I know that its only August, but when winter lasts most of the year in Maine-you start a bit early! Each winter I write down things that I did not have that would be good for next year and start in the spring in gathering what I need. With each winter, you learn new tips of survival of not only the large amounts of snow but in the frigid temperatures were are faced with.
My first winter up here was the winter of 2003. It was more than a culture shock-it was definitely a test. I had no idea what cold was until I faced it up here. There are weeks on end of temperatures 40-50 degrees below zero! this I have written about in prior blogs and it is certainly hard to understand it unless it happens! As I mentioned the tires in your car freeze when temperatures drop below 25 below zero! That I learned about the hard way!
That first winter I saw how it was too cold to snow on some days and with each week more than a foot of snow would fall each time and just pile up on each other. The snowbanks get so high that it is hard to see past them when leaving your driveway or at the end of streets. I have actually had to roll down my window and listen for cars! We are very rural here and can hear them from a distance. The girls build wind block forts at the end of the driveway while waiting for the bus. I have yet to build a shelter for them. When it gets too cold-I will have them wait in my car with the heat on until the snowbanks are high enough for their forts-which work quite well!
Each year I make sure that I have about six to eight cords of wood stacked in the basement and split for the wood stove. All done by the time that I am writing this. The pieces that are too big are waiting outside for it to get cold enough to split it. I usually rent a splitter and just have a day of it with lots of help. The kids run it all down to the basement in the drop down built for this purpose. I also make sure that the window's without storm windows are covered in plastic. This year I am taping the pipes and wrapping the water heater with insulation. Last year my electric bill shot up drastically when I had to strategically place heaters around the house where the heat from the wood stove did not reach and the electric bill went from $58 a month to $220. So this year the windows and north side of the house will be covered in plastic and the pipes will be taped! I hope that works better! I am always experimenting and learning new things with each year that passes!
I have learned through personal experience that snow tires are a must up here! Unbelievable how much easier it is! I used to get the usual four-season tires. On the treacherous hills up here-well I learned another important lesson!
Also, I have been collecting antique quilts and afghans-because you can never have too many piled on the bed. The girls will get their new thermals and flannels which are a must up here as well. I have barn boots that are out on the porch and not mixed with the other boots(Necessary on a farm to have two separate sets of boots). The girls will be gathering all of the kindling needed for the fall fires in the wood stove and putting it all in the bin on the porch. Many newspapers have been gather for this as well. Extra buckets have been dug out of storage for when the water freezes out in the barn and all ready for their use. I bring in the buckets from the barn and thaw them out by the wood stove to bring back out to the barn. The shovels have all been found-In the spring, they are usually found all over the yard with the lids from the trash bins-once the snow hits-it covers everything if not brought back. I have also found mittens, hats and sleds in the Spring! All of the sweaters had been brought out and washed and hung out to dry on the line as well as the quilts. The extra regridgerator has been cleaned for all of the veggetables from my garden.
There is much to do to get ready here to brace outselves for the winter-so it is never too early to start. I have seen people start as early as the snow thaws. We do that too. Each week I set aside things to do or gather so we are not caught unaware and unprepared.
Already I see piles of wood in people's yards-ready to be thrown in the basement. Each year I am more and more prepared and love how warm and cozy my house is when the wind is howling outside and the snow is piling up. Next week I will be calling to have the chimney cleaned and ordering hay for storage in the garage. I bought a house with a garage thinking that I would store my cars in it! Silly flat-lander that I was! My car has not spent any time at all in it yet! In the summer it is converted into a workshop for fixing my house or working on the wool gathered from my sheep and in the winter it becomes storage for the hay for the animals. I wanted to store my car in it-but the snow piles up so high that at first I could not afford to pay for a plow and had to hand shovel my dooryard (driveway) and thus, I would park my car at the end of it-way too long to shovel it all of the way up with each storm up here-insane to even try! Now I have a plow come in and I tell them to push the snow all of the way-past the actual driveway and when the snow hits I park the car on my yard next to my porch. My driveway becomes a huge ice pit and this leaves less area to get to my car and fall on the ice! I also, always have kitty litter in the trunk of my car for this reason. One day I came home from work after a foot and a half of snow and two inches of ice on top of that. It made a fifteen minute normal commute into a two hour one! I made it all of the way to the front of my house and got stuck in a huge ice pit and could not even get into my driveway. I had to struggle-falling many times to get all of the way to my porch and slide down two buckets of kitty litter to pour all over the place so I could get in my own driveway! So now I always have kitty litter in the trunk of my car and on the porch!
I also put in my emergency kit in the car for winter in case I get stuck somewhere: I have a shovel, blankets, small bundle of firewood, food-granola and beef jerky, flashlight etc. It is easy to end up in an area without cell phone reception up here and that is usually the spot where your car gets snow banked!
So, needless to say, I have learned a lot and each year it gets easier and easier and is spread out more so that it is not too bad. I have learned lots of tricks and take pride in spending less and less money with each year in winterizing and in keeping the home and all of us warm. My home is warmer and cozier than the last and I can sit tight in comfort and warmth for the next winter well content with all that I had done to get there. I love this time of year because it is very busy. Everywhere you look you see more and more people doing the same up here and each evening I can rest with more confidence of a warm home over the winter. Now I look out my windows and I see the first signs of fall-with leaves just starting to turn. So, you see it is never too early to prepare for winter in Maine!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tennessee
I finally went to visit Ezzie down in Tennessee. Always think I'm spelling that wrong! Anyways, I arrived there Wednesday night! I got a voicemail on the way down that Jacqui was sprayed by baby skunky. She was trying to introduce it to the cats! Well, she survived and I was not around for it-good thing! It wasn't bad though-first time and all-just letting us know! Good thing that Heather was nearby-she came over with lots of tomatoe juice!
Ezzie picked me up at the airport and we went to her house in Clarksville. I finally met her five year old daughter, Emily. She is so precious-she won me over in three seconds! She loves Hannah Montana-like Tiff. Had a great time singing the songs in the car driving Ezzie crazy.
Then I met Troy, who I managed to convince to go on facebook-yea Troy! He is a sweetie and a great cook! Ezzie is a notary and busy like a bee! She had her blackberry buzzing non stop-I'm so proud of her!
Apparently I bought the Maine weather down with me since it was the coldest that Tennessee has ever seen since the 1890's-felt like home! Wish I bought more sweaters! I bought clothes prepared for heatwave weather. Oh well!
She bought me all around and even drove me to Kentucky to see the market at a Mennonite farm-wonderful! Got a pic of the sign-cool. Then we went to see her family who I have known since little-they all moved down from Boston. It was like we never parted!
We all went on field trips together. There was her Mom (Mom II), her step-dad; Danny, his daughter Darlene and her daughter Siobhan, Ezzie, her Emily and her brother Erik. We went to the Trace where we went to Fort Donelson-weird seeing the "other side" of the civil war, and then to the range to see Bison, on to the Homestead Museum-where there was a historical farm with a wonderful gift shop and then to Paris Landing where there was an all you can eat buffet-YUM! Had fried catfish, and other fried southern food. That was Saturday.
Sunday; hung out and got the boarding pass for home and then everyone came over for a cookout. Troy cooked up a great meal of steamed crab legs, shrimp etc and then the sweet potato casseroles from Mom II and it was soooo YUMMY! And then after Troy lit off some fireworks!
Ezzie even drove me to a Piggly Wiggly so that I could take a pic of that-don't have that up here! YEA!
Finally, I had to go home and on the way while I was waiting to catch my next flight home from Baltimore-I got a voicemail that my little sister was in labor with her second child. I found out on the way home that she had a little girl named Caroline Grace! Welcome to the world little Caroline! I cannot wait to see her and my little man Dylan-her big brother and my very own little sister! See y'all :)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
My garden (a serious blog)
I have had a garden since I bought my second house in Norton. I lived then at the edge of a development where my house looked just like the 200 others in that neighborhood. We thought it was in the sticks then because the neighborhood did not have any sidewalks or that many street lights as compared to our first house in Attleboro.
I started out with a very small plot-finding an old garden there by the side of a meandering river that bordered my property. I carefully cut it all out until I had excavated the whole original plot. I found the remnants of old carrots and other small herbs. It quickly grew into an obsession. After I fenced in that small section, it was not enough. I had to learn about gardening. The most that my own mother had was a few tomato plants and strawberry plants that edged the pool area. I thought how much could gardening change in thousands of years, so I went to the used book store and stockpiled up on it all. I bought books on local herbs that grew in the wild as well and soon started a herb garden on the side and filled it with relocated herbs from the woods that I found. I then decided on adding more to that as well. I found what I called my hippy garden store called "Seven Arrows" in Rehoboth, Mass and spent oodles of money on herbs like Goldenseal (very rare), cooking herbs and medicinal plants as well.
While my garden grew larger each year, I had to fence it all due to the infamous problem in the suburbs with deer. My garden had gradually become a complicated labyrinth. With the herbs I fast learned how to make my own concoctions like my infamous "Stinky sock tea" because it smelled like stinky socks-though packed a wallop on stress (I had to spend a lot of time in court during a very messy divorce and it helped me survive the courtroom). I learned how to make teas for depression and to sleep at night. I also learned to grow herbs to add to salads and my cooking. I experimented a lot with all that I learned and it became a large part of who I am. my salads and teas became famous. My friends loved to see my garden in all of its stages of development of the feasts that I would have with the final harvest.
During all of this I was working on the family genealogy and had discovered that I was a direct descendant of Louis Hebert and Marie Rollet Hebert of Canada. They had come out to Quebec in 1604 and onwards with Champlain. Louis was known as the first successful farmer and apothecary (Medieval druggist) in New France, while Marie is known as the first French Woman to cultivate the Canadian soil. I held that knowledge close to me and worked it all into my garden projects.
I have almost always been a single mother with not that much money and had learned to do a lot for myself. I cut each section of those gardens by hand with my great grandfather's antiquated farm tools. I literally put blood, sweat and tears into each layer of soil that I tilled and cultivated myself. I took enormous pride in each harvest which was more wonderful than the last. I was very proud and felt a close kinship to my ancestors in my growing love for my gardens. I would put a lot of work into it-starting seedlings in my house by the sliding doors and adding them in a well-planned garden. I was thankful that if anything in my garden failed-I could buy it at the supermarket. Unlike my ancestors-who would starve-literally! I would pray to them in my work and I have dedicated each garden to them.
I had also been noted by my neighbors in my growing garden and playfully called it "my crops"-not many gardens in that neighborhood-if any were that size. I did use Miracle grow though, I didn't know better. I was also constantly trying new experiments with irrigation that my neighbors loved to witness and tease me about. I had an accountant who lived next door and he would walk over to see the latest project that I had rigged up and would nod his head and smile. One time I had brought out kitchen chairs and had tied poles to them and strung a garden hose that I poked with small holes that I rigged up over the garden to sprinkle down upon it. He loved that one. I cried when it had all come tumbling down with the first windstorm. My carpentry skills are not that great.
I never forced gardening on my children or made them weed as a punishment. I wanted them to be curious on their own by my love and dedication to the gardens. It worked, slowly they would come by my side and ask to help. I would find them sneaking chives, sugar snaps or cherry tomatoes- and I would smile. They would ask me about the plants and what they were for.
They would talk with me while I weeded my gardens and ask me all about it. I told them how important it was to weed around the plants, so they would have room to grow tall and strong. They would bring their friends over to see and help me with filling my house with flowers each week.
When I moved to Maine my garden took on another form. It became more natural and raw. I no longer stocked it with exotic herbs from stores-they did not have them up here. I never used Miracle Grow (I could not afford it for the huge size of my new garden)-I used manure from my chickens, bunnies, llamas and sheep-which I had an abundance of form cleaning the stalls. I took great effort to transplant the herbs that would grow in this zone. Very few of them have survived this harsh climate and shorter growing season. My garden in Maine is plowed by an actual plow-since it is much bigger now (I have a lot more land) and the vegetables are for survival and not prettiness. I still have my herb garden, though do not have time to add this while I work on my monster herb garden. My herb garden was on the side of the house and had even grown potatoes in it at one time! It is Maine! I have never had to fence it in since there is no competition from deer or Moose-too much wilderness in just my backyard alone (120 acres).
Since I have had my garden I consider it my legacy, my passion, and my meditation. I have never felt closer spiritually and with the seasons that I am in my garden. When I am out there I feel a deep connection to the soil. My fear of bees disappears-since in my garden they are working with me and are there to pollinate. I am out in the early morning and come out with the mist that comes down from the mountains. I feel the moon on my back telling me to go inside that my day is done. When I weed-it is not a chore, it is required. I want my plants tall and strong. I no longer use a hoe-but get down on my hands and knees and dig my fingers into the soil around each plant lovingly. My garden is my peace, my sanctuary, my legacy. I can cry into it all of my sadness and take great pride in all of the wonderful food that I can put on the table-lasting long into the winter. I mix in the soil manure from my sheep and till it in deep, nourishing all of my hopes and dreams. This is one of the many reasons that I have moved to Maine. For only here have I been able to find my true garden and the meaning of it to my soul.
I started out with a very small plot-finding an old garden there by the side of a meandering river that bordered my property. I carefully cut it all out until I had excavated the whole original plot. I found the remnants of old carrots and other small herbs. It quickly grew into an obsession. After I fenced in that small section, it was not enough. I had to learn about gardening. The most that my own mother had was a few tomato plants and strawberry plants that edged the pool area. I thought how much could gardening change in thousands of years, so I went to the used book store and stockpiled up on it all. I bought books on local herbs that grew in the wild as well and soon started a herb garden on the side and filled it with relocated herbs from the woods that I found. I then decided on adding more to that as well. I found what I called my hippy garden store called "Seven Arrows" in Rehoboth, Mass and spent oodles of money on herbs like Goldenseal (very rare), cooking herbs and medicinal plants as well.
While my garden grew larger each year, I had to fence it all due to the infamous problem in the suburbs with deer. My garden had gradually become a complicated labyrinth. With the herbs I fast learned how to make my own concoctions like my infamous "Stinky sock tea" because it smelled like stinky socks-though packed a wallop on stress (I had to spend a lot of time in court during a very messy divorce and it helped me survive the courtroom). I learned how to make teas for depression and to sleep at night. I also learned to grow herbs to add to salads and my cooking. I experimented a lot with all that I learned and it became a large part of who I am. my salads and teas became famous. My friends loved to see my garden in all of its stages of development of the feasts that I would have with the final harvest.
During all of this I was working on the family genealogy and had discovered that I was a direct descendant of Louis Hebert and Marie Rollet Hebert of Canada. They had come out to Quebec in 1604 and onwards with Champlain. Louis was known as the first successful farmer and apothecary (Medieval druggist) in New France, while Marie is known as the first French Woman to cultivate the Canadian soil. I held that knowledge close to me and worked it all into my garden projects.
I have almost always been a single mother with not that much money and had learned to do a lot for myself. I cut each section of those gardens by hand with my great grandfather's antiquated farm tools. I literally put blood, sweat and tears into each layer of soil that I tilled and cultivated myself. I took enormous pride in each harvest which was more wonderful than the last. I was very proud and felt a close kinship to my ancestors in my growing love for my gardens. I would put a lot of work into it-starting seedlings in my house by the sliding doors and adding them in a well-planned garden. I was thankful that if anything in my garden failed-I could buy it at the supermarket. Unlike my ancestors-who would starve-literally! I would pray to them in my work and I have dedicated each garden to them.
