More exciting News!

We're just full of pictureless news this week...

Charles has been hired by Sunday River to be a ski instructor this winter. He'll be teaching 7-14 year old kids every weekend and all the vacation weeks, and I'm sure he'll be picking up whatever else he can during the week. We're all excited because if he's not working in the winter, he ends up there anyway. Now he gets paid to be there!

Quick Announcement

Sorry- no pictures for this one. However, I am pleased to announce that I am the new Companion Animal Manager at Petco in Auburn!!! The stars lined up with this job interview, and I am very excited to be able to go back to doing what I love AND getting paid for it. This will also mean less driving, being in a town where I know people and where I'm going, and none of the crazy midnight and o'dark thirty work schedules. Westbrook has been fun, but I was due for a change, and this job is like my dream job. So I hope to at least see some of you there soon :-)

Spooktacular Dinner

So, this halloween dinner seems to be a developing family tradition right up there with Thanksgiving...

We enjoyed a delicious Halloween dinner in Bolsters Mills this year with a rather repulsive sounding (but totally delicious) menu. The table was adorned in orange, the feetloaf (aka meatloaf) sat bleeding in it's pan, and the traditional "Grams Rolls" were served (hmmm..... someone seems to have cut themselves while preparing the dough...). There were toasty buzzards feet (chicken drumsticks artfully sliced to allow all the meat to be peeled to the bottom of the bone for toes), crisp cucumbers with snails (pictured above), and bubbling potato volcano. And for desert, Michael and I baked up a batch of witches fingers. Although there were few trick or treaters, we all enjoyed plenty of food and a movie after.

Have you herd about Michaels story he has been working on at school? It is called the Italian Job. IT is awesome.The characters are JAKOB, MICHELLE(MI-SH-EL),DANIEL,AND KACEE.

School's Out For Winter

Yes that's right- winter. And that's dog school. Charles managed to get as picture himself with Desi at dog class in Naples. We've finally found a dog trainer that gets Desi's breed and isn't intimidated by him, so they've been going to Amys classes for two summers. Amy runs Boulder Ridge Kennels in Otisfield and breeds Mastiffs. She also has been really good about not reacting to Desi's rabid dog immitation that he does when either I or Michael is around. Neither does anyone else in the class, mostly because this class is geared toward dogs that are "reactive" in different situations. By reactive, I mean act like an idiot. Desi's previous class instructor didn't get this behavior, and it made other people with rude dogs in the class nervous so he was asked to leave instead of dealing with the issue. In this class, all these dogs and hmans get together and do things like go out for ice cream, go to the beach or the park, walk up and down the causeway, and encounter other people, dogs, and all sorts of situations. Desi, I am please to say, has been an almost perfect gentleman. He still has issues with the rest of his pack being around and his need to defend us from almost everything, but he is learning that when he's on the leash and we're out in public, we can handle ourselves without his help. And should we ever be in a true situation where somone should try to do something to one of us, we have the utmost confidence that Desi will scare the life out of them.

Belated Birthday

Michael had almost a month of birthday parties this year. One of the few benefits of having his parents divorced and remarried, I suppose. We had Michaels friends over this year for a party he pretty much planned himself. Luck, Gem, Xavier, and Michael enjoyed the festivities that included hiking with Uncle Ricky, making pizza, lots of chocolate cake, and tye dying tshirts. Everyone left with leftovers and t shirts and had a good time. When Michaels cake came out, the boys got Michaels keyboard out and they all played and sang happy birthday... wonder if they'll start a band.

I'd like to say thank you to my mom who was kind enough to bake a cake and design the ferrari logo for the top of it out of sculptable chocolate (who knew there was such a thing???). Also thank you to Uncle Ricky and Grampa Dude for helping out at the party.

We have...

a basement! Our floor was poured, and the walls and "roof" are being finished. Plans are to button it up for the winter and start work on the main floor in the spring. For all of you who like the details, the concrete floor is set up for radiant floor heat (zip tied a lot of the tubing myself). Dimensions are 30X40 feet, with the long side facing south. One short side is designed so that we can install two patio doors on the end, as well as one around the corner. There will also be a window or two, plumbing is in for a bathroom, and we plan to be able to live in it if need be. Eventually we will have a den/library type room, a place for the dogs to be going in and out of their pen when we're not home, a bathroom with a walk in shower/dog wash and a laundry room down there.

Our friends Kevin (with Calico, his dog), and Phil are helping Charles with the labor part of the framing while his friend Nick has taken the job of technical advisor. It's nice to have such handy friends!

More house pictures soon...