More Kitchen

John installed the island sections, tall cabinet beside the refrigerator, and the pantry hutch base while I was in New Hampshire. The walls and floors are not true so installing the cabinets takes a lot of time. Thank you to Jim Bernhardt for helping John get the top on the pantry hutch last Sunday.

Everything looks great!!

The floor refinishing is next then the rest of the cabinets and appliances.

Hutch and Island

Pantry Hutch

Kitchen Cabinets

John and I installed the hutch section in the kitchen yesterday, it looks great. It took about six hours with some modifications required.

We are installing the cabinets we can before the floor has the final sanding and finishing.

Hutch and Sink Cabinet

The sink section shown below is not in it's final location. The bottom needs some cutouts for the water supply and drain.

Sink Cabinet

Catch Up

January has been busy. When I came home from New Hampshire, I had a couple of days with Carrie. We had a late exchange of Christmas presents with Jim and Margaret the evening before Carrie went back to Colorado.

John went to Maine to collect the kitchen cabinets. He took the train to Portland Maine and rented a truck to drive back. John's parents traveled down from Maine the same day on the way to Florida. They stayed a few days and were a big help unloading the cabinets. It was great to have them here, they were great about staying in a construction zone.

My Volvo is being repaired after a kid hit me at a red light. It was a four car accident, I was in the middle. Jack and Noreen were in the car with me and fortunately everyone was alright. I am stuck with an economy rental car to drive to New Hampshire today... not enough room for skis and not good in the snow.

John and I spent three days prepping and painting the kitchen. The walls weren't too bad, but the woodwork needed a lot of sanding. The red walls in the ktchen are all gone, now painted cream. I liked the red but must say the room is much brighter and feels bigger.

I've been to a zillion board and commitee meetings.

Great Blue Heron

Jack Evans spotted this heron when I was taking pictures of the Braefield Farm sign in December.

I was hoping to get a picture of the heron in flight, but he wouldn't budge.I found this information about the Great Blue Heron at Birding.com

Hunts by remaining motionless in shallow water and waiting for prey to come within striking distance.

So I guess he was waiting for lunch.


I've seen herons flying along the creek before, they fly low below the trees. With a 6 foot wing span, a heron in flight is an amazing sight. Birding.com describes the Great Blue Heron in flight..

Flies with distinctive slow, labored wingbeats, trailing legs behind and head folded back on shoulders

Heron at Pine Creek. Click to enlarge. 

Polly at Holderness

Polly made the Honor Roll for the first semester at Holderness, with an excellent effort in Math. The Honors list is shown at the Holderness website. Great job Polly!

Polly is on the Service Committee, the kids on the Service Committee watch the children at a homeless shelter while Mr. Weymouth from Holderness takes their parents to the store.


A typical day for Polly during ski season:

5:30-6:30        Change into workout clothes, workout
6:30-8:00        Shower and change into school clothes, breakfast
8:00-12:00     Classes
12:00-12:30    Change into ski clothes, collect ski gear, eat lunch
12:30-3:30      45 minute bus ride each way to Cannon Mt, train
3:30-4:00        Return ski gear, change into school clothes
4:00-5:30        Classes
6:00-7:00        Formal all school dinner (5 days a week)
7:30-9:30        Change into casual clothes, Study Hall
9:30-10:00      Snack Bar
10:00-11:00    Back in dorm, change into PJ's

In addtion to the above, Polly needs to wax and sharpen her skis... she needs about 5 hours a week for ski tuning.

Polly also races a least one day every weekend, usually Sunday, which requires arriving at the mountain hosting the race by 7:30 and leaving at about 4:00. The travel time to the races varies depending on which mountain is hosting the race, but probably averages about 1 hour each way.

Holderness has classes every Saturday from 8:00-12:00. The only night off Study Hall is Saturday.

Every student at Holderness must do a job on campus each day. The kids rotate through several job crews each year, Polly has done mostly kitchen work which involves cleaning not cooking.

I count six clothing changes a day..

Carrie

Carrie went back to Colorado last Friday. She went skiing with her friend Lexie at Breck this weekend and is now back at school taking a mini-block... The class she is taking is Huckelberry Finn.

Carrie is decked out in some new Christmas presents, her new Boston Red Sox World Series cap and a pink scarf made by Margaret.

Carrie at the Airport. Click to Enlarge. 

Christmas Morning 2004

Sorry this post has been incomplete for awhile... I wanted to reload the pictures.

I know it's late for Christmas pictures, but I wanted to download the pictures on my computer at home. I will post phtotos of Christmas evening soon.

Christmas Morning

Grammy, Liz, and Jack

Carrie, John, and Polly

Liz, Carrie, and Grammy

I Saw A Moose

I was driving on the Kangamangus Highway, a high elevation road through the White Mountains in New Hampshire, on Sunday and saw a moose!!

I came to a stop as he crossed in front of me. He walked along the shoulder for awhile then just stopped facing into the woods for a long time. Huge animal with a very large rack.

I didn't have my camera with me so I wasn't able to get a picture, so I'll post a picture of my favorite moose instead.

Bullwinkle. 

A Belated Happy New Year!!

Polly and I had dinner in New Hampshire with Barbara and Liz Kutch and then went to their condo, we had a very nice evening. Carrie spent New Year's Eve, and the next four days, with her friend Jason and his family in New York and John brought in the New Year at Braefield Farm.