Well not exactly a farm. We own a house and some land in Barnard VT, just outside Woodstock. David has been remodeling the house for the past year, and we’ve started going up on weekends as a family. It’s great because we can bring the dogs. In fact, Dave spent a large part of this past weekend working on a brick patio which we are going to fence in as a dog yard. I on the other hand was tasked mostly with keeping Douglas out of his way. A 7-year old’s “help” is problematic shall we say when you are trying to get a big project done :-).
Saturday, Douglas and I ventured to Rutland to buy a (cheap) gas grill. On the way to Rutland, we had lunch in Pittsfield. On the way back, we popped into the Norman Rockwell Museum and got ice cream at the Mountain Creamery in Woodstock.
On Sunday, we spent most of the day at Billings Farm and Museum. It was sheep shearing weekend, and they had plenty of activities for the kids. Ice cream making, weaving, carding wool, crafts, plus meeting the baby chicks and the oxen, and watching them shear the sheep for the summer. The farm house is quite impressive, if not typical of Vermont life in 1890. Entire picture set.
We also wandered a bit in the village Sunday afternoon. Much as Chicago did cows and NYC did german shepherd dogs, Woodstock and vicinity are doing sheep. We saw quite a few over the weekend and took a few pics. More over the summer, I’m certain. We’re planning to stay at the house for most of August, assuming we can get the Internet access sorted. One of the only drawbacks of the house is that we are in a cell dead zone. No cell phone, no Blackberry email or web access. Right now, only dial-up (snooze). We can get satellite, just need to order it. On the to-do list.
Now for the $25K question: do you know what this animal is? We think it is a weasel that had set up a den under our porch. Needless to say, the dogs took a dim view of it. Dave sealed up all the little gaps in the foundation, and afterward we never saw it again. Although the dogs did remain hopeful!