It is hard to believe… the birthday dinosaurs and John Deere trucks, fire trucks and heavy equipment are finally out of the van and have been opened by 2 very energetic little boys!
What will I do when I don’t have to move the big green dinosaur in order to put the cat’s cages in the van… will I miss the sirens going off on the emergency vehicles every time I hit a bump in the road???? I won’t know what to do with all the empty space in front of the fireplace.
Now before you think these kids are spoiled rotten (even if that is the case) let me give you my excuse… several of the dinos were for Caleb’s birthday back in April. We were all packed and ready to go – cats in the kennel – everything – and his Dad called and told us Caleb had pneumonia. Trip cancelled. So, we made plans to go over for Briar’s birthday… Briar’s dad couldn’t get the time off in August, so we aimed for September. This time I was very, very sick. I was still going to try – Lyme’s is not contagious, but my doctor convinced me that if I tried, it could kill me. It is a long trip – 312 miles back door to back door. Once I got better – or well enough to travel – the weather turned very nasty, and we have had a nor'easter every week-end since, and now, there is snow. Sigh. Don’t remind me that I learned to drive in Maine – that was a hundred years ago! So, Ed drove his wife and the boys over here. 
Caleb finally got to play with his birthday dinosaurs and
his Christmas dino-bones.
He also likes snakes. We tried to keep this out of his grandmother’s range of vision…
Briar was mostly into grab and rip.
I guess that is typical for a 4 year old. 
A couple of times he just opened a package and threw the contents aside while grabbing the next package away from Caleb.
The men had fun just trying to figure how to get the things unscrewed and unfastened and out of the boxes.
Cousin Joseph liked the noisy ones with the flashing lights.
Men never really grow up, do they? I am still not quite sure what this is – just that it was high on Briar's wish list.
Caleb had fun with the dinosaur puppet.
Eventually they worked their way down to the books and school science projects. Since they were mostly about dinosaurs, they were a big hit, too! After the initial ripping open frenzy was over, Caleb very kindly cleaned the papers off the floor and put the stuff in a trash bag. Don’t you just love it when they get a little age and become helpful? I didn’t have to clean up a thing!
Bah Hum Bug!
Anther yard... 
- this is our local Family Dollar ... 
the moral to this story is NEVER BUILD DURING A DROUGHT.
See where the road is supposed to be?
One of my girls worked there years ago when we had a cloud burst and her car had water all the way up to the seats! This place got a bit wet! See? The water is all the way across the south bound lane of 13.
Is that a cool shot or what? Thanks for sharing, Dorothy!
Now as an isolated event, that would not be a problem, but it seems to be a weekly occurance lately. We just had a mini Nor'easter over the week-end (see the Santa Train) and have not dried out from that or the couple of nor'easters before that one, starting with the one that lasted 4 days a few weeks ago. AND... they say the one we are supposed to get THIS week-end will bring SNOW with it. Snow before Christmas is a rare event here and usually is an omen for a very cold winter. At this moment, it is 62 degrees, but it hit freezing 2 mornings ago - there was a fine film of ice on the birdbath.
It was over my boots in places, over a foot deep in a few spots that I could get to -
but with the ground so soft, I did not see any point in wading thru the mud and water to see how bad it was. I just stuck to the acre closest to the house. All the barns were surrounded by water.
There are little islands where the mulch around plants has built up the land a bit.
The blueberry "cage" is an island. 
The pathways back in the woods look like little streams. Buddha appreas to be sitting lakeside.
Again, many of the leaves and sticks are floating on top of the water so it LOOKS like you might be able to walk thru it, but in reality, the water will go over your feet to your ankles. Surprise! I was not out there alone... the geese were flying over, thousands of Snows, heading south. 
It is always a treat to see and hear the Snow geese.
I just had to take my camera out and walk around. The pileated woodpecker was out there banging away - sounds are so different in the fog, have you noticed? But, I was never able to get close enough to get a shot of him. I love the softness of the colors... the contrast in the things close with the grays of the background. 
The maple out front is almost bare... 
this week-end's nor'easter pretty well took care of that. But I love the color combinations with the maple and Yule Tide.
I was surprised to find this beauty open at the edge of the woods.