I had also been noted by my neighbors in my growing garden and playfully called it "my crops"-not many gardens in that neighborhood-if any were that size. I did use Miracle grow though, I didn't know better. I was also constantly trying new experiments with irrigation that my neighbors loved to witness and tease me about. I had an accountant who lived next door and he would walk over to see the latest project that I had rigged up and would nod his head and smile. One time I had brought out kitchen chairs and had tied poles to them and strung a garden hose that I poked with small holes that I rigged up over the garden to sprinkle down upon it. He loved that one. I cried when it had all come tumbling down with the first windstorm. My carpentry skills are not that great.
I never forced gardening on my children or made them weed as a punishment. I wanted them to be curious on their own by my love and dedication to the gardens. It worked, slowly they would come by my side and ask to help. I would find them sneaking chives, sugar snaps or cherry tomatoes- and I would smile. They would ask me about the plants and what they were for.
They would talk with me while I weeded my gardens and ask me all about it. I told them how important it was to weed around the plants, so they would have room to grow tall and strong. They would bring their friends over to see and help me with filling my house with flowers each week.
When I moved to Maine my garden took on another form. It became more natural and raw. I no longer stocked it with exotic herbs from stores-they did not have them up here. I never used Miracle Grow (I could not afford it for the huge size of my new garden)-I used manure from my chickens, bunnies, llamas and sheep-which I had an abundance of form cleaning the stalls. I took great effort to transplant the herbs that would grow in this zone. Very few of them have survived this harsh climate and shorter growing season. My garden in Maine is plowed by an actual plow-since it is much bigger now (I have a lot more land) and the vegetables are for survival and not prettiness. I still have my herb garden, though do not have time to add this while I work on my monster herb garden. My herb garden was on the side of the house and had even grown potatoes in it at one time! It is Maine! I have never had to fence it in since there is no competition from deer or Moose-too much wilderness in just my backyard alone (120 acres).
Since I have had my garden I consider it my legacy, my passion, and my meditation. I have never felt closer spiritually and with the seasons that I am in my garden. When I am out there I feel a deep connection to the soil. My fear of bees disappears-since in my garden they are working with me and are there to pollinate. I am out in the early morning and come out with the mist that comes down from the mountains. I feel the moon on my back telling me to go inside that my day is done. When I weed-it is not a chore, it is required. I want my plants tall and strong. I no longer use a hoe-but get down on my hands and knees and dig my fingers into the soil around each plant lovingly. My garden is my peace, my sanctuary, my legacy. I can cry into it all of my sadness and take great pride in all of the wonderful food that I can put on the table-lasting long into the winter. I mix in the soil manure from my sheep and till it in deep, nourishing all of my hopes and dreams. This is one of the many reasons that I have moved to Maine. For only here have I been able to find my true garden and the meaning of it to my soul.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Gone Fishing
Hopefully with all of this rain I can stay online long enough to write this. I tried last night and was bumped off and no blog recorded. So here goes. I'll write fast on this....
Finally got my fishing license and on the first day my friend Papa Skiddles taught me how to bait the hook with icky worms-which I survived and then to reel em in. The fish were biting like crazy and brought home seven that day from a Lake in Cheddahville. Yea! Then I had my next lesson. I had to take them off and cut off their heads and gut them and then to finally roll them in alluminum foil to put in the fridge. We caught pan fish. Which means they went right in the pan to cook for dinner. I feel so proud as a Momma that I can put suppah on the table. Finally another lesson. I had to scale them and to cook them on the stove. Not bad- Tiffy likes the sunfish and I prefer the perch. On another occasion we caught more fish and Heather bought over some bass! I had to put a stop to it so that we can catch up on eating them before catching anymore! The girls caught several fish as well, I am so proud of my babies!
Then the rain came! It still has not stopped and relented a bit for a break. My garden was late going in and is fighting the weeds. Evertime I had some time off-it rained, so my garden is a jungle-very unusual for me. I love my garden. Second year in a row that I was not able to plant any sugar snaps or beans. It is very hard finding bush beans-only pole beans. Oh well!
Also, my sheep are becoming quite adept at swimming-for their field has become a lake almost with all of the rain! I had to purchase for them some goggles so they can find their stalls and all! They were very appreciative of that! My dog Bart has become captain of the ocean-looking for those doomed at the field-sea outside of his dog house!
The girls did get some four-wheeling in on my field, before the rest of the season washed out!
We have only been able to have one fire in the fire-pit (essential for Maine living-though now becoming obsolete with this new climate change!). We cooked steaks on the hibachi and marshmellows and smoars (however you spell it!) as usual-we need some more of those nights. Very cold as well. Have to load up the blankets at night and the days have only been in the upper 50's! So much for summer! Hopefully it will clear out for the fireworks this weekend!
Finally I am proud of my oldest daughter for getting her first apartment in Westbrook! You go girl! And of her boyfriend-my adopted son Dave who graduated with honors at CMCC and then on to USM! You go boy! :)
Finally got my fishing license and on the first day my friend Papa Skiddles taught me how to bait the hook with icky worms-which I survived and then to reel em in. The fish were biting like crazy and brought home seven that day from a Lake in Cheddahville. Yea! Then I had my next lesson. I had to take them off and cut off their heads and gut them and then to finally roll them in alluminum foil to put in the fridge. We caught pan fish. Which means they went right in the pan to cook for dinner. I feel so proud as a Momma that I can put suppah on the table. Finally another lesson. I had to scale them and to cook them on the stove. Not bad- Tiffy likes the sunfish and I prefer the perch. On another occasion we caught more fish and Heather bought over some bass! I had to put a stop to it so that we can catch up on eating them before catching anymore! The girls caught several fish as well, I am so proud of my babies!
Then the rain came! It still has not stopped and relented a bit for a break. My garden was late going in and is fighting the weeds. Evertime I had some time off-it rained, so my garden is a jungle-very unusual for me. I love my garden. Second year in a row that I was not able to plant any sugar snaps or beans. It is very hard finding bush beans-only pole beans. Oh well!
Also, my sheep are becoming quite adept at swimming-for their field has become a lake almost with all of the rain! I had to purchase for them some goggles so they can find their stalls and all! They were very appreciative of that! My dog Bart has become captain of the ocean-looking for those doomed at the field-sea outside of his dog house!
The girls did get some four-wheeling in on my field, before the rest of the season washed out!
We have only been able to have one fire in the fire-pit (essential for Maine living-though now becoming obsolete with this new climate change!). We cooked steaks on the hibachi and marshmellows and smoars (however you spell it!) as usual-we need some more of those nights. Very cold as well. Have to load up the blankets at night and the days have only been in the upper 50's! So much for summer! Hopefully it will clear out for the fireworks this weekend!
Finally I am proud of my oldest daughter for getting her first apartment in Westbrook! You go girl! And of her boyfriend-my adopted son Dave who graduated with honors at CMCC and then on to USM! You go boy! :)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Spring in Cheddahville
Well Spring has been here and is now gone. You would never know it with all of the rain! We have had so much rain that I am telling people that we live in Seattle, Maine! We already have Paris, Moscow and even Madrid ( pronounce it like the one in Europe to tick off my friends-like Papa Skiddles-who insist that it is pronounced "Ma-drid-emphasis in the first syllable!)
Anyway, finally got my fishing license! Papa Skiddles taught me and now I can bait the hook with worms-ick! and take them off the hook and put them on the chain to be taken home where I then cut off their heads and gut the, and stack them in the freezer with the others. I feel proud putting food on the table the old fashioned way. Kinda gross but cool all the same! When we cook them, I found a great recipe. We have caught tons of perch, and sunfish (Tiffy loves those the most) and even a few bass (Heather caught those!). Yum in the pan! I wanted to take a break from fishing so we can eat the ones in the freezer. There is a lake in town where they bite and we take home at least four each time! Not bad for a Flatlander!
Now that it is Spring we have to make good use of the fire pit. It has rained so much though that it has only been used twice this year only!
The sheep have learned to swim though and can even tread water in the field! The kids have become avid polar swimmers since we have not had much sun to warm up the local swimming spots!
I am very proud of my adopted son Dave's graduation from college to join my daughter who is far away down south in Westbrook. I miss her sooooo much and send her my love on facebook-I always catch her on and Dave is quite avid about mafia wars! Dave had also been up here helping out my parents now that they are up from Florida. They love the rain here since it has not rained in Florida for months-I think it all came up here by mistake!
My friend Ezzie who I have known since the second grade whe we met at the Anna Ware Jackson School in Plainville, got sick of hearing why I can't go down to visit her and sent me a plane ticket. So I will be flying down there to visit her in Tennessee in July! Yea. I wonder what sun feels like-I will certainly find out! I have been wearing jeans since it is pretty cool up here in Maine and will have to search for my shorts.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Spring is finally here
Spring has finally arrived up here in Maine. I honestly thought that it forgot about us way up north! Slowly the snow melted and the black flies have arrived. I have actually gone a few nights when I have not had to light the wood stove! I can see all that winter has left behind in my yard under several feet of snow for many months on end. There are shovels, sleds, a lone mitten, a hat, some items of trash and even a trash bucket that I had lost in the fall under the piles of snow. I also noticed the piles of ash from the wood stove that I put out there to cool off and to prevent slippage on the walkway. I thought that it would have dissolved-but alas no-it is there in the piles as it was placed there. I just directed it towards my garden to be tilled in. There are signs of growth everywhere and the grass is starting to turn green in some spots-returning to life adding promise.
I had to go out and clean out all of the accumulated stuff on the front porch. It is hard to make dump runs in the winter in sub-zero temps-so I add most of it to the garage-to be taken away in the spring. In the winter I cover it all in plastic to prevent some windchill from entering the house and I ripped it all down and swept the porch. I had to re-duct tape the screen that had blown free-since I cannot afford to professionally replace it. Of course I and my ex-boyfriend (who neither of us are carpenters) had screened it in. I just repair it in the Mainer way-cheaply with duct tape! Effective-believe it or not!
I am unprepared for the black flies and had only noticed them yesterday-need to get the "bug dope" tomorrow so that I can go outside again! I used to be an anti-Deet kind of Mom before I moved up here-however, nothing organic or safe actually works on these critters! I have been know to line up any kids in site and myself to be "Deet"ed-I know it sounds horrible-but have you actually seen the horrible damage created by the famous Maine state bird-other wise known as the "Black Fly????" They hover in swarms and love fresh blood. You need screens up here in the mountains when there are several miles of woods around.
At night, I can hear the famous "Peepers" and was told by the locals that they signify the "Smelting Season" When the fresh water tiny fish called smelts run the streams and the locals are up late at night to catch them in their nets with plenty of beer for bait! and don't forget the duct-tape! I am very upset that my neighbor did not take me along with him and the season for smelts is almost over! Very upset. I even got my first fishing license for this!
Anyways, it is now time for "fiddleheads"! This is a part of a fern that grows deep in the woods and is picked by many people here. You can have it fried or pickled and they love it! I hope I am not going to miss this as well! If I can't get out to pick them-most of the places are only secretly known and guarded-I can always buy them at the Cheddahville mall or on the corner by the old church. People can then and sell them by the roadside everywhere!
I cannot wait to go fishing! My friend Papa skiddles bought me an early Birthday present of a fishing pole and tackle kit-YEA!!! I know that I am really good at catching tire fish, sneaker fish, rock fish and so forth-would be nice to catch something that I can actually cook! Then I get to learn the art of cleaning and gutting the fish and so forth. I will let you know on that adventure-fishing date set for tomorrow! YEA!
One last thing, I have now found a place to work for-I am going for yet another insurance license-for my Life, Accident, and Health Producer's license-so I have been studying frantically for that, one of the reasons that I have not updated in a while(Plus, a good excuse to keep inside and away as unprotected as I am from the black flies). Also, I have satellite and the more I upload and download-past capacity-my speed slows-thus-I had to give my computer a break!
One more last and final thing! On my way to Scarborough (2 hours south of here)-for a job interview (I got it! Though 100% commission job!) I had to stop for a bathroom break-the coffee caught up with me in Auburn at the Irvings there. And who else was in there-as the only other person in the Ladies room-but Maine Senator, Olympia Snow!!! It was real silly seeing here there and all I could think of saying to her was "when you gotta go-you gotta go!" I am such a dork! Naturally after leaving there all I could think of were the many things I could have said-but didn't! Then again-it was the bathroom...... :)
I had to go out and clean out all of the accumulated stuff on the front porch. It is hard to make dump runs in the winter in sub-zero temps-so I add most of it to the garage-to be taken away in the spring. In the winter I cover it all in plastic to prevent some windchill from entering the house and I ripped it all down and swept the porch. I had to re-duct tape the screen that had blown free-since I cannot afford to professionally replace it. Of course I and my ex-boyfriend (who neither of us are carpenters) had screened it in. I just repair it in the Mainer way-cheaply with duct tape! Effective-believe it or not!
I am unprepared for the black flies and had only noticed them yesterday-need to get the "bug dope" tomorrow so that I can go outside again! I used to be an anti-Deet kind of Mom before I moved up here-however, nothing organic or safe actually works on these critters! I have been know to line up any kids in site and myself to be "Deet"ed-I know it sounds horrible-but have you actually seen the horrible damage created by the famous Maine state bird-other wise known as the "Black Fly????" They hover in swarms and love fresh blood. You need screens up here in the mountains when there are several miles of woods around.
At night, I can hear the famous "Peepers" and was told by the locals that they signify the "Smelting Season" When the fresh water tiny fish called smelts run the streams and the locals are up late at night to catch them in their nets with plenty of beer for bait! and don't forget the duct-tape! I am very upset that my neighbor did not take me along with him and the season for smelts is almost over! Very upset. I even got my first fishing license for this!
Anyways, it is now time for "fiddleheads"! This is a part of a fern that grows deep in the woods and is picked by many people here. You can have it fried or pickled and they love it! I hope I am not going to miss this as well! If I can't get out to pick them-most of the places are only secretly known and guarded-I can always buy them at the Cheddahville mall or on the corner by the old church. People can then and sell them by the roadside everywhere!
I cannot wait to go fishing! My friend Papa skiddles bought me an early Birthday present of a fishing pole and tackle kit-YEA!!! I know that I am really good at catching tire fish, sneaker fish, rock fish and so forth-would be nice to catch something that I can actually cook! Then I get to learn the art of cleaning and gutting the fish and so forth. I will let you know on that adventure-fishing date set for tomorrow! YEA!
One last thing, I have now found a place to work for-I am going for yet another insurance license-for my Life, Accident, and Health Producer's license-so I have been studying frantically for that, one of the reasons that I have not updated in a while(Plus, a good excuse to keep inside and away as unprotected as I am from the black flies). Also, I have satellite and the more I upload and download-past capacity-my speed slows-thus-I had to give my computer a break!
