Saturday Eve, Oct. 3rd... Had an Interesting Greenville Day and Farmer's Market...

Today was a new experience for both Vicki and me at the Farmer's Market, then afterwards at the Greenville Day celebration. I sold three copies of my book to interested ladies who have an appreciation for very deep poetry. Vicki sold several note card sets and at least three 4x6 framed art paintings... all with her new technique with white glue and watercolor. They are really very unique and beautiful. On top of that, we sold twenty three dozen eggs to old and new egg customers alike. It was a banner day for both Vick and I and Judy our friend that sells jams, jellies and soaps of all types, shapes and fragrances. Judy uses the name, Razzberry Raccoons and her email address is shaweecha@surferz.net , so drop Judy an email to see where she is going to set up next. People come for miles around to buy her jams and jellies. Her soaps are a hit with Vick and me too. We buy all our soaps from her and I've noticed very few kids passing her by. She has soaps with bugs, bats or fish inside which makes the extremely appealing to little boys and girls.

When we returned home this afternoon, we had a bowl of cabbage soup and went out to work on the outside wall of the chicken coop, which we have almost completed. It will make it really easy to winterize and still have a multitude of light shining in all day long.
Tomorrow we are going to Dutchess Country Fairgrounds for their arts and crafts fair. We are going, but only to browse and look around. As long as we can work on the building projects here at home, sell eggs or chicks....sell some art work or copies of my books, we can go to any of the fall festivals so we can say we didn't miss them. We are kind of busy and butt dragging tired most of the time though.... you know.....maybe that's exactly the way a person should live. Our friend Stanley Maltzman is around 84 years old, still producing classic art, still teaching art and planning to go to Oregon sometime soon, to do some art teaching out there. The way Stanley moves around pursuing his love of art makes us look lazy, and we're seldom still... with the exception that right now, I'm tired enough to hit the sack and watch TV until I drift off to sleep. Our bedroom is so cozy and I love our bed. It's the coziest EVER!!!

Sat October 3rd... This Little Piggy's Gone to Market

We're going to the Market and then staying for Greenville Day.
See you all later......

Friday October 2nd... Hildene Was Even Better than Before...Over 100 Vendors...

We arrived at the Hildene Meadows around 12:30 and never left until after 4:45.
We saw many beautiful, high end crafts and artwork and I found something I have been trying to find since 1995. Being part Shawnee Indian, I've been looking for a certain neck dress, but could not locate what I was looking for. Today I found it and bought it. The funny thing was that I went to upstate Vermont and the lady that makes them is from Shokan, near Kingston, NY. We go there all the time, in fact Shokan is where we bought the doors and windows for the hospice gift shop. How very funny. Vick also got a necklace with a feather on it. It's really pretty.

When we had our fill and figured it would be late until we would get home, we took off and started home. We had a zillion things to do when we got home anyway. Tomorrow is Greenville Day, starting with the Farmers Market. We were only going to set up for the arts exhibit with Vick's artwork, but when we got home, both cartons of my book were here, so we will set up tomorrow with eggs, Vick's art prints, note cards and original art pieces and my books. We'll start in front of the art building with the eggs and go right on into the "all arts matters" exhibit at 1:00PM..... directly after the Farmers Market. We'll probably be there until the fireworks after dark. Going to bed now... cause we only have about four hours to rest. See ya later...

Friday October 2nd... My Books are on a UPS Truck Heading Our Way...

Late yesterday afternoon, I received an email from my printer in Pennsylvania stating that they were delighted to report my books were shipped out yesterday and are on their way to me via UPS ground. This...my friends, will be a monumental moment in my life...when I hold my first official, published book, tangibly within my hands. I have teachers somewhere in Heaven that will shake their heads in sheer dis-belief, telling one another they never knew I had it in me. I never showed the potential to become a writer. I had written poetry secretly for years...since I was a small boy of eleven or so, but seldom allowed but a scant few to read the contents of such. They rolled their eyes or muttered that it didn't make any sense to them and gave it back or threw it away. Surprise, Surprise...I hope my Mom is looking down and smiling at my accomplishment, for she liked the little bit she had seen. I fear it to be way over my eighty-two year old Father's head, for he is a simple man, with limited abilities due to Parkinson's and diabetes...but he will proudly show off his copy to all he knows, you can bet... When they ask him what it's all about, he'll just smile and say "Hell, I don't know, but my boy's way smarter than I'll ever be." Perhaps this is true in a few ways, but not all... Dad, not all the important ones anyway.........

