How is your summer going, are you enjoying it?

I thought we’d do a little catching up today.

I have a fantastic post planned for you in a few days with all kinds of information you’ll love, but for now, we’ll just chat and I’ll bring you up to speed on what’s been happening during our first summer in New Hampshire.

I hope you’re setting aside at least a few minutes a day to truly enjoy summer. A walk in the morning or maybe on your lunch break? A book in the sun, or a relaxing sip or two on your porch?

We are thoroughly enjoying our front porch and back deck. If you look over my husband’s shoulder, you can see Mount Monadnock. We try very hard to sit outside and enjoy the evenings several nights a week.

I hope I never get used to the amazing beauty of New Hampshire.

The neighbors are probably thrilled with all the cigar smoke.

We are loving the extremes of the east coast weather. It definitely makes for some excitement and some crazy storms. We had one a few weeks ago that woke Abigail and I out of a dead sleep. I sat straight up in bed. I’ve never heard anything like it. In fact, it spooked me so much, I had to turn the light on and read my book for a while.

This is just a mild one. It brought buckets of rain though. We got about an inch in a matter of a half an hour.

Right now we’re in a heat wave with high humidity. Who knew that humidity can make the temperature outside feel 10 degrees hotter than it really is? My skin and my sinuses love it though, so you won’t hear any complaining from me. I learned quickly that if you want any type of dry food to stay crispy in New Hampshire, you had better get it into a plaster zipper bag, pronto. I’ve also learned that I  have to stay very hydrated. Heat and humidity combined make for a lot of sweating when you’re outside working in the yard or walking the dogs. I had to invest in deodorant, something I haven’t worn in years, so I didn’t scare off the new friends we’ve made.

Gross… I know.

This is Abigail and I enjoying the sun this morning before it turned into a moist furnace outside.

I was happy the bugs stayed on their own side of the playground

Were you aware that New Hampshire has 168 species of insects? Yep. And they all live in our backyard. We have bears and porcupines too, but the new fencing has helped with that.

This is one of the friendlier bugs. Friendly, yet creepy. Romeo was completely mortified to see him stuck to the screen. He took one sniff and went straight upstairs to his kennel.

Our next door neighbor caught this thief on her night vision camera in the spring. That’s her bird feeder he’s holding. Prior to our fence, he raided our bird feeders twice and carried them off into the woods. Needless to say, those have been put away until hibernation season. We’ve also been visited in broad daylight by a smaller bear twice. He likes to come around on about the 10th of each month. He’s not really afraid of people and it can be a bit unsettling to see him running across the street when there are people and kids milling around outside. The last time he arrived (on the 10th of July), my neighbor had to throw her shoe at him to get him to drop her bird feeder.

She’s braver than I!

By the way, that boulder is almost 5 feet tall and it’s right off their back porch.

This little prickly “guy” has been hanging around on most early mornings in our neighbor’s yard across the street. He moves pretty slowly so it’s kind of fun to get a good look at him. I’m assuming he’s not in a rush because he doesn’t have much to worry about covered in needles and all. Luckily, the dogs haven’t had the chance to get out and visit with him. Abigail encountered a small one before the fencing was up and I had to pull quills out of her tongue.

She probably licked it thinking it was a cat. It looks soft from here, but we know better don’t we!

I stumbled across this frog behind our shed while the fence guys were here. He was very nice to sit still for me so I could get a good shot. On Sunday while I was watering the flower boxes on the back deck I found a tiny frog that was only half the size of my thumbnail. He moved too quickly for a good picture though. Have I told you that both the neighbor’s across the street and next door have snakes in their yards? So far, we’ve been passed by, thank goodness.

We LOVE the new fence. It makes life so much less stressful with the dogs. They’re social and they love to visit with people, so we always had to keep an eye on them the entire time they were outside so they didn’t bother anyone or get hit by a car. Now we don’t have to worry about them wandering off – or something scary wandering in.

We’ve been told by the neighbors next door that people originally moved into this neighborhood “for the open concept and because people didn’t have fences”. And that they thought it looked “OK” but, “they wouldn’t do it”. There are now three of us out of 13 houses that have fences.

