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| George and Susan |
We hope you are having a great summer! The weather here in New Hampshire has been cooler and wetter than "normal". Beautiful weather generally, but not as much beach weather as one normally has here in the Lakes Region.
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| Rhiannon in her summer berth |
Our summer has been very busy. We got home from the boat (left in Vero Beach) on the 15th of May. We spent the next two weeks working on the house, yard and gardens in preparation from our son James wedding on June 3. On May 20, we went back to Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly, MA, to attend our friend George Barlow's 80th birthday party. Very nice evening and it was great to see a lot of people we had not seen in a while. On June 2, we held the rehearsal dinner at our house. The whole week prior to the wedding and the week after the wedding we had a house full of company. June 3 was the big day. The wedding was held out of doors at the gazebo at The Mill in Laconia. The weather held until everyone was inside for the reception. Rain on a wedding day is supposed to be good luck. It rained for an hour while the reception was underway. Lovely, lovely day!
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| James and Laura |
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| The siblings l to r: Jacob, Jeff, James, Sarah, Rachael |
On June 9, James and Laura left on a honeymoon cruise from Boston to Bermuda. While they were away, Lisa and I, Jim (a construction friend) and John (plumber) changed out all the plumbing and the water heater in their small house. We tore out their bathroom and put in a whole new one and in the process were able to add a nice large closet for them. We added a couple of cabinets to the kitchen. The bad news is that James and Laura were gone for 10 days and it took three weeks to get everything done, so they came home to a project not done. The end result was very nice, but like most projects, it took a lot longer than we thought. How do they rehab a whole house in an hour on DIY TV?
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| Before |
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| After |
As soon as that project was finished, the folks showed up to give us an estimate to repair and seal our driveway. While they were here, a friend of theirs drove by who was putting in a new driveway down the street. So, we wound up with a whole new driveway instead - for a very ggod price!. Then the construction guys showed up at our house to add the new front porch. That came out really nice. We have now added new flower beds around the porch and fruit trees to the front yard. Lisa built a couple of berms, one on the corner of the lot and one at the end of the driveway. Nice!
On June 24th, we made a trip back to Salem, MA to attend the North Shore Pride Festival. Our granddaughter, Taylor had a booth there selling her art and her knitted wares, which we wanted to see. Our daughter, Rachael (and her mom) also had a booth displaying quilted items they make - beautiful stuff! We got to see our daughter Sarah and granddaughters Jaimey and Brook. We spent the night with our friend Hazel, who is James' and Jeff's godmother. We have been friends with her for 30 years now! Nice week-end!
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| Granddaughter Taylor |
We had an issue over the winter with the door (for people) on the side of the garage - our plow guy called us while we were in Georgetown and said the door was open. Weird, because it was screwed shut! We had our son James check it out. Nothing was missing, the cars (Lisa's convertible and my Corvette) were fine and the rest of the house was secure. So, this summer, that door disappeared replaced by a small glass block window.
You might remember that last summer, our son Jeff moved out to Utah. We drove him and a bunch of his possessions - and our two dogs (Precious (mini-schnauzer) and Costis (black lab) out there, then Lisa flew out and we visited some of the National Parks on the way home. Since then, we have been without dogs, which is OK when we are on the boat, but when we are home, the house seems really quiet. We have always had dogs. We used to raise and show English Springer Spaniels. More recently, we have had mini-schnauzers and labs. One of our neighbors fosters rescued labs and we decided that was something we could try. That way, we could have our dog fix while we are home, and not have to worry that they are taken care of in our absence. So, we are now fostering for New England Lab Rescue. You can check them out at www.nelr.com The foster parents help get the dogs "settled" after they have been rescued, treated for whatever they need medically (including spaying or neutering), and in some cases transported from somewhere else. We are now working with our fourth animal this summer. The first was a yellow female named Panky that had been picked up as a stray in South Carolina. She had recently had puppies. She also had heart worm. She was spayed, treated for heart worm, given all her shots and transported to New England. She was skinny, loosing all her coat (stress or anesthesia or both). She weighed on 36 pounds. She was with us for three weeks before NELR found her a forever home. When she left her coat was coming in full and shiny. She weighed 42 pounds and had turned into a lovely companion.
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| Panky |
The second and third labs were puppies 3 1/2 months old. They were transported here from Texas. Someone dropped off the mother (a black lab named Layla) and her 5 puppies at a pound. Many of the southern states will only keep an animal two weeks before they are euthanized, so there is an active group of folks trying to rescue dogs. Many of these organizations try to specialize in one or two breeds. NELR rescues labs (or anyone who looks like they may be related to a lab). These puppies father was obviously not a lab as they all had a white blaze on their chest. The puppies had never been separated from their mother or their siblings. We took two to foster (Rip and Riker). Riker was with us a bit over a week and Rip a little over two weeks before they went to forever homes.
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| Rip (left) and Riker (right) |
Almost as soon as they left, we got a call about a dog who needed a foster. He had been adopted and then returned, housed in a kennel and had some issues. After thinking about the details for a couple of days, we drove over to the kennel in Maine and picked up Jake. He was very thin, highly stressed, his coat dull and then and had some behavioral issues. We have been working with him for more than two weeks now. We are working with a professional trainer on the issues and giving Jake some stability and regular food and a lot of attention. It is amazing how these dogs respond to a stable environment, love and attention. Jake has come a long way and will be with us at least a bit longer. He is very smart and learns quickly. His trainer thinks he could certainly do "nose work" (drug, cadaver, bomb, tracking sniffing) or a service dog. He has put on a few pounds and his coat is thick and shiny.
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| Lisa and Jake |
Amidst all this, I have been putting together a collage of the pictures of many of the people we have met in our travels. Makes us miss you guys all the more.
On July, 19th, Lisa and our friend Judy went to Boston to see the Red Sox play Cleveland.
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| Judy and Lisa at Fenway |
On August 9 (our anniversary - 30 this time), we went to a late lunch/early dinner with Kathy and Ken, who are long time friends. and have the same anniversary as we do.
Lisa is currently in the middle of another construction project - a redo of one of the bathrooms.
Somewhere in all this, we are getting the doctor's and dentist's appointments in. We are trying to schedule Friday nights out with friends for dinner. So far, we have had three.
So, that is our summer so far. We are starting to think about the fall, boat projects and the Bahamas. What are you guys doing? Considering for the fall?
