Blue Christmas

ROXY- 2003-2008 RIP

Greetings to all and I hope you had a great Christmas. Christmas day was typical for us, company, food, presents, etc. The day after Christmas turned out to be a bad day. We had plans to go to Vermont, and do some work. This was the first trip for Roxy. She had gone in the car plenty of times before but not for such a long ride. Somewhere in Mass, she got sick. We kind of attributed it to car sickness, and stopped and cleaned up, walked around a bit and she seemed fine. When we got up to Vermont, she was sick again. She was having a hard time keeping even water down. After a few hours she was more lethargic, and we got concerned, so we called the vet, and he had us try a few things. She did not seem to get better, so we decided to scrap our plans and drove home so we could have our vet see her, after all she was familiar with him, and sometimes being home settles you down a bit.
We took her to the vet this morning, the 27th, and the news was not good. She had been fighting a battle for the last few months without showing many symptoms. The prognosis was not good. Based on the conversation with the vet, the battle was too hard for her weakened state, she wouldn't be able to win. We had a family meeting and decided to let her go with dignity, and we went to be with her. It was sad, but she would have suffered more had we not made the decision. She was happy to see us, and she passed peacefully. Now she is chasing cars in doggie heaven.

Roxy came to us from the North shore animal league, and Ryan and mom picked her out.

I didn't want a dog, because of all the responsibility that goes with it, but was overruled. She was a great dog, and friend. She was really devoted, and loved to walk, even though she had hip displasia, a condition where the hip socket was not fully formed, and she would be hurting after the walk.
She loved her daddy (Ryan) very much too as they were always laying around together, and goofing around.

She loved her mommy too, always trying to help her with the laundry by swiping at her with a paw, or just putting her head on your lap when you were sitting down.

She was a good sport too. She would lay on the floor and the couch and box you much like a cat does, and would never mind if you did something a little silly to her.

But most of all she was part of the family, and we will miss her very much!!

Rest in Peace Roxy!!!!!

Finished and Ready for Winter

Greetings everyone! Only 11 more shopping days till Christmas. I personally have gotten my present (for a few years) early this year. After a few days of rough weather along the east coast ranging from 4-7 inches of rain @ home in CT to 7-10 inches of snow at the home away from home in VT, with a light ice coating on top. The ride up saw high rivers in CT and Mass, and snow and icy trees in VT. The roads in VT were amazingly clear considering the amount of snow and ice along the sides of the roads.

We stopped at a rest area close to our exit, and the ice was even thicker on the trees, and the temperature was hovering around 6 degrees. The sun was coming out strong and the air was crisp, yet it was a clear morning, and the blue sky allowed the sunlight to reflect off the icy trees.
We proceeded to the land and this was the first time there was significant snowfall covering the yard, and the driveway got its first plowing. It gave a new perspective to the setting, very clean.
As you can see the metal roof is doing its job. By the time we got to the garage it was after 9:30, and it was approximately 12 degrees, yet a good portion of snow on the eastern side already slid off, and about half of the west side was clear too.
The garage windows had the final trim detail added last week, and the electric service was finished and we had power. We bought a indoor outdoor thermometer, and it settled on a indoor temperature of 39 degrees after running the heater for a bit, and a balmy 14 degrees outdoors. You can see it in the window trying to sync up to satellite.


After unloading some supplies, we fired up the snowmobiles and rode around the yard a little, since the trails don't officially open till Tuesday. Remember folks, don't try this at home :-)


Just following the old adage:

We went into St. Johnsbury, and then Lyndon, looking to see if we could look at heating sources, but it appears everything closes at noon on Saturday. Near one of the lumber yards we saw a narrow, one lane road under the train tracks. You definitely need to sound your horn, long and loud. It was a very narrow road.
On the way home we also saw something we hadn't seen in a while. A checkpoint along the highway being run by the Border Patrol. They stop and check the cars and verify citizenship. Luckily we were legitimate. We had seen this for a few years after 911, but they weren't out the last 2-3 years. Of course it was only about 20 degrees.

Probably not much to report for a few weeks due to the holiday crunch coming on, so Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this and think snow! Hoping for first official ride in around 2 weeks!