Some Catching Up To Do

My new camera has malfunctioned so I've sent it back to be repaired under warranty. None of my old cameras work so I will be "blogless" until my camera is returned and I have time to get some photos taken and edited. It means I'll miss the annual Gingerbread House Contest (and so will you) this year. I do have some pet photos, however, taken at the end of November which I'll post here. After that, I'll have to wait for my camera.

Just look at that green grass! It sure doesn't look like that anymore as we've had lots of snow. But the dogs enjoyed it while the nice weather lasted:

 Our late November weather turned so nice that I actually mowed the lawn, an unheard of thing to do so late in the year, so far in the north. All five dogs watched me and, if you look behind them, Remy was watching also. He would have loved to come out and cause trouble:

 Clover, Jack and Daphne:


 Fergus, Seamus and Jack:

 But it is winter now, and things look more like this. The dogs don't seem to care as long as it isn't too cold and windy:

 We had one two-day-long blizzard which left deep snow. Then that snow mostly melted and we got a more moderate snowfall to get us off to a good start in December:

 But most of the time, the pet population here looks like this - indoors and snoozing. The two new cats, Daisy and Bugsy, got terribly ill and did not respond to medication. They tested negative for feline AIDS and Leukemia so the vet changed the medication. As I write this, they are still being treated and I don't yet know the outcome:

Holy Blabbermouth, Batman!

I wish I'd noticed at exactly the right moment, but this is close enough. Today's post is Windswept Adventure's 2304th post. So, if you will excuse me for the self-congratulating, I'd like to take a moment to say, "Yippee!" 

The first post for which Google has a record was published on January 1, 2009 although I think there were earlier ones:

2009 to 2016 is seven years of blog posts. I really am a blabbermouth, aren't I?

I began posting when I was still working in the Albany area and only dreaming of retiring:

 I blogged about the small farm I purchased in northern New York, my trips up to visit it on the weekends, my car filled with dogs, and our many stops along the way:

I blogged about my hikes with the dogs, my acquisition of farm livestock and driving tours of the local, rural scenery:

So I'm devoting this post to congratulating myself on longevity. Quality is debatable, but 2034 posts in seven years speaks for itself:

A Time To Celebrate - 1500 Blog Posts!

The oldest post of this blog for which Google Blogger still has a record is from January 1, 2009 although I'm quite sure there were at least a few before that. Nonetheless, today's post is, according to Google, the 1500th posting in almost 5 years, an average of about 300 posts per year, and I thought that was a good enough reason to celebrate:

Although it was a time consuming process, I scrolled back through many old posts, just to remember where we'd been. I saw the farm as it looked when first purchased and several beloved old dogs, now deceased, when they were younger and playful (Wally, Winky, Wren, Poppy, Casey - and possibly more):

I saw photos of Daphne, Clover, Fergus and Seamus when they were just puppies and the hikes we took in the Taconic and Catskill Mountains. One blog was about the snakes which had invaded my kitchen's light fixture:

I saw my old posts on the trip I'd taken to Vermont to visit the Yak herd when I thought I wanted to raise Yaks. The owner walked me out into the field to see them and his warning of "Don't go any farther or they'll charge" was what convinced me NOT to raise long horned Yaks. I also blogged about my visit to a Red Poll cattle herd in Pennsylvania, where I discovered the marvelous, non-horned beasties who let me walk right out into the field and pet them. Now I am about to have my own Red Poll herd:

I saw old posts about my cats and the stories of their lives before I rescued them. I saw several posts about Seamus' first haircuts:

I began traveling up to the farm every other weekend and posted photos of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains and our favorite rest stops, especially the former Frontier Town and a certain hidden campsite alongside the Ausable River:

I blogged about my painful and frightening fall onto the rocks of the Ausable River and about my heart problems which landed me briefly in the hospital:

I blogged about the contractors who rebuilt my barn and tore down the ramshackle old sheds. Also about my friend who remodeled this old farm house, now my retirement home. I blogged about my retirement party and my trips with the chorus to Provincetown, Massachusetts. 1500 blog posts is a milestone of sorts, and I thought I should take this opportunity to celebrate. Thank you for sharing it with me: