I’ve been sticking pretty close to the office this month at Rockin’ C Ranch. I helped them catch up with their filing (like since about August!), and then I attempted to clean the different offices. Considering that these offices are located in the barn, you can only imagine what an endless job that is. But I gave it my best shot, and if nothing else, everything looked nice and shiny for a day or two. I even managed to throw out some 2010 Catalogs. Pretty radical, I know. But last week I was asked to actually help with some office work. That usually makes me pretty happy anyway, but when they said they were looking for some help with an e-mail marketing blast – then I really knew why we had been led to this camp for our December project! I’ve been using the same program they use for the last 7+ years and while I’m no expert, it was a delight to be able to raise my hand and say “Hey, I can do that!”. Then they taught me how to register campers for New Year’s Eve Camp (what a great idea and much more fun than a babysitter!) and introduced me to “Camp Brain”. As geeky as it sounds, I love learning new computer programs, and it was fun to not only learn how it worked (well, on a limited basis at least), but to then be trusted to actually Do It! All week I have been the “Hello, Rockin’ C Ranch, this is Stephanie, how can I help?” girl  and it’s been fun! The best part is that if they ask a question I don’t know anything about, it’s so easy just ask them to call back after Christmas!  Ah, the sweetness of being a Volunteer!

But wait – it gets even better.  On Tuesday our boss asked me if I would mind taking pictures of their cabins – inside and out.  Really?  You want me to walk around with my camera and take pictures?  If you insist!!!!!

I love my job!
While my job has been primarily focused around the office and the barn (don’t forget that feeding the barn-kitten job), Gary’s jobs have been all over the place!! I don’t know all that’s he’s accomplished, but I do know he’s worked on bunk beds (and you can see from the cabin shots there are plenty of those), made new lighting fixtures for the bath houses and lavatories, cleaned off roofs and then cleaned off the decks that were covered with the mess from the roof! He’s tightened (or repaired) toilets, repaired electrical fixtures, and made award plaques!

So it’s been a good month all around! A couple of really fun weekends in Waco, a nice quiet (but productive) weekend at home and great people and fun tasks here at the Ranch. God is so good to us!

I’ve vacuumed and dusted, changed the sheets and washed the towels. I’ve even (finally) hung my Christmas Wallhangings.
Must be time to hit the road!! Early tomorrow we’ll be heading to a lovely campground in Waco where we’ll be spending our Christmas break. In case I don’t get back here before then – may you all have a Blessed Christmas, and may this celebration of the birth of our Savior bring to mind His great sacrifice on our behalf.

PS – If  you would like to see all the Cabin shots (exterior and interior) here’s that set.

If you’d like to see a couple more “project” shots – check ‘em out HERE.

And if you wanted to know how the turtles were doing….

it was another great day on the log!
 

I’d like to offer my apologies for saying that Irene was largly a non-event to all of the Vermonters for whom Irene was anything BUT! Many, many cities and towns to the south and east of us were hit hard. Very hard. My friend Lynne shared this video of the streets of Ludlow (not that she took this video, since her road was completely washed out and she wasn’t goin’ anywhere!)

In our nearby town of Bradford (about halfway up the state, right along the CT river) the signs of flooding were evident in flattened vegetation along the still rushing Waits River and flooded fields next to the Connecticut. The Waits River snakes along byRte 25 as we drive outside of town to our cabin. You can usually see the beautiful river stones on its bottom, and it flows at a nice Sunday-afternoon-let’s-go-tubing speed as it heads to the dam in town and then into the Connecticut River.  Here are the “Bradford Falls” on a typical summer day -

Here is the dam when we passed it after church on Sunday -

Yikes!
When we ventured into town on Monday we learned that Rte 25 had been closed for most of the night due to flooding. We could see the flattened vegetation and up-rooted trees as we drove into town, so we weren’t surprised to learn of the closure.

And the river continued to blast over the falls -

even as the blue sky gave promise to better days!

Yesterday and today have been spectacular Vermont days – I suppose that makes it easier to assess the damage and get busy with the clean-up! But it will be a long (and expensive) road for many. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who have been affected by this monster storm.  Hardly a non-event.

There is just “something” about lakefront view, isn’t there?

