More snow.

Finally got outside with the camera. It is very hard to take pictures with gloves on but I seeded to manages.

The top picture is Buster, Tater and George. I think they wondered what the heck I was doing out there. They had spent the night in their shed together. The second picture is Oliver peeking out from his house. He has had that big dog house since he was little. Every year he dings it up a little more playing. He has a real nest in there. He is getting old but is as playful as ever.

The next picture is Sequoia. He is a sweet old pony. We did not need him but we love him. Every family with grandchildren should have a pony like him. The next picture is from our deck. It looked like a Christmas Card to me.

The last picture is some ice chests Bob didn't get put away after elk hunting. I thought they looked like big marshmallows.

I have the fudge done, talked to one of our granddaughters today and made arrangements to pick her up tomorrow afternoon. She will stay till Christmas Eve is done. I had hoped she would come out today but she is 17 and Grandma and Grandpa are not near as important. I have the neighbors baskets ready for Bob to deliver tomorrow.

I wish Nikki and her family were going to be here for Christmas eve. Its been such a long time since they came at Christmas. I understand her reasoning but once more I would love to have all of them together. I continue to give thanks for the Thanksgiving just before Scott died how we were all together and such a fun day and took lots of pictures. There will never be another day like that. I don't mean to be maudlin but just a Christmas wish that all my kids would be here together. Not this year and I will enjoy every single one that can come.

I put the three horses out today while I was taking pictures. Dixie was so sweet. She just was so glad to see me. She cuddled right up to me when I was putting her halter on. Loved it. Ditto just plodded along. And Pepper wanted to play as usual. He makes it hard to walk beside him when he is skipping along. He knows better too. He doesn't do that with Bob but he wants to. Its cold and crisp and he just wants to have fun.

Are you reading The Serenity Room Blog or Nikki's blog Life With Boys or my sisters - Penny the Neighborhood Dog. They are worth reading.

A better day

Drool all you want. I baked 3 of the kinds today. I have to keep slapping my hands. The Santa Clause on the front of the tray on your left is a result of a cookie cutter that was my mothers. If nothing else I try to do some Santa's from it every year. The cowboy boot on the other sugar cookie tray is just a favorite of mine. I have one more batch to bake tomorrow and then I will make fudge and then just relax, keep the house cleaned up and listen to all the Christmas music I can find.

We are still very sad today but accidents do happen. Sophie was a sweet lovable girl and we will never forget her. I am very thankful that I have Skeeter, my poodle. He has been good to me. Seems to understand that I needed him to be extra kind.

Tyler left for our son Tom's a little bit ago and then he will leave for his parents from there in the AM. He is watching Tom's kids so Tom and Christy can get a seldom night out. Tyler promised me he will go get some minutes for his phone so he has a cell. We loaned him a sleeping bag, I gave him a gallon of water and some cookies. It is not supposed to be good traveling tomorrow but hook or crook this is the way he wanted. He is 20 you know and invincible.

Bob was going to take Joel and Heather to the airport this evening but their flight was cancelled. I don't know when they will get away from here. Not many flights to Seattle got out today.

There won't be any church for us in the AM. Roads will be awful if it snows like they say. Will have our own time of meditation and prayer and lighting the third candle of our advent wreath. God bless you all.

Oh, like my new looking blog. Tell Nikki thanks. She did it for me. Her blog is Life With Boys. And the Serenity Room is still an awesome blog. She is having a neat give away.

Goodby Sweet Sophie

Sophie

October 1998 to December 2008

Today my sweet Sophie ran under the wheels of Bob's truck. He heard her and ran and picked her up and she died in his arms. We are devastated. She has slept with us on our bed every night since she was 8 weeks old. Bob is hurting and I am still crying. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

I think we might be snowed in

My centerpiece on the dining room table that a week ago was covered with sewing machine, wrapping paper, fabric and other assorted stuff. I won the centerpiece at our Backcountry Horsemen Club meeting. It looks festive.

The horses were in good moods today. when Tyler put Pepper out, the snow is almost to his belly. He just trotted thru it like it was fun. Dixie wanted to play and Ditto wanted to stay in. But, she had to go out. It does not hurt her to go out for the day. She could get under shelter out there but stays in the open. Shes just a sometimes crotchety old lady. But I love her anyway.

I frosted my sugar cookies today. And went to buy groceries so I can do some more tomorrow. My sister and my cousin asked me to bake theirs but I laughed at them. I have enough trouble getting what I have done. Oh well. I got the stuff for fudge too. Now, if I can just not eat half of it. Dr. Fuhs will like it if I don't. He is my cardiologist. and , Dr. Hansen will like it too. He is my family doctor and when I went in for my last check and had lost 20 pounds and he asked me why I had lost so much weight. I just looked blankly at him and told him "You told me too" but he said to me"No one ever does what I tell them" I don't want to gain it back.

