Bob and I went to check out the house and yard this afternoon. We went at 3:30 and by the time we got back to Glastonbury at 5, it was dark! Winter is just about here.
All's well at the house. I forgot your code Aunt Sandy, so I used ours and was able to open the house, bypass the kitchen window and re-set the alarm when we left, so that's good to know!
The oil is only down to a 1/2 because it's been so warm. I'll let you know if the oil guy comes this month. I checked the light timers and they're all fine too: I reset them to come on a little earlier since it gets dark so early!
Have a Merry Christmas holiday everyone!

tree on wires

I just am back from checking the house. Rene Desjardains (sp?) called Aunt Sandy and me yesterday morning to say there was a tree resting on the wires on the driveway. From his description, it was on the rte.151 side of the bridge, so I called East Hampton Public Works and they said they'd look into it. The very nice field worker called me back within the next couple hours to say that yes, there was a tree leaning on the wires and he'd call Eversource to take care of it. I went down just now to see. The tree was a completely dead one right at the Grassy Lane and had uprooted. All cleared now. It wasn't noticeable coming down the road, but going back out: very noticeable where it had been. I checked the power in the house and it had been off (clock on stove blinking). So I reset that clock, locked up and came on back home.
It looks like Rene and Matt have blown off all the leaves on the road from the bridge to the house and mostly cleared the drainage trench on the side of the hill.
All's well.

Bob and I went to winterize the J. Deere, Saturday. Here is what we found. Matt Saunders has created paths from the back yard into the woods. The contraption is his deer cart and a deer stand.  Is this okay with you all?

                                 This path is behind the crab apple tree toward the old spring.

This path is behind the rock garden and goes behind the hill where the chicken coop was.

I went to Thicut today to meet the DHMarvin man who dropped off the newly refurbished J. Deere lawn tractor. It seems it's had a hard workout these past several years! But it's back in shape and ready for next summer.
When I arrived, I noticed that the tree that had fallen over the road had been substantially cut up! There's a neat stack of wood along the road near Nick's cairn. Who did that? Was is Rene or Steve LaRosa? As I was wondering, Matt Saunders stopped by. He's Rene's friend who also hunts the property. He seemed like a nice man (didn't know anything about the tree). Interestingly, he came to use his Leaf Blower (!?) to make a path into the woods along the stone walls behind the house. I'm not sure of the purpose. Maybe the deer will use his path, he thought. He welcomed us to walk along it if we are out tramping in the woods. Not my idea of quiet afternoon activity (the leaf blowing, I mean). He said there should be a lot of well fed deer this year; there are a LOT of fallen acorns to munch on.  I hope the rhododendrons will be spared this winter! He also said that he'd found a 'private road, no trespassing' sign somewhere and was wondering if we would like him to put it up on that empty sign post across the bridge? Aunt Sandy, what do you think?
Around behind the barn is what looks maybe like a deer cart - an over-sized metal grocery cart looking thing. I didn't notice it until Matt was in the woods, so I don't know who left it or what it's real purpose is. Who has permission to hunt this year?
All's well inside and out. Wind has blown most of the leaves off the lawn, so it looks good.
Every time I drive down the hill, around the corner to Sexton Hill Road, I think how lucky we are to have such a place with so many family memories. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Bob and I went down over the weekend. Bob cut up some of the maple. There'll be some great firewood next year! I wandered through the house, putting down the storm windows upstairs, turning off the water heater and then the water, brought in the calla lily and put it by the fireplace. The leaves are pretty well down in the yard, but most everywhere else still has colorful trees. I'll try to post some pictures. We did get a hard frost on Monday night: the tender plants are done, but the hardy mums are still colorful in people's yards.

Another season has started. The house is empty of people, fridge emptied and clean, windows closed. I couldn't resist and went down the day after Aunt Sandy and Eric left to soak in the quietness and let the rolling on of time and changing of seasons wash over me.
The house and lawn are fine and as I was walking around, the oil man arrived to top off the tanks. He said to tell you hello, Aunt Sandy, and he'll be back again later in the winter.
I picked up the rest of the trash and emptied the garden hose of water since it is supposed to FREEZE overnight on Saturday and Sunday.
Bob and I hope to return soon to chop up the maple on the road. The fall colors are really pretty this year!

Happy June 1st!
We had a lovely Memorial Day picnic in Glastonbury with Katie, Carlie, Aunt Sandy, Anna, Mom, Betsy, Bob!
Carlie made a vegetable garden during their visit, out towards the fire circle. 'Where Poppa always had his garden'.
Bob mowed this past Saturday. We haven't used the little mower to do edges yet, so hopefully I can do that this week after the rain stops. We're getting 3 days of it! Finally the front yard will fill in with new grass!

It was a chilly sunny day, perfect for the quiet that is this place.
To catch up with recent events:
Bob mowed the lawn last Sunday after a quick overnight from Rick and Katie last Thursday.
Today I turned the water back on and the water heater and the refrigerator for the upcoming visit by Aunt Sandy, Carlie, and Katie this weekend. I hope Katie had a wonderful time in Craftsbury!
I did find 2 fat stalks of asparagus this time! One already gone to seed. The rhododendrons had another hard winter, some may not make it.
Inside, the calla lilies have sprouted!

Spring has sprung at Thicut!

 The magnolia is just beautiful. See the cedar tree trunk in the background? Still there

 Lenten Rose on the left side of the patio towards the barn.

This is the patch in the front yard where the asparagus have 'always' been. I don't see any. Is it too early? or have they finally given up the ghost after all these years?

Happy 120th birthday Nanny

 And SUCCESS: I found 2 pictures of Aunt Sandy in her wedding dress. I took the one on the dresser in the twin bed room. I also brought home the smaller one of Carlie, just in case you need another for Leah's wedding!

 Road is clear, not muddy this morning because we had below freezing temperatures last night!

 The pond is still covered with snow and ice

 Surefire evidence of spring.

 Happy birthday, Nanny, and thinking of all of you who have gone before us...

Pictures

 It looks like there was a drip from the ceiling over the lamp.

 The deer came right up to the door and ate all the leaves from the holly and the rhododendron.

 This is the day before SPRING, for heaven's sake!

Look at the piles of snow from plowing!

• Oil delivered: 499 gallons! 
• Mike says he drove his oil truck up and BACKED down
• road solid for now, not muddy: 16 degrees last night, will be cold rest of week
• basement thermometer read 37 degrees
• Mike turned furnace on
• Mike says dining room ceiling in no danger of falling: gypsum is firmly attached, paper coating has come loose, but will need work.
• toilet water upstairs still liquid, no evidence of it freezing up there.
• Mike suggested that before water turned on, check all traps to see if plastic piping split
• power had been off maybe 6 hours at some point. reset kitchen clocks, 2 light timers
• moved little rug by basement door outside: soaking wet
• Connie and David propped up dining room rug: I left there
• damage upstairs bedroom north wall: pink blanket on floor under window: soaking: moved it outside: hung on railing of porch
• deer came right to door: droppings on stone step!
• all rhododendrons and holly denuded
• closed dining room window since heat is on
• left living room door and back stairs' door open to dining room (curtain to kitchen closed) for air circulation/drying
• living room north wall also damaged/lampshade on phone stand stained from drip from ceiling
• Pictures to follow!

oil delivered

I am meeting Mike Jordan at the house tomorrow morning 9:30 to make sure the oil/furnace turns on properly. He called this morning to say he had delivered the oil. I'll try to remember to take pictures and update before we go to warm Hilton Head for a visit with Bob's folks!

