This past week was a big one for walking and swimming. Well swimming for the dogs anyway. We walked six out of six days and took the 7th one off. Percy, who is now 10 months old, decided that he couldn’t let Wyke go swimming by himself so he joined him. The weather has been pretty good and I just couldn’t stay inside any longer. We got back on the Rail Trail after yet another winter storm that dumped 18.5 inches on us. I knew there was damage to the trees but was still surprised when I came upon the mess just a half mile into our walk. Since then we have had an incredible amount of snow melt as well as some rain and the river is really overflowing its banks. We have to pick and choose where we walk but my it is nice to get out there again.

This is what the trail looked like when we first rounded the corner. We were able to walk through but for me it was duck your head, weave around the fallen branches while trying to keep your balance on the slippery white stuff. Once on the other side we were fine. The sun doesn’t get into this spot very easily so it is always the last place to melt. By the end of the week, the trees had been cut up and moved to a burn pile and the snow was gone. We were back in business again.

The Eclipse

I have no idea if this video will work through Mailchimp but if it doesn’t I will be sorry. You can try this link to the VIDEO. A friend of ours, Harry Wilmer, drove to North Hatley, Quebec because their house was in the path of totality for the Eclipse. He made this time lapse video which is incredible. John and I stayed here not wanting to fight the traffic (which was horrendous) to get up there and back. We had about 97% totality here and it was enough for me and very exciting.

We had an outdoor bonfire, sat in the front yard and watched through our special glasses. The whole time we were listening to NASA broadcasting the totality from Mexico to Maine. We felt as if we were right there with all the excitement and emotion shared by the reporters. Some even crying. For just one hour a whole swath of this country was in awe of Mother Nature.

This was the traffic going North to catch the Eclipse.

Somewhere in there we Celebrated Easter

We had rather a quiet Easter. Katie was in Asheville with the family there so it was Jack (who was working) and us and then my brother and his wife asked if they could visit. We were delighted to have them join us.

The Lights Went Out

We have a wonderful gas fireplace in our family/bonus room. It keeps us toasty and warm throughout the cooler months. Really – we have no other heat in there and we don’t need it. I was told that it would work even when the electricity went out. We got to test it with the last storm. We lost electricity and I tried to get it to go on. No luck. So, determined, I looked up the directions and discovered that there are batteries that are supposed to kick in when the electricity goes off. We found the battery case, creatively got out the dead batteries, put in some brand new ones and voila – the fire came on and worked like a charm. We had lots of candles and another wood fireplace upstairs so we were toasty and warm. We warmed up some leftover lamb curry and rice and vegetables in a cast iron frying pan on the gas grill so we felt quite proud of ourselves. This was the first time this had happened in the four and half years we have lived here so it was an adventure.

Our Recruit

Jack has finished up his tenure at Colby-Sawyer as a Safety Officer, passed the written part of his EMT program and he started classes at the New Hampshire Fire Academy & Emergency Medical Services on Eclipse Day. He is there from Sunday night through to Friday afternoon. We miss him but know that he is pursuing his dream. The time will go fast to graduation in June.