One more last and final thing! On my way to Scarborough (2 hours south of here)-for a job interview (I got it! Though 100% commission job!) I had to stop for a bathroom break-the coffee caught up with me in Auburn at the Irvings there. And who else was in there-as the only other person in the Ladies room-but Maine Senator, Olympia Snow!!! It was real silly seeing here there and all I could think of saying to her was "when you gotta go-you gotta go!" I am such a dork! Naturally after leaving there all I could think of were the many things I could have said-but didn't! Then again-it was the bathroom...... :)
Friday, April 17, 2009
# the Sheep Herder
#2 wanted to catch those sheep who keep escaping. He was all excited about it and even brought along his pen to assist. The only thing is that he has no arms! This hindered him a bit but he was determined. He also has no legs but I did not want to remind him of that and looked hopefully at him. He works hard. The dots in the distance are my sheep and if you look real close you will notice that some of them are in my parent's yard on the wrong side of the fence. #2 was determined to set things right. He pondered over this. I told him that it was all right, my father would not have to mow by the time they drive back up from Florida for the summer. My Dad will be happy when he learns that he did not have to mow his lawn since my sheep did it for him. #2 was sad about this but understood all the same.
#2's commute to work
#2 and I have decided that we will commute together to work. It is a very short commute since I work at my home on the farm. The commute is really non- existent-but #2 insists on it. He states that it is really the whole concept of it. The commute is what professionals do. He loves it anyways-reminds him of his days working for High Point Insurance. He loved that commute to another town in Maine to sell insurance to people in New Jersey-even though he lived in Maine. Now he helps out on a farm. He argues and wants to drive all of the time and forgets the fact that he has no arms. What shall I do? He is determined to drive to work.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tough Times
I suppose no one really prepares us for tough times such as we face today. Every generation claims that they had it so rough to the next generation ahead of them. However, I think what makes it especially rough for those born in the 70's is that we really had it great and now have to deal with all that surrounds us with our spoiled mentality. Unlike generations before us-we did not have it rough-so we cannot make that claim. Think about it....Everything was so easy when we were younger that it seems now. We were the generation that did have it all when young, Safe home, supper on the table at 5p when Dad got home. Pool parties on warm sunny days, summer vacation, hanging out with friends, riding bikes down the street and home before the street lights went on at night. Stability. Normalcy. For most of us back then it seems. Knowing that Mom and Dad had the same jobs they always did and knowing you were in a safe home tucked in each night. Things that were always there, a comfort not often though of.
Now, it seems as if it were just a dream. As an adult, even when married, I was a single Mom. I was the one who made the supper each night and paid the bills for those lights that were turned out as they were safely tucked into bed each night-I was married on paper, not in reality as my father was to my mother in his own stability. I thought I would have the same job for years as my parent's before me seemed to have. Now, I don't know where the next dollar is coming from.
In our parent's generation, one could get a job out of high school or college and expect to stay there until retirement and then to move down to Florida. Us, well, all around us things are closing down. I certainly don't need to go into detail about that. There is not even the stability of marriage anymore. The world seems to be teetering out of control and I sometimes feel lost in it.
Before, once and a while someone would have a rough time with things. Now, it seems that it is contagious-everyone seems to be suffering from hard times not even imagined. In the 80's one could just walk right into a place and potentially be hired. Now you drown in an endless quagmire of oblivion when searching for jobs. I hear about mills in this area being shut down all of the time-and with each closing-hundreds lose their jobs and are tossed aside. With more and more closings-including the ending of my own program and employment-I feel as if this area is becoming a ghost town. People are walking around in a daze-wondering when things will go back to something even close to normal. Grasping for some sort of stability no one seems to even remember anymore.
Distant memories of jaded times are becoming more and more hazy. It does not even seem to hurt that there will be no more retirement funds left by the time my generation needs it.
Up here, people are fighters. We can survive on almost nothing and to withstand unendurable cold with every incredible means possible. It is not uncommon to hear about people not having any money for propane or oil for heat and of having to heat their trailers with hairdryers and heating plates. Of knowing tricks of keeping that valuable heat inside by hanging drapes over the windows and piling on blankets. Of people not only losing their jobs-but their vehicles and homes. I am hearing more and more stories of human suffering all around me and I will fight to keep smiling and to not lose my humor-for that will keep us alive for when the better times return.
In Maine people will help one another with the last dollar, knowing that it might be them next time. I hope people can learn from people here that lesson and to not give up hope. I will smile and know that I have worked hard and will keep searching for something out there. I do need money to keep this farm going and to feed my children. I know that I am not alone. Sorry this is so sad-but this needs to be written. People need to know about the incredibly brave people that live up here and of how strong we all are and silly when times are tough. We take pride in our accomplishments and gain strength from all we are enduring. Pulling ourselves up each time we fall and are made stronger each time. Learning more and more ways to get off that grid that is failing us. Growing our own food and living off the land. We will come out of this stronger and full of pride. Never forgetting what brought us up when we were knocked down again and again. Each other.
Now, it seems as if it were just a dream. As an adult, even when married, I was a single Mom. I was the one who made the supper each night and paid the bills for those lights that were turned out as they were safely tucked into bed each night-I was married on paper, not in reality as my father was to my mother in his own stability. I thought I would have the same job for years as my parent's before me seemed to have. Now, I don't know where the next dollar is coming from.
In our parent's generation, one could get a job out of high school or college and expect to stay there until retirement and then to move down to Florida. Us, well, all around us things are closing down. I certainly don't need to go into detail about that. There is not even the stability of marriage anymore. The world seems to be teetering out of control and I sometimes feel lost in it.
Before, once and a while someone would have a rough time with things. Now, it seems that it is contagious-everyone seems to be suffering from hard times not even imagined. In the 80's one could just walk right into a place and potentially be hired. Now you drown in an endless quagmire of oblivion when searching for jobs. I hear about mills in this area being shut down all of the time-and with each closing-hundreds lose their jobs and are tossed aside. With more and more closings-including the ending of my own program and employment-I feel as if this area is becoming a ghost town. People are walking around in a daze-wondering when things will go back to something even close to normal. Grasping for some sort of stability no one seems to even remember anymore.
Distant memories of jaded times are becoming more and more hazy. It does not even seem to hurt that there will be no more retirement funds left by the time my generation needs it.
Up here, people are fighters. We can survive on almost nothing and to withstand unendurable cold with every incredible means possible. It is not uncommon to hear about people not having any money for propane or oil for heat and of having to heat their trailers with hairdryers and heating plates. Of knowing tricks of keeping that valuable heat inside by hanging drapes over the windows and piling on blankets. Of people not only losing their jobs-but their vehicles and homes. I am hearing more and more stories of human suffering all around me and I will fight to keep smiling and to not lose my humor-for that will keep us alive for when the better times return.
In Maine people will help one another with the last dollar, knowing that it might be them next time. I hope people can learn from people here that lesson and to not give up hope. I will smile and know that I have worked hard and will keep searching for something out there. I do need money to keep this farm going and to feed my children. I know that I am not alone. Sorry this is so sad-but this needs to be written. People need to know about the incredibly brave people that live up here and of how strong we all are and silly when times are tough. We take pride in our accomplishments and gain strength from all we are enduring. Pulling ourselves up each time we fall and are made stronger each time. Learning more and more ways to get off that grid that is failing us. Growing our own food and living off the land. We will come out of this stronger and full of pride. Never forgetting what brought us up when we were knocked down again and again. Each other.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Adventures of #2-"First week at new job"
Now that the Program that I worked on is over and done with I have embarked on a new adventure. On Friday of last week- we had the usual office party-though this time was the last. However, what made this remarkable besides the event that the party was for- was that I inherited the office mascot named #2. He is a plastic toy really. He is made of that rubber foam stuff and is a pencil-compliments to each of us in sales from the "Teacher's Insurance Plan of NJ". Sean made his special-he was decorated with an aluminum foil head-band and was given a mouth to hold a pen. He also had a small plastic skeleton sitting on his cubile to keep #2 company by the name of "Mr. Patel" in honor of the many Patel families that we sold policies to in NJ. My Co-worker Sean gave him to me as a parting gift. I felt honored. So in remembrance of the occasion, I thought I would update Sean on his adventures. Sean cherished his desk toys and loved #2. Other male co-workers would usually throw them at us female co-workers and I stupidy would pick them up and throw them back-untill I caught on.
Since our last day on Friday, April 3rd-after a tearful farewell I parted with #2 stuffed safely in my book bag with my empty coffee container and mug and reading materials. Call time was very slow on those last few days of the program.
Now, this is his first week at the new job-so I could understand his adjustment. Last week he was top in sales with ten minute breaks for cigarettes and now he has fifteen minutes. I am a good boss. He mainly sits in front of the monitor-missing his old boss Sean-though I have given him his space to adjust. He is used to the small cubicle and numerous co-workers who talk about fish fillets and ferrets all of the time. Now he stares at the monitor and sometimes has Cheese-Its at his desk. He is still adjusting to the loss of Sean and Mr. Patel.
Tuesday I even let him spin some wool. He is having a rough time though-since he has no arms. I understand and will let him adjust and hope for the best....
Since our last day on Friday, April 3rd-after a tearful farewell I parted with #2 stuffed safely in my book bag with my empty coffee container and mug and reading materials. Call time was very slow on those last few days of the program.
Now, this is his first week at the new job-so I could understand his adjustment. Last week he was top in sales with ten minute breaks for cigarettes and now he has fifteen minutes. I am a good boss. He mainly sits in front of the monitor-missing his old boss Sean-though I have given him his space to adjust. He is used to the small cubicle and numerous co-workers who talk about fish fillets and ferrets all of the time. Now he stares at the monitor and sometimes has Cheese-Its at his desk. He is still adjusting to the loss of Sean and Mr. Patel.
Tuesday I even let him spin some wool. He is having a rough time though-since he has no arms. I understand and will let him adjust and hope for the best....
Monday, April 6, 2009
Before and after photos of sheep
My wonderful sheep! Here are the "before and after photo's" of them. I'll let you guess which one is which!!
Shorter Blogs
I have received requests for shorter blogs. I will certainly try! I write novels-what do you want people! OK, here goes....
Friday, last day of work. High Point insurance wants to stay in NJ and not have us in Maine anymore. Fine. We kicked their butts in sales, but whatever. Understand. Economy and all.
Saturday. Dragged kids outta bed and drove down to Mass-four and a half hour drive. Visited with my little sis, her husband Jim and their adorable son-Baby D (Dylan). Had a wonderful time. Kids loved Bugaboo Creek Steak House-we felt like we were home in the Disney version of our lives. We didn't hear the moose talk-will just have to wait until we are home for that and hope we catch them! lolol
Sunday. Little sis, Kris' made chocolate chip muffins-Yum. Dragged kids in car and headed south a few more exits to Attleboro area in Mass. Visited with Heidi. Made everyone down there watch my wonderful video that I made of Winter in Cheddaville! Complete with Cat Stevens music in background and morphing pics of big Maine snow!
For lunch we went to Josie, Keith and Ali's house. We were inundated with Keith's latest technology and us hics from Maine loved it! Had burgers on the grill. Then over to other side of North Attleboro to see Marcia and Wayne for afternoon and dinner. Sat on the porch out back and updated them on life here in the Sticks. Hung out for a while and watched Wayne torment kids in his usual way! He made them a snack for long ride home. Left North Attleboro around 8:30p and arrived home-non-stop after midnight. Second wind around Lewiston for last leg of journey.
Wished I could have stayed longer-took updated pics of all down there. Have a lot of work ahead now that I am unemployed. I am keeping my schedule that I had grown used to with finding other means of employment. I plan on updating my farm web page and organizing the farm. I also plan on getting my two completed literary historical novels published. All this while searching for something. Please do not let all of my years of education and work history not go to waste!! I common prayer in these times I know! A lot to do so little time!
Just another step in my life's adventure.
:)
Friday, last day of work. High Point insurance wants to stay in NJ and not have us in Maine anymore. Fine. We kicked their butts in sales, but whatever. Understand. Economy and all.
Saturday. Dragged kids outta bed and drove down to Mass-four and a half hour drive. Visited with my little sis, her husband Jim and their adorable son-Baby D (Dylan). Had a wonderful time. Kids loved Bugaboo Creek Steak House-we felt like we were home in the Disney version of our lives. We didn't hear the moose talk-will just have to wait until we are home for that and hope we catch them! lolol
Sunday. Little sis, Kris' made chocolate chip muffins-Yum. Dragged kids in car and headed south a few more exits to Attleboro area in Mass. Visited with Heidi. Made everyone down there watch my wonderful video that I made of Winter in Cheddaville! Complete with Cat Stevens music in background and morphing pics of big Maine snow!
For lunch we went to Josie, Keith and Ali's house. We were inundated with Keith's latest technology and us hics from Maine loved it! Had burgers on the grill. Then over to other side of North Attleboro to see Marcia and Wayne for afternoon and dinner. Sat on the porch out back and updated them on life here in the Sticks. Hung out for a while and watched Wayne torment kids in his usual way! He made them a snack for long ride home. Left North Attleboro around 8:30p and arrived home-non-stop after midnight. Second wind around Lewiston for last leg of journey.
Wished I could have stayed longer-took updated pics of all down there. Have a lot of work ahead now that I am unemployed. I am keeping my schedule that I had grown used to with finding other means of employment. I plan on updating my farm web page and organizing the farm. I also plan on getting my two completed literary historical novels published. All this while searching for something. Please do not let all of my years of education and work history not go to waste!! I common prayer in these times I know! A lot to do so little time!
Just another step in my life's adventure.
:)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sheep Sheering Time! Muddin' in the dooryard!
Sunday, March 29th. The day had started out drizzly and cold as is normal for Maine in late March. We have also been known to have the occasional snow storm this time of year and sometimes in April as well. This day we had planned on for weeks. With Icelandic sheep it is fine to shear them this early since they would shed on their own if not sheared in time. Normally I would have them sheared twice a year though this year I wanted to see how they would look if I followed the traditions of their original masters, the Vikings.
The breed I have is from Iceland and the Vikings would put them out to the field this time of year after the shearing and the lambing season to common fields. The survivors would be brought into shelters for the long winters in the fall when the snow arrives. They are a primitive and hearty breed and their wool is not only long and colorful but plentiful as well. With all of the colors available in nature, you do not have to dye the wool. The wool comes in two layers; the Tog which is the thick outer layer that actually looks like locks of hair and the thin, fine inner layer that can be used to stuff pillows. I put both of the types of wool together and get the famous Lopi wool that is used in the beautiful Icelandic wool sweaters.
This breed of sheep has not been bred with any other type of sheep for hundreds of years and is one of the oldest and untouched breed available. It is the perfect breed for the climate here in the mountains of Western Maine. They thrive out here and love the snow. I have seen them stand in the field with several of inches of snow on their backs unfazed. Icelandic sheep have been used as the primary source of wool, meat and milk for Iceland for as recently as thirty-five years ago when they were brought over here. There are a few farms about with this breed. They are far different from their more modern cousins. They are shorter and feistier. Most breeds of sheep have only one lead sheep of the herd-though with the Icelandic sheep, many can be dominant and they rams are known to get somewhat aggressive with each other for dominance. Some of this breed brought over here have horns and some don't my own herd is mixed. Only one surviving to this day actually has his horns. I had lost two ram lambs, probably due to their fighting it out. I had not actually witnessed it, though have buried them in the back with lots of tears. We have had to fix the males we are not using for breeding to cut down on that aggression in the herd, through sad example.
