Well, still no luck with the images. I even tried copying and pasting from a document. Sorry but I guess that part will have to wait until I get back.
In the meantime, I'm loving my trip. No schedule per se, aside from breakfast at 8:30. Yesterday I took a state road to Burlington and Shelburne to spend the afternoon at Shelburne Museum. Lovely drive, and even though the museum was huge with tons of great material, I just didn't love it. She had money, and bought buildings from all over and imported them to the grounds that are now the museum. Apparently she had tons of things and needed places to store them. But it's an odd assortment - one-room school house, an inn, a lighthouse, a carousel, several barns, a covered bridge, and the steamship Ticonderoga. I'm a big fan of preservation, but this was odd.
Today, however, I did not sleep through morning chores, and was up at 6 for them. And I really did get to help! We fed the kittens first, then the cows, then the chickens. Then the cows again. Then we started milking. Three of the cows are being milked right now, two are not, and one is pregnant, due in August. The third cow is not as skittish, so she was my test. I cleaned her off, and tried to test her flow, but didn't quite get it. Not wanting to cause her any stress, I gave in for today, but will try again tomorrow. Then I held a day-old piglet. Oh, and I fed the calf too! Her name is Sally and she's super cute. She sucked a bottle first, then had some feed which she ate from my fingertips and palms, sucking on my fingers as she went.
After breakfast, Lee invited me to go with her to the post office - the chicks had arrived! So we drove back with 200 cheeping two-day old chicks in the backseat. When we got back to the farm, I got to help Bob settle them in. That meant taking them from the box, holding them and teaching them to drink, and putting them in their heat-lamp enclosures. So cute! Sadly, three had died during shipping, but what a great experience.
I then headed back down the road for some excursions - Ben & Jerry's factory tour, tasting (and ordering) of some amazing fruit wines, etc. Tonight I'm heading to the Green Mountain Opera Festival's production of Carmen, so I'm home early to relax. I didn't sleep well last night, and not only want to see the opera but also want to do chores tomorrow morning too!
It's a wonderful experience so far. My hosts are lovely, and we've had some fabulous talks. Bob is going to show me the maple production house this weekend. I do hope I finally get the milking thing! I'm also planning to do some more wandering of country roads and towns, drive back out to the eastern part of the state - there's a factory tour for King Arthur flour and a balloon festival in a nearby town this weekend - and I have to visit the the quarry. Lots to do! And lots of time still.
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