bees

matt and the folks from the bee class carefully examine the hive, using skills acquired during weeks of training. stew watches from a prudently safe distance.

bee keeping

matt has been taking a bee class and is gearing up to get his own hive going in a couple of weeks. i have asked and it seems like when we go places to visit people, we will be bringing the two dogs, but we do not have to bring the three pounds of honeybees that matt has ordered. they are not pets.

we made a quick trip down to the farm in cranston yesterday to help michele clean out the hive from last year and to pick up some equipment. matt also sampled some of the old honey in the combs.

of course- chayote!

bad karma

earl the cat was hit by a car today. he has been hanging out down at oak knoll, keeping tabs on the mouse population here, and managed to escape out the back door when one of the guys finishing up our new bathrooms accidentally left it open. although things looked bad at first, it seems like he is suffering from no more than an injured toe and some minor scrapes and bumps. he is on antibiotics to help with the scrapes and pain meds to help with the bumps, but otherwise ok. phew. and then one of the pet turtles died today. FYI- turtles sink when they die. and if you have an animal that doesn't really move around a lot and often sits on the bottom of the tank and then it dies and still doesn't move around a lot and just sits at the bottom of the tank, it is pretty hard to notice that it is actually dead. thank goodness the thing has eyelids. they were closed.

watching tv

ohmigosh- do you think lightning mcqueen is going to make it?

aj colored on his lips with marker.

aj colors with purple

busy times on the farm

in the past week at the farm, five sets of twins and one singleton baby have been born to various sheep and goats. our favorite goat, snowy the uniteater (note to jed and aaron- we're sure it's a teat), had twins after almost ten hours of labor. that's a lot of pushing for a goat. i'm not sure how things are going to work out with two babies and only one nipple, but it might end up with a whole lot of bottle feeding. annabelle, who was looking at least four feet wide, had two very large kids. they are both happy and healthy, but seem to only be nursing from one side of her immense udder- matt and i have to milk half of annabelle each day. maybe we can somehow switch her kids with snowy's. one of the sheep had a rather unattractive, extremely small white lamb who isn't nursing- another little one for the bottle. we're still waiting for the pigs.

if it weren't for all the mud, the slightly ridiculous demands on our time (all of which i try to pawn off on the intern or matt), the fact that nina can and does often slip into the sheep pasture and pigpen where a variety of much larger animals could potentially kick the piss out of her, the rat poison in the chicken coop that makes us constantly fearful of jake eating something he shouldn't, and the vague feeling of anxiety that someone might go hungry or cash out on our watch, this whole part-time farmer thing is a blast!

oh how i wish i could wear baby clothes

there are still photos from vermont that i need to post, but i am skipping ahead a couple of days in order to share these pictures of baby clothing of the utmost cuteness. the baby isn't bad either, but you have to be able to look past her little frog footsies or butterfly mittens to see her. baby? what baby? look at this little froggy foot!

moore dogs

good news, julie!

you'll no longer have to do dishes in the sink, now that dad has your new dishwasher up and running.

i almost believe it...

Dear Friend ,

My name is Mrs Judith Williams am 79yrs old of age, i stay at No 6618 Flowermound Dr, Sugarland TX 78479 , USA.

I am a good merchant, I have several industrial companies and good share in various banks in the world .I spend all my life on investment and coporate business. All the way i lost my husband and two beautiful kids in fatal accident that occur in November 5th 2003. I am a very greedy woman with all cost i dont know much and care about people, since when I have an experience of my it difficult to sleep and give rest .

Later in the year 2004 Febuary i was sent a letter of medical check up, as my personal Doctor testify that i have a lung cancer, which can easily take off my life soon. I found it uneasy to survive myself, because a lot of investment cannot be run and manage by me again. I quickly call up a pastor / prophet to give me positive thinking on this solution, as my adviser.

He ministered to me to share my properties ,wealth, to motherless baby/orphanage homes/people that need money for survivor both student that need money/ business men for their investment and for future rising. So i am writing this letter to people who really need help from me both student in college, to contact me urgently.