Enough about the breed in general. Now about the shearing day. It was cold, as I mentioned. The sky was gray and drizzly and you could see your breath. My daughter Jacqui and I dressed in layers and headed out to the barn to prepare for their big day. They had been fed their grain, hay and fresh water, though kept in their stalls. We wanted them there. They must have known because they called out to me in their sheepy questioning baaas.
We were in the kitchen when Dave Averill arrived. He showed up in his truck and came out with his tackle box and electric shears. The Vikings would comb the sheep this time of year with large combs. Though in modern Chesterville, we use electric shears!
They also long for his time of year as well to be loosened of their heavy burden and to tromp about without all of the heavy layers of wool. As the snow thaws and the weather gets warmer they long for the fresh air on their backs with out all of that wool-thus we helpt them of that. They might protest this, but now I wonder if it is their game. Since they seem so happy after when they are out in the field.
Dave has been here several times since I have first had the farm and he followed us into the barn. We gave him the electric cord for the shears and laid out the tarp on the ground and had the broom ready. We had also lined up the bags of wool for easy access.
Thus began the assembly line that we had all grown used to. Dave would go into the stall with the large rams and took out Njord first-the papa of most of them and brought him out of the stall to the middle area. We set to work. Dave would sit Njord down in the middle to still him. There are certain positions that you put sheep in and they stay put. It looks silly when you first see it-but they don't move and it is early to shear them. I would have taken picture of this process but the light in the barn is limited and not good enough for my digital camera. I will take some more when the shy is blue again.
Thesheep are huge and some can be quite aggressive-depending on the breed. Mine are small, though almost large with all of the long heavy wool. Njord is white and brown as is the other ram named Odin-who was next. Though Odin had the curling horns. So Njord was put this way and that and quickly and efficiently we watched the wool sheared off. The fleece was removed in almost one section. When Njord was put to sitting again-his hooves were then clipped. This was the time that I grabbed all of the fleece and Jacqui and I quickly split it up to put in bags. We ran them up to the garage-the dry area to put the bags of freshly sheared wool to be organized and cleaned later. We then put Njord out to the field while he protested, and then quickly shut the doors and swept the area clean for the next one. I peeked out and saw Njord out in the filed slowly getting his freedom and jumping about unencumbered by all of that winter wool. Next was Odin and then the ewes (females) Of the females was the mama of them all Freyja, and Brunhild and then Skaadi, Baaa One and Baaa Two (Tiffy named them) and Thumbelina (Jacqui named her).
This was the jist of the assembly line that we had worked out. They all ran from us when we tried to catch them one by one. They should know the drill by now. I wonder if it a game that they play just to show me that they love me and to keep me on my toes!
They went out after one by one to join the others in the field and I saw some of them jumping and running about. In all it took about an hour for the whole process.
We then clean out the barn and headed back out to the muddy driveway and into the house to wash up. I was all muddy from grabbing all of the wool on the ground.
Muddin' in the Dooryard!:
This time of year everything seems to have turned to mud. There is still plenty of snow, though the thaw is in big effect and mud and puddles of melting snow are everywhere.
We had a little bit of snow that night and a frost over everything. The days can be anywhere from 30-50 and the evenings are still under freezing. We use the wood-stove at night and for the mornings and evenings this time of year. The snow banks are still there though are pushed back a bit from the road and very muddy.
My driveway has turned into a huge mud pit as I mentioned before and I had no need to warn Dave about this-he was used to the area and was careful as he pulled out and onto the road. There are also a lot of potholes and frost heaves from the temperatures. Many alignment has been ruined and cars are ditched this time of year on a normal basis. I still have my snow ties on since we can expect more snow this time of year and I carefully navigate on roads avoiding huge ditches and potholes and gaping frost heaves. I have felt my car bottom out way too many times. Though know which roads to avoid this time of year, as do most other people.
My own driveway or dooryard is a typical farm one and is made of dirt. So in the winter it becomes a huge solid ice pit. This I have warned many people about and frantically have had to go out to my car with a bag of kitty-litter or ice-melt-whichever I had on hand-just to get out to the car without breaking a leg.
This time of year it is banked with melting muddy snowbanks. The driveway is now a huge mud pit filled with huge gaping ruts that are easy to get trapped in. We talk at work about our adventures getting struck in the mud. Some people who have four-wheel drives go out on purpose to cover themselves and their cars with mud for fun. Not so with me!
For one thing, I have to navigate carefully in my waterproof boots just to get to my car-again! I could easily slip and fall in it-Yuk! This I have done before. I have to make sure the car is parked in a high relatively dry spot and then to be careful in backing out!
Last night we had our first lightning storm of the season which is why I could not get online last night. We have satellite and have to depend on atmospheric conditions-which were not cooperating with me.
So this morning, I knew my driveway would be one huge monster mud pit. However, I was running a bit late and had not paid attention when backing out. I backed right into a huge mud area and quickly became stuck right in it! My car just sank in deeper the harder I tried to get out of it! I then called work and told them why I would be a little late. I had tried to find some sticks to give it some leverage but my car was sunk too deep and was by then covered almost completely in mud. I was still dry though, for I had not fallen in it. This time-at least!
I called for a tow and they laughed and mentioned I was the first one of the season! I'm glad I am the first of something! When Sean arrived he quickly went about business. It took him while after reaching around in the slick mud to find a spot for the chain. Finally I was pulled free and went off to work. When I had arrived at work I had proof of my plight all over the car and had to explain to them that; No I had not gone "Muddin'" that I had gotten stuck! They laughed and then wondered when it would be their turn.
:)
The breed I have is from Iceland and the Vikings would put them out to the field this time of year after the shearing and the lambing season to common fields. The survivors would be brought into shelters for the long winters in the fall when the snow arrives. They are a primitive and hearty breed and their wool is not only long and colorful but plentiful as well. With all of the colors available in nature, you do not have to dye the wool. The wool comes in two layers; the Tog which is the thick outer layer that actually looks like locks of hair and the thin, fine inner layer that can be used to stuff pillows. I put both of the types of wool together and get the famous Lopi wool that is used in the beautiful Icelandic wool sweaters.
This breed of sheep has not been bred with any other type of sheep for hundreds of years and is one of the oldest and untouched breed available. It is the perfect breed for the climate here in the mountains of Western Maine. They thrive out here and love the snow. I have seen them stand in the field with several of inches of snow on their backs unfazed. Icelandic sheep have been used as the primary source of wool, meat and milk for Iceland for as recently as thirty-five years ago when they were brought over here. There are a few farms about with this breed. They are far different from their more modern cousins. They are shorter and feistier. Most breeds of sheep have only one lead sheep of the herd-though with the Icelandic sheep, many can be dominant and they rams are known to get somewhat aggressive with each other for dominance. Some of this breed brought over here have horns and some don't my own herd is mixed. Only one surviving to this day actually has his horns. I had lost two ram lambs, probably due to their fighting it out. I had not actually witnessed it, though have buried them in the back with lots of tears. We have had to fix the males we are not using for breeding to cut down on that aggression in the herd, through sad example.
Enough about the breed in general. Now about the shearing day. It was cold, as I mentioned. The sky was gray and drizzly and you could see your breath. My daughter Jacqui and I dressed in layers and headed out to the barn to prepare for their big day. They had been fed their grain, hay and fresh water, though kept in their stalls. We wanted them there. They must have known because they called out to me in their sheepy questioning baaas.
We were in the kitchen when Dave Averill arrived. He showed up in his truck and came out with his tackle box and electric shears. The Vikings would comb the sheep this time of year with large combs. Though in modern Chesterville, we use electric shears!
They also long for his time of year as well to be loosened of their heavy burden and to tromp about without all of the heavy layers of wool. As the snow thaws and the weather gets warmer they long for the fresh air on their backs with out all of that wool-thus we helpt them of that. They might protest this, but now I wonder if it is their game. Since they seem so happy after when they are out in the field.
Dave has been here several times since I have first had the farm and he followed us into the barn. We gave him the electric cord for the shears and laid out the tarp on the ground and had the broom ready. We had also lined up the bags of wool for easy access.
Thus began the assembly line that we had all grown used to. Dave would go into the stall with the large rams and took out Njord first-the papa of most of them and brought him out of the stall to the middle area. We set to work. Dave would sit Njord down in the middle to still him. There are certain positions that you put sheep in and they stay put. It looks silly when you first see it-but they don't move and it is early to shear them. I would have taken picture of this process but the light in the barn is limited and not good enough for my digital camera. I will take some more when the shy is blue again.
Thesheep are huge and some can be quite aggressive-depending on the breed. Mine are small, though almost large with all of the long heavy wool. Njord is white and brown as is the other ram named Odin-who was next. Though Odin had the curling horns. So Njord was put this way and that and quickly and efficiently we watched the wool sheared off. The fleece was removed in almost one section. When Njord was put to sitting again-his hooves were then clipped. This was the time that I grabbed all of the fleece and Jacqui and I quickly split it up to put in bags. We ran them up to the garage-the dry area to put the bags of freshly sheared wool to be organized and cleaned later. We then put Njord out to the field while he protested, and then quickly shut the doors and swept the area clean for the next one. I peeked out and saw Njord out in the filed slowly getting his freedom and jumping about unencumbered by all of that winter wool. Next was Odin and then the ewes (females) Of the females was the mama of them all Freyja, and Brunhild and then Skaadi, Baaa One and Baaa Two (Tiffy named them) and Thumbelina (Jacqui named her).
This was the jist of the assembly line that we had worked out. They all ran from us when we tried to catch them one by one. They should know the drill by now. I wonder if it a game that they play just to show me that they love me and to keep me on my toes!
They went out after one by one to join the others in the field and I saw some of them jumping and running about. In all it took about an hour for the whole process.
We then clean out the barn and headed back out to the muddy driveway and into the house to wash up. I was all muddy from grabbing all of the wool on the ground.
Muddin' in the Dooryard!:
This time of year everything seems to have turned to mud. There is still plenty of snow, though the thaw is in big effect and mud and puddles of melting snow are everywhere.
We had a little bit of snow that night and a frost over everything. The days can be anywhere from 30-50 and the evenings are still under freezing. We use the wood-stove at night and for the mornings and evenings this time of year. The snow banks are still there though are pushed back a bit from the road and very muddy.
My driveway has turned into a huge mud pit as I mentioned before and I had no need to warn Dave about this-he was used to the area and was careful as he pulled out and onto the road. There are also a lot of potholes and frost heaves from the temperatures. Many alignment has been ruined and cars are ditched this time of year on a normal basis. I still have my snow ties on since we can expect more snow this time of year and I carefully navigate on roads avoiding huge ditches and potholes and gaping frost heaves. I have felt my car bottom out way too many times. Though know which roads to avoid this time of year, as do most other people.
My own driveway or dooryard is a typical farm one and is made of dirt. So in the winter it becomes a huge solid ice pit. This I have warned many people about and frantically have had to go out to my car with a bag of kitty-litter or ice-melt-whichever I had on hand-just to get out to the car without breaking a leg.
This time of year it is banked with melting muddy snowbanks. The driveway is now a huge mud pit filled with huge gaping ruts that are easy to get trapped in. We talk at work about our adventures getting struck in the mud. Some people who have four-wheel drives go out on purpose to cover themselves and their cars with mud for fun. Not so with me!
For one thing, I have to navigate carefully in my waterproof boots just to get to my car-again! I could easily slip and fall in it-Yuk! This I have done before. I have to make sure the car is parked in a high relatively dry spot and then to be careful in backing out!
Last night we had our first lightning storm of the season which is why I could not get online last night. We have satellite and have to depend on atmospheric conditions-which were not cooperating with me.
So this morning, I knew my driveway would be one huge monster mud pit. However, I was running a bit late and had not paid attention when backing out. I backed right into a huge mud area and quickly became stuck right in it! My car just sank in deeper the harder I tried to get out of it! I then called work and told them why I would be a little late. I had tried to find some sticks to give it some leverage but my car was sunk too deep and was by then covered almost completely in mud. I was still dry though, for I had not fallen in it. This time-at least!
I called for a tow and they laughed and mentioned I was the first one of the season! I'm glad I am the first of something! When Sean arrived he quickly went about business. It took him while after reaching around in the slick mud to find a spot for the chain. Finally I was pulled free and went off to work. When I had arrived at work I had proof of my plight all over the car and had to explain to them that; No I had not gone "Muddin'" that I had gotten stuck! They laughed and then wondered when it would be their turn.
:)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Super Mom to the rescue
Normally I have Tuesdays off. You would think that a day off is a day off-well, for me-it is a time to catch up. I work full time during the day selling insurance and work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So I can have Tuesdays off to catch up and the take the girls for their appointments. I do not even know what "down time is". I also have a farm and work on the wool from my sheep and write novels. I am the Queen of multi-tasking and am proud of it!
Normally it can be with one appointment, but sometimes they add up and the shuffling of them can be pretty intense. This particular Tuesday I had a million things to do to say the very least.
I called before to set up a ride for my daughter Jacqui to be picked up from her school and to be bought over to her afternoon appointment in Farmington with her doctor. I was planning on staying home. However, when I called-I found out that at this particular appointment, I had to be there. Well, I knew the maneuvering had only just begun with this request. I did not want to reschedule.
So after that call that morning I did the usual chores on my day off; straightened up the house, banked the fire in the wood stove, made sure there was enough wood brought up from the basement, cleaned the dishes in the kitchen, took the dogs out (too cold for them still to be left out for the day and their dog house is still under snow), made the usual phone calls on recent events and appointments to be made, and then finally was I able to get dressed and head out the door for my car to be fixed. I had called my friend Heather to see if she was able to rescue me-since there would be a lapse during the appointment that afternoon when Tiffy would be left home alone after getting off the bus. I was trying to call everywhere to help on that one.
I then headed out the door to Wilton after my car was heated up to have it worked on. I was finally having my driver's side window fixed so that I could open it. It was hard going through tolls (I would have to drive up and have my daughter in the backseat hand them the money- or pull over before hand to leave the window rolled down, a nightmare in the winter here in Maine-thank goodness I rarely used the toll way!) Also at the bank I would always forget when I wanted to drive to the window or the ATM and have to park on the side in frustration and actually walk in the old-fashioned way or walk over when no one was around to the ATM!). I was also having the oil leak fixed-I was sick of having to put in a quart of oil each week!). The removal of the snow tires would have to wait for later!
So I drove there and was given a ride back to my house to wait it out by Chris' wife, Moe.
When I arrived home I hunkered down and prepared for battle. I decided to pay as many bills as I could online-since I can never find the time to visit the post office and have no idea how much stamps cost now (cant seem to keep up with that. Also the cost of milk!). So I frantically tried to arrange the rest of the day and even called the school to have them remind my daughter of her appointment and that she was getting picked up there by someone else. After paying my bills, I decided to play online for a hour and found a whole bunch of songs to download onto my MP3 player-though I could not figure out how to make the actual connection between the two.
The night before I had to put my three kitties in a large cage so they would not have water or food before their surgery (they were being fixed Tuesday). It was rough passing them and knowing they were hungry and thirsty. Vet's orders!
