Horse Show Again

well, it's been several years since I've stood amongst the horses, trailers, kids, grownups, mud, hay,.......and watched Emma at a horse show! This afternoon Pete and I headed over to UNH to see her ride the horse she's leasing from a friend---first was the dressage (judging the control and communication a rider has with her horse)---Autumn (the horse) didn't distinguish herself here, but Emma did a good job getting her back on task when she misbehaved, and we found out later that this was the very first time Autumn has ever done this---so, it really wasn't that bad! (altho' it did land her in last place in her division.....)

a couple of hours later, Emma and Autumn did the jumping part of the competition---I guess Autumn was pretty awful during her warmups, but when she came out on the course, she did a great job---Emma did a great job, too---there were a couple of times that you could tell Autumn was considering stopping at a jump, but Emma kept her right on task!---

and when all was said and done, that part of things brought them up to second place, and they went home with the red ribbon!---you can tell Emma was really happy with the way things turned out

Spring Chicks

We've got some new additions to the Armstrong family!
33 little broiler chicks arrived on Friday night----I'm listening to them talk to one another right now....it's this constant little murmering peeeeping....I love the sound of it.
Phyllis and I got talking a couple of weeks ago, about how we were having more and more trouble using meat that's been raised and processed in ways that we just can't square with our conciences (sp?) anymore...anyway, that led to a plan---we'd grow our own---I've got them in my living room while they're chicks, and she's building a coop and yard for them when they're ready to graduate to a bigger place!----we'll see how this all works out!

Floodzone

well, it's been quite a spring---between the last week in February and the last week in March, we had three major flood events that drove me out of the house and off to stay with friends until the septic system became functional again! (Pete and Andy toughed it out for the first and the last flood, but even they gave up when it became necessary to canoe in and out of the house during flood #2......I know that there are lots of discussions out there about global warming---whether it exists, and what, if any its consequences are----for people like us, who live in marginal, vulnerable areas, there's no question anymore----something big is happening---it's not that it feels significantly warmer--but the weather patterns are certainly changing, and becoming more extreme----we've just had 3 100-yr. floods in the space of a month......

as much as I've treasured our time here on the river, I think this has finally broken my spirit---I've had it.....this past Thursday I sat down and talked with a realtor about selling.....

we'll see what happens with that...

here are a couple of pictures that I took during the first flood, in February---it's kindof hard to get a sense of what's going on---but you can see our our living room window here---usually you'd be seeing our backyard--instead it's all water!---that little stick you see poking up out of the water is actually a tiny tree that grows on what is usually the bank overlooking the river---it's about 2 feet underwater here---the next flood it was pretty much underwater all the way...

looking out the other way, toward the road, you can see where someone sloshed through the icy water, making a path out to the cars---in the next flood, the swamp on the other side of the road rose up and over---and the driveway was completely underwater---no sloshing through the water at that point, just step off the edge of the deck into the canoe, which is tied to a tree onshore, and pull it hand over hand to get to the road.....bleauhhhh

good news, tho'---the deck that Noah built for us withstood the currents really well---the stones we piled all around the supports, and underneath the deck really kept erosion to a bare minimum.....