My biggest help in the production, editing, proofreading and publishing of this book was my wife...the love of my life...my soulmate, and beautiful lady, Sweet Vicki. Without her constant support and nudging, I would have produced a substandard imitation of a good book. Now I need allow the world to judge my efforts, knowing within myself, that Vicki's judgment is all I really needed to know I've succeeded. I felt happy for Dr. Loraine Alderman, Psy.D., our daughter-in-law, when her book "Don't you get it?" came out, but I really didn't understand until now...exactly how she felt.Well.... here it is nine o'clock...Time to awaken Vick and head for the Hildene foliage art and craft festival in Manchester, Vermont. Today will be a day long pleasure of a ride up route 7 into Manchester Depot, where we'll drive west on route 11 & 30 to 7A to the Hildene meadow, where the event will be held. Gotta get moving.... See ya all later.

Thurs Oct 1st... Wow what a day... Running...Running...Running... Tomorrow too...

Today was a busy day; I'm tired and going to bed soon, but needed to post a short blog entry...
I went to the rheumatologist today in Troy, NY. He's nice but didn't conclude anything as yet. I have to go give blood to do some extensive bloodwork to determine what this could be, and then he'll treat the condition. I'm satisfied.

After leaving him, we went to Schenectady to drop off artwork of Vicki's at Kim's studio. Visual Winds is a great place to have copies or fine art prints made.

From there we stopped at the Price Chopper supermarket and bought groceries.
When we got home, we put them away and jumped back into the car and went to Stanley Maltzman's house with some artwork Kim had finished for him, so we brought them home for him. There was a painting there for his daughter Susan Story also.

From there we went to a saw mill to arrange the cutting of lumber for the hospice gift shop.

When we came home, I was beat and took a nap. Now I'm gonna go to bed, because tomorrow is the Hildene fall arts and crafts festival in Manchester, Vermont. See http://www.myartsandcrafts.com/craft_show35.htm We never miss this one. There are also a multitude of events in this area which you can check out at the following also.... http://www.hildene.org/html/events_and_exhibits.html
There are many fall foliage festivals in the Vermont area, which makes it a pleasure to visit there at this time of the year.

Wednesday Sept 30th... The Last Day of September....What if We Said Simply, The Last Day?

I sat here this morning in the dim light of dawn, sipping coffee and reading the news as usual, thinking about it being the last day of September... soon to be October. The wind had a chill and was blowing a constant, but lazy manner in which it gently rattled the leaves back and forth on the tree limbs. This constant rattling back and forth, combined with an occasional chilly rain fall, lends credence to the thousands of falling leaves, which blur the vision at each gust of the wind. It is as if old man winter is hiding just over the horizon, blowing his chilly breath across the field toward us. In retrospect of that thought, I presume he is doing just that.... lurking just around the corner, simply waiting for the chance to pounce on us with winter.
Just then, an old crow in the back yard let loose with a caw that broke my contemplation of winter and returned me to the news and the thought of it being the last of day of September. It was then that it struck me full force, that anytime of the day or night, it may very well be the last day period.
If you have been reading, watching or listening to the world news in the last day or so, you've surely heard about Iran and their nuclear program advancement. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has publically denounced the making of nuclear weapons of mass destruction, saying the Uranium enrichment program is simply to provide nuclear power to generate electricity for their homes and industry. Somehow I have trouble believing this.... actually I have trouble believing anything this guy says about caring for his country, his country's people or the welfare of any other country in the world he would love to dominate.
Lets face it, most Americans can't really be sure about what our own government is doing behind our backs, let alone know what is going on half way around the world, but I'll grant you that my first statement is a viable possibility, if anything goes wrong in this day and age, no matter who initiates it.... or who responds to it!
Do you know.... if everyone would stay home, quit sticking their noses in other countries activities and mind their own business, we would have absolutely no need for guns or weapons of any kind. If every American would stay home, mind their own business and when they do leave home, make sure not to impose on another person in any way, we wouldn't need police, guns or any weapons here either.
Wouldn't it be nice to hear how all crime...everywhere in the world has ceased to exist and there is no threat of war or crime anywhere...at all? How can we ever hope to see that in a world where a husband beats his wife or kids... drinks...does drugs... lies and steals, then cheats on his spouse? How...I ask you...so close to home, let along half way around the world...with many countries that believe killing is God's will?
These countries will stop at nothing to control the world and all who are left living. They treat their women and children as something beneath them, inflicting pain and anguish at will, killing anyone that doesn't constantly conform to their thoughts and believe that if you are not one of them, you must be killed.
How then do we as intelligent people, survive such a threat and maintain our own morals of living....trying to live as God wants us to by loving our neighbor as ourselves? We remember that thou shall not kill... nor shall you keep company with the unclean at heart, but what can you do when they come for you... or aim that missile into your backyard?
We know this; you cannot reason with a people that will line up, volunteer to strap a bomb to themselves and are willing to walk into a group of innocent men, women and children to detonate that bomb to make a statement. What is their statement, beyond "I am stupid, irresponsible, uncaring, murderous and a puppet...because I just did the first thing God said not to do... shed the blood of an innocent person."
In light of all this, don't you think that any day could really be the LAST DAY?
All we can do is ask our loving God to wrap us all in his protecting arms if it comes to that.