They were to arrive between 1-2p. They arrived at 1:30p. The vet is Stephanie and she owns the Maine Woods Mobil Vet unit. They are veterinarians that actually come to your home. She works on pets and fiber animals (my sheep) for shots, nail clippings etc... (YEA!) She arrived with her assistant and her four year old son (who was adorable!). On the agenda was to create a sort of assembly line in my kitchen for fixing my two female kitties (Dot and Little Miss) and the male kitty (Trouble)-they were also to receive their rabies shots. Then my dogs Loki and Bart were to have their nails clipped.
I have to admit, I was very impressed with the whole process. She created a small sterile area and I was actually allowed to watch the whole process! Very interesting. Her adorable little son was wandering about and I gave him a banana to distract him. He wanted to go pet my dogs, but they are not that used to kids that little and were a little skittish of the boy! They growled and knew they were getting in trouble from me over that and hid under the living room table. The kitties were given shots to anaesthetise them for their surgeries and they were laid out and prepared for it. Living on a farm you get used to life in all forms; the good, and the ugly-though necessary. I make sure all of my animals are fixed and most are even micro-chipped (dogs and cats-not yet on the kitties). I had to be a part of fixing my two male rams with the elasticiser (long story and quite vivid and I am not even male-ouch!).
So, one by one the kitties were fixed. I was nervous since my kitties had gone into heat already. They were born in July in the same litter. They are my other cat Butterina's kitties.
While each was being fixed they had their rabies shots. Then we had to tackle the dogs for their nails to be clipped. In the winter they are inside-way too cold out to tie them up in the yard and their dog house is buried under mounds of snow! I cant even find the propane tank out there! We literally had to shovel an almost tunnel to get from the house to the barn. So their nails tend to get long. That was quite a feat in itself! The whole time I was getting a call from the school about Jacqui's ride waiting for her and no Jacqui. They finally had to contact the bus driver en-route to find out that she had forgotten and boarded the bus. I also got a call from my friend Heather who was able to come over and to watch the kitties in their drugged out and recovering state and to meet Tiffy as she got off her bus! Meanwhile, I was helping to hold down the dogs and calming them and talking on the cell phone and regular phone-depending which one I received calls from during all of this. Also, Moe was able to come over to pick me up since the car was done enough for me to use it. They had two people call in that day at the garage and Chris was doing all of the work himself! He was backed up that day. So by the time Moe arrived, I had managed to have my friend en-route to rescue Tiff and I was paying the bill to the vet and helping them clean up-Jacqui got off the bus. I ran out to the car with her and Jacqui and hoped that Heather would be at the house in time. We arrived at the garage and almost went to another car parked outside. I thought "boy, my car really needs a bath!" and it turned out that it was another car. I was able to take my car then and with them knowing I would be back there after the appointment to pay the bill. They knew me enough for that-good thing! I then went into the garage and waited while they backed it out and then drove off frantically to catch the 3p appointment. I called on the cell and informed them that I would be about ten minutes late-which I was and went right in. My daughter Jacqui has severe ADD and has been having trouble focusing in school.
After the appointment I called and found out that my friend Heather had showed up in time and then was able to drive over to the garage happily rolling up and down my window in glee to pay the bill. I had spent over $600 in all that day and came home very tired but happy that I was able to manage it all and nothing went wrong. Many close calls and room for potential tragedy-but all went well and everything that was supposed to get done-got done!
I came home and visited with my friend while she played with my computer and showed me how to download some songs and my pics to the MP3 player. I then made sure the girls had all their homework done and their chores. Jacqui to bring up the firewood and to take care of the sheep out the the barn and to bring the dogs out. Tiffy to clean the kitty-litter. I made supper and all was well in the world and I was able to rest in peace that night to battle another day!
This is just a small example of my usual busy Tuesdays...
Normally it can be with one appointment, but sometimes they add up and the shuffling of them can be pretty intense. This particular Tuesday I had a million things to do to say the very least.
I called before to set up a ride for my daughter Jacqui to be picked up from her school and to be bought over to her afternoon appointment in Farmington with her doctor. I was planning on staying home. However, when I called-I found out that at this particular appointment, I had to be there. Well, I knew the maneuvering had only just begun with this request. I did not want to reschedule.
So after that call that morning I did the usual chores on my day off; straightened up the house, banked the fire in the wood stove, made sure there was enough wood brought up from the basement, cleaned the dishes in the kitchen, took the dogs out (too cold for them still to be left out for the day and their dog house is still under snow), made the usual phone calls on recent events and appointments to be made, and then finally was I able to get dressed and head out the door for my car to be fixed. I had called my friend Heather to see if she was able to rescue me-since there would be a lapse during the appointment that afternoon when Tiffy would be left home alone after getting off the bus. I was trying to call everywhere to help on that one.
I then headed out the door to Wilton after my car was heated up to have it worked on. I was finally having my driver's side window fixed so that I could open it. It was hard going through tolls (I would have to drive up and have my daughter in the backseat hand them the money- or pull over before hand to leave the window rolled down, a nightmare in the winter here in Maine-thank goodness I rarely used the toll way!) Also at the bank I would always forget when I wanted to drive to the window or the ATM and have to park on the side in frustration and actually walk in the old-fashioned way or walk over when no one was around to the ATM!). I was also having the oil leak fixed-I was sick of having to put in a quart of oil each week!). The removal of the snow tires would have to wait for later!
So I drove there and was given a ride back to my house to wait it out by Chris' wife, Moe.
When I arrived home I hunkered down and prepared for battle. I decided to pay as many bills as I could online-since I can never find the time to visit the post office and have no idea how much stamps cost now (cant seem to keep up with that. Also the cost of milk!). So I frantically tried to arrange the rest of the day and even called the school to have them remind my daughter of her appointment and that she was getting picked up there by someone else. After paying my bills, I decided to play online for a hour and found a whole bunch of songs to download onto my MP3 player-though I could not figure out how to make the actual connection between the two.
The night before I had to put my three kitties in a large cage so they would not have water or food before their surgery (they were being fixed Tuesday). It was rough passing them and knowing they were hungry and thirsty. Vet's orders!
They were to arrive between 1-2p. They arrived at 1:30p. The vet is Stephanie and she owns the Maine Woods Mobil Vet unit. They are veterinarians that actually come to your home. She works on pets and fiber animals (my sheep) for shots, nail clippings etc... (YEA!) She arrived with her assistant and her four year old son (who was adorable!). On the agenda was to create a sort of assembly line in my kitchen for fixing my two female kitties (Dot and Little Miss) and the male kitty (Trouble)-they were also to receive their rabies shots. Then my dogs Loki and Bart were to have their nails clipped.
I have to admit, I was very impressed with the whole process. She created a small sterile area and I was actually allowed to watch the whole process! Very interesting. Her adorable little son was wandering about and I gave him a banana to distract him. He wanted to go pet my dogs, but they are not that used to kids that little and were a little skittish of the boy! They growled and knew they were getting in trouble from me over that and hid under the living room table. The kitties were given shots to anaesthetise them for their surgeries and they were laid out and prepared for it. Living on a farm you get used to life in all forms; the good, and the ugly-though necessary. I make sure all of my animals are fixed and most are even micro-chipped (dogs and cats-not yet on the kitties). I had to be a part of fixing my two male rams with the elasticiser (long story and quite vivid and I am not even male-ouch!).
So, one by one the kitties were fixed. I was nervous since my kitties had gone into heat already. They were born in July in the same litter. They are my other cat Butterina's kitties.
While each was being fixed they had their rabies shots. Then we had to tackle the dogs for their nails to be clipped. In the winter they are inside-way too cold out to tie them up in the yard and their dog house is buried under mounds of snow! I cant even find the propane tank out there! We literally had to shovel an almost tunnel to get from the house to the barn. So their nails tend to get long. That was quite a feat in itself! The whole time I was getting a call from the school about Jacqui's ride waiting for her and no Jacqui. They finally had to contact the bus driver en-route to find out that she had forgotten and boarded the bus. I also got a call from my friend Heather who was able to come over and to watch the kitties in their drugged out and recovering state and to meet Tiffy as she got off her bus! Meanwhile, I was helping to hold down the dogs and calming them and talking on the cell phone and regular phone-depending which one I received calls from during all of this. Also, Moe was able to come over to pick me up since the car was done enough for me to use it. They had two people call in that day at the garage and Chris was doing all of the work himself! He was backed up that day. So by the time Moe arrived, I had managed to have my friend en-route to rescue Tiff and I was paying the bill to the vet and helping them clean up-Jacqui got off the bus. I ran out to the car with her and Jacqui and hoped that Heather would be at the house in time. We arrived at the garage and almost went to another car parked outside. I thought "boy, my car really needs a bath!" and it turned out that it was another car. I was able to take my car then and with them knowing I would be back there after the appointment to pay the bill. They knew me enough for that-good thing! I then went into the garage and waited while they backed it out and then drove off frantically to catch the 3p appointment. I called on the cell and informed them that I would be about ten minutes late-which I was and went right in. My daughter Jacqui has severe ADD and has been having trouble focusing in school.
After the appointment I called and found out that my friend Heather had showed up in time and then was able to drive over to the garage happily rolling up and down my window in glee to pay the bill. I had spent over $600 in all that day and came home very tired but happy that I was able to manage it all and nothing went wrong. Many close calls and room for potential tragedy-but all went well and everything that was supposed to get done-got done!
I came home and visited with my friend while she played with my computer and showed me how to download some songs and my pics to the MP3 player. I then made sure the girls had all their homework done and their chores. Jacqui to bring up the firewood and to take care of the sheep out the the barn and to bring the dogs out. Tiffy to clean the kitty-litter. I made supper and all was well in the world and I was able to rest in peace that night to battle another day!
This is just a small example of my usual busy Tuesdays...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tis the season for MUD
Now that the snow is melting, the next season here in Maine is the famous MUD SEASON. This is the time of year when the snow starts to melt and turns everything all around into mud. People up here love the love snow, I know its crazy, but there are plenty of places south of here with less snow-naturally. But what is the fun of all that? All winter we trudge out to the cars early in the morning to heat them up and brave the mountainous trek to where we work. On the way the mountains are lit up with freshly packed snow that we can't wait to get home to ski on or snowmobile on-or whatever-make snow angels? This season of freezing subzero temperatures and warm cozy wood stoves has to end sometime-which it does and is outside. Outside the days are below freezing and thus the snow is melting. Now you may ask-probably not-but it works with what I'm writing..."Where does all that snow go?" Well, I'll tell you..... It slowly melts and ends up everywhere-leaving mud all around.
The roads up here are steep and very mountainous-beautiful granted-but treacherous all the same. On the side of the roads there are not sidewalks like in the suburbs-or anywhere else on this planet it seems-but huge ditches. Now, this might seem odd if one were to visit for the first time. I wondered what that was all about when I first moved up here. Then I found out. There is so much snow on average each year-often with banks of snow way over the tops of the average cars in height. The ditches quickly fill up and then pile up to the sky from there. People who live here are always talking about past memories of the times past when they snow banked their cars-this happens often up here due to ice under the layers of snow and curvy and windy hills. My minivan which was in beautiful condition when I first moved up here quickly fell prey to the lure of the ever present snowbanks that one would meet while trying to navigate down or even up hill most evenings on the way home. I mistakenly took of the comprehensive and collision on my vehicle's insurance and as if that added license-it fell a victim to the climate here and met lovingly each snowbank as I careened my way home on a few occasions. Thus, I was able to add my stories pridefully to my neighbors who only smiled knowingly in response. I tried in vain to hide those initial blunders by taping it with the infamous duct tape (again the reference to the most common staple here)-but alas, it still was not good enough. I then just drove on and was thankful that the van still got me from point A to B.
When the snow melts, the big mud that takes hold of everything up here-seems to be everywhere. During the height of the winter the snow banks are so high that you pray each time you get to an intersection when you can't see past the banks at the corners of the road-that it is clear. Most of the times it is-sometimes you can hear them-if you roll down your window (in my current car-a 1990 Chrysler Le Barron that I inherited from my great Aunt-that is not an option).
As the snow melts, you eventually can see at intersections and don't have to pray that a logger truck is not barreling down. Now I can see past them and cross safely, only now to notice the rivers of water all around. Those huge ditches once filled with piling snow are now bare from the melting snow and are fast gathering with small raging rivers of melting snow from the foothills and mountains.
Nature up here is made very real and not hidden behind the safety of suburbia with sidewalks and storm drains under street lamps.
Most driveways (dooryards) are now filling with mud as are the more secondary roads. This is the deep country or the last of the territories that it seems and it is all rural here. Most of the main roads in town are still dirt. Some of them are closed this time of year to logging trucks and main traffic due to the very real possibility of getting struck in some massive mud ruts. My own dooryard is filled beyond repair with huge ruts and I hold on while entering it as I skid over to where I usually park. Most people park on the actual yard-easier to get out of. This I have adopted as well, having gotten stuck in the past in the main driveway.
Gone is the ice pit driveway-thankfully. However, now in its place is the scary mud pit. This is equally scary! My littlest daughter who is nine loves it. She proudly puts her snow boots in the closet and pulls out her new mud boots and runs outside to squish in it! She loves the mud and so do my cats and dogs-who are endlessly bringing it in with them. My floors have seen brighter days. There is a rule that everyone must take their shoes and boots off if they even want to think about entering this house! For good reason! I would have to mop five times each day-if not! Yikes!
This is also the time of year when I can wash the blankets and hang them outside in my yard to dry-washing all of the winter wear off of them and adding the crisp mountain air! I go through all of the winter clothes and boots and get rid of those that fast become worn up here. I take the plastic off the porch screens that had been put there for wind blocks. I heard the wind chimes today for the first time in months.
I air out as much as I can now-though it is still cold and freezes at night. There is still a lot of snow in the yard so my efforts are limited to the area around the house and the garage-now I can almost pull my car into it (the garage was buried all winter and I had to park at the end of the driveway for most of it-whenever it snowed!) and the barn.
The barn doors are still frozen and I had to put some ice melt there to open them out to let my sheep out.
I have caught up on all of my wool work from the winter-the bags of wool waiting to be spun is put into the back room. There is also a lot of wool that has been washed and is waiting to be carded to add the the many bags all carded (those waiting to be spun at the spinning wheel).
This is also the time of year when I prepare my sheep for their time soon to come. Next Sunday they will be sheared. They have grown beautiful wool all year long and they are waiting anxiously for their new Spring freedom where they can romp in the field in all their naked glory. I will add before and after photos of the sheep after this event to this blog. They look gorgeous with all of their many bright colors and long wool. When they are sheared-they look awful silly and I tell my daughters they must be sensitive to this and not laugh-though it is hard!
So now I watch as the snow melts and my driveway fast becomes a part of the mud season. this season seems to not last long, because soon is will be the arrival of the dreaded black flies and mosquitoes! However it will also be the season of the fire pit-I have a huge new one in the back yard and one on the side yard for this and we all canit wait!
