Idyllic May Day

So–snow a few days ago but the first of May was perfect for a celebration on the village green.  Ed (wearing air boot) and several other musicians provided music.  There were morris dancers and picnic fare, a May queen arriving by carriage.  People were dressed for spring and everybody was so happy to be out in the sunshine.  Later in the day we enjoyed a concert of madrigals in the community bldg.  Then Ed and I had a gin and tonic on the porch   In Houston we hardly noticed spring since it was so warm most of the year.  Here it’s a big deal. 

Note:  This post was supposed to appear at the beginning of May but being the technoklutz that I am I inadvertently stuck it in an old abandoned drawing blog where it has languished.  Ed has recently gotten rid of the boot and now walks mostly without even a cane. 

Visitor

We’ve been bringing in the bird feeder at night and putting it back up early each morning when the birds start perching on the pole and looking expectant. (I can’t enjoy my breakfast if they’re out they’re waiting for seed.) Anyway, yesterday we were gone most of the day and returned to see the feeder on the ground and the suet cake gone. Sorry that we had missed a photo op we were sitting around the kitchen table when a black bear appeared just outside the window, sniffing around on the ground for more seed. We both grabbed cameras and got several shots before I opened the window and yelled to scare it off. As exciting as it was to see a wild creature we *don’t* want it hanging out around the house. It was so plush and shiny, with such a sweet expression I wanted to dash out and hug it. Surprisingly we don’t see a lot of wildlife up here surrounded by the woods but when we do it always feels like a gift.

The Cruelest Month

Two days ago (April 28th!) we got up to go to appointments in town and there was snow everywhere.  It snowed on and off all day—much more up here at our house than even two miles away in the village. Ed snapped this photo of me cleaning off the car.  Life in Vermont indeed!

Why I Haven’t Been Blogging Lately

On Feb. 12 Ed went out to help Alison, Mason and Emma unload the car after they arrived for the kids’ week of vacation with  us.  He slipped on the ice, fell into the rhododendrons and broke his tibia and his fibula.  Surgery followed and since then a looong recovery.  He’s still in an “air cast” and can’t put any weight on his leg.  He had a lot of pain the first three weeks or so and has only in the last few days been able to get comfortable at night.  So we’ve stayed close to  home except for many trips into the medical center. He goes in next Monday and we hope the docs will let him start putting a little weight on the leg.  It’s his right leg so he can’t drive.  It’s surprising how much time caretaking consumes although that’s much better now.

While all of this has been going on I’ve been working on two projects.  For years I’ve been trying to make pants that fit so I’ve been sewing up test pants, ripping them out and trying again–over and over, more times than you’d want to know.  The other project has been a very large painting of clouds which I’ve been painting, scraping down and repainting.  Both of these activities have been more than a little obsessive.  I think I’ve just needed a distracting problem to work on but now that Ed is improving I think I’m coming into the home stretch with both and can move on to other things.

I’ve always said ice is the one thing I don’t like about Vermont (well, maybe the black flies as well).

Knitting Group

Our wonderful postmaster has made the post office something of a community center.  There’s coffee, often sweets,  art by local painters, and several women who meet weekly to knit.   I wish I knew how so I could join this jolly group. ( I guess if you grow up in south Georgia where it’s too hot for wool people just aren’t as into knitting.)

Sidekick

Recently I mentioned to a friend that I have a “Life in Vt.” section of my blog and she said she had a photo that would be perfect.  To give you a little background–last October I posted a picture of the local piglet who was visiting the post office at the time and eating the candy corn on offer there.  This, if you can believe it, is the same pig 3 mos. later.  Four women, two dogs and the pig went out fora little cross country skiing.  I hate to have to  tell you that this pig will be pork chops in the  near future, but it has been very gently raised.

Post Office Pig

The other day I went by the post office and there was a small pig rooting around outside.  The woman who lives next door raises one for meat every year and this one roams  freely.  Yesterday Ed stopped by to get the mail  and there was the pig, inside–eating candy corn doled out by his owner and by the postmaster.  I love living here!

Woodchuck Summer

This summer has been defined by the presence of an infuriating little rodent–our resident woodchuck.  He ate my delphiniums, my phlox, the green beans and even the Jerusalem artichokes.  He dug out a huge den under our porch and every time we’d fill it up with stones and dirt he’d open it up again.  We soaked tennis balls in ammonia and threw those in the den but he was undeterred.  More plants disappeared.   Ed was muttering about acquiring a rifle.  Then we finally broke down and bought a Havahart trap, a device for trapping an animal without harming it.  We baited it nicely with apples and sure enough, within a short time we caught our woodchuck.  Ed loaded him into the car and returned a short time later.  He’d taken him about 2 miles away and I had an uneasy feeling he might find his way home.  For two days my plants flourished.  Then we were coming home one afternoon and there on the driveway, running home right before our eyes was–guess who!?  We continued to bait the trap and even went online to purchase commercial woodchuck bait.  We bought the best broccoli, supposedly the woodchuck’s favorite, but to no avail.  He had learned his lesson well.  He continued to dig out his den and feast upon what was left of the garden.  Then several weeks later, with only some dried-up bait left in the trap, he once again fell for the trick.   Ed ran into the house shouting gleefully that we had us a woodchuck.  So–we loaded him up and drove on the Interstate for many miles before liberating him into a nice wooded area.  At this point, two weeks later he hasn’t returned and the plants are sending out new shoots.  We even  have a few green beans.

Winter Images

I’ve recently learned that a virus has eaten my last two posts!  So here goes to see if it will work with the new level of security provided by my son and daughter-in-law.

We don’t see much wildlife around here but the other night I went out on the porch and heard a terrific, really frightening racket, as if something huge were trying to get in.  Then I saw that a big barred owl had pushed its way through the screen door in pursuit of a small animal (small footprints in the snow on the porch).  Then the owl somehow got pinned between the screen and the protective hardware cloth in front of it.  He was struggling mightily to get out so I ran and got the camera.  By morning he had worked his way out and was repeatedly flying against the screen.  Ed put on protective clothing, including a shop mask and using a broom shepherded the owl outside where he soared up into the woods. 

Eavesdropping

And here you see the advantages of a standing seam roof.  Last winter we accumulated four feet of snow and ice on our old roof before we had it shoveled off –apparently just in time.    The white stuff still built up on the new roof but as soon as we got warmer temperatures it started sliding down, like a curtain  hanging.  We’re relieved it works because the roof itself is pretty flat.  It’s amazing how much we’ve had to learn about living in a cold climate and what expense that knowledge has led to!