While Laura was questing

Laura's vision quest occurred this week - still going on actually - which means that the kids and I have not seen or spoken or heard from her (actually I think I heard her laugh today - I was on the roof finishing the chimney and she is now out of the woods spending the day recalling/recording/making sense of her experience - but we haven't seen her), so the kids and I have had zero contact with her since Saturday afternoon and today is Friday.  Tomorrow morning she'll wrap up her quest and return to us!!

I've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the kids this week.  We're now at the part where Charlie might find a golden ticket in his chocolate bar.  I stopped reading just before we found out, time for bed, but Wynn is super excited for Charlie and hopes he does get his ticket.  Laura being back with us tomorrow is like that, but better :)

Going back, I'll try to recount each of our days.

Saturday
After Laura left I started up the DR Brush Mower and gave it a test run in the orchard - to clean up the ground brush and saplings that have begun to take over.  It worked pretty well.  Kids and I made quick-bread-pizza for dinner and went to bed.

Sunday
I finished mowing the orchard in the morning - kids were great - Wynn is such a good big sister and watches over Willbo, and he of course makes it easy.  It was mother's day and GG's birthday so we made some special cards:

 

Then we got in the truck and headed out to Grammy and Grampy's to celebrate Mother's Day with them plus Great Grammy and Grampie too.  And we spent the night there, which was great because it's been cold and the chimney at Uncle Stan's was taken down in order to repair it - so no woodstove heat made for a damp cold night on Sat.

Monday

After breakfast we headed back to Stan's, I really wanted to get the Chimney done.  We stopped at Great Grammy and Grampy's so that I could get advice on building the chimney back up.  Then we were off to Stan's!  The kids self-entertained - again - while I went up on the roof, pulled off the temporary tarp, and began cleaning mortar off the old bricks in order to recycle them.  I also had to clean off the old lead to reuse it for flashing.  Plus make new flashing out of some SS sheet metal.  By mid afternoon I had put a foot or so of brick up plus got all the flashing in place.  I ran out of mortar so I stopped, which was just as well since the kids were in need of daddy attention.  We got the woodstove going, even though the chimney would ideally have been taller, but the heat was SO nice.

Tuesday

I promised the kids I would do no work today, I've been feeling guilty and they were happy to have me back as a playmate.  We took our wild edible field guide and went around the orchard looking for other edibles, and found some :)  Though now I can't remember what they were called.  Wynn was pretty stoked to also discover Dandelions were edible, so she and Willbo organized a buffet of them and other wild probably-not-edibles:

Eat your heart out

I ate as many as I could and the rest went into Jessie's water dish.
Liz and Chris had invited us over so we went of course!  We stopped along the way and found more wild edibles: Fiddleheads! Then we spent the afternoon with Chris/Liz, saw tractors, and enjoyed kavass and cider.  Back home we went for dinner and bed.

I stayed up late, most nights I've been doing so, to catch up with BCM work but tonight I also installed a new kitchen faucet that wouldn't spray and leak everywhere!  Small pleasures.

Wednesday

We decided to head home to Orono today but first we wanted to go check out a small stream that Rex our neighbor had told us about.  It was a 1/2 mile walk and very nice cool clear brook:

**x toes :)

 

It's a snowmobile trail with a nice wide bridge, a little sandy beach, and lots of water to splash and swim in (Jessie).  On the way back we stopped and hung out on a patch of exposed bedrock, which I explained to the kids was the solid earth beneath all the dirt and that there was no dirt under this rock.  They were both surprisingly impressed by this!

They were more impressed than this photo indicates!

We headed back to the farmhouse, made a quick snack, and then got back to Orono.  

Thadius was outside and immediately greeted us.  He also apparently has enjoyed the huge folded up house tarp on the front porch while we were gone.

The kids played with Evan and Jordan.  Then we went to bath and bed.  Oh, and I did a massive cleaning of the house and beddings - cleaned/vacuumed everything!!

Thursday

Library day, first time we've been in several weeks, Willbo skooted there and Wynn and I walked.  Kids were interested in the spiders on the bridge and Willbo took it upon himself to save the flies from one of the webs. 

