Home again

It's great to be home, but strange in the sense that so much of our stuff is now is stored in its new place in the belly of the whale, and to bring these things back into the house requires us to make notes so that we don't forget them when we leave next week. At campgrounds, we unload some chairs, outdoor living stuff, and that's it.

We were pleased to see some shrubs still in bloom, including a late lilac, some shaded azaleas, and these rhododendrons:


We found the house and yard to be in good shape, and looking good:


Its been super busy. We've had social gatherings almost every night, plus lots of work for Nancy, lots of chores for me, and some fun stuff like hikes and bike rides as well. Right off I made plans to mountain ride with friends, and had a great one at Miller's Pond, although I left it fighting off a charlie horse in my leg. No pain, no gain, right? Gene, Larry and Ben all did great, but Austin will henceforth be known as The Goat! One rider was missing, though. Our friend Dan E. had to make an unscheduled visit to the hospital. When I went in to visit I brought Dan this boquet of bike reflectors. Get well soon, Dan!


I rode again with The Goat and Company, plus Dan-O Clam, and got to see the Lawrence family's new travel trailer, a nicely arranged and appointed 25 footer that they can tow behind their Expedition.



We've shared many good times with our CT peeps - The Shirley's had us up to their home for dinner and good times; our boys Derik and Scott treated us to breakfast at famous O'Rourke's Diner; The Lawrences hosted a post-ride pizza party; Mom F and Mike came over and brought a full course meal with them; I visited Defibtech for free-lunch Wednesday and catching up; our neighbor's the Torops joined us for homemade blueberry pie and wine; Nancy and Lisa went out for their favorite Indian food and Cosmos; my friend David treated me to awesome sushi and let me drive his 5 series bimmer; friends Jeff & Rex met me at The Hungry Tiger to see our favorite guitar slinger Jeff Pevar; Karen, Drew and Jeff came down and we slurped up margaritas and tex-mex and our local - Coyote Blue:


Tomorrow we join more neighbors for drinks and snacks around an outdoor fire, and Monday Jeff and I will launch the boat and go salt water fly fishing! In the middle of all this I've mowed, pruned, sprayed unwanted brush, treated the deck, treated two sides of the house shingles, changed Gigantor's oil and fuel filters, and installed a home alert system which will call me if the power goes out, the house temperature gets too low, or if it senses water in the basement!

Kinsey turned 15 last week, and both dogs got haircuts! Toby had an exiting day today, as he captured and killed a garden snake. I'd rather he didn't kill our local fauna, but I got there too late, and his desire to kill snakes is apparently stronger than his fear of them!


Tuesday we're off to Maine to visit family before continuing our adventure northward.
Thanks to all who are following and who have said such nice things about this little blog o' mine!