2013 and all is as it should be ...

I'm sorry to have been away from the blog for so long. I've missed it and I feel a bit guilty whenever I'm chastised for not posting in such a long while.

Those who are not in steady contact with us are probably wondering how Mo's recovery has progressed. Well, worry not... champion that he is, he has healed beautifully and with the return of the geese last spring, Moses was back to 100 percent of his former strength and agility. Of course, we still gasp when he dives off a hillside or charges off across a field with his BFF, Mimi, the wild-standard-poodle-girl. But, true to their promise, the vets were right; Mo was repaired as good as new. Nay, better than new! He now listens when he's on a leash, something he never did before. He spent months during his recovery tethered to us on the other end of that leash and now it's become second nature to him. Never believe that you can't teach an old dog a new trick!

Above is Moses at 9+ years of age, already 10 months after his surgery. See those 100 geese out there in the middle of the lake? He herded them out there and he has them all under control.

After imagining the unknown possibilities of what life would be like after the dire Mayan predictions of the end of 2012, we've had a rather quiet, kind of homey 2013... no vacation trips, not many visitors, no wild parties, no weddings and thankfully no funerals. I would say we've had a good year so far. Sometimes unexciting and uneventful is simply wonderful.

Art turned 70 this past May and we celebrated life with renewed fervor. I turned 66 in July and got an iPhone5 with which I took these pictures. Happiness comes in small doses which yield big rewards.

This spring we replaced our aging air conditioning system. We chose a heat pump which cools in hot weather and will heat the house when it's moderately cold outside. The best part of this energy efficient system is that we can make almost all of the power it uses with our solar panels. Our electric bills so far this summer have been ZERO! We're looking forward to seeing it perform during the upcoming heating season.

Brother Hank and Cathy were with us in early August at our neighbor's annual summer picnic. 

 

Cold weather this spring froze our pear blossoms so we had no fruit this summer. However, the peaches from Chambersburg have been the best we've eaten in years. There were new varieties at our local market, which kept us supplied with a steady stream of succulent peaches from early July to late September.

This year's garden was also prolific, yielding a bountiful supply of potatoes, beets, kale, carrots, onions, garlic, chard, squash, herbs, eggplant, cucumbers and, until the blight got them, tomatoes. Unfortunately the whole tomato crop was lost and we had none that were edible and no juice to put up.

On the other hand, our giant elephant ear plant, now in its third year, has grown beyond all expectations, even big enough to completely cover Mimi's mom, Muff!