Christmas and more.

I don't have the pix from Christmas, exactly. Jon has them on 'his' page. I was given a tripod for Christmas and Jon LOVES it!!!!! He tooks a gazillion or more photos and will have to figure out how to get them from him!

Our season started with Muppets Christmas Carol and the decorating of the tree. We were also sung to and given treats by some very nice neighbors!

Christmas Eve day was rather foggy. The guys went up to the ranch and it started out sunny, but proceeded to deteriorate! I thought it was rather Brigadoon like! (even if I stayed home!)

My other present was this very cute little man Steve made me. Tony and I call him Godfrey, after the main man in My Man, Godfrey. Moses preferred the end of Christmas the best, where he got to play in the wrappings! Silly kitty.

The boys' Christmas Eve movie was Public Enemies, which brought us to gangsters. Jon and I took several pix of Tony dressed as one of our 'Enemies'. However, we did think he looked more like a 'copper' than a 'gangster'!

New Years book resolution read: Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath. Already read the first one, but want to read it again. The movie was VERY good, even if it wasn't exactly like the book. I rather liked it a lot!!!!!

An ongoing edition of birds...we hope!

Tony and Jon went out and guess what they got? Yup! Pretty cool, Jon's first bird!

Moses, CFI-Cat Food Investigators

One day Moses decided his kibble was stale, which was making mealtimes rather boring. He also noticed that his two leggers had brought home some new stuff and left it sitting untended near the kitchen. Granted, it was not Purina or Friskies or even Meow Mix, but it was fresh kibble. Thus, this bright bag required a thorough investigation. The scent of the assorted flavors drove Moses crazy and he realised he just had to get inside to more fully experience the contents. Thankfully, God gave him 6 toes on each front foot, and he was able to scratch his way through the sealed edges. After several minutes he had managed to make a hole in it. He sniffed the delicious odor and tried to reach the treats. However, it was very hard to maneuver his whiskers through the tattered opening he'd made. Thankfully, the biggest male two legger finally fixed it. The two legger properly cut away the torn and shredded bits of paper and Moses was able to nibble the top shapes off a freshly broached bag. We finish this tale with a contentedly crunching feline who knows a good thing when its carted in from the car!

Winter Wonder Where?

Just a week ago we had snow. A LOT of snow. Winter had arrived with white fluffy powder and cold. It was lovely and very Currier and Ives like, or maybe even Norman Rockwell. At any rate, it was great.

The roads and fields were covered with white. When Jon took that last photo we realised our view of the area had changed dramatically.

But, it was not to last. Just days later it started to rain and we had so much water around it flooded some areas a bit. And now, we have bare pavement and fog. Some pavement has ice, but for the most part our world has been wrapped in a misty and smelly blanket of fog!
In spite of the Non-Christmas like weather, Santa arrived early and brought us Tony. (actually, we picked him up at the airport and Jon didn't wear the Santa stuff..he did not want to scare anyone!) Will post more pix later. But, Holi Happy Days everyone and Merry Christmas!

Am reading Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, best Christmas book ever!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

As seen earlier by those on FB, this is the tree Steve and Jon found during elk season. I was told it was just a little taller than Steve. But, as many suggested, things always look smaller in the woods! Since we couldn't find our tree stand (we have not used it for 2 years) we left the tree in the addition for a while).

Jon's Scout troop is also doing Christmas trees. It is interesting how much trouble it can be to choose a tree. And it is just as much trouble to keep warm!!! It was COLD!

We finally found our tree stand and Steve went out to fit the tree in it. But, he discovered a problem. The bucket of water had frozen! He was going to pull the tree out and trim it up, but decided to just cut it where it was stuck. Water and 2 degree weather makes for some solid ice!

He ended up cutting quite a bit of it off. Mostly due to the part in the bucket, I think. However, he did chop off some from the top, too. Thankfully, it is still fairly tallish! And it looks GREAT! Now, we add the lights and wait for Tony to come home so we can decorate it!

Also with the tree came some long pine needles. Moses was extremely interested in this new organic toy. Jon thinks he looks like Hobbes getting ready to attack Calvin in the first photo and Cat Kong in the second!

10 days til Tony!!!!! And reading Christmas books.

Thanksgiving!

It looked totally pathetic, but my Thanksgiving cactus bloomed! One lovely pinkish white bloom! I had to use it as decoration since it worked so hard to put on its holiday dress.

The best part of our Thanksgiving was not dinner, but we had guests! Rod and Dorothy, Tony, and even Moses were a part of our gathering. Moses came VERY close to snagging my plate by pulling on the place mats, but I saved it in the nick of time! Tony called after dinner, but it was great to hear from him!

After dinner we played games. Grandma and Grandpa bowled on the wii. It was a great deal of fun and someday we may get some more remotes! Grandpa kept hitting the wrong buttons, but in spite of that, both he and Grandma made a strike or two!

Steve's main job this break was to insulate the addition. This stuff on the ceiling is a stop gap kind of thing, but it will do the job for now. He also fixed a bunch of gaps and leaks that he discovered. The next part will be the walls. However, he has to get the right insulation. He picked up the wrong stuff before! I think it was just another reason to go to Home Depot!

My job this break has been the Christmas play. I am personally very proud of my camel I made from photos and memory. I was stressed about the eye lashes until I googled what to do. I used half of a feather for each eyelash. And they look scrumptious! The rest of the camel is made up of cloth covered kids. So, I am just posing with the head.

Read a great book called the Lace Makers of Glenmara. I very much recommend it to you lady readers.

And what's in your window?

Steve was taking the old frames off the window to put prettier ones up (or at least start to do that!) and look what he found! Old ancient wasp nests, lots of dirt, and long hair (longer than mine, he said!).
There was also another flavor of wallpaper.

This was trying to get a perspective on the window without getting too much chandelier in it. There is some wall board back there. It looked very interesting and we realised why the cold comes in so well!
Jon helped dad by vacuuming up the dust as Steve carefully cut the odd shaped very old board that was in the way. He then stuffed insulation in the hole and boarded it all up. Pretty will come later. But, for now, it is not bad at all! Except for the mess that was mostly cleaned up.

Am done with the Nancy Farmer books about the Sea of Trolls (very fun stuff) and am now starting New Moon again. I am not getting the hype value. I keep wanting to spank Bella and am thankful that Edward is gone. I kind of like the kid Jacob, though!

More Scenery by Jon

As you can see, we have snow at the ranch. No elk, but lots of pretty snow pictures!

Jon, being the inventive and creative kid that he is, discovered another use for whatever it is he uses as binoculars. Granted, the lenses were dirty, but it was pretty effective! In the first picture you can barely see Steve on the hill by the trees. The second one shows more accurately where he is in the first one. Jon took one more, but it was almost too close! LOL.

Here is his telephoto tool!

No mud on the Toyota today! And the hills are amazing with the snow.

These thistle heads were very interesting and I do wish they would have brought me home some, I kinda rather like these little aliens!

Other cool shots by Jon: This very old rusted truck surrounded by more reds and browns and whites and one of the ponds.

Pretty amazing world, huh????? Thanks, God!