You can’t see it, but I have two Pinterest things going on at once in the picture of Abigail and I above. The toenails… dark denim blue paint and light blue glitter. The husband said, “wow….they’re………..dark.”  I suppose they do look somewhat Halloween-ish, but I’m a sucker for glitter. The other Pinterest thing I have going on is coconut oil all over my hair and a plastic shopping bag on my head.

Which let me tell you, was HOT in the sun.

I’m new to Pinterest. I know, I know…I’m a bit late into the game. And it’s probably a good thing, because I’m already completely addicted. I now have so many recipes, holiday decorating ideas, painting ideas, hair ideas, clothing ideas, craft ideas….you name it, running through my head, I’m pretty sure my brain is on fire. One of the funnest things about Pinterest is seeing how creative and talented people are. Wow! And they’re willing to share, which is very cool. I’m feeling inspired to do all kinds of fun things.

I antiqued our TV cabinet. It was a really quick and simple project. Next up, the guest bedroom furniture and all of the bathroom cabinets.

I’ve managed to put a “Follow Me On Pinterest”  button in the sidebar on the blog, please come join me, it’s great fun!

But it is BEYOND me when it comes to getting one of those buttons on everything I post. Seriously. I watched a gazillion tutorials and I have no idea what they’re talking about. I have no idea how to get behind the scenes and find all the gobblety code they’re talking about. I follow at least 100 blogs and most of them have them, so I must be missing something. So, if you are able to explain to me how to do it in a step by step process in a way that a 5-year-old would understand…shoot me a note.

I think I mentioned that our son was here visiting for a month? He and my husband went skydiving for his birthday. They had a fantastic time.

I opted to stay home with the dogs.

You can watch their skydiving video here. 

Brandon was also able to go on a couple of business trips with his dad and see 6 different states. He even had the “pleasure” of experiencing the once every 17 year Cicada invasion in New Jersey.

You can view his video here and hear the Cicadas!

They looked at Ferrari’s, went to the largest cigar shop in the US, went to the Freedom Tower, Wall Street, all kinds of fun adventures! He was here for Father’s Day too and we were able to surprise his dad with kayaks.

There are numerous absolutely breathtaking ponds and lakes right out our door.

We celebrated his 21st birthday. (sniff…sniff..) I wonder if we secretly try to convince ourselves that they’ll never grow up?

But now look at that, he’s as big, if not bigger than his dad. How did that happen?

Brandon was able to shoot off fireworks himself for the first time while he was here for Independence Day. In Washington they are illegal and you’re only allowed to go to public displays unless you want to go to the Idaho state line. I wish I had a picture of that…it’s like a huge war zone right over the state line.

Here in New Hampshire, the “Live Free or Die” state, you can buy fireworks all year-long and set them off whenever you like.

So much fun!

You can watch a video of some of our fireworks here.

We were also able to go along with my husband on one of his track days. These “adventures” I usually opt out of because I don’t like the what-ifs that are involved. However, this time we packed up the trailer and we all headed out together. I’m glad I went, it was a great day. The raceway was very impressive. Evidently they hold a Nascar race here every year, in fact it was just this past weekend.

Tony doesn’t race his bike. These track days are attended by all kinds of riders, racers included. They have mini-workshops and tips for better riding and it’s a safe (safer than the streets) environment for getting that need-for-speed out of their systems. And yes, people do wreck. That’s why I usually opt out. There were a few wrecks this time, luckily no one was seriously injured.

“No Cops No Cars No Limits”

Every man’s dream and every wife’s nightmare. ha

Learning a better leaning into the corner technique.

Well over 100 mph right here.

And this is us, safe and sound (lots of praying throughout the day) and on our way home.

That’s it for now but we have plenty of adventures planned for the remainder of the summer. And then comes Fall in New Hampshire.

I can’t wait!

I hope you have a fabulous summer. Thank you for stopping by my blog and always being so supportive. I love to read all of your comments and questions.

~ April