:)
The roads up here are steep and very mountainous-beautiful granted-but treacherous all the same. On the side of the roads there are not sidewalks like in the suburbs-or anywhere else on this planet it seems-but huge ditches. Now, this might seem odd if one were to visit for the first time. I wondered what that was all about when I first moved up here. Then I found out. There is so much snow on average each year-often with banks of snow way over the tops of the average cars in height. The ditches quickly fill up and then pile up to the sky from there. People who live here are always talking about past memories of the times past when they snow banked their cars-this happens often up here due to ice under the layers of snow and curvy and windy hills. My minivan which was in beautiful condition when I first moved up here quickly fell prey to the lure of the ever present snowbanks that one would meet while trying to navigate down or even up hill most evenings on the way home. I mistakenly took of the comprehensive and collision on my vehicle's insurance and as if that added license-it fell a victim to the climate here and met lovingly each snowbank as I careened my way home on a few occasions. Thus, I was able to add my stories pridefully to my neighbors who only smiled knowingly in response. I tried in vain to hide those initial blunders by taping it with the infamous duct tape (again the reference to the most common staple here)-but alas, it still was not good enough. I then just drove on and was thankful that the van still got me from point A to B.
When the snow melts, the big mud that takes hold of everything up here-seems to be everywhere. During the height of the winter the snow banks are so high that you pray each time you get to an intersection when you can't see past the banks at the corners of the road-that it is clear. Most of the times it is-sometimes you can hear them-if you roll down your window (in my current car-a 1990 Chrysler Le Barron that I inherited from my great Aunt-that is not an option).
As the snow melts, you eventually can see at intersections and don't have to pray that a logger truck is not barreling down. Now I can see past them and cross safely, only now to notice the rivers of water all around. Those huge ditches once filled with piling snow are now bare from the melting snow and are fast gathering with small raging rivers of melting snow from the foothills and mountains.
Nature up here is made very real and not hidden behind the safety of suburbia with sidewalks and storm drains under street lamps.
Most driveways (dooryards) are now filling with mud as are the more secondary roads. This is the deep country or the last of the territories that it seems and it is all rural here. Most of the main roads in town are still dirt. Some of them are closed this time of year to logging trucks and main traffic due to the very real possibility of getting struck in some massive mud ruts. My own dooryard is filled beyond repair with huge ruts and I hold on while entering it as I skid over to where I usually park. Most people park on the actual yard-easier to get out of. This I have adopted as well, having gotten stuck in the past in the main driveway.
Gone is the ice pit driveway-thankfully. However, now in its place is the scary mud pit. This is equally scary! My littlest daughter who is nine loves it. She proudly puts her snow boots in the closet and pulls out her new mud boots and runs outside to squish in it! She loves the mud and so do my cats and dogs-who are endlessly bringing it in with them. My floors have seen brighter days. There is a rule that everyone must take their shoes and boots off if they even want to think about entering this house! For good reason! I would have to mop five times each day-if not! Yikes!
This is also the time of year when I can wash the blankets and hang them outside in my yard to dry-washing all of the winter wear off of them and adding the crisp mountain air! I go through all of the winter clothes and boots and get rid of those that fast become worn up here. I take the plastic off the porch screens that had been put there for wind blocks. I heard the wind chimes today for the first time in months.
I air out as much as I can now-though it is still cold and freezes at night. There is still a lot of snow in the yard so my efforts are limited to the area around the house and the garage-now I can almost pull my car into it (the garage was buried all winter and I had to park at the end of the driveway for most of it-whenever it snowed!) and the barn.
The barn doors are still frozen and I had to put some ice melt there to open them out to let my sheep out.
I have caught up on all of my wool work from the winter-the bags of wool waiting to be spun is put into the back room. There is also a lot of wool that has been washed and is waiting to be carded to add the the many bags all carded (those waiting to be spun at the spinning wheel).
This is also the time of year when I prepare my sheep for their time soon to come. Next Sunday they will be sheared. They have grown beautiful wool all year long and they are waiting anxiously for their new Spring freedom where they can romp in the field in all their naked glory. I will add before and after photos of the sheep after this event to this blog. They look gorgeous with all of their many bright colors and long wool. When they are sheared-they look awful silly and I tell my daughters they must be sensitive to this and not laugh-though it is hard!
So now I watch as the snow melts and my driveway fast becomes a part of the mud season. this season seems to not last long, because soon is will be the arrival of the dreaded black flies and mosquitoes! However it will also be the season of the fire pit-I have a huge new one in the back yard and one on the side yard for this and we all canit wait!
:)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
"The Cheddahville Traffic Report"
When we first moved up here in 2003 there were a few things that seemed rather weird. One of the main things was that there was not any traffic in town. None at all. You can ride for miles and not encounter another car in either direction. Some of the roads are even made of dirt and are traveled on as much as main roads in town. Most of the roads are covered in pot holes, especially in the Spring after the big thaw. So travel for the most part-no matter what time of year is brutal and hard on the alignment.
One day, a few weeks after our big move to the Maine woods I was in the car with my daughter Alex. She was in the eighth grade at the time and hated me for bringing her to a place where the closest mall was two hours away from our new home. I was trying to cheer her up and asked her, "Hey Alex, what is missing from up here?" She responded with eyes downcast in her completely eighth grade somber tone, "I dunno- a mall... decent shopping..." And I smiled and asked again, "Besides that. What is missing?" She smiled and laughed.... "traffic....".
Then I smiled and yahooed, "yep, that would be what I am thinking about.....no traffic." Before moving up here almost each time we left the house and especially before work I was glued to the morning news and listened intently for the "Eye in the Sky" traffic report that would predict the latest bottlenecks and jams in the Boston area. " I have an idea...." And that was when I created the "Cheddaville Traffic Report". I told her the child version and thought I'd add a little more now that I have been here a few years.
"Ayuh, Eye in the Sky-reporter Earl live at ya from the top of ol' Grady's bahn reportin' the latest in Cheddaville traffic. Today, mostly snow, visability at nothin' but ten feet. Ayuh! Ova at the Cheddaville Mall, two cah pile up waitin for local moose to cross to the ol' mill site-that just don torn dawn abut tweny fie year en past. Up at fahma Ted' by the cornah of Don's junkyahd is a five cah pile up for the two fo' one gun sale ready fo' huntin. Yep, get yer guns now before they are written in the bible-Uncle Henry's. Up ova theah on Ned Bailey's is an ol' broke trailah jus'sittin down in the rud waitin' fo' repair ifn eva Ned gits his arse out theah and outta the beeh. Two skiddah's are jammed ova at Stew Rooney's bahn blockin fouh mules that dun broke outta the pen waitin ta be let in. Maple syrup's a runnin and the jugs are being filled waitin on anothah bottleneck of Mass---- jus' waitin fo' theah share! Ayuh! Meltin' snow and mud are what it is all bout' here in Cheddaville this time a yeah. A cah of the rud near where the Jestly mill used ta be is waitin for a tow. Up ahead a copta in the sky tippin's its ol' wings. Nope, not a criminal escape-just lookin' out for the local hahvest of that skunk smellin' stuff! Anyhow, aint nothin else much going on here but that. Ayuh, cept' Im'm outta beef jerky...gotta jet on down ta the mall-the Cheddahville Mall that is!"
One day, a few weeks after our big move to the Maine woods I was in the car with my daughter Alex. She was in the eighth grade at the time and hated me for bringing her to a place where the closest mall was two hours away from our new home. I was trying to cheer her up and asked her, "Hey Alex, what is missing from up here?" She responded with eyes downcast in her completely eighth grade somber tone, "I dunno- a mall... decent shopping..." And I smiled and asked again, "Besides that. What is missing?" She smiled and laughed.... "traffic....".
Then I smiled and yahooed, "yep, that would be what I am thinking about.....no traffic." Before moving up here almost each time we left the house and especially before work I was glued to the morning news and listened intently for the "Eye in the Sky" traffic report that would predict the latest bottlenecks and jams in the Boston area. " I have an idea...." And that was when I created the "Cheddaville Traffic Report". I told her the child version and thought I'd add a little more now that I have been here a few years.
"Ayuh, Eye in the Sky-reporter Earl live at ya from the top of ol' Grady's bahn reportin' the latest in Cheddaville traffic. Today, mostly snow, visability at nothin' but ten feet. Ayuh! Ova at the Cheddaville Mall, two cah pile up waitin for local moose to cross to the ol' mill site-that just don torn dawn abut tweny fie year en past. Up at fahma Ted' by the cornah of Don's junkyahd is a five cah pile up for the two fo' one gun sale ready fo' huntin. Yep, get yer guns now before they are written in the bible-Uncle Henry's. Up ova theah on Ned Bailey's is an ol' broke trailah jus'sittin down in the rud waitin' fo' repair ifn eva Ned gits his arse out theah and outta the beeh. Two skiddah's are jammed ova at Stew Rooney's bahn blockin fouh mules that dun broke outta the pen waitin ta be let in. Maple syrup's a runnin and the jugs are being filled waitin on anothah bottleneck of Mass---- jus' waitin fo' theah share! Ayuh! Meltin' snow and mud are what it is all bout' here in Cheddaville this time a yeah. A cah of the rud near where the Jestly mill used ta be is waitin for a tow. Up ahead a copta in the sky tippin's its ol' wings. Nope, not a criminal escape-just lookin' out for the local hahvest of that skunk smellin' stuff! Anyhow, aint nothin else much going on here but that. Ayuh, cept' Im'm outta beef jerky...gotta jet on down ta the mall-the Cheddahville Mall that is!"
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Survival
Well another day another 50 cents... Due to this economy, that it just what it seems lately. However, I feel that I have spent most of my adult life in just surviving the next road block. I would certainly consider myself quite proficient at it almost, especially lately.
My childhood was quite normal in fact. Life was very predictable and dinner was almost always on the table at 5:30p. Life in Plainville was safe and happy. My parents wonderful people who provided a solid foundation for which I had many times to rely upon. We speak daily and it is a nice connection. In the summer they are right outside my window across my field of sheep here as my neighbor and in the winter, they are far away in Florida (connected by a telephone wire). I thank them a million times over for giving me a childhood which I have spent my whole adult life trying to simulate the best I can to my three daughters. My solid childhood was filled with an almost dreamlike predictability that seems almost foreign in my adult life. My parents are of the generation where one could get a job out of college and plan on staying there until retirement. They retired from long standing comfortable positions. My father in insurance as the vice president of claims to Quincy Mutual and my mother as the Art teacher for the elementary schools of Foster Rhode Island. They each commuted forty five minutes to work each day. My mother working on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays and home always for us on Thursdays and Fridays. I used to think of my life as boring and how I pray for even a fraction of that which I found dull as a child for my adult life. I had piano lessons, art lesson and tennis at the local tennis club (Tennis 95 in Foxboro-now no longer there). We would have a vacation once a year and summer camp at the Hockamock YMCA in North Attleboro. We had a dog and two cats and a pool to swim in during the summer.
I have spent my whole life trying to give even a fraction of that blissful normalcy to my three daughters. Never mind my own personal road blocks along the way. I had always been determined.
I was destined to become an art teacher like my mother, I had always loved art. I secretly wanted to also be a writer and an Egyptologist. I should have listened to them. They knew security and how to reach it. They had both lost their parents young and secured a wonderful life for us and knew the hard ships out there that they wanted to protect us from.
Not me, I jumped right into life and ran for it. I was a rebellious artist and lived with my heart. My parents had sent me to college at Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass in Dartmouth, MA) where I quickly fell into the party scene. Enjoying all too much the freedom which I never had and never saw the reality and the dangers of it all. I wanted to live a Bohemian life and eventually dropped out of that school and then went to pursue my life as an artist. How young was I, and naive. I stayed at their condo in Wells, Maine and worked at an art gallery and saved my money for a trip to Europe. I worked 18 hour days and lived off Ramon Noodles and Mac and Cheese boxes, diligently saving all of my money for a trip to Europe. I wanted to backpack and bike all around on my own schedule to my parents horror. We worked out a deal that if I saved up enough money-they would find a tour. I did and gave them the money for the tour. Before this ! had met and thought I fell in love with a local and had decided to be a mature adult and go on birth control. Well, needless to say, the pill did not work and while in Europe I discovered that I was pregnant!
Upon my return I had to face the parents. The father of my child, when I told him replied, "How do you know its mine" In utter shock, since he was definitely the only one-I cried and woke up to real life. The drama life had ended and so had my dreams of being a writer-Egyptologist and artist. I had to think about raising this child (She is now almost the same age as I was when all of this happened!). I promptly moved into my parents house and signed back into school. I first went to school to receive and Early Childhood Growth and Development Certificate since I had attained a job as an assistant teacher at a Day Care Center in Wrentham. I had also gotten a job at the Emerald Square mall at a Jewelery Store and realized that retail nor daycare was ever going to pay the bills for a single mother who ever had plans of moving our of her parents house! I then went to School for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality at the Sawyer School in Pawtuckett Rhode Island.
While going to school there I had met my first husband Jim. We were engaged in April of 1991 and then married in September of that year. He was going to School at Johnson & Wales in Providence Rhode Island. We had saved up enough money to get an apartment in North Attleboro. This was also when I realized that I still needed a career which would better enable me to provide for my daughter-Alex- the way that I wanted to.
This marriage was a roller-coaster to say the very least about it. I feel like I have been a single mother the whole time. Jim, after graduation had attained a job at the Sheritan as a chef and had fallen into partying and long hours. This caused a huge strain on our marriage. I had paid most if not all of the bills and even for the rent, etc... My father had found a job for him as a claims adjuster-which he excelled at for more of an income. He even purchased a car for Jim. Jim never paid it off or even tried it seemed and very rarely contributed to the household. I had also, during this time become pregnant with my second daughter, Jacqui. I had decided also, to go back to school and went to Fisher College for my degree in Paralegal Studies. I had also attained a job at a law firm in Brockton and earned a more stable income. By the time Jacqui was born I had graduated with honors-like the other schools and had started my own business working as an independent paralegal.
I am glad that I had that business for it gave me the freedom that I needed to survive a tumultuous marriage. For not only had he not contributed a dime toward the household, but he would take off for weeks on end and sometimes even empty out the bank account to do this leaving us all alone and hungry. Sometimes without any food in the house. I had a friend, James Chauncy who had witnessed this one time and had filled my empty kitchen one day before I returned home from work. He knew the situation and had never admitted that he had done this. He is now gone from this earth and I hope he truly knows how much he had saved us that day. For I had too much pride to tell my parents about this and tried to save everything on my own. I had even taken my own husband to court to ask for support. I had won on this even before Jacqui was born. Her current child support order was based on this amount dated from the order of 1992-she was born in 1993! I had to also take him to court for his stealing of my business funds in the total amount of $5000. I had to go to courts in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (where he had taken out the money) to pursue him in this matter) I won-back in 1993 and still have not seen one penny of this judgment! Yet, I survived and fought on to give my children the life I had as a child! I never once took into consideration that I had two very active parents and my daughters only had me in every way. I just kept fighting to give them all that I could.
My business grew and soon I had regular clients in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. One time Jim had taken off and was gone for a month and by the time he had returned I had purchased my first house with my father as co-signer. I had paid off my college loans by then and for the attorney who went after the father of my first daughter, Alex. There is so much more to all of this that I am writing-I am giving a very short version of events to lead to the present.
