As I write this, we are starting to wind down from several busy days. Christmas Day itself, we try to keep more of a quiet affair. The fifth candle of our advent wreath has been lit, we have had our dinner, and it is time to get some rest before we continue with our holiday activities.
I just have to share something I got in the mail today, from a dear friend. She is so hilarious!!!! Check these out!
First, there’s the festive packing tape covering the box itself. Then there was the “snowfall” when it was opened, then there was the array of tiny little gifts for everyone – including treats and a skunk toy for the cats!
What a hoot!
I’ve got the best friends. :-D
The Re-Farmer
The tree and decorations are up. The gifts are wrapped. Aside from those few last things that have to wait for the last minute, we are ready for Christmas.
I am glad we were able to put our tree up this year. We missed out on a lot of that last year, with everything still being in chaos from the movers bringing our stuff over. Most of our ornaments are hand made. One of the things I still need to get back into is the making of new decorations every year. Now that we’re near family again, I want to get back into gifting them again.
Our tree has ornaments we made ourselves over the years, and others that were gifted to us. When the girls were young, as part of home schooling, we took part in something called Flat Travelers, which involved sending a paper doll to visit other families around the world, while hosting some ourselves. They would be returned with mementos of the place they were at, and sometimes that included Christmas ornaments. Almost every ornament on our tree has some sort of connection or story with it, and I love every one!
The Re-Farmer
While putting up a few more Christmas decorations, I took the time to change out the batteries for some lights in our nativity scene.
It is the teeniest of nativity scenes. The tallest figures are maybe three inches high.
I used to put the trees on the dash of our old van for Christmas. I spent a lot of time in that van, so I decorated the dash with all sorts of bling and tiny creatures. Sometimes, while stopped at a red light, I would look over and see people in the vehicle next to us, taking pictures of it. :-D I figured, if I was going to be in the van so much, I may as well make it my happy place! :-D One year, I got a mini Christmas tree with a tiny string of lights for the dash. I couldn’t find it the next year, so I got a different tree, this one with its own decorations, and another set of tiny lights. The year after that, I found both sets, and had two trees on my dash! While parked, waiting for whomever I was picking up at the time, I would turn the lights on for a little ambiance. :-D
I started decorating the dash of the van we have now, but the surface is different, and the temporary adhesives don’t stick as well. I only managed a bit of bling, my Happy Face (a rockfish), a toad, some turtles, tortoises, frogs and lady bugs.
Also, the toad is holding a tiny Groot.
I don’t spend anywhere near as much time in the van anymore, so I don’t plan to add too much more. And no Christmas trees this year, so they get to join the nativity scene. :-)
The Re-Farmer
One of my daughters let me know that the water bowl in the sun room was no longer on its heater, so when I had a moment, I went out with a pitcher of fresh warm water, heading through the Old Kitchen to fix it.
On opening the inner door, I noticed the food bowl in the sun room was empty, so I paused to grab some kibble to top it up.
Of course, as soon as I opened the door, there was a flurry of cats running out of the sun room, while others were running towards the Old Kitchen door. I saw Ferdinand run out, and then Slick headed for the door.
Except…
Wait a minute.
Is that Slick?
Thanks to Ferdinand staying in the doorway, preventing the other cat from getting out, I was able to grab a few quick pictures. I had to show it to my daughters to confirm.
This is not Slick.
What I did not see until my daughter pointed it out to me, not only is Ferdinand in the doorway, but Nicky the Nose is outside, looking through the window.
The new cat finally ran past Ferdinand when I opened the door. I never saw Nicky the Nose at all, but Ferdinand did not run off like he usually does. He actually hung around, watching me from just a few feet away, as I knocked the ice out of the outside water bowl and refilled it, as well as topping up one of the outside food bowls.
The water bowl was indeed knocked off the concrete block, but there was no spill. It was completely dry! With the outside bowl frozen over, they were very happy to have fresh water.
He has the saddest expression on his face!
My older daughter had been seeing a strange cat that was more grey than Slick, off and on, but this is the first time I’ve finally seen him. So he’s actually been around for a little while.
This brings us to 14 outside cats in total. The 6 kittens. Beep Beep, Butterscotch, Rolando Moon and The Hand are all cats we were feeding when we first moved out here. Slick, Nicky the Nose, Ferdinand, and now this guy. That’s basically twice as many as we were regularly feeding last winter.
No wonder we’re going through the cat kibble so fast! ;-)
The Re-Farmer
Usually, when I do my morning rounds, I stick to the inner yard and the garage. Every now and then, though, I go farther afield and check on the septic field and the sheds in the outer yard.
Today was one of those days, and it took me past the old Farm Hand tractor that’s still sitting among the collapsing outbuildings.
You know how you walk past things time and again, look at them, but don’t always “see” what’s there, then suddenly something that’s always been there, catches your attention?
I had one of those moments today, when I saw this.
At 4:30am, we got a weather advisory. A fog had rolled in, covering most of the province, with visibility dropping to near zero.
You know what that means?
Photo opportunities!
My husband got this first one, of frosty deer outside our living room window. Continue reading
Things have been pretty quiet around here, lately. We’ve been slowly decorating the house for Christmas, wrapping a few gifts, getting my husband to a medical appointment. Tomorrow, the girls and I will be making a trip into the city. Pretty boring and domestic stuff.
Thinking back to last year, I have really learned to appreciate boring and domestic! Continue reading
So, this is what the cats left for me, this morning.
Glancing out the bathroom window, earlier, there were 3 or 4 of them – including Big Jim sitting over the light bulb – looking at me with innocent faces.
Or, more like, “where’s our food and warm water, human?”
It’s all fixed up now, but I wonder how it happened. From the looks of the top of that box, I’m guessing a cat slid off, taking the blanket with it. But how did the piece of Styrofoam insulation get knocked off? The one that was between the box and the arm bar on the transfer bench?
The one that was at me feet, as I took this picture!
I look forward to building something better for the cats, next summer. I have a few ideas, but I haven’t built anything of substance since I helped my dad build the desk I’m using right now. One of the downsides of being the youngest of 5, and having 3 older brothers. My dad didn’t have much need to show me how to do stuff like that, and my mom was determined to keep me in the house, for my “duties as a woman”.
Well, I can learn, and I’ve got two strapping young women to help me out. :-D
The Re-Farmer
