Weekend in the country

Packing up for the country is now a quick and easy 

process.  We have done it for years and have it down to a 

science.  We used to leave right after school

was out on Friday afternoon, but now that

we have two busy teenagers, that is usually

not possible and more often than not, we find ourselves

heading out as soon as possible on Saturday.  First step - 

load the three dogs.  This is the absolute highlight

of their life....in the country they can run free through 

the woods, swim in the river whenever they feel like it, 

roll in horse manure (much to our dismay), and play, 

play......play!  Several years back,  Elizabeth described

it perfectly  ~ "This is Dogtopia"

Ellen has to top off all her rabbits ~ all thirteen adults

and fifteen babies!  It takes about thirty minutes 

to feed and water all of them but if the food and water'

is topped off, they can make it for two days.

Her business "Hoppy Days" is not suffering from 

the nation's recession. 

We pack up the necessary contents of the 

refrigerator ~ milk, veggies, fruit and of course;

the cookbook for Mr. Blendtec! Mr. Blendtec

comes with us to the country.

Ellen is bewitched with "Harry Potter"; it is a 

never ending cycle of reading the whole 

series over and over! It is not a long ride to the 

log cabin, but sandwiched in between 

the clean laundry for the country, 

coolers of food, and all the necessary supplies, she 

had time to read a few chapters.

The "Log Cabin"

Why do we call it this?

Because 100 years ago, the interior was 

the exterior;  constructed from trees on the property.  

At some point the exterior was surrounded by a porch and 

then at another point, was glassed in.  

When you look at the outside of log cabin, you don't

see logs....but when you walk inside; it all makes sense.

We spend most weekends and ALL holidays here!

Horseback riding was the first thing on the agenda.

My high school buddy, Chris, came to visit along with 

several of the Gambel girl friends - aka my adopted daughters!

Sara and Laura

 Gary and Chris in front
Katherine and Ellen in back

View from my horse!

This is the most awesome weather of the year ~

dry and 70 degrees....incredible for riding 

through beautiful woods!

There is a touch of fall in the air

Sara collected some wildflowers along the way...

She, Elizabeth and her friends started the morning 

at 6:00 AM with a six mile run and 

her "vase" for the wildflowers are 

the  compression sleeves she wears to 

help her shin splits!

Chris is getting the hang of it

It is Dogtopia!

Letting horses go after our ride

to "free graze"

A trip to the country is not complete without my daily

visit to my egg laying friends.

Remember the post A watched chicken never hatches...

Here they are ~ all grown up and about to lay eggs

Out of our four chickens that hatched....three were hens

and one was a beautiful rooster.  They are starting 

their own blog.........

"Three Gambel hens and a rooster"

Sounds like they are copying a good thing to me!

 Eating the "scraps" from the kitchen.

Another example of my small attempts

to recycle!

Reaping my rewards

And finally: we conclude the longest post ever

with some random shots from this weekend.

I first took this shot

Then zoomed in one one flower ::

And in the view finder discovered ~

a yellow lady bug.

This happened purely by accident - 

it must have been destiny as it is the perfect 

picture for my blog title.

Gran-E's fish pond

This is the well worn path from the "log cabin"

to the "bunk house".  Gran-E and Charlie

are at the end of this path!

"Socks" ~ can you guess how he got his name?

 Basil garden ~ ready for pesto.

Pesto making tutorial still coming 

soon ~ I promise

Our Lawn mower :: Sunny

The "other" three "Gambel girls"  getting ready 

to go home....sadly, all good things come to an 

end and this weekend was one of those things.