Our view of East Grand Lake was no exception!
Even as the day clouded over, the view continued to captivate me-

It’s been tough arriving for breakfast and having to look out the window at this -

Ah, the early morning mist!
With a view like this, the clouds are always painting a new picture -

and then just moments later, the canvas changes….

Ahhhhhh…..
Whether the sky was blue

or threatening

and whether we were watching kids getting ready for an adventure

or just hanging around peeling potatoes -

the view of this beautiful lake was always inspiring.

How very blessed are we!

Raise your hand if you knew that Franklin D. Roosevelt had a summer home on a Canadian Island.  Did I miss that when I changed schools when I was in 3rd grade?  Well, it turns out that just off the coast of the Easternmost city of the US (that would be Lubec, ME – you knew that, right?) is the beautiful Campobello Island and that….”(f)or many years, Franklin D. Roosevelt summered on Campobello Island. As an adult, he shared with his family the same active pursuits he enjoyed on the island as child. Although he visited less frequently after contracting polio, Campobello remained important to FDR. Today Roosevelt Campobello International Park serves as a memorial to FDR and a symbol of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada.“  (thank you, National Park Service).

Since this lovely island was only a couple of hours south of here (and there were three couples to share the fuel expense) we set out to do some ‘sploring on Saturday morning.

We knew we were in for a great day when the view just crossing the bridge was wonderful!


We stopped at the first overlook -

for a view of the harbor….


Wait a minute – what are those big round things in the water?

Turns out those are part of New Brunswick salmon fish farming industry. Inquiring minds want to know. (You did want to know too, didn’t you?)
After a lovely picnic lunch, we continued on to FDR’s summer cottage -



We thoroughly enjoyed the self-guided tour through the modestly furnished “cottage”,



strolled around to the back

and ended our visit with a walk to the beach.


FDR was on an extended vacation at this cottage in 1921 when he contracted polio. In the years to follow he would only return three times, although Eleanor and his children continued to vacation there. Along with the National Park website, here is another site which has much more information about FDR and his connection to Campobello Island.

But FDR’s summer cottage is not the only point of interest on Campobello Island.  We continued up the island

to Head Harbour and the East Quoddy Lighthouse.


We noticed several boats in the harbor, and thinking they might be whale watching boats we hung around for a while to see what we could see. Sure enough, we spotted a school of harbor porpoises and then to our delight a whale surfaced in front of us! We saw him twice as he made his way across the harbor, and never with the camera ready of course, but we were thrilled nonetheless! This fellow popped up long enough for me to take his picture – in fact, he seemed to be waiting for me to take his picture.

The lighthouse is unreachable for most of the day. Since this is located on the Bay of Fundy (remember those huge tidal shifts from the Hopewell Rocks?), it also experiences those extreme high and low tides.

Can you make out the iron stairs on the left side of the island? There’s a matching set of steps where we were standing, and (at your own risk) you can cross the channel at low tide each day. Needless to say, we were just watching the water rushing through the channel – there would be no walking on the ocean floor for us that day!
But all around it was so beautiful


that we were quite content to stay on dry ground and just soak it all in.
It was a great day, but we did have a 2 1/2 hour drive home, so after a stop for some fortification (ice cream), we headed off the island. But I couldn’t resist a photo of the  Mulholland Lighthouse on the southern tip of the island (photo taken while waiting to clear customs), and then one of Lubec, ME waterfront.


We also spotted this interesting dwelling as we were waiting our turn at the border -

Gotta love American ingenuity!

Thanks for coming along on our little history/scenic jaunt back into New Brunswick. I’ll leave you with one last photo that really could have been taken just about anywhere, but was indeed taken in the gardens of FDR’s summer cottage on Campobello Island.

Ah, the perfection of creation!

Hope you had a good weekend, everyone! We sure did!

Tap…tap….tap….testing…one…two…three….

You still there?

Sorry for the long delay between posts! We’ve returned from our wonderful jaunt into the beautiful Atlantic Maritimes (well, a couple of them anyway), but between getting settled in at our August SOWER project – Living Waters Camp in Weston, Maine – and working my way through the 652 pictures I took over the last week (really, that’s pretty calm for me – just over 100 a day!) I just haven’t had the time to put into words the wonderful time we had. From start to finish, it was a grand adventure, so please bear with me over the next several days as I process it into a couple of posts.
So here is just a taste to whet your appetite! I hope you’ll stop back soon!

See you soon!