There is a spider web in this shot, hard to see though

To our delight Sarah was at the library with Lizzy and Sebastian when we arrived.  So more playmates for the kids - I wanted them to get their fill so this worked out really well!  

This is also when we picked up our copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Wynn went back for lunch with Sarah and kids and Willbo and I walked home, stopping at the swimming hole so Jessie could take a dunk.  And so Willbo could smell the flowers :)  

green, lots of green

Sarah dropped Wynn off around 2ish and the kids again played all together.  Wynn also did some cuddling with Thad:

Then my kids and I headed off for Newman Hill for the MTB race - I couldn't believe this was actually going to work out - me getting to race - woohoo!!!  Kris was there with Paige and Cole (more playmate playtime!!) and so together, with all the other riders, we headed into the woods to the start.  Andrea was scheduled to arrive any moment so Kris and I went off at the start and not 2 minutes in I heard the dreaded pssssssssst of air... come on!  Fat bike had a flat tire, sigh, no race I guess.  I didn't have anything to fix it with, no one else did either.  So I walked back to where the kids were and hung out with them and spent some time talking to Andrea about vision quests and other interesting topics.  

Kris wearing his game face!

Post-race (Brian won again) we enjoyed some Pizza back in the parking lot and then headed home for a bath and bed.  

Friday

Got up, packed up, and headed back north to Springfield.  I managed to finish the chimney today, meet with two barn-restoration experts, and go for a ride with the kids - what a good day!  I think I did and OK job with the chimney, maybe a good job if the varying brick sizes and shapes are taken into account + that this was my first chimney project ever.  I couldn't find a rock large enough for a cap, so for now there is a sheet of aluminum held in place by two concrete pads.  I just want to keep the rain out of the chimney/house until something prettier can be found. 

Kids made a hand print, foot print, and 2 cookies with the leftover mortar

Barn guys, Chris and Dylan, were not what I expected.  They are in their 30s and dressed pretty hip!  I was expecting some older more blue collary dressed folks I guess. They came up from Troy and spent an hr or two inspecting the barn.  They provided some rough estimates ($8-20k) but also some more inexpensive actions we could take to keep the north wall from racking the structure further out of whack.  They were nice guys, professional.  But it won't be cheap to fix the barn, not if we hire out, not really a surprise in hindsite.

Grammy arrived to say hi sometime during the above, she stayed for a couple hrs with the kids, which they LOVED.  They love their grammy :)  Willbo also went poopoo and was able to sit all by himself on the little hole (there is a big and a little one we discovered this week, well atleast I never noticed this until now).

He says he feels cold when the poopoo comes out, must be the fresh air on the bunda :)

And the best part of the day - is - our bike ride!!  

Sillbo Willbo & Wynnetta Bean

We rode up the fairgrounds and then down a dirt road.  Our plan was to do a loop and come back on the snowmobile trail, the same one that starts behind Rex's house, but this end of the trail was going to be really tough on bikes, especially for Wynn.  So we just turned around and came back the way we came.  We did a lap around the fairgrounds too, just for fun. 

My new bike rides so much better than the old Cross Check does with the bike seat.  Willbo loves it of course, he wanted to keep going but Wynn was tired.  We only rode 3 miles but it was 6pm and had been a long day.  We had spaghetti for dinner with fiddlehead marinara and read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for a bedtime story,  Willbo fell asleep after 2 chapters.  Wynn wanted me to continue after 3 chapters, but it was 9pm already.  Hence why we stopped on such a cliffhanger - would Charlie get his golden ticket?!?!

I'm off to bed now too.  Tomorrow morning will be so wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

Snowy/Icy Hike in the Bangor Land Trust

Jessie, the kids, and I went for a hike this morning over in the Bangor Land Trust within the Northeast Penjajawoc Preserve.  The temperature was around 15 I think, it was cold but we sang silly songs and jogged to stay warm.  Willoughby was warm thanks to his mega bulky winter attire, which had the unfortunate effect of limiting nearly all his movement.  Poor 1 year olds never have it easy!

We hiked a 3/4 mile loop, which dips down into a valley where a pretty little brook flows into the Penjajawoc Marsh.

There was 9" or so of snow on the ground but a thick crust allowed us to stay on top and walk with ease.  Wynn spent some time throwing snow/ice chunks into the ice below, she managed to make an opening and then we listened as the ice chunks scraped along as they were carried downstream under the frozen surface.