My first house was in Attleboro and I absolutely loved it, though was planning for my house in the suburbs to raise them. I had to start wisely and purchase the house in Attleboro to get there. By this time in 1997, I finally was divorced from Jim and had met Bill. Bill had swept me off my feet and offered protection and the life that I had wanted from the start that I had never gotten from Jim. He offered stability and a peaceful life. I grabbed it and prayed. He started off by being nice and probably had full intentions of it. However, by the time of our honeymoon, after our church and country club wedding (that I proudly paid for on my own-hint!)-I discovered how wrong I was. Our honeymoon was in Egypt and on the Nile no less, for there I saw his true personality. He started out with emotional abuse, which then escalated to verbal and then the dreaded physical abuse. He was an alcoholic and I quickly became drawn into a cycle of the abused woman and lived in denial and and had hoped that it would not last. I was still running my business and even hired some people to help me and masked it all behind a facade of smiles and confidence. I was too ashamed to let people see the ugly truth. I had begged for a divorce and he threatened that he would have the children taken away from me (by this time I had my youngest from him-Tiffany) and the house and that he would make sure that I was locked up. He told me that he would convince everyone that I was crazy. It was horrible. But, being a paralegal-I kept my mouth shut and saved all of the evidence that I could for the divorce anyways. I worked hard for the house and had even upgraded to another house in Norton-I finally bought my house in the suburbs and had made sure that his name was not on it. Again, here I was paying all of the bills, cooking all of the meals, bringing and paying for the daycare of my children and the older girls sports and lessons-Jacqui was now in ballet and Alex was in cheer leading. I had also hired another housekeeper and had them for years so that I could run the business and the household and have time for the girls. I also bought all of their clothes and co-leaded the youth group at my church in Attleboro at Murray Unitarian Universalist Church with Heidi Hasselbaum-Ferreira. Our youth group was strong then and was in the renaissance with over twenty members and more arriving because we made it fun with lots of activities and events and a full curriculum-which we both created. I had also started an earth centered spirituality group for adults at the church with Nancy Fuller-Boucher. This group was also very successful. I led a very active life and played the perfect soccer-mom complete with mini-van (Alex was also in soccer). I hid it all behind this very busy exterior. However, I knew that this would all not last based upon the financial strain that it had built up. I was pretty much the only stable financial support of my children and my household. By then Jim was in constant arrears in child-support (still wondering what the total amount of arrearages is to this present date!) and I had kicked out Bill-who had never paid one dime in child support. Steve the father of my oldest daughter was very sporadic on his own and had only just become reliable and the order updated to his current pay only as recently in 2001.
Though I was married twice-I was always the single mother. However, I constantly had to fight for my daughters to lead even a semblance of the normal life that I had as a child. Both husbands had stolen from me. Bill had even written checks to his own brothers forging my signature from my personal account.
Through all of this, I made sure that my daughters never suffered one bit for what I had to endure behind closed doors with their fathers. I was there holding them when their fathers promised to visit and never showed. I was there whenever they fell or cried for some reason or another. I made sure they had clothes for school and play and toys and bedrooms to play in and sports, etc... I made sure they had a roof over their heads and food on the table and I made sure their homework was done. I took them on vacations to Quebec and Florida and made sure they went to summer camp. This was very hard to do and sometimes I had to rely on my parents to make sure that this was never broken. My stable, wonderful parents would make sure that things would not fall for all of us-considering all of the hidden battles that I have had to fight.
I have cried and sometimes that I have thought myself a failure in not providing any stability for my daughters. At, least nothing compared to what I had as a child. Though I have had to stop that train of thought and realize that despite everything that I have been through with both vicious marriages and even more bitter divorces-I had kept all of the ugly from my little girls. They saw a Mom who has always been there for them and has provided them with good food and lessons and wonderful homes-to the present farm in Maine.
I have survived having my husbands steal from me, and hurt me and even lie to me and kept it all from the girls. I have kept my chin up when all of the money in the bank accounts had been stolen by either husband. Nothing missed a beat in front of the girls. They really never knew what went on. I smiled and bought them to wonderful places and gave them a huge farm in Maine to play in with glorious sheep out in the field to look out at every day and fresh eggs from chickens-when we had them. They have seen kittens born and have went out to the coop to find fresh eggs. They have even seen some of those eggs hatch into chicks (some of them who had died) and then two that had grown into roosters-who then died as well from some yard predator). They learned about birth, life and death on this farm and have grown strong because of it.
I never let anyone speak ill of their fathers in front of the girls and hope they never have to see that side of them nor witness it from any other man they may meet some day when they are grown. I feel that through my experiences that I have learned has enabled me to better teach them about the world. I have learned wisdom of this world as an adult and wish to learn so much more. I have encouraged them to learn as well and take pride in how wonderful they are growing up. The fresh air in Maine has allowed me to heal and to breathe freely.
I had arrived to write my novels that I had stored in my mind forever. I did that and have started my third. Maybe someday they will be published. But, I wrote them and for that I am proud of myself. I had read all of the required reading for the Brown University Undergrad and Grad programs in that program (Egyptology) and had used it in my first two novels as well as other research that I had done in Massachusetts and Maine. I had learned to create my own studies in research since I could no longer afford the official education required nor have time away from home and my children. I had learned to find the reading lists at the Universities and to purchase and read the second hand books from the book stores and to read them at night and when waiting for doctor's appointments, etc... My father had taught me that you can learn anything from a book-and you can-you just do not get any formal credit for it. It is, though stored forever in your mind for your use. In my case it was for the novels that I have written and those I plan to write that I have researched and outlined. I have even traveled for the research for my novels written and that which I am working on. I have been to France, England, Egypt and Quebec for further research on them.
I have started a farm and raise Icelandic Sheep and have learned to work with the wool in order to make extra money for the household. I had gone out and earned my brokers license in insurance sales for my employment (you have to work to support a farm). I have earned almost two years experience in Sales for High Point Insurance based out of New Jersey. My income, as always it seems, is the main one for the support of my children and farm. I had long ago learned not to count on any financial or emotional support from the fathers of my children. I had learned the hard way, if you want anything done at all-you must do it yourself.
In this way, I had planned on my farm. I wanted desperately to give security to my children. I own this farm and home outright without mortgage and hope to leave it to them someday. I have very little expenses and need little to live on this farm. I have arranged my life to survive on the very little income offered in the only employment there is up here.
I started work in Wilton in July of 2007. I had been searching for employment for a year and a half. This is rural Western Maine. The only thing that I could find was in Wilton. There I had taken classes and had attained my brokers license. I had taken a huge cut in the pay that I was used to for this chance of employment-as did most of the others in my department. We were thankful to be employed. It is a call center and High Point is merely a vendor, though it was the program that everyone wanted to be on. The sales team had become a family and we had added on to become quite a group. We had succeeded so much in sales that we were given a raise and incentives were added on. Most brokers earn a commission, though here in rural Maine, they take advantage of there being nothing else out here for employment and we are paid only an hourly rate and not even a full 40 hours. No sick time is allowed to us and we do not get paid if we are truly sick-we take the cut in pay ( I earn currently what I used to make back when I was 19 in 1989 in Massachusetts-before college). There has never been one day when the center had shut down due to weather. So, we battled our country roads and snowstorms of a foot or more with ice and arrived to sell insurance bright and cheerful. I work on a phenomenal sales team and love the people that I work with. We had been so successful that they had finally allowed us to crochet and read books in between calls as long as all of our work was in. We had become close and were constantly causing trouble in a fun way. Suddenly our security was shattered when the first lay-off occurred. Soon, enough after months when more people disappeared with the dreaded staples boxes and heads hung low-that we told less jokes and feared laughingly when our badges would no longer work.
This was my survival job and now, even this was not working. For today, we heard the news we feared- that our program would be ending April 3rd. I had a brief glimpse of the security that I had longed for and had almost accepted it. I hated the drop in pay-though the people that I have worked beside made it all worth it. All of us in sales are licensed brokers and most of us have degrees besides and have known employment as professionals and salaries, like myself. (I had also worked at Quincy Mutual as claims examiner and at a law firm in Taunton Mass as the head paralegal of the Torts department at a Plaintiff firm.) We had known stability. Though we had all grown close to each other and have felt the bond of a sort of family. I had felt accepted there and had made a lot of friends and have shared alot with them. I was starting to adjust to this new life and love the stability that it slowly gave me. I grew used to the new level of pay and had managed my life around it. I was proud that I had a job to provide for my daughters in this economy.
Today, it was all ripped away from us. We were all thankful to be employed in this day and age and now-we join the rest. For me, it is just another road block. I have fought through many before and I will fight again. I just have to be a lot more creative in that my girls are older and it is not that easy to hide it any more behind smiles nad baked cookies. I have taught them about life the way it really is along the way so they are not so naive as I was and I know and hope they will be more armed than I ever was as a result of this. I honestly feel that my experiences have perhaps armed them for the world that they have to face.
I suppose if worse comes to worse- I do have my farm and the land. I could always learn to live as my ancestors had hundreds of years before-off the land. Maybe that is the real reason that I had purchased this large piece of Cheddahville-as a place to fall down on and to help us live. Will we have to resort to this in this time of economic harship. Is this our lesson in that we had become too materialistic and perhaps had to lose this all to realize how lucky we all truly are? As an adult I have had no choice but to fight and to survive on the remnants left. I have had to hide it from my children thinking that it was all wrong for them to see harship. Perhaps that is why I have fallen so hard. I have learned over the most recent years to be more realistic in raising my children and have slowly let them in. I have used the hardships as lessons on teaching them about teamwork and of us helping each other and others around us. I have been showing them life with all of the good and bad, gradually waking them up to the life around them. I have made sure they witnessed and helped in the birthing of the lambs on the farm and have shown them the natural cycle of death and life on a farm. I have learned right beside them holding their hands, rejoicing and crying beside them holding them close. I am proud to have witnessed all around us with them. We have gone without luxuries; TV, cable, phone (long-distance) etc... and have learned what is most important. Family, peace, food and warmth. This, they have never lacked. I have gone without eating during the day to make sure my children eat good and healthy foods and have worked hard at night on the wool for extra money and to be at home for this, the second job-for the clothes, sports, lessons, etc... We have learned that a family is strong when it works together. We are a team and we all stand strong when we help one another. Every chore-no matter how small is important to the well-being of this family and farm. I am proud of what my daughters have grown to be and smile at all that they have potential to be. The farm has given them the team skills, and leadership skills that they need for the world and the food upon the table. I have cut out a lot of luxuries along the way, learning to become more and more humble- and I will cut some more-never losing grip on what is most important in life.
I have learned to be a very active person and would not have achieved half of all that I have had I ever been lazy or cried when the going got tough-which has been quite often. Though, sometime that I have learned that a good cry-will certainly clear the mind well enough to get to business- the business of survival.
I am owed a lot of money in child support in just Maine alone ( I long ago gave up in ever seeing a penny of money owed while I was living in Massachusetts). In Maine I had agreed for child support to stop with Alex's father, because he had finally stepped up to plate and he is helping her with her college. She is a freshman at the University of Maine and had graduated high school with honors. I am very proud of her! I am owed four years and over ten thousand dollars from Bill and probably close to that amount from Jim to this date. I have been the sole support of my children and home for so long-I would not honestly know what to do if I actually had someone other than my parents help us. They have had to help when I would break down and call for money for oil and snow tires for my car-I hate to ask anyone for help. They have also helped with alot more-thanks to them I have been able to hold this home together for my daughters! I have long ago stopped crying over not having the life of my parents or the blessed stability they have always had throughout my life at least. I have had to protect my children and I against the people who should have protected us. I have survived and will navigate my way thorugh this next obstacle-as I have always done-very carefully.
Another survival skill is in this very blog. I have spent most of my adult life in trying to seek justice for me and my children. Though I have won legally in all of those matters-I still had not received much monetarily. I have managed an amazing lot on my own and continue to do so. This blog provides an outlet that enables me to speak out and hope that maybe somene-somewhere is actually listening! Maybe someday I will actually publish those novels that I have worked so heard to write and possibly even enough of the wool items that I have made to support this home and farm. But I still work and work hard to provide some semblance of security for my children. I know my story now-especially, is one of millions. Though I do not want this to be a story of pity-but one of hope. That a single mother can provide security and stabilty to her children-even when alone and do it well. I have healthy and active little girls and one grown and in college and I am very proud of them and even of myself for getting them there despite all that I have gone through for them. I would do it all again and will never give up. I realize that this is just another step in my master plan for my dream and know I have yet another hill to climb to get there. Here I go....
My childhood was quite normal in fact. Life was very predictable and dinner was almost always on the table at 5:30p. Life in Plainville was safe and happy. My parents wonderful people who provided a solid foundation for which I had many times to rely upon. We speak daily and it is a nice connection. In the summer they are right outside my window across my field of sheep here as my neighbor and in the winter, they are far away in Florida (connected by a telephone wire). I thank them a million times over for giving me a childhood which I have spent my whole adult life trying to simulate the best I can to my three daughters. My solid childhood was filled with an almost dreamlike predictability that seems almost foreign in my adult life. My parents are of the generation where one could get a job out of college and plan on staying there until retirement. They retired from long standing comfortable positions. My father in insurance as the vice president of claims to Quincy Mutual and my mother as the Art teacher for the elementary schools of Foster Rhode Island. They each commuted forty five minutes to work each day. My mother working on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays and home always for us on Thursdays and Fridays. I used to think of my life as boring and how I pray for even a fraction of that which I found dull as a child for my adult life. I had piano lessons, art lesson and tennis at the local tennis club (Tennis 95 in Foxboro-now no longer there). We would have a vacation once a year and summer camp at the Hockamock YMCA in North Attleboro. We had a dog and two cats and a pool to swim in during the summer.
I have spent my whole life trying to give even a fraction of that blissful normalcy to my three daughters. Never mind my own personal road blocks along the way. I had always been determined.
I was destined to become an art teacher like my mother, I had always loved art. I secretly wanted to also be a writer and an Egyptologist. I should have listened to them. They knew security and how to reach it. They had both lost their parents young and secured a wonderful life for us and knew the hard ships out there that they wanted to protect us from.
Not me, I jumped right into life and ran for it. I was a rebellious artist and lived with my heart. My parents had sent me to college at Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass in Dartmouth, MA) where I quickly fell into the party scene. Enjoying all too much the freedom which I never had and never saw the reality and the dangers of it all. I wanted to live a Bohemian life and eventually dropped out of that school and then went to pursue my life as an artist. How young was I, and naive. I stayed at their condo in Wells, Maine and worked at an art gallery and saved my money for a trip to Europe. I worked 18 hour days and lived off Ramon Noodles and Mac and Cheese boxes, diligently saving all of my money for a trip to Europe. I wanted to backpack and bike all around on my own schedule to my parents horror. We worked out a deal that if I saved up enough money-they would find a tour. I did and gave them the money for the tour. Before this ! had met and thought I fell in love with a local and had decided to be a mature adult and go on birth control. Well, needless to say, the pill did not work and while in Europe I discovered that I was pregnant!
Upon my return I had to face the parents. The father of my child, when I told him replied, "How do you know its mine" In utter shock, since he was definitely the only one-I cried and woke up to real life. The drama life had ended and so had my dreams of being a writer-Egyptologist and artist. I had to think about raising this child (She is now almost the same age as I was when all of this happened!). I promptly moved into my parents house and signed back into school. I first went to school to receive and Early Childhood Growth and Development Certificate since I had attained a job as an assistant teacher at a Day Care Center in Wrentham. I had also gotten a job at the Emerald Square mall at a Jewelery Store and realized that retail nor daycare was ever going to pay the bills for a single mother who ever had plans of moving our of her parents house! I then went to School for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality at the Sawyer School in Pawtuckett Rhode Island.
