dogs | Apothecary Shed

Iulie on the Farm

August 27, 2023

gem cute, dogs, farm bubbie, iulianna, iulie, moonshine, photography, romey, shenandoah, sycamore Leave a comment

Down to the river

Checking on the new tree (planted earlier this year).

Bubbie

Summer Solstice 2023

July 14, 2023

gem dogs, fire, party, photography solstice, solstice fire, solstice party, solstice party 2023, summer solstice, video 1 Comment

What you gonna do? It rained. It was July 4th weekend. People are bone tired.

Have a party! It was a good one.

Thank goodness for Alec and Eli and Markus and Aubrey. Many hands makes slightly less work. Romey and I can use all the help we can get.

Don’t let his easy smile fool you, this man is serious about his parties!

The list.

Aubrey brought the Messerhead Memorial Salmon Dinner.

And then the time arrived.

Where’s Maybe?

Last minute instrument shells added to the bonfire. Makes art. This has become a really fun tradition.

Even Maybeline got into the act, chewing up her own personal frog.

The culprit.

We knew what to expect from the weather this year so we set up the tables near the barn. That was very helpful when the deluge came.

We retired to the barn for about an hour before the second and third waves of people showed up.

Old men make muscles.

Richie gets wild.

After the rain delay it was back to the tables.

And then the lighting (around 8:15).

It was just a smidge humid.

There was music in the barn.

This year we wound things up around 2am. Getting old I guess. LOL.

We will do it again. Thanks to all who came to the 2023 summer solstice.

Dogs at Play: Ocean Isle

June 17, 2023

gem animals, dogs, ocean beach, dog, dogs, maybelline, moonshine, ocean, romey, the stick Leave a comment

The Stick with two dogs! Including the new puppy Maybeline and Moonshine (who has already been to the beach this year).

Digging in the morning!

The sand and the ocean sans leash.

Big Dog, Little Girl

January 10, 2023

gem dogs, farm, hiking, nature, trees iulie, moonshine Leave a comment

Look at that smile on Moonshine’s face.

Tree elf.

Chopsticks

Little creatures are exhausting.

Winter Solstice 2022: Warm Friends on a Cold Night

December 18, 2022

gem dogs, farm, fire, party, photography dogs, photography, solstice, solstice fire, solstice party, video, winter solstice, winter solstice 2022 3 Comments

It all started at 3pm for me (with the perfunctory “lighting of the barrel”). Just making sure there was a heat source for people who arrived before the big bonfire lighting.

The sky was gorgeous.

And soon there were solstice attendees and tiki torches.

We lit the fire shortly after 5pm when it finally got dark enough. There were LOTS of people here for the lighting. It was a good one.

The fire had a huge core (that is still burning late the next day).

Meanwhile up at the barn there was terrible Christmas music, lots of food, and a great sense of camaraderie.

The homemade eggnog (recipe here) made things a little blurry. Delicious.

The space between the barn and the bonfire is always magical. This year, the lasers were particularly remarkable.

And the highlight of the evening for me. Music with Clark and Gina. Yes please. This is how we turn the sun.

We wrapped things up around midnight with the last of the hearty attendees, leaving a large pack of 20 somethings to deal with the skunk!

Moonshine loved it.

And he says, now that everything is cleaned up, lets do it again!

Thanks to all who came. Magical.

Ginko Yellow

December 7, 2022

gem dogs, nature, plants, trees blandy farm, fall foliage, ginko, moonshine, trees Leave a comment

This is apparently the largest Ginko stand in North America, found at Blandy Experimenal Farm in Virginia. We went during peak color change with Moonshine.

Moonshine the Puppy (2-10 months)

October 30, 2021

gem dogs dog, golden retriever, moonshine, puppy Leave a comment

Moonshine the puppy is now 90+ pounds and is not even a year old yet. He is growing up fast.

Here he is on his first day home.

And on the beach in mid-October. Still a gangly adolescent, but a big one!

Now we’ll go back in time…

The Stick (Fall 2021)

October 29, 2021

gem animals, dogs, ocean beach, home improvement, mr skaggs, ocean isle beach, OIB, photography, romey, the stick Leave a comment

Sunset and Moonshine (by Romey)

Who knew that installing a new washer/dryer combo thing could be so fun? That’s the nature of the Stick, I suppose. Now that I properly own it again, the time has come to spruce it up (a constant battle in the elements provided by the nearby Atlantic). We also fixed the ridiculously installed electricity, added some lights in the kitchen and over the bar, and installed a beautiful shelf in the bathroom.

Special thanks to Mr Skaggs for the help, as always above and beyond the call of duty. Anyway, here’s how all that unfolded over two visits

Moonshine and Rosie demonstrate how it feels to arrive at the Stick.

Mike learned about pickapeppa on cream cheese. A serious YUM.

The ocean is great when you are under one

Look at that professional grade piping!

The new shelf

Kitchen lighting. Now there is no excuse for not properly cleaning the kitchen.

The bar lights

Claudio and his family are going to do some major work next year. But first they need to see what they are getting into.

A second trip down with the Shepardsons and Romey was required to install the W/D (on order for several weeks).

Installing this thing required taking the entire closet apart, cleaning out 25 year worth of dryer lint, and putting it all back together (without improving the design one tad…LOL). Gotta say that drying sheets and towels is a thing.

How you feel after several days of partying at the Stick

Moonshine demonstrates what it feels like to leave the Stick.

Post Covid Summer Solstice 2021

July 2, 2021

gem cooking, dogs, fire, party, river 3 Comments

Well, some things happened. My life situation was utterly rebooted. There was a pandemic. Two solstice parties went by in miniature. There was no blogging. That kind of thing.

But we remember how to get back on the horse! Yes we do. So get up there and ride.

Solstice Fire Summer 2021

One of the secret traditions of the summer solstice has always been the Lisa Messerhead inspired salmon feast (implemented by Aubrey). Of course that happened.

The salmon spread

Yum

But that was soon a memory, and the party began into the green and cicadas.

Soon the tables were full of great food, the keg was tapped, people played in the Shenandoah, and the party found itself in full swing.

Just like old times. Except everyone in attendance was vaccinated against Covid-19. The few friends who were not vaccinated were not allowed to come (though we still love them). At this point in the global pandemic if you’re in the United States and you’re not vaccinated you are a pox on the public. Don’t be an asshole. We’ll hold off on the usual herd of kids until they are no longer vectors, etc.

Anyway, the food was super delicious. And there was lots of it.