellets in for the older ones, but there are a lot of young chicks we’ve recently added. We should only need one more bag of starter for the brothel and one more for the brooding house and they should all be on adult feed after that. We still need to blend the four bags of feed for the rabbits. It’s all in the back of the pickup. We need to weigh out the portions to make the feed that Claudia said the bunnies need. We’ll blend it in a plastic garbage can we have in the back shed and store it in the brothel against the wall, so we can scoop feed directly from that to feed the bunnies. There is always something to do here on the farm.

Our son Bill, daughter-in-law Loraine and Grandson Andrew will be here over the weekend for their bi-annual visit and to help us celebrate renewing our vows in marriage. It takes place in Tannersville at five o’clock where Vick’s Mom and Dad, brother and sister-in law with nephew and niece will also join in on the celebration, with dinner, drinks and dessert of wedding cake. It will be nice to do the ceremony over with all in attendance this time.

Tues June 30th... Here and There, Here and There... Around and Round We Go...

Writing a blog on a daily basis, with two entries most of the time becomes a challenge at times. There are periods when we can write three entries each day, because there is so much going on in our lives. Of course, there is the other side of the coin also..... For there are times we cannot come up with enough new things to create an entry. These are the times I allow my imagination or silliness to run rampant and you are presented with a blog entry that possibly entertains you or brightens your day, just knowing that there are times you're allowed to be silly and laugh.

There are times when I voice my opinion which may or may not be received well... And sometimes, due to a language barrier, I am severely misunderstood. We old guys from Pennsylvania, use a language all our own. It often varies in fact, from local community to local community. Since I lived in Granville, Pa...... Mine was known as “Granvillinese”. You sometimes may not understand where I am going or where I’m coming from, but those in Granville will understand precisely. Vicki was from Brooklyn, moved to Jersey for many years and had a summer cottage in Lititz, Pa. For a long, long time, she spent her weekends among the Lancaster area people and around the Amish folk. We still have different languages. I am learning to “open” and “Close” lights... and she is learning to “worsh” clothes and run the “sweeper”. We sometimes drink her “soda” and the next time, we drink my “pop”. We make hamburgers out “chopped meat” when I actually bought “ground beef or hamburg”. Anyway..... We all speak differently and I want you all to know that I never knowingly use language that would offend anyone, so if I have done so, please accept my apology and know in your heart, that it was not meant as such. Another example of this is when we refer to an “ignorant” person, as one who commits a nasty deed against an innocent person, stated such as, “You were pretty ignorant for doing that to him.” Or “Gee, that was a really ignorant thing to say”. Vicki took personal offense one time, when she took the meaning to say she was uneducated on how to treat people, during our conversation. Thus... we found ourselves with a few language barriers we had to hurtle. Very few of you that read us, ever comment, good or bad, so it’s really difficult to tell if we offend anyone by mistake. I do get some feedback from Julie, Kelly, Helen, Marlene, Linda and Lisa, our daily followers, but not always enough to know how we are doing. Julie and Helen are the most consistent and we appreciate the feedback.... as with all of you that comment. Please keep it up.
Many of our family members don’t understand why we "bare our lives" to the internet, and don’t want us to mention them or post any family functions with their presence in the pictures. I think they are shutting off the world and not accepting the friendship and camaraderie of folks with interests such as ours. We have received many informational gifts from many people, like delicious recipes for Julia’s Corned Beef & Cabbage, knowledge about the farm and animals and other tidbits of major interest, which I would never have received if we were not out there among you all. Thank you for reading us and please pass the word that we’re here. We consider you all our close friends!

Mon, June 29th... A day on the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm... Fast Paced...

My favorite place... the beaver pond

Spending the day here on the Cluckin’ “A” is a pleasure we understand!!! Bill, Loraine and Andrew, our family comes up every year to enjoy it with us for a short period of time. This year, they are coming to be at our side as we renew our wedding vows next Saturday. We were married previously and quickly, but no one was present as we exchanged vows, so we decided to have the ceremony performed in Tannersville by our good friend, Mayor Lee McGunnigle. After the ceremony is performed with Vick’s Mom and Dad, Brother, sister-in-law and two kids..... Our son Bill, Loraine and Grandson Andrew, we will celebrate and dine at the Villa Vosilla. Then it will be off to the farm to return to our daily celebration of living and loving together. Aside from the excitement of being here as we renew our vows... Bill and Loraine love to spend time relaxing and just “being” here. It’s quiet and allows them to rejuvenate from the rat race they are involved in where they live in Long Island. How nice it is for them to arrive, dump every care in the world from their minds for a few days and simply relax by shopping, fishing, watching TV or just taking an uninterrupted nap. Sharing meals is fun as we try different restaurants or just hang out at the grill and make burgers or whatever.
Anyway... that’s the plan for this coming weekend.