Connie and David (T) went down to Thicut this morning and called me with a report to share:

• They went in the morning: road was pretty solid from cold night, but later in the day will be muddy again.
• Water damage from leaking: rug in dining room soaked, ceiling bulging, walls discolored
•  still more snow/ice on roof over dining room
• Connie and David closed and moved the dining room table over by the fireplace, and propped up the rug to help it dry.
• They cracked a window to let some fresh air in and smell out.
• Oil is out, basement thermometer read 39 degrees, so inside house is above freezing.
• There is not room to turn an oil truck around at the top of the driveway safely (still snowy).
• Connie talked to Rene, he is willing to meet me and add some diesel fuel to the tank if we want. I told Connie to tell him that we'd wait until the oil can be delivered. Hope that's okay.
• Connie brought water and watered the inside plants. We'll see if they revive.

oil continued

Mike from T&S called this morning. He checked out the driveway yesterday in his 4wheel truck and said he would be able to get up in his oil truck but wouldn't be able to turn around. He really didn't want to back down the hill! or back up the hill. It still had ice. I told him I'd check with Rene.
I then called Rene. He said he'd try to get down to clear out the turnaround (top of the hill towards the knoll).
He just now called back to say, there's not ice on the hill but MUD. He got stuck twice: once on the hill and once trying to clear the turnaround. 2 feet of mud he said (?). He made some ruts trying to get out, almost had to call his partner to bring chains, but managed to free himself. He's worried about the oil being out and said he could meet us there to get some diesel fuel in the tanks (Bob and I did that several years ago when the oil couldn't get delivered), but I told him that now that the temp is above freezing we'd just wait a bit for the road to dry out.
I called Mike back to tell him NOT to try to go down in his truck.
We're supposed to get lots of rain/sleet/etc this weekend, so I think we'll just have to wait til later next week.

Received a call from Rene (who said he'd call Eric as well) from the house. He'd spent the morning into early afternoon, Sunday, clearing the driveway. He brought in his back hoe! He said he'd clear a path to the oil intake pipes. He was concerned about the water pipes freezing: I told him we'd turned off the water and that I'd call Mike. A very nice man.
I called Mike at T&S heating and he said he'd get the oil delivered.
We've had above freezing weather the last several days so the snow is finally melting! The birds have begun their incessant (and beautiful to hear) spring singing. Yay, I can sense spring in the air.

I just got a call from Mike at T&S Heating. He 'investigated' the road to deliver oil today and said it wasn't plowed: there was a pile of ice at the bottom of the hill. He said to let him know when the road was passable and he'd get over there to put some more oil in. I told him I'd let you all know.

Snow shoeing in the woods

What a difference a month makes! Bob and his friends Dave and Jim took their snow shoes for a hike in the woods. Two feet of snow, about 0 degrees Fahrenheit and almost sunny at 9am. They parked at the 'Grassy Lane' and snow-shoed up the (un-plowed) road. Dave and Jim wandered around outside while Bob went in the house.
The house looks fine, there's snow and ice on the dining room roof, some water marks on the walls inside by the door. Bob says the oil tank is at an 1/8.
Bob, Dave, and Jim snow-shoed all around the property, starting out by the spring and going up to the power/telephone right of way and then following the boundary line to the road, then went by the (what we call) the hunters' cabin and down all the way to the big falls. Then back to the house. There were LOTS of deer tracks and some other smaller tracks, no other human evidence.
Here are some pictures.

                       Looking up the brook from the bridge.

 Bob noticed marks on the table from water dripping through the chandelier. He lowered the leaf and put a pan on the floor to catch future drips.

 These are the 'grassy lane' falls! The ice is in front of the falling water. Bob and friends are on our side of the brook looking upstream.

The snowshoes kept them from sinking too far into the snow. Only 2-3 inches instead of 24! More snow and ice and rain expected this evening and tomorrow.

Brrr

Happy winter!
Bob, Mom, and I went down to Thicut Saturday morning. Had a bit of trouble getting up the last hill: Bob had to back down across the bridge and try again. The road was icy, not snowy. Mom stayed in the warm car while Bob and I reconnoitered. The house seems fine. I think the oil man came, the oil tank registers 1/2 tank full and according to Connie's note on the table, it was low at the beginning of the month. The telephone is not connected still (sounds buzzy/clicky, not dead), and the house alarm is also not working: there were multiple beeps when I opened the door, but they stopped on their own and punching the buttons didn't register on the display. Connie's note says she changed a bunch of smoke alarm batteries. Bob started J. Deere; sluggish start he said, but ran it for a while so that's good. The yard looks good, the pond is completely frozen; we almost tested it by walking on it, but thought the better of it :)
Today, Sunday, is rainy and 40 degrees!