New Year-New Beginnings

Happy New Year to all, hope everyone had a great holiday. Ours as you may have noticed was a little bittersweet (if not please see previous post) but you have to keep on moving. A long New Years weekend was in order and we decided to go up January 1 and get some work done on the garage. We stayed over till Sunday and got quite a bit accomplished, had a little fun and some unexpected adventures.
It was a cold weekend, temperatures never reaching 20 degrees. First order of business was to work on insulating the first floor or the garage portion. This was the easiest and required the least amount of cutting, fitting, and thanks to my wonderful wife, went up very quickly. With half of the garage section insulated by late Thursday, we went out for a short 50 mile ride on the snowmobile trails. The trails were in decent shape, a little thin in some open fields, and the occasional water hole that hadn't been filled in completely but pretty good riding overall.
By the time we got back the temperature had dropped quite a bit. The left is the temperature inside, and the right is outside.
On Friday we went to look at heaters for the upstairs and picked out a unit which should work out well, and that will be installed in a few weeks. After leaving we went in a different direction, and after a while we ended up kind of lost. We set up the GPS, and its first reaction was "whenever possible, make a legal U-Turn." Well I've heard that before and if you go a little further it comes around and find a new route. Finally it seemed to get back on track.Except for 1 thing. We were in Vermont. Roads sometimes are roads in the Summer, but not the Winter. Soon we were driving next to Uncle Willy's barn with the GPS showing a road, but not the terrain. There were however about 35 turkeys, which decided to promptly take flight.We went back to work on the rest of the first floor insulation, and a little cleanup and organization. We put up a few shelves to store some of the snowmobile gear, and worked on the insulation. Now the first floor is about done.
Saturday was a recreation day. Karen took Ryan out on the snowmobiles for a while and he did around a 20 mile round trip down to Marty's and the surrounding area. I stayed back to work on another project, a prototype snowmobile ramp, which passed its preliminary test very well. Ryan had a great time, and had some good photo opportunities.
This is the wall of ice on the railroad bed, a couple miles away, always a great photo spot. This next one is somewhere on the trails.
And finally the prodigal son (and wife) returns.

Later on Karen and I went out for a spin, and did another 50 or so miles. This time we chose a path less traveled, and went from Danville to St. Johnsbury, Waterford, and back through St. J. We stopped for a bite @ yes Petty Co Junction We drove back on some smaller trails and saw a spectacular sunset. Riding back we took the very less traveled trail, and soon the trail markers became fewer and farther between. It was dark and this trail was barely wide enough for a single snowmobile. One hill was blind and dark and sloped pretty bad, and before I knew it, I was tumbling down the hill, with the snowmobile tumbling over me. I wound up standing in a bathtub with the snowmobile upside down. A great guy Mark happened by and helped us get it righted, and up the hill. We sat there for a few with hearts pounding, a little shaky, and ego bruised and windshield and mirrors broken, but otherwise unscathed.

Neil Peart of the rock band Rush wrote in one of his books "adventures suck when your having them" and its true. It was easy to find a little humor in the spill since I wasn't hurt badly, but also lucky that a tree stopped the snowmobile from possibly landing on me. Even more funny was the fact I wound up standing in a bathtub on the edge of a snowmobile trail. I am just glad I had proper riding gear and a helmet on. And of course I was asked by Mark to stop and help someone in trouble on the trails in the future, as a kind of "Pay it Forward" We tend to do that anyway, but when someone stops and helps you out, you know its the right thing to do. I also learned to avoid trails marked in red on the map in the future (Red means stop now) :-)

Until next time safe travels! And remember folks, don't try this at home! =-)

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!

1 Year Anniversary !

This weekend is the 1 year anniversary of our finding the property. Approximately 1 year ago this weekend, we decided to come up to Vermont, armed with data sheets, maps, and directions to around a half dozen different properties, from Groton to Burke. We covered practically the entire Caledonia County. We didn't really see any property we really liked that much. On a whim, we drove by another property we liked, but didn't work out. Across the street from that property, we spied a for sale by owner sign. We did a little investigation, and several hours later we hammered out an agreement to purchase several acres.

Ever since that day, we have been planning, and arranging, scraping, and saving, coordinating and executing to get to where we are just 1 year later. We started out marking the property, and hiring a contractor to clear slightly more than an acre of land. We ran into some water issues, and added a drainage trench around the cleared acre. We had a driveway put in. We were looking to build a "Big Box Home Improvement Store" garage, and started trying to coordinate with concrete, excavators, and store representatives. At the 11th hour, we found a contractor to do the whole job, and we are very happy with the results!

Over the past week, the dormer was finished,

the stairs installed,

and the transom windows over the garage were installed.
We came up this weekend to check things out, as it had been a few weeks since our last time up. We arrived and the electrician was on site, installing the meter box, and panels. Since we went with the garage first, we ran the electric there first, but they needed to install a power disconnect in the garage, for a future connection to a house if and when we get there. So now the only thing to be done electrically will be the connection from the pole, and that should happen during the week, weather permitting.

We brought a few things up this weekend also, to make it a little more personalized.

and

On the way home we drove through the center of town, and it was amazing what a few miles could do for snow. Here is a picture of the town green, with 3-4 inches of snow yet we had none on our property.

Happy Holidays! (and only 18 more days till the snowmobile trails open!)

Almost Finished!

Its hard to believe, but they are almost finished with the garage! We went up yesterday to check progress, and it is looking really good. All the windows are in, the siding and trim is almost complete, and there is not too much left to do. I am hoping the electric will be roughed in over the next week or so.

There are still a lot of details to be worked out, such as insulation, heating source, sheet rock, but the builder expects to wrap things up this week. So hopefully next week we can bring sleds up in preparation for winter!

This picture is from the snowmobile trail. The dormer actually faces the trail, so we can sit back and watch the snowmobiles go by or just enjoy the mountain view. Hopefully in the next week or so we will be posting the finished pictures, and then the progress of finishing the inside. Now I can finally pray for snow up north since the building is closed in!

Babbling Brook

I wanted to try and add this to see if it indeed works. Attached below is a short video clip from the "moat" in the back yard. It needs the Apple Quick Time plug in in order to play. If you have problems please leave a comment below. If you turn the sound up you can hear the babbling!

Thanks, Joe

Things are Looking Up!!

Happy November everyone! The past month has been crazy, with everything going on, people getting sick, running around, and the weather and time change. I am very happy to share the latest progress, and be able to see some exciting changes since I last visited 2 weeks ago.

Taking advantage of a day off, I drove the long drive early this morning, which was made a little easier with the falling gas prices. Gas was still ~ 2.50 up north though, but they are slowly dropping. I spoke with Ken on Friday and he told me they had the 1st floor walls were up, and the roof was partially sheathed. Imagine my surprise to see the progress since then! The front windows are roughed out, the shed dormer was built, more than half the roof was done!

The left side and rear side construction are pretty plain. We discussed locations for 2 windows on the ground level, and decided on one the left and right sides.
The dormer is shaping up nice as well. All you see was assembled in just about 1 week. Of course I had to go upstairs and check out that as well. The space is much bigger than I imagined, and with the bump out for the dormer, it adds a whole new space perspective.

By the time I was getting ready to leave, they had 1 of the garage doors up, and were working on the other. I also marked up the driveway for plowing during the winter.


One other sign I saw that reminded me why we were doing this. The snowmobile trail signs were put up in the last week or so!

More to come very soon!