White Christmas Walk

We woke this morning to a beautiful white Christmas.  In fact it was still snowing and continued to snow for several hours.  During a break in the snowfall we took a walk around the property.  Clyde found a big stick.

He thought it was pretty special!

Then the dogs went around the corner and Gus returned carrying the stick.  What a couple of doofus dogs!

Then we walked the bottom loop. 

Gus loves the snow!

This is Wil's stick hut he made over summer.

It actually held up pretty well.  I guess he takes after his mom!

Then Wil tried some of the fresh snow.  Looks like he takes after his dad!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Christmas Day

Dakota enjoyed his Christmas breakfast.  Enjoy your Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

A heart I made with left over grout.

More Clearing

Today we cleared a little more area.  We cleared the strip from the bottom of the loop road up to where it bends around towards the house, north from that road to the first dip along that strip, so not all the way to the creek.

Hubby limbed some of the bigger trees.  

So we had a new burn pile started.

He tended the fire while I ran the tractor and brush hog.

Here's looking back up the hill (the loop road is the white section on the left).  I had done one pass next to the road.

Here you can see a little more of the clearing.

The burn pile didn't take long to burn.

Here's a section at the north side of the strip I'm getting ready to brush. Notice the two trees right in the middle of the picture.

And after I've brushed this section.  Here are the two trees again.

And a couple more shots of "after".  

Next on my list of implements to get is a disk (or disc) harrow so I can plow all this up and make it smooth and hopefully have some nice grass growing.

Maybe next year.

Giant Snow Ball

It snowed most of the day yesterday and this morning we had a few inches of fresh snow on the ground. 

Around noon Hubby and I went to the store to get some groceries and before we got home I had a text from my daughter telling me to be careful coming in the driveway.  I got a little excited and thought maybe they had made the drive up from California but she said no, it was a "surprise" from Wil and just be careful coming in the driveway.

Surprise!  A giant snow/dirt ball!

You can see where he started rolling the ball from near the house (this was taken from the deck looking down toward the road). And when it got too heavy to move any further, unfortunately it was positioned in the middle of the driveway!

Here's a couple shots Wil took with his I-Phone.

After the groceries were put away Hubby got the tractor out and pushed the snow ball off the roadway.

It's been a nice three days off for me and I'll be back to work tomorrow.  If the roads were like they were today I'll be fine.

Night Lights

Here are the outside lights.  I put my jingle bells on the front door and the little tree decked out in the red lights is the tree I bought from the grocery store when we were in Roseburg.  I've had to repot it once and so far it is doing fantastic.

Then I went to show the lights on the deck but it still wasn't quite dark enough.

And then it was too cold and I didn't want to play with the camera long enough to get a real night shot but this is good enough!

It's not real fancy but it's pretty when I come home from work at night and I'm driving down the long driveway to home! (And yes, we had a little snow today.)

Wil's Oops

First of all, GROSSNESS WARNING.  The photo is kind of graphic.

Yesterday Wil had a little accident at his job at the mill.  His finger got caught and almost cut the tip off.  

Fortunately it didn't go all the way through.

He got a few stitches and didn't even get a day off work. 

All I have to say is EEEEK!

Decorating For Christmas

About a week ago when I was at work Hubby got a $5 permit and went to the National Forest to find us a Christmas tree.

As I drove into the garage after my work day I noticed some tree trimmings on the front porch.  Hubby greeted me at the garage house door and I asked if he was able to find a nice tree for us.  He replied that the best he could do was a little five footer.  Well, I was a bit disappointed but figured it was only five dollars so that would be hard to beat, even if the tree was a "Charlie Brown tree".

As I walked into the house I felt like I was walking into the Narnia Chronicles, where the kids are hiding in the closet and it turns into a forest.  The "little five footer" turned out to be a whopping 12 foot tall Douglas Fir, originally cut at 14' then cut to 12' to fit into the house.  Our vaulted ceiling is 12' at the highest point.

The next day while I was at work he cut it to fit in the space by our dining area window.  A few days later I was able to do the tree decorating.  It doesn't look so great in the picture but I think it's beautiful. I still feel like I'm missing some of my ornaments, but oh well. 

Can't complain about my $5 tree!

And the rest of the house is done also.  I put a string of lights on the deck rail.  This time I got a bunch of LED lights so they wouldn't keep popping fuses.  Supposedly I can string 30 sets together without worrying.  I've got the whole length of the deck lined with lights and they have not given me any trouble, unlike last year with the older sets of lights.

Inside I lined the edge with lights and placed the poinsettias in groups around the cabinet tops.  

Since we don't have a hearth I put our fake garland on the curtain rod over the door and hung all the Santa ornaments there.

The front door got regular lights (the bluish lights are the LEDs) and I had a string of reds that I  used to outline our card holder.

I still have a bunch of older light strands that I'm not sure how I should use them.  Maybe I'll hang on to them and turn them in next year like I did this year for some discounted new LED strands.

I do enjoy having the house decorated for the holidays.  And I am NOT going to think of when I have  to take it all down.

Black Friday

As you all know today was Black Friday. That's the big shopping day right after Thanksgiving and something I never felt the need to participate in.  But since I had to be there bright and early for work I decided I might as well take advantage of one of the specials at our store.

Poinsettias, $.99 each, limit 12 per customer.  So I got six of the red, and six of the white for $11.88.  That way I don't feel so bad when I throw them out at the end of December.

Now it is time to start decorating for Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  I know we did.  We had the traditional turkey, stuffing, yams, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, and brussels sprouts.  I was totally stuffed but of course there is always room for desert:  pumpkin pie and apple pie!

Our tiny, rather thin, just over 9 lb turkey going in...

...done cooking...

...and after we ate.

And a couple hours later we dug into the apple pie and pumpkin pie.

After today comes the best part:  left overs!

Wrong Number!

I got this message yesterday on my phone.  It sounded somewhat important so I thought I'd reply and let the person know they had the wrong number.  I think they finally got the message.

Finished "Message Center"

My white board message center is done.  

I had to buy more of the tiny iridescent tiles because I had miscalculated the amount I would need to finish the border.  The pleasant news about that was I actually got a small refund on that order because it didn't cost as much to ship as they had originally charged me.  Hooray for mosaicartsupply.com!

Here is my board hanging on the wall where I wanted it, but its not quite done yet.

Now I have finished the tiles, grouted, and added a section of cork to pin whatever up.

I really like how the tiles almost glow with the iridescence. Unfortunately it doesn't really show up too well in these photos.

And finally a close up of the side tiles I used.

In the end I may have spent more than I would have if I had bought a ready made board but my home made message center is prettier and definitely more satisfying!