2017... Thank goodness!

     I realize I'm not the best at updating this blog, but here you go!  2016 is over, and we are on to a fresh new year!  I have survived my first year in Vermont, and still like it here; Colby has almost been my horse for a year and despite a few leg issues, is still the best purchase I have ever made; Kevin is finally out of Pennsylvania from the job that would not end; we are renting a beautiful house and life is good.

Jumping into the lake was a good way to cool off this summer.

The views while kayaking Crystal Lake... I didn't want to leave!

Hammock time at Crystal Lake with Jenelle 

Summer hike with Marissa.

The best way to end a shift is to go see your horse.

Ellen from NY, Jenelle from Boston, Liz from Louisiana, Carly from Maine, Ashley from Boston and Jessie from Pennsylvania all made it to Vermont for the 4th of July!

So did Paul, Jamie, Rob and Kevin, so of course the old trucks came out and needed repairs...

Lia and I having fun on the North Shore in Massachusetts.

When a farmer gives you corn, you process over 70 ears of it and have a year's supply!

Sometimes you need to try out the bariatric recliner at work, you know for quality...

 

Kevin and I visited Cape Elizabeth and Portland, ME. 

Taylor came up to visit and of course went on a trail ride.

Broncos fans on Church Street in Burlington.

 

The barn had a surplus of wild berries this summer, so I made pie!

 

The boy's climbed the grain silos... I hear the view up top was great!

After recovering from corn, we decided to harvest apples for cider, sauce, pies, crisps, and just eating.

Roadside apple harvest with roommates Brent and Maya.

Jesse manning the cider press

Apples en route to becoming apple sauce. 

Grandpa Len's 90th birthday party!

 

Love the Naumos!

I visited Liz and Ian in Louisiana.

Hiking Mt. Pisgah in the fall was beautiful!

Colby and I were a Subway/Subhay advertisement for halloween. 

Colby's learning to be a jumper!

The amazing house we are living in until June.

Christmas Eve at work.

Runaway reindeer? 

Kevin and Colby hanging out. 

The ski-boose is up and running. 

Rope-tow ski fun at Pete's mountain.

Hope everyone's year is off to a good start, I'd love to hear from you!

A horse, a horse, the Northeast Kingdom and a horse!

January 27, 2016 will be a day in history, it is the day that I purchased my first-ever horse!  20 years of riding lessons, leases, teams, shows, several barns and some incredible horses later, I pulled it together and purchased my own horse!  Everyone, meet Colby aka Colby Cheese aka Tea Party Boy (the poor thing's registered name- no wonder he never won a race, nobody in the Tea Party ever has).  He is a coming 7 year old retired Thoroughbred who had a terrible racing career, followed by some hard times where he wound up at a meat auction, and now he is at his forever home, or at least with me for forever, in Plainfield, Vermont.  It has been a lot of fun learning with Colby and having a horse to ride all the time!  

Winter was strange in Vermont- we had a TON of rain, which made mud season an adventure, but at least I wasn't freezing!

We have had friends up and have also gone to visit friends in Pennsylvania, Boston, and Maine which is a fun break from the day-to-day norm.

I am almost done with orienting to all the units at CVMC and will officially be able to float to the intensive care unit, inpatient psychiatry, medical-surgical, women and children's, and the emergency department by the end of July.  I am looking forward to it!  I do still work night shifts, but that pay differential is helping save for a house one day!

Hope all is well wherever you are, I will be trying to visit Colorado sometime this summer.

Colby's trial ride in New Jersey

Paul and Jenelle visited us in the fall and Jenelle came back again later in the winter to ski and meet cows (which I think there are more cows than there are people in Vermont)

4-wheeling buddies, we were asked 3 times if we were sisters

Winter road in Vermont (this picture is deceiving because it hardly snowed).

Carly and Kaela will be Physical Therapists before you know it, I visited them in Portland, Maine.

Brutus, the snow-shoe-walk entertainment dog

One of these things is not like the others, one of Dan's oxen that they use to pull wagons hanging out with the dairy cows.

Icy First Connecticut Lake in Pittsburg, NH

When there is no real snow, you take out a snowmobile from the 1970s and play on the lake.

Skiing Sugarbush

I finally made it on a Ben and Jerry's tour with Marissa and her niece and nephew

Sap buckets- I learned to participate in Maple syrup production from start to finish, it was a blast!

That is a lot of sap

Fresh maple syrup

The different grades of syrup, our batch is the far right, pretty dark and robust!

Boiling the sap with Marissa

Colby and his friend Buck 

We brought Paul and Jenelle out to Colorado to find the snow that never made it East! 

It was gorgeous up at On the Trail Rentals

Strawberry Park Hot Springs up in Steamboat

Hot springs in the snow

Delicious apple cider mill with Kaela and Carly

Baby sheep!  She was my favorite little one!

Our friends Rob and Jess's sweet baby Lia 

New oxen in training, Hank and Willie! 

Some of the creations of Bohemian Bakery

Colby and Minnie

Vermonter girls up at Parker Pie- Elissa, Tara, Erin, and Jeri