So that i can make available preparation on that especially women of the day, who are divorced by their husband, why they cannot survive the mist of feeding theirself. Please contact me and stop weeping . Probably let me now what you really need the money for, and if you can still help me to distribute money to nearest orhanages homes near your town. Now am so much with God, am now born again.

May you be blessed, as you reach me, I will give more information to you as i await your response immediately.

Best Regards ,

Mrs Judith Williams Response

dad ponders the future location of the sink

different perspectives

one of these dogs knows that people food is delicious. the other is eating a piece of cardboard. guess which is which.

little dog in the big snow

i thought nina totenberg would be intimidated by the deep snow we have here in vermont. instead, she dove right in with enthusiasm and exuberance. after just a ten minute walk like this, she would sleep for three hours straight. and then we'd return outside for another frolic in snow deeper than she is.

the guest room floor is done!

some time in vermont

i have abandoned matt and jake in natick to spend the week with my family and my new little dog in vermont. julie and aaron are trying to finish up some of the big projects on their house before they close on their loan at the end of this month. i spent tuesday watching the kids and the past couple of days trying to coordinate my outfits with room colors and trying not to ruin anything. it hasn't been easy. but i am starting to turn in to a pro at the flooring process and nina totenberg (puppy-style) has managed to convince even aaron that little dogs can be fun.

matt is doing well and i am sure he is enjoying his time at home alone. with two people, two dogs and one big cat, things often seem crowded in the apartment. he hasn't had chemo for over two weeks now and the doctors think that it is probably time to call it quits on the treatment. the neuropathy had progressed to a point that his oncologist felt that there was a possibility of permanent nerve damage were he to keep getting chemo. i know matt wanted to do all 12 treatments in order to fight his cancer in the most aggressive manner possible, but i am relieved that it is likely over. we discovered when he had to take the four week break in december that it doesn't take long for him to start feeling better after stopping the treatments and i can't wait to have him back to full health. i have been trying to convince him that we deserve a trip to some exotic locale- although now that i have wasted all my vacation days enjoying the last throes of a vermont winter, a trip to hawaii or vietnam or toledo might have to wait for a while.

coming soon to this blog: pictures of little kids and a little dog in a big vermont snowstorm!

the downstairs bathroom is green

i never told you about the groundhog hat

aj's room is red

goldfish

leaves

wellesley college greenhouses

a blog post in which i will use the word "YouTube" as a verb

mancini youtubed his video of our rigorous climb up jerimoth hill (to learn more, see blog post of august 6, 2006. for added entertainment, you can also re-visit the "dr. callery on the tour" story from august 7 of that same year). i get exhausted just watching this thing.

blogging is easy when you only post photos

you are so cute that i must pick you up.

reflected in the prius

anaconda

the tidal splash startles bekah

the jellyfish

we went to the aquarium on monday.

stare directly at the dancing jellyfish. you are getting sleepy.... very sleeeeepy.

matt naps with nina

our new dog is a good little sleeper. so is matt.

the smith kids

bekah visited from wyoming this weekend with her boyfriend eric in tow. although we couldn't provide them with any sleeping accomodations better than one twin bed and a big pillow from the couch set up on the floor and although ruthann spent a couple of nights here as well, bringing the grand total of people sleeping in our two-room apartment to five and the number of people sleeping in the living room to three, and despite the fact that we have two dogs, one of which is incapable of sleeping past 6:30 in the morning (which is only 4:30 wyoming time) and despite the fact that we forced them to get up and help us with chores when we had a rather collosal mud situation on our hands, they seemed to enjoy their visit. bekah was here to celebrate her 30th birthday, which we did in style with a delicious homemade pizza and cake.

nina gives jake the what-for

jake eats nina

spring has sprung!

ok, maybe it is not spring today, but it was here yesterday. i saw it! the red winged blackbirds have returned to oak knoll. i heard them and then i saw them and i know they are here, even though they are in hiding today. i tried to take a picture of one, but he was too fast. the male cardinal was also too fast, but his bright color means the picture still looks kind of neat.