December 18, 2017 James and ten siblings were born in Middletown, NY.  January 20, 2018 - met by our friends and former Chessie parents, Mike & Kathy Marran, we met Val & Peter and there new litter, including James.

February 8th, James travelled to his new home. 

In our tradition of naming American Chesapeake Bay Retrievers after waters that feed the Bay - he is named after the James River.  His middle name comes from Cindy Thomas who has been a constant source of advocacy for dog adoption since the unexpected and too early deaths of Wrecks, Gracie and last year, Mac. And "Marran" for the link to loving Chesapeake's and the joy of four former - Susquehanna, "Hank"; Tioughnioga, "Wrecks"; Chenango Havre Grace, "Gracie", and our sweet rescue Potomac, "Mac".

James is settling into his new family, and we to having a "newborn" in the house.

Sorry for our long length of time without a post. This year has gone by very quickly and has not slowed down. From last year's long harsh winter of 2014-2015 we were worried with heating our house and trying to stay cozy. With our rush to get the heat done we took the chimney down over Thanksgiving break and then started to clear the inside of the house where the Vermont Castings woodstove would go. To have the woodstove at a higher level for easier access, we built a base with bluestone which is locally quarried from a very nice family. Barnes Brothers Bluestone located in Norwich, New York does rough cut stone and does finish work such as countertops and sinks (wait to see our new countertops and sinks from the Barnes Brothers ). With the woodstove, it was purchased from Syracuse Stove & Chimney and it was installed by a very pleasant man named Dave. Thats for today's post!

After nearly two years of riding my to-do list, countless request for pictures and updates from around the world - we launch our blog to share our progress on our latest.  Maybe it was the +12" of snow that fell overnight and 6" more expected before this storm is over...today ended up being the day.

We'll be doing some catch-up on the work we've done since spring of 2013. We spent the first summer here every weekend scraping and staining the exterior with little focus on the interior except for clean-out. Fall of 2013 brought focus on the south ell - jacking timbers, replacing foundations, reframing and getting prepped to eventually pour a radiant floor.  Through the winter of 2013-4 with little heat, our contractor worked tirelessly to update and replace all electrical along the way discovering our interior walls were +200 year old timber planks covered with lath and plaster (translation, very hard to drill through).  We installed two new bathrooms and plumbed for two more.  Spring 2014 found us reconfiguring walls, repairing plaster, deconstructing windows (with original glass) for intense repairs and trying to reclaim a yard that was let-go for more than 25 years. End of April we made the move to "camp" in a part of our house as we rented our last finished project - to better focus on all of the work here. Summer 2014 was a bummer with the sudden and surprise loss of our two beloved Chesapeake Bay litter mates Wrecks and Gracie who we buried in our yard at our now home. The summer also brought a tornado touch down to our close-knit community very tragically killing four people.  Fall moved swiftly with an early start to cold temperatures, pushing projects like the radiant floor install and the need to get the new boiler in and running. And now, three weeks away from the end of 2014 we're working on interior of our new kitchen space as we've tucked into the cozier and warmer parts of the house.  Good-bye 2014 and here's to a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!