Snow and more snow

Rusty has a place to get out of it, but she had been in the round pen until I showed up and she went to the pen. Then I went over to the other horses and was going to get some pictures of them, they all looked the same as Rusty but the battery in my camera went dead so no pictures of the pathetic looking critters. They had shelter too but instead they stood out in the snow. Yuma yelled at me wanting food. It was 1 in the afternoon. No supper yet.

I baked half of the sugar cookies today. Will do the rest of them tomorrow and I baked snicker doodles too. I put them in a secret place. I also baked 2 more loaves of zucchini bread. Tyler keeps telling me its almost as good as his mothers but not quite. I need to go get groceries tomorrow to finish cookies and to make some fudge. I guess I did not plan very well. I did not want to go this evening.

We have about 15 inches of fresh snow and we are having a heat wave. It is 14 degrees. The snow is really light and fluffy. From the looks on the news downtown Spokane was in a deadlock. All the roads leading from town are up hills unless you are going to the valley. Even north division was closed because a milk truck got stuck. I am glad we are out in the country and did not have to go anywhere.

Remember the Serenity Room blog that I mentioned yesterday. She is having another give away and I get extra entries for mentioning it. I love that blog even if I don't win. AND, Andrea your prize got here and we had pancakes and eggs for dinner last night. It was wonderful. Thank you so much.

Pepper has a new best friend.

I meant for the pictures to be in opposite order but OH well. I know there is a way to put them with what I write but don't know how. I need a computer guru to walk me thru it. I don't do from directions very well. Need to do it.

Pepper has a new very best friend. It is Bubba. I am glad its going to be a while till Bubba goes to freezer camp. We about split laughing at them. The hot wire obviously was not working. They stood there like that until we put him in the barn with the 2 mares. Maybe that is why we have never been able to chase cows on him. He just won't do it. I tried to move some bulls on him once and he just walked up to them and stood there and the bulls just stood there. LOL.

The top picture is our Maggie. She is a happy dog. We put her on a cable at night or if we leave but the rest of the time she has the run of the place. When it turned so cold we tried putting her in the barn. There are lots of places for her to curl up in and be comfortable, BUT she dug out the first 2 nights we tried it and went to her igloo up by the house so we just put her on the cable now and let her be where she wants to be. She has a good bed in there. We are afraid the coyotes will cause her to go looking away from here at night so we cable her.

The other picture is a fluffy quail sitting on the gate to next door. When we used to have the chickens free range and fed them outside the barn on the ground, they came and ate with the chickens. When we penned the chickens up because something was eating them they quit coming around. Also we have more barn cats at the moment. People keep dumping pregnant cats off out here. Some survive, some don't. We feed them but don't baby them like Trouble our house kitty.

My living room is now all spic and span and decorated for the holidays. I am done sewing and crafting until after New years. Then I have a quilt top to sew. Have a granddaughter waiting for hers.

One of our grandsons from in town was supposed to come out and stay for a couple of days but his mom didn't bring him. He needs to spend some time with his grandpa. He is nearly 13 and boys that age need a man sometimes. Will talk to his mom in the morning.

If you don't read Serenity Room blog, you should. She is so inspirational. I read several blogs but that one is high on my list.

A long day, still cold, and Christmas is getting close. Love the season despite all my whining earlier in the month. As I sit here at the computer, it is -2. More snow predicted for tomorrow. With this cold weather snow is a good insulator though and will help things out. At least that is what Bob told me. My masked marvel from yesterday.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful.........

I caught my favorite guy just before he started peeling off the layers. I am so grateful that he can go out and do things so I don't have to.

Tomorrow will start cookie baking. I will bake sugar cookies first. I think I will probably will frost them myself. My cookie decorators live in Marysville. Isaac and Lane frost cookies good. They won't be here this holiday. Actually, we usually go there but not this year. We just did not feel like we wanted to travel this year.

This evening we went in to Ryan's band concert. He is in the 6Th grade and plays the trombone. The orchestra played too. You haven't lived until you have sat thru 5Th. graders and 6Th. graders playing violins. LOL. The 6Th. grade band was not so off key but did well. Ryan plays well, I guess, a trombone is not a solo instrument. Just his little cheeks puffing out. And guess what I did? I forgot my camera. Ryan is the straight A boy. He made a deal with his dad that if he got straight A's he could wear his hair like he wanted. It really looks awful hanging in his face but he got the grades to do it.

So my day was not the most energetic, woke up with a headache that did not entirely leave all day. Bob had an appointment this AM then he came home and wondered why the laundry wasn't all done yet. Grrrrrrrrr. Did I say he was my favorite......well he is but sometimes I wonder.....