My wet driveway early last evening.

If you are reading this then you are a newly minted member to my blog site! Welcome, and thanks for joining! To have my blog become membership only has long been a wish of mine. I know you’ve heard me say it time and time again. Now thanks to computer guru (and husband) Rick, my wish has been granted. No more waking up to ten comments left by people whose sentences are mere gibberish with links to who-knows-what kind of web sites embedded within them. Hurray! And I doubt that anyone noticed, but our entire web site was transferred off an old and aging server over the weekend to a new one by our provider. All went smoothly thank goodness.

If only all things were going that smoothly. Last week I noticed that our 15 year old Maytag Neptune washer was not spinning the clothes anymore. This weekend we went shopping for a replacement and were surprised to hear that our particular Maytag model basically put the Maytag people out of business because it was such an unreliable machine! For us it was just the opposite. We chose a sleek new wave action LG steam washer and steam dryer. Delivery date was set for today. Last night we got a call that our delivery date had been pushed out to next Wednesday due to blah, blah, blah (you’d be bored if I explained). So, next Wednesday just happens to be the day before we leave for our cabin in Colorado. And, as you can imagine, I have loads and loads of laundry to do before then. Thank goodness I washed all the cabin bedding and towels before the washer quit on me. At least that’s done.  We don’t have a laundromat in our town either, can you believe it? Neighbor Kim offered her washer to me but she said hers doesn’t spin all the time either and she has to reset it to spin. I told her she needs a new machine as well!

In the past 24 hours we’ve had another three inches of rain. Good grief, not what we need at all! I’m glad we managed to get the lawn mowed this past weekend. What a soggy mess! Hopefully the flooding will be minimal down the mountain from us. They already have enough to deal with.

The trees are stressed from all the rain and are dropping leaves like crazy. Some even look like they are starting to turn which is way too early. I don’t think the color is going to be very good this fall.

Along with the rain comes interesting mushrooms. These were growing by our neighbors’ stone wall. I don’t know what they are but they were gorgeous. Maybe a type of chanterelle. We weren’t sure so we didn’t try them out!

 

A visiting fawn from last week.

On Monday we took the dogs for a walk down to Green Turtle Pond. The road leading down there had been closed off due to water damage from Irene, so we knew we’d have a nice quiet walk. It was pretty soggy through the wooded trail section and we had to detour off the path several times to avoid downed trees. Somehow both Rick and I managed to get stung by wasps: for Rick it was on his arm, and for me, on my knee. The road was full of deeply carved gullies but no major wash-outs like we had envisioned.  When we reached the pond we were the only ones there. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. It was so quiet and peaceful. The dogs got a much deserved drink and of course Bella had to go wading.

Alex shows off his silly side while Hailey looks on. Thank goodness the dogs are booked at the groomer’s this week!

Bella’s “spin-dry” cycle works better than the one on my washing machine at the moment!

I know it’s kind of a lame post but that’s all I have for you today. Again, my heartfelt thanks for sticking with me and continuing to read! Somebody please leave a comment so we can see if that’s working too!

 

Like I mentioned in my previous blog entry, Rick took Friday off and we went to the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY.  We had planned this day weeks ahead. A very wise choice as it turned out, because they cancelled the fair for Saturday and Sunday—their biggest days— due to Hurricane Irene. So sad.

The fairgrounds are also home to the Sheep & Wool Festival that we’ve gone to for the past two years that takes place in October. And, for those of you that don’t know, I spent my childhood years growing up in Dutchess County, New York. My sister tells me that we used to go to the fair but I honestly don’t remember! This is the first time Rick and I have ever gone.

The fair’s grounds and buildings don’t change but instead of barns filled with sheep, wool and everything to do with wool, they are full of cows,

 

 

pigs,

 

 

 

chickens,

 

 

 

Note the name of this one: Fluffy Pants

photo by Rick

 

photo by Rick

 

photo by Rick

rabbits,

Poor bunny! (Read the sign above him.)

photo by Rick

and of course 4-H projects.

There are many more food vendors, in fact it’s hard to decide what and where to eat and drink.

 

 

 

 

photo by Rick

But the heart of any fair is the midway with its games, silly side show attractions and rides.

 

You could see the world’s smallest horse or the largest: you choose!

 

Or how about these oddities? Rick did go into this one and paid $3.00. I wouldn’t go in. He said some of the things were real (poor animals) and some were just stuffed versions. He said it was pretty sad.

Rick took this photo too which I absolutely love!

Even the cloud seems to be asking why? as it forms a question mark over this ride! Does this look like *fun* to you?

Or how about this one?

Here it is in action.

 

This little boy was in an attraction called The Hampster Cage—plastic tubes that you could roll around while inside them. I loved the surrealism of the way the photos came out.

 

We took the back roads home and found a way to get there with Mia without going on the interstate even though at one point it takes a lot of zigging and zagging in the towns. We fell in love with the historic Rondout and Stockade districts in Kingston (which we stumbled on by taking a slight detour that we didn’t mean to) with its old stone houses and also the beautiful countryside and charm of the town of New Paltz. Sadly, the area around New Paltz had a lot of flooding with Irene. We’ll be headed back before too long because I want to take a walking tour in Kingston and explore New Paltz.

All in all, a delightful day!