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!

Elk Hunt Scenes, Day 2

This day was not as damp as the previous one, but there were still no elk. The pond at the right is the lower pond on the upper place. Now, I realise that means almost nothing to most of you reading this, and I totally understand. However, I was told emphatically, this is how it is designated. The scenery up on the ranch is amazing. Steve and Jon have done a great deal of hiking this month.

Jon always manages to be in the back looking for great pictures. The area is full of expanses of green and gold and incredible acreage. Although, they did not see an elk, they did see sign that there are elk around. The tip of Jon's shotgun is quite near the 'sign'. Steve did see an incredibly nice buck, which is normal. It just stood there regal and quiet, looking right at him, before it calmly walked away.

The guys did get a load of wood, so something was gained besides exercise and gorgeous footage. Thus, another day ended very early (daylight savings time is hard on all of us!) and in a blaze of glory.

Elk Season or Just Scenery

First day. To me, it just seems odd to actually hunt for an elk. In Tillamook elk were yard ornaments. Granted, they were voracious, huge, destructive yard ornaments, but they hung out everywhere. We saw them spar, rub their velvet off on our apple tree, and bugle at each other as they forded the river. Although, I will over look their ornamental value if one is brought home for the freezer.

The guys left with the chance of rain following them around.

However, Toll Gate had snow and bad roads. This semi carrying a chip truck had slid off, the semi was already gone and they were unloading the container. They didn't have to stop, just slow down.

The first photo is rather clever me thinks. Jon took a picture of his gun toting shadow. All the rest of the pictures are of the area around Black Mountain. This area is where Rod used to hunt. They did see the spot where the 'preacher's camp' used to be set up. However, someone else is using it now. Although, Steve did say it looked pretty much the same as it did 30 years ago. The snow did not stick up there, by the time the guys left, most of the snow had gone, too.

They didn't see any bulls, but were impressed by the amazing world we live in. Spectacular, is it not???

Am reading Twilight..finally. Finished half of the Pellinore series by A. Croggon. That one is super wonderful and well written to boot, and I am waiting for the rest so I can finish it.