Settling In For The Evening

The dogs and I had settled in at the farm apartment, but I wanted to drive to the small town of Brasher Falls, New York to buy a few groceries at their new IGA, the closest thing to a grocery store nearer than Massena or Potsdam. To take a photo tour of Brasher Falls, click here. It's the home of the St. Lawrence Central Schools, named after the St. Lawrence Seaway and St. Lawrence County. I passed the school on my drive and noticed a large sign proudly proclaiming it to be the home of "The Larries." Not the Hurricanes, Tigers, Braves or Pumas, but The Larries. I wonder if their mascot is a nerdy guy with big glasses and a pocket protector?

I brought little Clover with me and began driving through the countryside, which consisted of both farms and forests. I saw a Raccoon up ahead and readied my camera. It began crossing the road, unconcerned about me and my car until I got closer. Then it got up on its hind legs and gave me an inquisitive look before bolting the rest of the way across the road. I only had a split second to hold my camera out the car window and snap this photo:

But I got my groceries and also indulged myself in what appeared to be a local specialty, dill pickle flavored potato chips. I don't normally eat potato chips, but I just had to give this odd flavor a try. They were good, though perhaps I just had denied myself junk food for so long that most any such thing would be scrumptious. Anyway, I arrived home (with dill pickle breath) and greeted all the dogs:

The weather was perfect and the dogs got to go back out and play in their fenced yard. We didn't do any hiking around the farm on this trip:

The tenants' dog has a dog house in the yard and my dogs thought it was very interesting:

As for me, I just enjoyed the sun and bird songs. On a clear and sunny day in June, upstate New York must surely be one of the most beautiful places on earth:

But I'd been up since very early that morning and driven a long way to get there. So as the sun began to set, I began to get very tired. So I set about cooking myself dinner. The woman from across the road knocked on my door to invite me to a sort of country block party and pig roast they were hosting on July 31st. I've since arranged to get the day off of work so that I can attend. It'll be a great opportunity to meet my neighbors:

All the dogs were happy to make themselves comfortable and begin settling in for the night:

Clover, of course, knows the best place to sleep is right next to Dad's head:

An Afternoon In The Farm Apartment

I'd arrived at the farm, fed the dogs and taken an inspection tour. This was Clover's first experience being in my apartment, though you'd never know it as she acted like she'd been there forever. She romped and wrestled with Daphne and Fergus:

She lounged on the floor pillows

Fergus jumped up on the bed as if it was bed time:

Old Wren and Winky just wanted to rest:

All the dogs seemed to have enjoyed the trip up to the farm and were happy to have arrived. Or maybe it's just that dogs are nearly always happy about everything. It's no wonder that we love their company so much:

Little Clover posed for some cute pictures:

Daphne, Clover and Fergus are young enough to enjoy nonstop wrestling, but the other dogs were content just to relax:

I patted the head of my devoted friend, Seamus, and headed back outside to drive to the little grocery store in Brasher Falls, New York:


I was sitting at my table when the two Papillon puppies began playing. I grabbed my camera to record their silliness. Wren, the old brown dog in the video, tried her best to just ignore them. The jingling noises you hear may sound like someone preparing dinner, but was in reality Winky, my old Pekingese dog, moving about with his dog tags hitting the floor (he is, after all, quite short-legged).

Settling In For A Night At The Farm

I'll begin today's post with the same photo with which I ended yesterday's post, a picture of my farm house and barn as I saw it as I returned from touring the back roads. It was a welcome sight and I was ready to make myself comfortable for the night:

I let the dogs out for a break and then we settled in for the evening. Daphne, Wally and Fergus made themselves at home on my bed while I began to prepare my dinner:

But there's also plenty of pillows and carpeting on the floor for comfort:

While I ate dinner, the dogs lounged about the apartment:

I decided to get a photo of myself and Wren watched me closely, wondering what I was doing:

All the dogs kept an eye on me as to their way of thinking, I was acting very strangely indeed:


And to end this post, a video taken just before retiring.

Night was falling and we were settling in for the evening when I saw this scene. Wren was watching the two puppies, Fergus and Daphne, as they wrestled on the floor. She seemed interested, as she perhaps remembered when she was young, thin and enjoyed wrestling. So I grabbed my camera and set it to take videos. That's Canadian Public Radio you hear in the background: