A Very Happy Easter

Ben's dream has come true. Kadin and Ben are walking side by side. We had a great walk in the Bangor forest and Kadin did a super job without a leash. She tried hard to keep up with Barkley and cousin Storm and they all ended up completely worn out.
When I moved away from Maine, Easter was one of the hardest days to be away. It is my favorite holiday and I love sharing the day with my family. So this weekend was very special because we were in Maine and we had our Kadin with us. We spent Saturday evening with the Barkers and had a great meal and a wonderful evening. Then Sunday we went to the Dubois and had lobster crepes, scallops potatoes, homemade bread, bloody marys, mimosas and a super carrot cake. Thank you Butch and Addy for hosting a delicious brunch. Thanks Easter Bunny! (mom) We had a super weekend.
Kadin's weekend was full of socialization. She became familiar with roads, kids, super active dogs, new places and more time in the car. She was our super star through it all.
Little Nora made a very cute pink egg and soon after this picture she made a very cute pink mess. And now we leave you with a video of our little girl getting to know her cousin storm. They got along very well, Storm was patient and kind to Kadin.

Our New Love

We are off to a great start. So far Kadin seems to enjoy the car and the crate. Last night we went to see Greg Brown at the Stone Mountain Arts Center and we brought Kadin along. She hung out in her crate in the car and did great. Unfortunately, by the time we got home at 10:30 she was ready for puppy play and we were ready for bed. We played and then we attempted bedtime. She went right in the crate, but as soon as Ben shut the door, the crying began. We were a bit worried but within 10 minutes of sunggling in the crate she was out. She woke up once during the night and Ben took her out to pee and then cuddled her some more and she was out until we got up this morning. Now we cannot wait for the weeeknd so we can have time to play and tire her out.

Kadin already received her first gift. Treats and a card from her buddy Hogan. They will have many adventures together in the future.

The Keatons have a new addition

We finally have something to blog about and boy is she cute. Ben and I traveled to southern NH this afternoon to meet a blue merle Australian Shepherd. Her name is now Kadin and we can't wait to have her home with us on Wednesday.

Spring is Here!

It has been a wonderful winter but I am finally ready to let it go. Although I still see lots of white when I look out the front window, I am sure that April will bring some warm spring days as well as plenty of mud and rain. April is always one of my favorite months because it usually means Easter and always brings my birthday, tulips, April vacation and the beginning of the end of winter. So happy Spring to all. . . may the sun shine and the flowers bloom for you.

Project House

Not a whole lot of fun this weekend as you can see from the pictures below. As we have been looking at a few lots in the area to build our "pipe dream" home on, we have been flabbergasted by the prices and along with that of course comes discouragement. We must not let our discouraging thoughts take over though, we must march on, in light of the fact that it is March and it is not like we have spent any of the money we don't really have. So, armed with the abrasive reality of land cost we are now compiling all the numbers into a spreadsheet and then of course adding, i don't know??? 20,000 just for good measure, to accumulate the cost of building the actual house. Now that we have a fairly well depicted sketch of our house, we can get some estimates on foundation, site work, septic, framing, roofing... and so on and so on, wow there is a lot of material that goes into building a home. Anyway, Rachael has been in charge of appliances, kitchen, bathrooms, fans and lighting and I have been doing the rest. Below you can see the very early cost of the Cozy Keaton sitting at a delightful $11,943.20. Now, like a newly planted seed, as we are approaching spring, lets watch it grow. We can only hope it will be an alpine Juniper and not a Sequoia. Please note, airplane sickness bags might be handy toward the end of the ride. Donations accepted.



"Excel Spreadsheet Master".... Must focus!

Is that the "marching on" face I see???


Update to follow.

Last weekend we had a nice surprise on Sunday evening. The Barkers came by for dinner on their way home from Vt. We had a quick visit but it was great to see them. . .especially Nora. She is so darn cute, it is hard to not be most excited to see her, but we love the whole family.
This weekend we went back to the land that we were most interested in after our search last weekend and fell in love all over again. It is very hard to keep from getting too excited about it. The neighborhood is located less than 10 minutes from N Conway, 15 minutes from my school and 30 minutes from Colcord Pond. We would have out the door access to xc skiing, great biking roads and fly fishing on the swift river.
Upon finding this piece of paradise we are more determined than ever to get an estimate on the house to see what we can afford to pay for land. Ben has been on Google Sketch-up all weekend trying to get the drawing to a point where he can take it to a building supply company and get some numbers. I spent the majority of the weekend pricing appliances, sinks, toilets etc. I also watched several educational videos on toilets, quite interesting. The whole project is fairly daunting.
The weather this weekend was absolutely perfect, so we had to get out for some fresh air and sunshine this afternoon. It may still look like winter, but the sun was bright and warm and it felt like spring. We went for a ski on Silver Lake which still has over a foot of ice, no wonder the lakes in Maine and New Hampshire are never exactly warm.

Bohemian Waxwing

For the Bird watchers amongst us. I finally found the real name for the birds photographed over Winterfest/my birthday weekend. Sorry it took so long, as I really did not know where to start. After talking with Linda, our landlord, she led me in the direction of the Cedar Waxwing. From there I ended up narrowing it down to the Bohemian Waxwing. Come to find out through the web link below I was quite lucky to photograph this flock as they are rarely this far south and east in the United States. They prefer western Canada for breeding grounds and only venture this way in the winter, I guess to warm up a bit. See it is not so cold here in the winter Danielle, if you compare it to northwestern Canada. Enjoy the web page.
Click Me!

On the hunt for land

Last weekend we went to a xc ski/bonfire party at Kris and Liz Dubois' house. It was a long drive but really nice to see where they have settled in and also great to see family and friends. I took very few pictures (I think that I was photoed out after Ben's birthday weekend), but I did get a shot of the youngest member of the Dubois family, Sebastian. I also took a few shots of Ben trying to get back on his feet after a fall on skis. You will not find any pictures of me in this position and therefore I was the champoin for the day. This weekend we spent a lot of time in the truck and we never left the Conway area. On Saturday we went back out to the land in Tamworth that we have been looking at and took a few more measurements and mulled it all over a bit more. Then we proceeded on to the weekly errands and before long I was hungry, worn out and approaching grumpy, which means time to get home. On Sunday we went to five pieces of land for sale. We strapped on the snowshoes and tromped all around 4 of the lots, but by the time we arrived at one of the lots we had seen enough of the "neighborhood" to realize that we did not need to get out the truck, so we threw her in reverse and headed on down the road. We did find one lot that met all of our many needs, the only problem is we are not sure that it is for sale and I am almost positive it is out of our price range. Unfortunately we will now compare all other property to this particular dream lot. I did not take any pictures of the land but I did take one of the quiche I made for dinner.