Yesterday, we RELAXED... NO WORK... all fun except for a lousy rotten meal at a waterfront spot that I’ll never recommend to any of my friends! We went to Agway to get some feed for the bunnies, but they had closed a little early, so we started home. We came upon a barn full of antiques and collectibles that we decided to check out, so we stopped. After browsing through some very nice items, we briefly talked to the owner, whose name is Linda. Vicki bought a very nice little watercolor picture of a sand dune, the ocean and a pair of soaring gulls. That struck up a discussion of how beautiful the picture was and the fact that Vicki was an aspiring artist and Linda always wanted to learn to paint. My part in the conversation was to correct Vicki and change “aspiring” to “accomplished” and encourage Linda to pursue painting as I had encouraged Vick at one time (and still do) as it ends up...... a new friendship was struck and forged between Vicki and Linda and the invitation to come to the farm and paint with Vick was given. We returned home and Vicki immediately gathered up some watercolors, a brush and five or so sheets of watercolor paper and we returned to the antique shop where Vick presented her with the things she would lend Linda to start practicing. This is how Vick and I meet and make so many friends.....because we are so much alike when it comes to meeting and becoming friends with everyone around us. We talk freely to everyone.

After leaving Linda’s antique shop, we went to the lousy restaurant called the Dockside in Athens for dinner. YUCK!!! We both had the shrimp and scallop basket with French fries and a calamari appetizer, with a coke. It was so bad, we only ate a small portion each and I called the waiter over, telling him that there was a very offensive and pungent after taste and we couldn’t eat the meal. They removed the entrée from the bill and we left for home, paying $30.00 of the original $52.00 tab, which included leaving the waiter a $10.00 tip (the lousy meal wasn’t his fault) which we based on the original tab. We still paid a hefty $20.00 for the Calamari and cokes...but it was an experience that will never be repeated there again and I’ll surely ruin enough of their business by spreading negative advertising that they are truly welcome to the $20.00 they stole from us. Neither Vick nor my stomach has felt real settled since leaving there. The grease on everything was bitter and had an awful aftertaste, screaming indigestion is on the way!

When we got home, we both grabbed a rod and went to the lawn chairs at the lake in our back yard. As you can see from the pictures, we did fairly decent. We always do a catch and release thing, so there is always fish there to catch. (OK Bill, did you see those Bass and that Crappie?)

Vick's nice Bass

I caught his Daddy!!

We snapped a few pictures of the bunnies and the Alpacas as they lounged in their stall near the open door.....and then there are the turkeys. Now coupled with the chickens.... you can see why we don’t have any flower beds in the yard anymore!

Here is Iggy, Luke and Bollero lounging around...

The reason we have no flowers...
click to enlarge pictures

Sunday, June 28th... Five more Days until Bill comes to fight the pterodactyl...

It has been said by many, but seen by few, that there are dinosaurs still living in our world today... And I suppose many of you think these people are nuts for thinking that. After all, thousands of years have passed since the Jurassic period, but still, there are many that swear to seeing living creatures of that era alive and breathing today. Thus is the belief of Bill. Bill is a simple man from Long Island who is a hard worker that comes but once a year to relax on the banks of the Pupskill Bay Lake Pond and simply fish. His idea of a good day is simply to catch a large fish... large enough to cook and eat. Seems like a simple quest for a simple man, but this simple man has a annual problem out there all alone on the banks of the Pupskill. He claims there are flying dinosaurs on our farm, around the lake where he fishes. Now we started to believe that this simple man was truly “very Simple”..... Possible bordering on Looney..... In fact, so close to crazy, that last year, we set up surveillance cameras to see what kind of trouble he was experiencing, if any. The first picture of his creature was hard to believe as it flew over the lake.


Now the second picture, taken a little later, was a little bit clearer and as you can see, it took his fish from a stout sapling that he hung his bass from! To bad we could not capture the picture of Bill fighting to reclaim his fish.



Now we have to ask ourselves if we don’t possibly agree with his claim that there is an incorrigible, nasty bird of some type...possibly from the Stone Age period, actually assaulting Bill as he tries to relax and fish, right. Well; we’d have Bill tell you this first hand, but as you can see in the last picture.......

We will have to await his return.

(When ever that might be...if ever!)

All Jokes aside Bill... We're looking forward to you, Loraine and Andrew's arrival next weekend.

We'll post some new pictures of the bunnies shortly...