While going to school there I had met my first husband Jim. We were engaged in April of 1991 and then married in September of that year. He was going to School at Johnson & Wales in Providence Rhode Island. We had saved up enough money to get an apartment in North Attleboro. This was also when I realized that I still needed a career which would better enable me to provide for my daughter-Alex- the way that I wanted to.
This marriage was a roller-coaster to say the very least about it. I feel like I have been a single mother the whole time. Jim, after graduation had attained a job at the Sheritan as a chef and had fallen into partying and long hours. This caused a huge strain on our marriage. I had paid most if not all of the bills and even for the rent, etc... My father had found a job for him as a claims adjuster-which he excelled at for more of an income. He even purchased a car for Jim. Jim never paid it off or even tried it seemed and very rarely contributed to the household. I had also, during this time become pregnant with my second daughter, Jacqui. I had decided also, to go back to school and went to Fisher College for my degree in Paralegal Studies. I had also attained a job at a law firm in Brockton and earned a more stable income. By the time Jacqui was born I had graduated with honors-like the other schools and had started my own business working as an independent paralegal.
I am glad that I had that business for it gave me the freedom that I needed to survive a tumultuous marriage. For not only had he not contributed a dime toward the household, but he would take off for weeks on end and sometimes even empty out the bank account to do this leaving us all alone and hungry. Sometimes without any food in the house. I had a friend, James Chauncy who had witnessed this one time and had filled my empty kitchen one day before I returned home from work. He knew the situation and had never admitted that he had done this. He is now gone from this earth and I hope he truly knows how much he had saved us that day. For I had too much pride to tell my parents about this and tried to save everything on my own. I had even taken my own husband to court to ask for support. I had won on this even before Jacqui was born. Her current child support order was based on this amount dated from the order of 1992-she was born in 1993! I had to also take him to court for his stealing of my business funds in the total amount of $5000. I had to go to courts in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (where he had taken out the money) to pursue him in this matter) I won-back in 1993 and still have not seen one penny of this judgment! Yet, I survived and fought on to give my children the life I had as a child! I never once took into consideration that I had two very active parents and my daughters only had me in every way. I just kept fighting to give them all that I could.
My business grew and soon I had regular clients in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. One time Jim had taken off and was gone for a month and by the time he had returned I had purchased my first house with my father as co-signer. I had paid off my college loans by then and for the attorney who went after the father of my first daughter, Alex. There is so much more to all of this that I am writing-I am giving a very short version of events to lead to the present.
My first house was in Attleboro and I absolutely loved it, though was planning for my house in the suburbs to raise them. I had to start wisely and purchase the house in Attleboro to get there. By this time in 1997, I finally was divorced from Jim and had met Bill. Bill had swept me off my feet and offered protection and the life that I had wanted from the start that I had never gotten from Jim. He offered stability and a peaceful life. I grabbed it and prayed. He started off by being nice and probably had full intentions of it. However, by the time of our honeymoon, after our church and country club wedding (that I proudly paid for on my own-hint!)-I discovered how wrong I was. Our honeymoon was in Egypt and on the Nile no less, for there I saw his true personality. He started out with emotional abuse, which then escalated to verbal and then the dreaded physical abuse. He was an alcoholic and I quickly became drawn into a cycle of the abused woman and lived in denial and and had hoped that it would not last. I was still running my business and even hired some people to help me and masked it all behind a facade of smiles and confidence. I was too ashamed to let people see the ugly truth. I had begged for a divorce and he threatened that he would have the children taken away from me (by this time I had my youngest from him-Tiffany) and the house and that he would make sure that I was locked up. He told me that he would convince everyone that I was crazy. It was horrible. But, being a paralegal-I kept my mouth shut and saved all of the evidence that I could for the divorce anyways. I worked hard for the house and had even upgraded to another house in Norton-I finally bought my house in the suburbs and had made sure that his name was not on it. Again, here I was paying all of the bills, cooking all of the meals, bringing and paying for the daycare of my children and the older girls sports and lessons-Jacqui was now in ballet and Alex was in cheer leading. I had also hired another housekeeper and had them for years so that I could run the business and the household and have time for the girls. I also bought all of their clothes and co-leaded the youth group at my church in Attleboro at Murray Unitarian Universalist Church with Heidi Hasselbaum-Ferreira. Our youth group was strong then and was in the renaissance with over twenty members and more arriving because we made it fun with lots of activities and events and a full curriculum-which we both created. I had also started an earth centered spirituality group for adults at the church with Nancy Fuller-Boucher. This group was also very successful. I led a very active life and played the perfect soccer-mom complete with mini-van (Alex was also in soccer). I hid it all behind this very busy exterior. However, I knew that this would all not last based upon the financial strain that it had built up. I was pretty much the only stable financial support of my children and my household. By then Jim was in constant arrears in child-support (still wondering what the total amount of arrearages is to this present date!) and I had kicked out Bill-who had never paid one dime in child support. Steve the father of my oldest daughter was very sporadic on his own and had only just become reliable and the order updated to his current pay only as recently in 2001.
Though I was married twice-I was always the single mother. However, I constantly had to fight for my daughters to lead even a semblance of the normal life that I had as a child. Both husbands had stolen from me. Bill had even written checks to his own brothers forging my signature from my personal account.
Through all of this, I made sure that my daughters never suffered one bit for what I had to endure behind closed doors with their fathers. I was there holding them when their fathers promised to visit and never showed. I was there whenever they fell or cried for some reason or another. I made sure they had clothes for school and play and toys and bedrooms to play in and sports, etc... I made sure they had a roof over their heads and food on the table and I made sure their homework was done. I took them on vacations to Quebec and Florida and made sure they went to summer camp. This was very hard to do and sometimes I had to rely on my parents to make sure that this was never broken. My stable, wonderful parents would make sure that things would not fall for all of us-considering all of the hidden battles that I have had to fight.
I have cried and sometimes that I have thought myself a failure in not providing any stability for my daughters. At, least nothing compared to what I had as a child. Though I have had to stop that train of thought and realize that despite everything that I have been through with both vicious marriages and even more bitter divorces-I had kept all of the ugly from my little girls. They saw a Mom who has always been there for them and has provided them with good food and lessons and wonderful homes-to the present farm in Maine.
I have survived having my husbands steal from me, and hurt me and even lie to me and kept it all from the girls. I have kept my chin up when all of the money in the bank accounts had been stolen by either husband. Nothing missed a beat in front of the girls. They really never knew what went on. I smiled and bought them to wonderful places and gave them a huge farm in Maine to play in with glorious sheep out in the field to look out at every day and fresh eggs from chickens-when we had them. They have seen kittens born and have went out to the coop to find fresh eggs. They have even seen some of those eggs hatch into chicks (some of them who had died) and then two that had grown into roosters-who then died as well from some yard predator). They learned about birth, life and death on this farm and have grown strong because of it.
I never let anyone speak ill of their fathers in front of the girls and hope they never have to see that side of them nor witness it from any other man they may meet some day when they are grown. I feel that through my experiences that I have learned has enabled me to better teach them about the world. I have learned wisdom of this world as an adult and wish to learn so much more. I have encouraged them to learn as well and take pride in how wonderful they are growing up. The fresh air in Maine has allowed me to heal and to breathe freely.
I had arrived to write my novels that I had stored in my mind forever. I did that and have started my third. Maybe someday they will be published. But, I wrote them and for that I am proud of myself. I had read all of the required reading for the Brown University Undergrad and Grad programs in that program (Egyptology) and had used it in my first two novels as well as other research that I had done in Massachusetts and Maine. I had learned to create my own studies in research since I could no longer afford the official education required nor have time away from home and my children. I had learned to find the reading lists at the Universities and to purchase and read the second hand books from the book stores and to read them at night and when waiting for doctor's appointments, etc... My father had taught me that you can learn anything from a book-and you can-you just do not get any formal credit for it. It is, though stored forever in your mind for your use. In my case it was for the novels that I have written and those I plan to write that I have researched and outlined. I have even traveled for the research for my novels written and that which I am working on. I have been to France, England, Egypt and Quebec for further research on them.
I have started a farm and raise Icelandic Sheep and have learned to work with the wool in order to make extra money for the household. I had gone out and earned my brokers license in insurance sales for my employment (you have to work to support a farm). I have earned almost two years experience in Sales for High Point Insurance based out of New Jersey. My income, as always it seems, is the main one for the support of my children and farm. I had long ago learned not to count on any financial or emotional support from the fathers of my children. I had learned the hard way, if you want anything done at all-you must do it yourself.
In this way, I had planned on my farm. I wanted desperately to give security to my children. I own this farm and home outright without mortgage and hope to leave it to them someday. I have very little expenses and need little to live on this farm. I have arranged my life to survive on the very little income offered in the only employment there is up here.
I started work in Wilton in July of 2007. I had been searching for employment for a year and a half. This is rural Western Maine. The only thing that I could find was in Wilton. There I had taken classes and had attained my brokers license. I had taken a huge cut in the pay that I was used to for this chance of employment-as did most of the others in my department. We were thankful to be employed. It is a call center and High Point is merely a vendor, though it was the program that everyone wanted to be on. The sales team had become a family and we had added on to become quite a group. We had succeeded so much in sales that we were given a raise and incentives were added on. Most brokers earn a commission, though here in rural Maine, they take advantage of there being nothing else out here for employment and we are paid only an hourly rate and not even a full 40 hours. No sick time is allowed to us and we do not get paid if we are truly sick-we take the cut in pay ( I earn currently what I used to make back when I was 19 in 1989 in Massachusetts-before college). There has never been one day when the center had shut down due to weather. So, we battled our country roads and snowstorms of a foot or more with ice and arrived to sell insurance bright and cheerful. I work on a phenomenal sales team and love the people that I work with. We had been so successful that they had finally allowed us to crochet and read books in between calls as long as all of our work was in. We had become close and were constantly causing trouble in a fun way. Suddenly our security was shattered when the first lay-off occurred. Soon, enough after months when more people disappeared with the dreaded staples boxes and heads hung low-that we told less jokes and feared laughingly when our badges would no longer work.
This was my survival job and now, even this was not working. For today, we heard the news we feared- that our program would be ending April 3rd. I had a brief glimpse of the security that I had longed for and had almost accepted it. I hated the drop in pay-though the people that I have worked beside made it all worth it. All of us in sales are licensed brokers and most of us have degrees besides and have known employment as professionals and salaries, like myself. (I had also worked at Quincy Mutual as claims examiner and at a law firm in Taunton Mass as the head paralegal of the Torts department at a Plaintiff firm.) We had known stability. Though we had all grown close to each other and have felt the bond of a sort of family. I had felt accepted there and had made a lot of friends and have shared alot with them. I was starting to adjust to this new life and love the stability that it slowly gave me. I grew used to the new level of pay and had managed my life around it. I was proud that I had a job to provide for my daughters in this economy.
Today, it was all ripped away from us. We were all thankful to be employed in this day and age and now-we join the rest. For me, it is just another road block. I have fought through many before and I will fight again. I just have to be a lot more creative in that my girls are older and it is not that easy to hide it any more behind smiles nad baked cookies. I have taught them about life the way it really is along the way so they are not so naive as I was and I know and hope they will be more armed than I ever was as a result of this. I honestly feel that my experiences have perhaps armed them for the world that they have to face.
I suppose if worse comes to worse- I do have my farm and the land. I could always learn to live as my ancestors had hundreds of years before-off the land. Maybe that is the real reason that I had purchased this large piece of Cheddahville-as a place to fall down on and to help us live. Will we have to resort to this in this time of economic harship. Is this our lesson in that we had become too materialistic and perhaps had to lose this all to realize how lucky we all truly are? As an adult I have had no choice but to fight and to survive on the remnants left. I have had to hide it from my children thinking that it was all wrong for them to see harship. Perhaps that is why I have fallen so hard. I have learned over the most recent years to be more realistic in raising my children and have slowly let them in. I have used the hardships as lessons on teaching them about teamwork and of us helping each other and others around us. I have been showing them life with all of the good and bad, gradually waking them up to the life around them. I have made sure they witnessed and helped in the birthing of the lambs on the farm and have shown them the natural cycle of death and life on a farm. I have learned right beside them holding their hands, rejoicing and crying beside them holding them close. I am proud to have witnessed all around us with them. We have gone without luxuries; TV, cable, phone (long-distance) etc... and have learned what is most important. Family, peace, food and warmth. This, they have never lacked. I have gone without eating during the day to make sure my children eat good and healthy foods and have worked hard at night on the wool for extra money and to be at home for this, the second job-for the clothes, sports, lessons, etc... We have learned that a family is strong when it works together. We are a team and we all stand strong when we help one another. Every chore-no matter how small is important to the well-being of this family and farm. I am proud of what my daughters have grown to be and smile at all that they have potential to be. The farm has given them the team skills, and leadership skills that they need for the world and the food upon the table. I have cut out a lot of luxuries along the way, learning to become more and more humble- and I will cut some more-never losing grip on what is most important in life.
I have learned to be a very active person and would not have achieved half of all that I have had I ever been lazy or cried when the going got tough-which has been quite often. Though, sometime that I have learned that a good cry-will certainly clear the mind well enough to get to business- the business of survival.
I am owed a lot of money in child support in just Maine alone ( I long ago gave up in ever seeing a penny of money owed while I was living in Massachusetts). In Maine I had agreed for child support to stop with Alex's father, because he had finally stepped up to plate and he is helping her with her college. She is a freshman at the University of Maine and had graduated high school with honors. I am very proud of her! I am owed four years and over ten thousand dollars from Bill and probably close to that amount from Jim to this date. I have been the sole support of my children and home for so long-I would not honestly know what to do if I actually had someone other than my parents help us. They have had to help when I would break down and call for money for oil and snow tires for my car-I hate to ask anyone for help. They have also helped with alot more-thanks to them I have been able to hold this home together for my daughters! I have long ago stopped crying over not having the life of my parents or the blessed stability they have always had throughout my life at least. I have had to protect my children and I against the people who should have protected us. I have survived and will navigate my way thorugh this next obstacle-as I have always done-very carefully.
Another survival skill is in this very blog. I have spent most of my adult life in trying to seek justice for me and my children. Though I have won legally in all of those matters-I still had not received much monetarily. I have managed an amazing lot on my own and continue to do so. This blog provides an outlet that enables me to speak out and hope that maybe somene-somewhere is actually listening! Maybe someday I will actually publish those novels that I have worked so heard to write and possibly even enough of the wool items that I have made to support this home and farm. But I still work and work hard to provide some semblance of security for my children. I know my story now-especially, is one of millions. Though I do not want this to be a story of pity-but one of hope. That a single mother can provide security and stabilty to her children-even when alone and do it well. I have healthy and active little girls and one grown and in college and I am very proud of them and even of myself for getting them there despite all that I have gone through for them. I would do it all again and will never give up. I realize that this is just another step in my master plan for my dream and know I have yet another hill to climb to get there. Here I go....
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