Engaged!!!

Its Official! John and I are engaged to be married!!!! More details to follow......

Camping with Hannah

This past weekend we made our annual trek to the Stephen Phillips Preserve on lake Mooselookmeguntic in Rangeley for long weekend of camping. We had a great time as usual, though the remnants of Hurricane Hannah impacted our Saturday night plans to chill out around the fire. Luckily our camp mates, Will & Kristen, had big shade/rain tent we could hang out under. So, even though we got an inch or so of rain, we managed to stay pretty dry and have fun.
This was Nellies first camping trip. The campsite we stay at is on an island, so Nellie got some time in the canoe which was amusing. I think she loved camping and was pretty well behaved. She was certainly effective at keeping the pesky chipmunks and squirrels away from our food (last year we had problems with this). So, she will likely get to go again next year!

John and Will had some success with fishing this year. I think between them they caught (and released) almost 15 fish! There was even an eagle watching the action from a nearby tree.

This is tent was an awesome addition to the campsite this year and was a big help in keeping dry during the rain!

John and Nellie are back from their canoe ride

Nellie moves to the front of the canoe which makes things much more stable...

parker produce

Here are a few photos of Ryan and his harvest from last week. What a beautiful bounty!!!

Canning 101

Em and I took a canning class last week to learn a little more about canning. We both have done some canning but thought the class would be a fun way to learn more and spend an evening together. We successfully canned the heck out of those green beans didn't we Em!?!?

new wood stove

John and Dad worked yesterday on putting in the chimney for the new woodstove at camp. We had our first fire yesterday evening. I think we will really enjoyhaving the woodstove this winter. Now, back to splitting firewood!
PS. this morning nellie noticed the chimney outside, she growled & barked at it and her hair stood up on end :) Silly dog.

Sassy

Lizze gets the 'hang' of her new toy

Labor day weekend

We had a really nice labor day weekend. It was very low key, just relaxing and getting ready for fall/winter. The weekend included making jam, splitting and stacking firewood, cleaning out the little camp, mowing the lawn etc... We also visited John's Dad who is in the hospital with a spiral fracture in his femur. He had surgery on Saturday and now has a pretty substantial metal rod and a lot of screws in his thigh. So, he will be off his feet for quite a while, which, if you know Neighbor, will not be easy for him!

We started the weekend off with a happy hour at camp for the Evolo crew. Nellie enjoyed the watermelon as you can see below.

Lizzie was mesmerized by the fire.

Lizzie & I at sunset.

The guys take in a Sauna before the water goes down. Our lake is partially drained each winter to combat pollution, so as of today the dam is open and the water levels will be drastically reduced. It signals the end of boating, swimming and summer.

Here John goes for a dip after getting hot in the sauna.

Lizzie and Grammy Suzie get some vitamin D.