Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie, Meara and Gus all had bad colds earlier in the week.  Fortunately everyone is on the mend.

Slinky dropped by to visit with the rest of the family.

This book has a picture of a little girl's face and every time Rosie sees it she puts her nose on the girl's nose.  

Bye for now pretty girl.  Gromma loves you.

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Gus and Meara had to rearrange the living room to accommodate all of Rosie's new skills and adventures.  She started off by crawling to me.  Then we talked - Rosie's side of the conversation was a consistent 'ma-ma-ma-ma'but it was the first time I've heard her say that.  As always, cutest baby ever!

The Bridge to Somewhere

Last September I wrote a post about Hurricane Irene (http://ddramblings.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-rain.html).  Irene caused incredible damage in my part of the Northeast.  Too many people lost homes and businesses.  So to say I lost a couple of bridges sounds horribly self-involved but I assure you I in no way consider my losses tragic.  But without the bridges I've had no access to half of the trails behind the house.  All of my ramblings since the hurricane have been limited to the field trails which provide a wonderful place to walk for me and the dogs, but we have really missed the back trails.  And now the bridges are back - YAY!

After the rain finally stopped last August 28th the stream was at least 10 feet higher than usual and the bridge was floating into the backyard.

The next day, after the water had receded some, Blackie was sad to find he could not cross the bridge any more.

But now, almost 9 months later, Blackie is happy to cross the bridge again.

There was a hill that led down to the bridge on the house side - a lot of dirt was bulldozed to make the bridge level with the yard.

The bridge was winched back into position on the other side.  It looks a bit precarious on this side but it is much sturdier than before.

Last year I spent a lot of time grooming the back trails.  After the hurricane and 9 months of neglect they are in rough shape but not as bad as I anticipated.  Blackie is just happy to be in the woods again.

There were a lot of trees down but most were off the trail.  This tree split in half - I had to use the chainsaw to remove some large limbs that had blocked the trail.

The best thing is that we can now get down into the ravine again.

This area is known as Dog Pond due to this small pond that varies in size based on how much rain we've had.  Right now it is very dry so the pond is small.  Every dog we have ever had runs down the hill and immediate jumps in Dog Pond.

Dog Pond Bridge was also washed away during the hurricane.  Dan and I maneuvered this bridge back into place using the 4-wheeler and its winch, and a lot of manual labor.  It has always been kind of rickety but it gets you across the stream.

Once on the other side we can now go up the hill and at the top we can connect with the field trails.

When it was Lucy's turn for a walk we went in the opposite direction, starting with the field trails.

Lucy heading down to Dog Pond from the field side.

Lucy heading back to the house on the back trails.

Happy Birthday Jonathan and Cara

Today is my nephew Jonathan's birthday, and also his lovely Cara's birthday.

They live in Denver with dogs Bravo and Delta ...

... and cats Ashton and Gordon.

Jonathan with cousins Gus and Emily.

Jonathan with Grandpa Clas and Gus.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS CARA AND JFRED!!!!

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie is now 9 months old and this past week she has been showing off a lot of new talents.  She has been crawling, clapping, turning over, getting from a sitting position to her hands and knees, standing while holding on to the furniture and bending over to pick things up, high-fiving (but only with her Dad), and she has even successfully used the potty a couple of times.  Plus she now has 8 teeth.  All I can say is WOW.

Here's Rosie showing me her crawling skills.  Turns out she showed her Mom and Dad something new too because she immediately started crawling towards me (or at least the image of me on the computer).  The next 4 photos show her moving fast as Gus kept moving the computer away from her.     

Once she finished crawling she sat down and started clapping.  YAY Rosie!

Slinky the cat decided to join the family for a little Skyping time.

Rosie and Gus high-five to celebrate all of her accomplishments.