Hello again!

howdy, its been a while, I'm going to try in three sentences to catch you up on each month since we were last here.

October

 We met our new nephew in Minnesota over a long weekend.

For Halloween we again participated in a group costume,  Wheel of Fortune's "before and after".

(Where's Waldo Emerson)

(John Snow White)

I flew to the mitten (for a weekend) to surprise my sister for her birthday.

More cider!

Over the weekend we did another pressing. We had a big group of people (6 adults) and it made quick work. In four hours, we pressed 26 gallons, bringing our season total to 52 gallons!

We are fermenting the bulk of it, distilling some, boiling some down to make cider syrup and just drinking it. 

There are still more apples on the trees - the horses might have to eat them. 

Kitty kitty

Do not be fooled by this sweet face. 

Lucy is very good at her job. 

Testing, testing

Even thought we are nowhere ready for flooring (still need to: rough in plumbing, pour concrete overlay, build walls and tear down one wall) we recently saw one we liked at a price we could not pass up. 

This new flooring will go everywhere in the house that isn't hardwood, so we needed a whole bunch. Due to commitment issues, and a fabulous return policy, we are testing out a chunk to make sure it holds up well.  If it doesn't still look good in a few months, when we are ready to install it, back it will all go. 

Tis the season

For everything apple. 

We have used the press and grinder four times now, and it is working great! Our running total this season is 26 gallons. Last week a couple of friends and I did 15 gallons of cider in about 5 hours. A much better rate than last year. The garbage disposal grinder is fantastic and makes that job so easy. 

We've just been frittering around. 

Two batches of cider are cooking, and a small batch of perry (made from juiced pears).

And still, we have more to pick. 

Slow and steady

Progress continues at Thielingshire. 

Cutting the old garage floor to allow enough drop for the plumbing waste lines. 

Stuff and things

Yippie it's summertime! 

We are on project overload around here,  but truthfully, we do enjoy a good project.

My folks visited in May, and helped us with this fun project. 

Some rodents visited sometime and necessitated this project. 

Odin loved helping with the demolition. We took out four walls from the converted garage. The plan is to pour a concrete overlay (so everything had to go). 

Progress is slow but steady. We have an idea now of what is going to get rebuilt. 

We have continued to find places and ways to play between and around projects. 

We took the canoe to the ocean for the first time!

It did well.

Some friends are doing some landscape work. 

Odin made a cozy nest in topsoil. 

We saw pretty clouds and passing storms on the Strawberry moon Solstice.