And a Happy New Year....

This was a night time picture, somewhere I have a clothesline picture to compare this too. The back yard has about 2' of snow. You can see the top bar of the laundry basket holder directly under the clothesline and in front of the propane tank. It measures 30" and you can't see the other bar because it's buried in snow. That glob of brown on the left is our newly acquired wood pile. Some day I will get a really neat camera that doesn't blur my pictures and eat batteries.
This is Glacier, a Siberian Husky. She is the dog I said we would never have. She cannot be penned, she is more magical than Houdini at escaping. The dog pen literally was chewed and broken by her one night. She howls at the moon, but rarely barks. She has the most beautiful blue eyes, too.

So This Is Christmas.......

Debbie and I went to Texas for a brief, yet fun-filled weekend just before Christmas. A perfume salesman/convenience store clerk named Moe, who also happened to be a photographer, took our photo for us before we caught our return flight.




This is "grandpa"...some people name their cars with girly girl names, this one is so old and reliable, we dubbed it "grandpa." The drifting snow engulfed the car. We're waiting for warmer weather to dig it out.










Our neighbor came in with his tractor and bladed a pathway for our drive.... it will take some time to dwindle this mountain down to a molehill.
More pathway mountains.... just missed my new favorite tree.

More Random Stuff

We went from Family Reunion Saturday and Sunday to Sunday night storms. This particular branch was God's blessing. It had hung over the roof in such a way that if we tried to cut it down, it would have hit the roof. But, with the 70 mph winds, it just blew off into the front yard without scathing the roof. Awesome, He is.

Random stuff

This is what the 46 looked like most recently. We decided that it was time for a new pair of shoes, so when Levi graduated, we ordered some cool ones from Denver to be shipped. A month later, they arrived. It was worth the wait.

This is almost what she looks like now. Ray has changed the spare to be a shinier one now. The truck sits up higher and looks much better!

Bloomin' Landscape

It froze the night we planted these, I dug up the roses and replanted them elsewhere hoping they will come back to life soon. The ones I replaced them with don't exactly look great, but they do appear to be alive. To my surprise, the hostas and the peonies are showing signs of life, and everything else survived. I have a bloomin' landscape!

the rest of the story

DIY Landscape

Ray never ceases to amaze me. He put this landscape together in a day. After having lunch with me while I was at work Thursday, he went and bought all the stuff, and I came home from work and the retaining wall was stacked. The next morning, he filled the bottom with clay dirt, then good soil, then dug all the holes and planted all the plants and spread red mulch around them. I have dwarf burning bushes, tulips, roses, daffodils, forsythias, a boxwood, hostas, peonies, and little purple, pink, and white things I can't remember the name of. I'm sure his muscles are going to hurt in the morning! But WOW! what a beautiful landscape he made!

All work and no play

Did you ever look at a calendar to see what day it is and realize that a whole month went by? That's my December. I checked out what was so time consuming and it turned out to be my job. I worked 3 of the 4 weekends, worked most of the weekdays, was sick the remaining of the time. Now it's January.

Ashley brought Douglas with her back from Brazil. He hasn't been in temperatures below 57 (I might add with HIGH humidity). Now, he's experienced the early stages of a Kansas winter. It was funny to see him try on various hats to keep his head warm. Above, there's a picture of Ashley, Gma, and Douglas when they went to visit her in her recovery room at the nursing home.

Today I am finally alone. I wouldn't want to be alone on a regular basis, but I must tell you, this sure feels great. I am getting all the laundry done, beds changed, floors vacuumed, rugs washed, and table cleared. Ray's lunch was at 12:30, so I fried some chicken breasts and steamed some broccoli, then had lunch with him at his job.

I decided to take a break and catch up on some reading materials. It's nice to be able to get some things accomplished for yourself once in awhile. Today's that day. Maybe the next day I have "alone" I can set aside some time to play.