Our weather has also gone back to almost winter again, lower 30Fs. The last couple weeks were pretty nice, mid 30F to mid 40Fs. Very unseasonal. Slogging thru the mucky ground was very tiring. This last couple days have gotten some frost back in the ground. At least we stop sinking at the hard layer under the 2" of mud! Trenches are kind of deep in the farm lane from daily spreading in the field. I raked some leaves to put on my perennial beds. The wind had swirled the leaves away and peony buds were peeking at me. Nice to know they are healthy! Got some limb trimming done also. Winter IS supposed to be best for cutting limbs, no sap to leak or bugs to invade. Evidently my tree didn't know that, leaked sap all down the side. It must have warmed up in our unseasonal weather. Limb had to come off, rubbing another one. I also took out a poor doing tree. At least 10yrs old, still only 5ft tall. Had made and lost 3 other leader branches over time. I just was tired of no reward from it. After cutting, the stub showed tree was only hanging on with 1/4" edge under one side under the bark, a very poor plant. Cut several summer sprouted trees that were in poor locations. The bigger tree had to have the lower circle of limbs cut off. They had drooped down so far they were always in your face as you walked by, gave too much shade to the garden on the one side. Really opened up the area, I like it much better. That limb cutting was hard! Hand saw just was at very awkward angles to get each limb cut. Gave the little dog lots of sticks to chew up now. I got in some horse riding. Trying to keep fit riding to show our 2 sale horses to potential buyers. I am pretty out of practice. All lookers so far, no buyers. Interesting to ride the young horse, he moves just like my daughter's 4-H horse, very FORWARD. Trainer is doing very well with him after about 45 good rides. Also doing lots of other stuff with him. The trainer's barn is like a circus, 3-4 things going on all at once. He doesn't seem to care, just keeps doing his job. I LOVE IT!! The horse at home seems to like going riding, practicing in the ring, comes right over to get caught. Maybe he is bored, not much excitement in the pasture! We are moving better together now, with more riding practice. Husband finished his workshop roof. The metal roof looks VERY nice. Had a little more fussing than he figured to fit everything together at the roof peaks, but came out well. He got the forge smokestack tied down so he won't have wind problems trying to blow it off. Sure a relief to have it finished. Now to just get some shop time to play out there. The baby horse is going for short walks with me, seems very accepting of all the new stuff he sees. Not real upset with anything. DD, 13yr old, had the last two days off school, closed Monday, icy roads today kept the students home. Newspaper said 19 accidents before 9AM! It improved as the morning went on, temps warmed up to melt ice. She got some sewing practice in, made a pair of pajama pants. I just was available for answers, she did all the work. She did a little modifying, added patch pockets. Came out pretty well!! Got in some extra studying for 4-H, have a horse knowledge competition coming in Feb. Weather is still iffy, may be off on Wed also.

Hi All, I have been away from you all for so long, I don't even know where to begin. This past weeks weather has been unbelievable. It seems that every part of the country has had their cross to bear and now this is ours. School was cancelled on Monday due to flooding and there are some towns around us that still have not gone back. Some of you may have seen Peabody, Mass on the news alot. That is the town right next to us. Those poor people really got hit hard. I live on a pond, so we were sweating it for a while, but fortunately it did not flood. We had some water in our basement, but had 2 sump pumps running and it did keep up with it. I feel very, very fortunate. Our problems were just a nuisance, there are families that can't even get back into their homes. Nothing like this has ever happened in this area. It is very surreal. Certain streets in Salem look like a war zone. The city has lined some of the streets with dumpsters so people can toss their stuff. Everything is full of mud and trash. It is so hard to believe that this is my town. And ..... Dunkin Donuts is still closed!! They were completetly flooded with rain water and sewerage. Nice huh? I think I'll be going to a different Dunkies for a while. LOL John those pictures were unbelievable. There are many areas here that look the same. My brother is a fire fighter in Pelham, NH and says everything there is a mess. Suzanne, I'm glad that you did not have to build an arc for your animals! My spare time has been consumed with finding a dress to wear to DS wedding in September. Who would have thought it would be this difficult. I am going to another bridal shop on Saturday. They are supposed to have the dress I've been searching for. I found it on line, but would like to actually see it in person before ordering. I hope this works out. It is not fun any more. I went with DS and the rest of the crew the other night to do the tuxes. My eyes welled up to see DS in his grooms clothes. He could be a model. So everyone got measured, all the bridesmaids have their dresses, Mother of the Bride ordered her dress and the brides dress is being made. So the only one that does not have anything to wear to the wedding is me! I know wah, wah, wah. The rest of my time has been attending DS #2, Lacrosse games. The season is over next week, and I am finally understanding the game a little bit. What a violent sport! Ofcourse DS loves it and plays goalie, so my palms are sweating every game. I hope everyone is doing well. I'm sorry that I don't really know what is going on here, but I think of you all so often. I will try to get back up to speed and keep up. Love, Besh

Thanks so much for the warm welcome :) it's such an exciting process! We also had our first home built from the ground up but it was a semi-detached (1600 sq ft). We loved the process so much, we did it again for our second home (single family home, 2739 sq ft). I can't wait to have more space! With two little ones, we are running out of space right now (we both love to be at home, have hobbies that are home based (I quilt and bake and my husband loves woodworking). Here is our floor plan:

Coolice- After this purchase I will have no space left at all for newer plants. I have enough room to do my usual propagation but, when those have grown up a little I usually find good homes for them. I don't mind giving what I've grown to anyone..as long as I feel they could take care of the plant properly. After all, these are living creatures...to be respected and protected as any other living creature. I know it's corny but it's how I feel.