Tuesday September29th... Don't it Suck When you Miss the Garbage Pickup??

Once again, I've awakened in the morning, to rush the doggies outside to do their duty, make coffee and read AOL News, the blog comments and then relax a bit to look around at other's blogs and such. This morning I was rushing to complete Vicki's artwork which she is making into note cards. There are a lot of graphic corrections and jury riggin's necessary to make square or portrait pictures fit a landscape style note card. I enjoyed doing the work for her though and have wanted her to start marketing her artwork for quite awhile now, so in my zest for helping her get going, I forgot the garbage again! Thank God the container was only partially full and it is getting colder and it won't stink until next week. Anyway, Vick is presently working on a series of landscape and pet portrait card sets which will be available packaged with envelopes. They are certainly beautiful enough to grab the attention of adults, kids and connoisseurs of the art world, who may enjoy having Vicki's art on a small scale, while performing a functional purpose. I know she will sell many sets as soon as they are available. We'll place a showing of the sets as soon as she has them completed and ready.
We went to Hair-tique, in Greenville, right along route 81, next to and behind the Kubota dealer this morning for our sorely needed haircuts. It has been quite awhile since we were there last, which was witnessed by my scruffy look of bushy mop hanging out from under the back of my ball cap...curling up like a like a girlie man hair doo. Spring was in her usual gala mood, looking to splash me good with some brilliant color of hair dye, like she has done the last two times we were there. My savior of the visit today was that she was predisposed with a lovely little customer appreciation snack table, which kept her attention away from dying me and giggling incessantly, all the while. The first time I got a purple streak under the ball cap up front and the last time I got Blue filling the hole in the ball cap, where you adjust the size of the cap. God knows what this time would have been and she did sell Vick a tube of orange for autumn highlights to Vick's hair... still chuckling and telling Vick she could really give me the pumpkin look for Halloween. We sampled her meatballs and a wicked sausage with peppers and onions. She also had a multitude of other snack delights there for the customers of today. We volunteered to return later in the day with a huge bowl of spaghetti to sit with them and eat the remainder of the meatballs and sausage for dinner. Spring was excited and said that would be ok if we wanted to bring some down. She makes going to get our hair a visit we always look forward to, because she is not only good, but funny. She has also given us a lot of good places to eat and turned us on to the various fairs and local events around the region since first going to her a couple years ago. She is a really special person...as are all the girls working there. It's such a fun place to go.







Spring and Michelle placing the food...















Michelle looking over their labors on the table.....





Pretty impressive spread in appreciation of all her customers...






The Shop... Gail is on the run for something...







Spring is finishing up the snack table...









This is Spring. She is the owner of Hair-Tique and that perputually beautiful smile..... Always bubbling with laughter.....



All the critters in the new chicken coop are really happy with the renovations and if they had leases... I think they would definitely re-new them since the changes. They have much more room, better perches and roosts and all the chickens are now together in that barn. The bunnies are likewise happy in their new room. They are now in a clean room with lots of hay and on every other day, the sexes are allowed to be loose to run about and get their exercise too. Today the boys are running free in the room. Yesterday, it was the ladies. Some day we can throw a floor against the end of the brothel building and whip out an 8 x 8 building for the turkeys to roost in. We want to place a dog run outside that for them on days when we don't want them running free. (Like during turkey season). With the pneumatic framing nailer, we can throw up a building that size in an afternoon.

