Berry cool

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The strawberries were bust this year to the very wet rainy weather, but the rasberries and blueberries are doing well. We entered berries and much more in the produce competition this week and the world famous North Stonington Agricultural Fair, so stay tuned for how we did.

Wild, wild weather

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The month of June was cooler and wetter than we’d like, but this Wednesday (July 1) really clinched it when we received 6″ of rain within 4 hours. Along with the rain came some heavy thunderstorms that hit the cable pole at the end of our driveway leaving in it’s “wake” the cable, modem, TV (we just use it for DVD’s, really!) and Invisible Fence that keeps Kokee in her “playground” at Hangman Hill.

We discovered the pet fence first while shoveling the driveway out the street back into the driveway and noticed Kokee was right there with us. After bailing water out of the basement we found the lack of Internet access when trying to assess collateral damage around town (news online of course). We later discovered the TV was dead when trying to diagnose the cable internet connection (before seeing the wires at the end of the street you see).

The return of high speed Internet access at home is uncertain due to the collateral damage in the area, which was severe as captured in photos from the local papers. Westerly, Mystic and Stonington were the worst areas affected (due to most rain and proximity to sea level). We have neighbors with basements still underwater and or that are recovering from fires within their homes due to lightning strikes, so we are pretty happy to be so well off.
We did enjoy a dry evening at Jonathon Edwards Winery last night with a bottle of wine and tunes from the Paul Brockette Road Show (more when we are back online).

Intersection of Spruce Street and Narragansett Ave in Westerly
2 blocks DOWN hill from 25 Spruce Street!
photo by David Smith, The Sun

Mystic Aquarium parking lot
photo by Laura Stroebel, The Day

Mystic Aquarium
photo by Laura Stroebel, The Day

Wilcox Park in Westerly
Daniel Highland, The Sun

Route 1 in Stonington

photo by Tim Martin, The Day

Spruce Street Update

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We haven’t posted Spruce Street update for a while, mostly because work has been slowing down as we near completion of the rennovations. We’re finally getting the house ready to rent and just need some dry weather so we can take care of some pealing exterior paint before we put up the “For Rent” sign.

Last weekend Mark Panosky came with his camera to document the completed interior work, and he did a great job. You can see a virtual house-tour shot by Mark at Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE9EITBzki4

Visit from Kerry

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America’s Dairy Land

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This week Sheri traveled back to Wisconsin to attend the Land O Lakes Conference at Devil’s Head Resort, north of Madison, WI. The weather was spectacular, making it necessary to hike around the Devil’s Lake and a nearby valley carved out by glaciers on the afternoon we had “off”. The terrain typifies the rolling hills that make Central Wisconsin so beautiful. What a great place to learn some science, catch up with friends like Danni (in photo), George Zografi, and Julie in Madison (from the Brown house days). She even had a chance to sneak in late afternoon at the terrace at UW.

A Longweekend, Hurray!-

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Bruno is back from his trip to California and eager to get back into the household routine. We are on the cusp of a long weekend with a long list. Things are finally taking off in the garden and while the vegetable seem very slow to grow, the irises are starting to bloom already. The strawberries are forming and dreams of pound cake dance in our heads.
irises

lettuces

Sunny California….

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This week it was Bruno’s turn to travel, with a few days in Santa Barbara, CA. He was at a conference focused on “Molecules, Materials & Medicines”, and the busy conference schedule meant that it was difficult to find time to enjoy the local sites and sunshine. What a shame! Hopefully it will stay sunny for the extended Memorial day weekend.

Spring produce

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Our seedlings are doing very well this year and nearly ready to graduate to the raised beds outside. It is great to see a little progress every day, and even more exciting to discover some carrots planted late in the summer that overwintered. They were crisp and sweet. The asparagus crop is more plentiful this year, yielding enough for several meals (and even possible to have more than 1 spear per person).