Jessie was brave! She would go out to the very edge of the hole, could not have been more than 1/4" of ice beneath her front paws but she never broke through.

On our hike out we found a fairy house Wynn and I had built last fall - she was totally psyched that it was still there!  The roof was no longer weather proof, all the needles and leaves are now gone, but the timber-frame was still intact.  There are a few others in different areas of this forest that we built last year, we look forward to checking on them during another adventure.

By the time we returned to the car the kids were beginning to get cold.  Wynn complained of cold fingers and toes but was quietly still singing so it could not have been all that bad.  In fact she completely forgot about her cold extremities and wanted to play on the frozen field near the trail head, we were running and sliding on our butts down the icy surface.  Willoughby, as you can see below, was less than impressed and was ready to get into the car and eat waffles, one of the regular snacks we carry with us.

We headed over the the dentist's office next, where we have been visiting on a regular basis in order to raise comfort levels before the big appointment next month, which I sure hope goes well!!  Plan B involves the OR and is NOT cheap!  We have been following Plan C for the last few months, which is to just wait, take daily doses of butter/fermented cod liver oil along with some Chinese herbs, and hope that things don't get worse... not sure that this plan is going to endure the long term but things aren't getting worse!  The dentist spent 30 min chatting and being goofy with the kids, which I find absolutely impressive given his busy schedule, he is certainly gaining the kid's trust.  Wynn was given a kids dental catalog which she has just spent the last 45 min looking through, picking out her favorite tooth brushes and other dental gear.  Maybe she will be a dentist?  Or maybe a dental gear designer!!  Willoughby is napping.  Now it's time to get the wood stove up and hot again.

Sand Beach in March

This is what we were doing 1 month ago:

Now winter, though snow still covers the ground here in Orono, seems behind us.  In fact, as I write this it is 62º outside and another beautiful, if not extremely windy, day.

So yesterday Wynn and I (along with a handful of friends) traveled to Acadia National Park and took advantage of the AWESOME weather at Sand Beach.  In the summer the only comfortable place to swim is in the stream that empties from a slightly inland pond.  Today the pond was frozen and the water was, like the ocean, cold!  The sand was thankfully baked warm by the sun and was wonderful to stand barefoot on.  This log bridge spanned the stream; Evan made it just a bit farther before requesting a rescue:

The 2 two year olds ran around the entire time - this rock was a seriously cool play location and hosted a whole bunch of fun jumps and sand sculpture building opportunities.

 

We had the place nearly to ourselves, such is the luck of visiting in the off-season.  There were some friendly dogs to pet and some other families, some flying kites. 

This water just looks tropical to me!  That effect is just slightly perturbed by the fact that Wynn is wearing fleece pants and a rain jacket, but Evan is very much naked from the waist down!

This weekend is a full moon.  The forecast is calling for clear skies and the plan is for some easy (my wrist is still healing) night climbing or night cycling around the park.  The roads are still closed to cars yet they are free of ice and snow - perfect.

Snowshoeing for Bouldering

Good blog reading music:


Yesterday was a beautiful day - a day that truly hinted that spring was just around the corner: light coats, no gloves, high angle sun... a glorious day.

We headed out to Dedham, ME with some friends. Our goal, to explore some bouldering locations from our friend's guide book -->
Our destination: Hurd Pond.

View Larger Map

Even after the 5" or so of rain and several days of 40º weather there was still 2+ feet of snow in the woods. The conditions weren't ideal for trail finding but we did eventually find one of the guide book climbs, though I can't remember what it was called or rated, V13? Here are Greg and Kim going through the moves:

Evan was climbing the same rock but around the corner. He would have made it but commented that he couldn't do it "with his mittens on."
There were plenty of sunny, dry rocks to have our picnic on, which made for lots of smiling faces.

Did I mention there as a surprising amount of snow!
The ferns were, as always, beautiful:
And at the end of the day Wynn found herself helped back up the steep hill by her two suitors!
I was hesitant to have winter leave, it's been such a good one. But a few more days like this and I will be stricken with spring fever for sure. Ending the blog on a Wynn note as I like to do: