You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2009.
On the 29th Deb, Chappy and I, and a few MV/HVFiber Farm shareholders, drove to the fiber farm in Hopewell Jct, NY, to surprise Susan on her birthday. Please CLICK HERE to read Deb’s blog, Chappy’smom, which tells better than I can what everyone did to surprise their favorite shepherdess Susan.
Surprise !
Susan and Erin.
There was cake, balloons, gifts, great people … and….
Babies and cuteness everywhere…
This little guy here with his mom nanny McPhee is Nickelodeon. Deb got to name him so we were anxious to meet him.
The end.
Hi, it’s me Chappy, the granddog. I was here last year to guest post about my MV visit… click HERE to read that post.
Since I just did a fun post on my mom’s blog Chappysmom I thought I’d bounce over here and help gram with one about MY adventure on MV a few weeks ago.
This was the first time staying in an actual house and it was so great. Julie, a friend of my mom’s invited us to dog sit… I didn’t actually notice anyone sitting like a dog (except my dog friends) but humans have weird jargon sometimes. I just go with the flow and don’t ask questions.
My new dog friends, Silas and Balou were great hosts and I really enjoyed having dog friends to hang out with. One of the best parts about hanging out with them were our walks in the woods.
I never walked in the woods on MV before. I had no idea what I’d been missing. With Silas & Balou to show me around I saw and smelled all sorts of new things. Silas liked to run ahead and then come back and tell us what he’d found.
As much as I liked being with my dog friends there were times when I had to accompany mom and gram when they went out of the house. Someone has to keep an eye on them and that’s one of the things I do best.
In the morning…after us four-leggeds were fed… I’d go with mom and gram to Espresso Love to get their breakfasts. Since I’m not allowed inside EL we eat in mom’s car which we call Cafe Volvo.
I like walking around Edgartown, the shop keepers are very friendly and always invite me in. It’s nice the way people stop us on the street and ask what kind of dog I am. When mom says I’m a Boykin Spaniel almost everyone says they never heard of us.
Oak Bluffs is another of our favorite towns to walk around in. If you look really really close you can see mom and me standing outside the movie theatre on the corner. She’s taking photos and I’m trying to keep one eye on her and one eye on gram who wandered off to the other side of the information booth. Man, keeping them together would be so much easier if they were both leashed.
I have a favorite store in Oak Bluffs…I love it there and they love me too.
It’s Good Dog Goods. In the past I’ve been kind of freaked out by the dog on the porch… he has no scent, or heart beat, or even fur, but now that I know he’s a statue thingy I was cool. We visited GDG for awhile. 
When we left I had a new collar and lots of treats to keep me happy.
Time just goes too fast on MV and before we knew it it was time to leave. It’s always sad to leave but you have to do that in order to come back !!
Until next time this is Chappy signing off. Woof.
I finally got to sail on the Island Home this month and she’s gorgeous. I can’t help but notice the similarity in pictures between the ones I’ve taken on the Islander and the ones I recently took on the Island Home.
We were at right place at the right time to catch MV/HV Fiber Farm baby “N” being born.
My daughter Deb (ChappysMom) got some photos which you can view by clicking here.
Also -click here and then click on Green Is Universal:Fiber Farm video of the MV/HV Fiber Farm on the Weather Channel.
Edgartown Harbor
This is actually one of the 2008 babies but the 2009 additions are arriving almost minute by minute.
The kid babies are going to be named after fonts. Baby boy Arno was the first to arrive, on April 13th … followed by baby girl Bell on April 14th. And today, less than a few hours ago two sets of twins, don’t know what they are yet but they’ll be C and D font names.
CLICK ON THIS LINK to read Susan’s blog and see some of the baby pictures… but be warned, you might melt all over the computer screen.
No trip to the Vineyard is complete for me without a stop to see the Tabernacle.
What a difference a year makes in its continuing restoration.
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The cupola has been restored to look the way it did a century ago… atop it sits a brand new brightly lit cross which can be seen for miles.
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The upper row of clerestory stained glass windows have been removed while work continues on that area of the Tabernacle. Much of the original stained glass has been preserved and will be reused.
Thanks to two terrific mutual friends, my daughter Deb and I not only got to meet Kate Taylor but got to hang out with her, her daughter Liz Witham and Liz’s husband Ken Wentworth, at Che’s, a coffeehouse in Vineyard Haven.
I’ve been told that to meet Kate is to instantly feel a connection to her. It’s true. It was as if we’d known each other a long time and were just picking up where we’d left off. Our mutual love of the Vineyard and the fact that we’d spent our childhood summers growing up there was the beginning of our easy conversation. Ironically our daughter’s are Twitter friends and were also meeting for the first time. Cyber space is so small sometimes.
We had a great time chatting, laughing, drinking coffee and tea, and spending a rainy afternoon together. Kate suggested that maybe Deb and I would like to join her and meander over to Midnight Farm to see what was going on there!! Midnight Farm has an eclectic collection of wares to delight your spirit, home and body and it was fun poking around with Kate and talking with owner Tamara Weiss.
I glanced at my watch, and much like Cinderella fearing the stroke of midnight, we feared over staying the time limit in the parking lot. Drat. And so we hugged and said good bye.
The next morning I heard from Kate again. We weren’t able to get together that day but we talked on the phone for awhile. We hope to see each other again when I’m on MV, I know we still have lots to talk about.
Kate is an awesome person with an amazing spirit… I’m glad I got to meet her and Liz and Ken, it was quite a special afternoon.
Julie, a friend of my daughter Deb’s asked us if we’d like to dog sit for their two Labs, Silas and Balou. Indeed we would and so Deb, her dog Chappy and I set out for MV.
No matter how many times I go to the Vineyard my heart skips a beat or two when I see the above sign and the rotary welcoming you to Cape Cod.
This was our first time sailing on the beautiful ferry, Island Home.
Seven miles and 45 minutes later we touched tire in Vineyard Haven. We were about to start an Island adventure like none before.
Here is Deb surrounded by a happy, friendly threesome. Chappy on the left, Balou in the front and Silas being petted. We have never met nicer dogs, they are well behaved, sweet, gentle and loving, patient and fun. There wasn’t one moment that we didn’t enjoy being with them. Oh, okay, maybe when Balou was trying so hard to tell us things and we just were too slow on the uptake… but generally speaking (or woofing) things went very, very well.
Except for the weather. Two of the days we were there were wet… very, very wet.
This picture was taken from inside our dry car looking out at Edgartown Harbor. Wet, wet, wet. It was windy too. And wet.
But there were times of no rain and actuall brilliant sunshine and so off on our walks in the woods we would venture. The 4 leggeds were happy to be out and about sniffing, walking, and being together.
In all too short a time our dog sitting adventure came to an end and it was time to head home.
Chappy is waiting to say goodbye to his new friends. He had a great time with Silas and Balou.
The Island Home is waiting for us.
Setting tire in Woods Hole. Back to reality.
In upcoming posts read more about our Vineyard adventures. Find out the scoop on our coffeehouse get together with !!!
Coming to this blog early next week. “Dog Sitting On Martha’s Vineyard.”
You won’t want to miss reading about our adventure dog sitting Silas and Balou, two of the sweetest Labs on the Vineyard.
