Hi, my name is Pixie!

Hi my name is Pixie

I moved into Howard Lodge 2 weeks ago.... Francesca also calls me 'Bundle of joy' and 'Streghetta'.  Spritz - my older sister - is not really very happy and does not want to play with me, but I hope that with time she will come around and we will become BFF!  Happy New Year every one!

A quiet relaxing day

... that is how Sunday started.  It was supposed to start snowing midday and the wind was really strong when we woke up.  We did few things around the house, had a nice 'leftover' lunch and then Nicoletta started building her ginger bread house.

Nicoletta busy decorating the house

Nicoletta at work

Some decorated pieces ready to be put together

And it was dinner time: we had decided to make our homemade pizza.  I rolled out the dough, nicoletta prepared the sauce, and then... this happened:

Close-up of the fingers after a visit to the emergency room

She does not look happy.... I wonder why???

 She cut herself cleaning the blender.... trip to the emergency room, 11 sutures later, we are back eating our pizza.... But wait, the oven decided at 11 that it did not feel like working, so we had to cook it on the small
toaster over that was using the same plug as the electric heater, so we blew a fuse... it was supposed to be a quiet, relaxing day...

Spritz LOVES her new Regency I2400 wood stove insert!

It's a Regency model I2400 and it's nice... and cozy... and warm!

First Christmas at Howard Lodge.

Merry Christmas to everyone!  This is our first Christmas at Howard Lodge and we are happy to
celebrate it in this house.  Tonight is going to be a quiet evening with just the four of us: Bernie, Nic, me and Spritz.  Tomorrow John and Angela are going to join us in the celebration. 
We are relaxing after a full day of wood chopping, cleaning and cooking...  We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures:

Bernie the farmer cooking fish on Xmas Eve

Bernie the farmer with the fish!

Christmas Day we had a snow dusting in the morning, right when we had to go and feed the horses..  After that was a day of cooking, eating and opening gifts with John and Angela... 

Franesca feeding Xmas Treats to Luna and Messy

Fresh Pasta drying up like in a real italian kitchen!

The house is so old we need to wear our safety hats

A little more snow...

This past week-end we got some more snow... this time it was about 2 inches.. and this is the result:

Howard Lodge with the snow

First snow at Howard Lodge...

I am sure we will see more snow than this, but Friday we got our first snow dust.  Yesterday morning it was a pretty sight and I went around taking few pictures.  We found out we have some more creature living around the property: two beautiful foxes were playing on the frozen pond....  Enjoy the pictures:

 

Foxes Playing on the pond

Closeup of foxes playing

Our Horses coming down for Breakfast: Luna, Shadow, Messy and Bricks!

November 2010, Helen & Jim Visit Howard Lodge

Here the boys are taking the new barn door down to be installed!

You can see more pictures here. Send an email to bj_rauscher@mac.com if you need the password.

Thanksgiving at Howard Lodge

This Thanksgiving was unfortunately marked by tragedy for us. We did, however, manage to get together for a subdued dinner on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Helen and Jim came up from Wilmington, North Carolina. Jackie also came. The menu featured pizza from Trattoria Montese. On Sunday, we got together for a lunch featuring gnocchi. Unfortunately, Jackie was not able to make it back to the Lodge for that.

For Thanksgiving day, Nicoletta made this beautiful apple pie. If you can believe it, it tasted even better than it looked!

We lit our first fire at Howard Lodge on Thanksgiving day.

New Chair!

Spritz is very VERY happy with her new Ikea POÄNG chair.

Cash

We had decided that this week-end we were going to let Cash out of the cage and have him roam the farm.  Yesterday morning we started with having the door to his cage open:  he looked around and got out a couple of times when we were in the stall with him, and he was going back into the cage every time that we were not in the stalls.  After I finished feeding the horses, I went in the stall with Cash, but this time I left the door to the stall open: he approached the door, looked inside then outside and the he just left.  Unfortunately, he has not came back yet.  We still hope he will come back to us!

