TREE, finally!

Up on the ranch, looking for trees and turkeys.
They found a tree! I was told over the phone it was a little over 10 feet tall. I believed them.

It took a bit getting it into the house and it needed several inches cut off. I think they removed about 15 to get it into the addition.

Later, Steve cut off another 30 inches (see measuring device-) to get it into the living room. The living room is 9 and one half feet tall.

The first tree is the 2011 tree. The second one is 2010. Notice, the 2011 tree still needs a tad trimmed from the top to fit the star atop? This year's tree was definitely full of character!

Before we decorated it, KiLa decided it was a wonderful place to play. After it was trimmed (so to speak), we managed to keep him from everything cept the water in the stand. I was also pleased to see the lego train being placed around the tree. It is neat to see how lego bricks and trains can bring people together, even if everyone is 'grown up' now! Jon took lots of other tree photos, but I cannot find them anywhere. Hence, the reason it has taken me so long to put this 'Tree' Blog up!!!

The Second Weekend in December~

When Jon went out to thaw out the car for school he found these amazing frost patterns on the Explorer window. So, technically, this is the first picture of the ones in the blog below!!!

Steve got a hold of Jon's camera Saturday and was taking squirrel pictures. We have all decided this is one really cold looking critter!

This photo is one of Jo's favorites. (of course!) You can't really see the candles, but it says '87'. They didn't want to stay up on the cake. Rod, had a GREAT day even if it was a couple of days' past his real birthday. He partied so hard on Saturday, he was too worn out to go to church on Sunday! He went to the basket ball game Saturday evening and they announced his bday over the intercom--totally made his day!

Moses likes sitting on the boxes of lights and decorations. He prefers the high places. And I'm sure the fact that we wanted him to move was a huge reason for his choice of placement!

Jon finally was able to go outside and get some night shots of the snow on top of two days or more of ice crystals. He took so many pictures, but feels these were some of the best ones. I love the 'red' lilac tree! The upright tree is our pear tree, it looks sort of like a candelabra! And the one with the ice on the light is very cool. Since the first pictures Jon took of the Christmas lights, Steve has put the 'big' lights in sequence. Most of the lights around the house have a 1, 2, 3 pattern--they may all be different colors, but they all match! On the very front we have all white ones with a star above the top floor window and on the far side it is red, white, and blue! He still wants to put up more!!!!!

Freezing Fog!

Last night freezing fog came in and left us some amazing decor. Everything seemed to be touched by the fragile beauty of crystal and it was beautiful to see.

Godfrey was dressed in winter attire, but the addition of ice made him look more magical! I hung my 'evergreen snowflake' on the fence last night and WOW!!!!!

I really need to get this night shade out of the garden, but it looks so pretty. Even covered in ice the deadly berries appear gentled.

I was on a search for a spider web. You know, the geometrical shapes you find everywhere. Well, what I did find were what I thought were icicles. But, when I touched one, they were SPIDERWEB strands covered in ice! Amazing, huh?

The Oregon Grape (which never blooms), my rosebush in the corner of the yard, and the worn out sunflower blooms are all in festive array~

Poor Scooter, this dragonfly is freezing out there!!!!

One of my favorite trees in the yard! It's actually growing fairly well, considering I've managed to kill so many of my bigger plants.

I did find a few webs, but not ones which had distinct dimensions. The first is in an abandoned bird basket and the second seemed to attract a great bit of debris over the last month or two!

The wind chimes on the little house were not chiming, but they didn't need to! As Christmas bells, they were just fine the way they were! The blue lights on the fence are actually my neighbor's~I wish she had lit them, but since it was daytime, they were off.

As I peeked over the fence, I noticed Tex's garden (she has Texas roots, her last name is Burleson) had gilded iris leaves in it. Some of my chamomile was changed into winter beauty with the addition of webs, making my container gardens lovely again.

The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.

~Terri Guillemets

Halloween is Around the Edge of Tomorrow!

This last weekend of October was super busy--Not as busy as last year, but none the less, we got a lot done. Jon was able to work for and help out Larry again on Saturday. It was pretty dry and there was a lot of dust. Sitting in the open cab of the tractor, Jon ended up with a veneer of dirt. Actually, it was more than a veneer--I think they could have seeded him if they wanted to! He came home in time to help Steve put my bridge in place. (things are getting closer to done by the pond!)

Steve leveled it all up and placed bricks so the wooden bridge supports would not sit on the dirt and then Jon helped move it into place. (the bucket near the bridge is a water weed that appears to be thriving in a bucket-I am seriously thinking about putting it in the pond in a container) After settling the bridge, Jon walked across it and made sure it worked. I can't wait to plant stuff around it!
Doesn't it look wonderful? I have some tall purple iris, some tiny iris, some wild hyacinth, and a few things from Aunt Kathy's yard to put in around it and the stream. Not to mention my flamingos from Carrie and the lights mum sent.

The next day, Sunday, was the Halloween Concert by the Walla Walla Valley Band. And they were amazing! I got a couple of pictures of Athena people but all of the ones I took of Jon were fuzzy. Of course, as Steve said, Jon is naturally fuzzy, but still! I particularly liked the mitts on the lovely cat's paws. She had a sparkly shirt front on, too-

This sax quartet is close to totally amazing. Note, the Blue's Brothers on the end!
And finally, for all of us who never knew, Pop-Eye plays a sax, too!!! And he is really rather good! The next WWVB concert is in December. It is going to be lots of fun. Although, the costuming will be more traditional, the tunes will be just as fun!

Cats and Pumpkins-

Making beds is hard to do with a cat around-Max appears to like my very nice clean polar fleece jammies. I was very thankful when he eventually moved and let me finish the chores. The next morning, I found Moses sleeping peacefully on my side...Of course! I woke him up and he was not impressed. Silly cat!

Steve took his pumpkin carving seriously this year--actually, he was just trimming the stem. It had grown at an odd angle and he made a very bad cut with his multi-tool, so he had to fix it!

Moses and Kila were very interested in the carving proceedings this year. Moses was more annoyed with Kila helping and Kila was tasting the fruits of the labor.

This year our pumpkins were a bit different. Steve's Ford pumpkin has shapes from Ford and Jon's is just adorable. He was going for scary, but I don't think it worked at all!!!

Moses didn't think it was adorable either--or he was just disgusted with the whole idea of a photo shoot! My pumpkin is painted this year. I wanted at least ONE pumpkin for muffins!!
Jon did 'Extreme Carving' with his second pumpkin by doing something he has always wanted to do. He shot the face into this guy. It had grown crooked and he braced it with a stick. However, a shot hit the stick and totally mangled the face. Pretty bizarre, eh?

Kila has finally gotten to get outside for a bit. He ended up under the porch, but we convinced him to show up and stuck him back inside. He was none the worse for his experience and wants to do it again!