Monday Sept. 28th... Ah Yes... Monday, Monday......So Good To Me... Maybe.........

Oh.....Say it isn't SO!!!

I got up this morning stuffed to the hilt, coughing, sniffling and hacking from allergies or a cold or something. I've been taking a Zirtex at night before going to bed and eating those Chloriseptic lozenges all day long to help my throat with the post nasal drip I have. Somewhere during the day, the drip either stops or lessens and I start to feel better and then we're almost into the evening and it cycles all over again. Now it's raining perpetually it seems. If the actual rain stops, the floating mist continues, slowly soaking everything. Vicki is suffering in much the same way, with only slight differences. She is like this all summer long with allergies. Mostly, her cheeks are puffy and red, because her sinus' are stuffed most of the time. This cool dampness chills to the bone if you sit around, yet you sweat profusely if you try to complete projects around the house. You tend to sniff ans snort all day long.... Ya can't win for losin'!!!!

I know we have a vet visit for Bear again today. Curt wants to check on her progress on the new meds and I'm sure he will like the results. She has been like a new dog. The ascites has lessened both in her abdomen and it surely has drained from around her heart, because she is breathing normally now rather than panting constantly. This is surely the last hurrah for her and although we can increase the Lasix to an amazing dosage yet, that is all we can do. Beyond that she will succumb to her heart disease one day. However.....fifteen year old dogs, living a happy carefree life with four other dogs for company is rare and receiving her special treatment, optimum foods and best of medical care, allows us to smile and accept the inevitable when it occurs without regret, as she happily lives the remainder of her life.

Perhaps when we return from the vet's office, if we feel up to it, we can do a little wiring in the loft area of the barn. There are a few unfinished tasks to perform up there before we can call it finished. I would like to hang the door and close off the wall to the "sick room" in front, which will isolate that room from the rest of the barn. We can then keep the cats in the loft part and maybe keep that room and tools or other items in there away from the mischievous cats and their claws. They drag everything everywhere. I'm missing the cap to my chalk line dust and may never find it..... I'm sure it was batted and chased into oblivion!!
If we don't feel up to it.....perhaps we'll sit on the couch and rest, cough, snort and snooze. Maybe I have a cold? Just so it isn't swine flu.....cause I don't wanna be a sick piggy!

Sunday Eve, Sept 27th... Rapidly Approaching the End of This Month Too...

Wow!! It seems like only yesterday that we were making plans to start the foundation of the hospice gift shop, take the vinyl off the outside runs on the barns and make our summer plans.
Gone... just plain gone! Three more days and we'll be into October, and just as I've been complaining about since spring, the months are whizzing by like days. Now, the years are flipping by like months...rapidly flipping by and will continue to go faster as we continue to get older.

We went to Agway today to pick up layer pellets and cracked corn, but we want to find a farmer somewhere that still sells field corn on a cob so we can buy a dump truck load if possible and then shell it ourselves, bag it and store it for winter. Next summer, we want to put a fence up around the yard by fort Apache and sow field corn, let it grow and mature, die and harvest it ourselves. We'll then run it through our corn sheller and bag it. That should help when we can do that year after year once the fence is paid for.

After we returned from Agway with our feed, we ate lunch and then ventured into the barn, built an angle roost, some overhead roosts and removed the rest of the wall between the room and the run. Now all we need to do is reinstall the board and batten to the outside and close it up except for small windows so we can put the vinyl over the window holes for winter and we're done. The chickens love their new room, because it is so big and roomy and there are so many roosts.

We took the following pictures of the chicken coop renovation and a few of the new bunny brothel. The barn is so orderly and comfy now. I think Vick even snapped some pictures of the old barns and the new Guinea Fowl we recently acquired.






Pictures of the coop renovations





From Outside, looking in....

The nesting area......

Calli, one of our barn cats...

Kaylee, the other barn cat...

A dumb bunny holding a fluffy one...

The fluffy one with out the dummy...

A love bunny holding a loving bunny...

The loving bunny alone...

Here are the dozen Guinea Fowl we received yesterday. There are more coming this weekend...