Our farm is now complete!

This week we got two new residents: Cash joined us on Sunday and he is going to be in charge of our barn.  He is a big boy and to get him used to us he is for now living in a big cage:

Today Shadow arrived at Howard Lodge. Shadow is Bricks girlfriend and she was temporary at another farm.
Bricks was really happy to see her and he came trotting up the hill nickering... She nickered too, and she is following him every where he goes. Shadow is a gaited pony and she is really cute.

Here is Shadow:

Welcome to both at Howard Lodge!

This is the "new" horse, Luna!

She is named after the moon shaped mark on her forehead. I am going to learn to ride on her. She is very very tall (so it's a long way down!).

On vacation!

Bernie & Francesca finally went on vacation! Of course, just so that the
trend continues they both got a nasty cold before leaving!
They are now happily visiting puerto Rico.

Before they left one more horse joined
the farm: Luna. Pictures will be coming soon!

New Residents at Howard Lodge!!!

Today we got two new residents:
Miss Messy  

Mr. Bricks.

Messy likes the place very much: she is really appreciating the nice grass.  Bricks is still checking the place out but some apples and carrots should fix his insecurities!

The first horse has arrived!!

Today our first horse arrived at Howard Lodge.  We were all excited and wanted to see how he liked
the barn and the stalls.  A couple of picture showing 'the horse' checking the place:

After he checked the place out, he decided that he did not like it and left...  We hope the next horses that are coming will like it!

I worked so much yesterday!

Painting those stalls was really hard work, so we decided to rest today:

Italy vs Work

So this week Bernie and I were supposed to leave for a 2 weeks vacation in Italy... except that Nicoletta started to feel not so well on Sunday night and by Wednesday afternoon we were at a surgeon office... therefore we cancelled the trip and instead we did this: 
Went to the dump and the picture shows our latest 'red neck' acquisition

And in the afternoon painted the walls of the stalls:

Definitely much better than this:

.. nothing new this week

We have been busy with the barn: on Monday a group of friends showed up and helped us with the cleaning:  we can now see one of the barn wall from the house - it was covered with vines - and the stalls are ready to be painted.  Francesca cleaned the floor of the barn top, and Bernie went back to one of his favorite sports: wood-chopping. 

Yellowjackets!

This evening, Bernie discovered that you don't mow fields without proper protection.

It is a lesson that he will not soon forget! Now, experienced farmers know this... And, Bernie is now a (more) experienced farmer!

The drama unfolded on the back field out by the pond. He was mowing on a particularly steep and nasty slope when he felt something odd. At first, he thought it was a horse fly, or maybe a bee sting! Soon, the truth became painfully clear -he was surrounded by swarming yellowjackets. Fortunately, before running for it, he kept his head enough to turn off the tractor and set the parking break.

A neighbor heard the screaming and came running to see what was up. He thought the tractor had turned over. But no, there was just a big ball of swarming yellow jackets in the field and Bernie, standing farther away, wondering if he had really out run them!

It is now 3 hours later, and he is no worse for the wear other than a (really really) nasty headache and lots of other aches and pains and pains and aches. He got at least 9 stings in the head, including the inside nose, on an eyelid, and both ears (inside and out!). There are other stings on his back and arms, so the total count is probably around 15. It is hard to say because some of them blend together...

So, the moral of the story is, dress like Crocodile Dundee when mowing fields!

A sad day...

08:30

09:30

10:00

Snake Nest (just eggs and dead baby snakes)

It seems to have been planted when the house was built!

10:30

The roots were indeed gone on the scary side... The big hole is in the part that was keeping it from falling into the house!

11:00

We got very lucky! The stump is not supposed to just pop out with the Bobcat, but this one did...

3:00 that afternoon

We also had the crabapple pruned

It is more pleased with the new "look" than the Maple! It decided to bloom!

You can see more of the whole unfortunate event here.