Holi-daze

The urban dictionary refers to Holidaze as “the feelings of confusion and excitement people have between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

As for me, it is the most wonderful time of the year. 


I was in a bit of a holidaze after being so busy with decorating, food shopping, and hosting Thanksgiving.  But it was temporary, there is no time to doze off during these days (30 between Thanksgiving and Christmas - but who's counting).  I did count that Joe will be gone 19 out of the next 21 days, including 16 nights.  I also counted 31 days until I see my three children, for which I am so excited.  I am lucky to get to spend time with lots of family and friends over the holidays.

Saturday morning I heard Monita crying, out in her crate at 4:45, as I lay in bed contemplating getting up.  It was as good a reason as any to rise and shine.

The sky was just getting light (a beautiful pink, orange, and yellow mixture) off to the east when I took Maggie for her first walk.  Later, Terry shared this photo, taken from her farm house just a few miles away, at the same time I was walking the dog.  What a view!



Joe left for Cherokee at 10:00, where he was going to play in two different poker tournaments.

I lingered here, but then got to work dismantling the kitten crate and doing away with the second litter box.






I had moved this dog bed, that was by the picture window, into our bedroom, to make room for the Christmas tree.  Stevie has been napping there and Monita just discovered it.






After Monita got all cleaned up and was ready to nap, then Stevie started in on a thorough cleaning.






Monita played out in the living room as I dismantled the crate (removing the litter box, cardboard boxes, bed, and toys first).  She is back to her usual playful self, and using her paws like before surgery.  Although she has discovered that she can't climb a few things she used to scurry up, which had caused them some claw damage in the process.

 




Now this corner of the living room is without cat paraphernalia (crate and crap).  Although I did move Maggie's bed back out here for her to be able to lie in the sun and look out the window.  But look who claimed it as theirs right off the bat.



I did get outside to finish removing several more loads (queen size sheet stuffed and carried like Santa's bag) of our leaves from down back.  Once all (or most) of the leaves have hit the ground, I think of fall as over and winter as here, especially when the first snow begins to fall.  But we had a week of warm weather predicted, everyday in the high 50s, and never dropping below freezing at night.  So winter is delayed here in the plateau, which is fine by me.  But boy am I glad to be done with most of the leaves.

 



When the sun came in the back window, Monita still had dibs on the dog bed, so Maggie had to make do nearby.










Then Maggie decided to move over to this sunny spot.  And notice, Stevie has dibs on this other dog bed.  



I picked up Shirley and we motored off to Red's to have a drink and check out the Karaoke.  The music wasn't great because Terry was gone, back to Ohio.  (His sister had unexpectedly passed away.)  We sat with some regulars and enjoyed the conversation and also the popcorn with our drinks.  We both had worked hard in the yard and soon were in a holi-daze and ready to head home.

Sunday morning Maggie eventually worked her way onto her bed with Monita.  As sometimes happens when Joe is gone, I was scurrying to get somewhere (this time Church) on time, due to a prolonged dog walk because Maggie would not get down to business.









When I got home from church, Monita had full dibs on the dog bed once again. 
I got two loads of laundry done before heading to the barn at 2:00.



As usual, it was good riding on a pretty fall day.  Seen left I tried to get our shadow silhouette on the trail.  I also took this (video) of us going up the new (Holly) trail from #14 tee at Dorchester.  And seen right, a selfie of me with my head on Amiga's neck as she is grazing on winter wheat in the bean field.



After an early dinner of leftovers (turkey and all the fixin's) I removed Maggie's crate from this corner because she has been sleeping in the mancave every night now.


I cleaned well all the dog hair from the corner, and while the cat tunnel was out, the kitties enjoyed exploring it.








Again, I couldn't help but take a bunch more photos.  Stevie never came out from hiding in the tunnel.





It didn't take Maggie long to come over and get in on the action.


Finishing up this project, the cold house, and the early lack of sunshine made me feel tired and want to climb into bed.  So I did, only reading for a little while.

Monday morning I tried to get photos of the house from in back, to show our two Christmas trees, but you have to be directly in line with both windows to get both trees, and a large oak blocked the view.  Down on the oasis, a few more piles of leaves are left to be removed.








While sitting back here at my desk, I watched several more leaves drifting down from their tree top perches when gusts of wind would dislodge them.  I guess we haven't seen the end of fall.


I finally made it to the gym for Ballroom Aerobics and then to lift weights.  I felt like a slow moving stuffed turkey so I hopped on the scale to see how bad it was.  I was surprised to have dropped a pound.  I guess all the moving last week helped burn the extra calories.

Just after Joe got home from an unsuccessful poker weekend (yes folks, he doesn't always win), I went to the barn to ride again.  The weather has been perfect.  Seen right, I posed Amiga by one of the Icelandics when I went out to get her, to show sister Jean.

Amiga and I took the Holly trail and met up with Jan and Cash on Marmaduke.  While riding, we chatted the whole time.  It was great to catch up with each other while enjoying nature and our horses.
← Coming home, I spotted this in the gelding pasture.  Zorro didn't even seem to notice.  Circled in red you can better see what I saw ↓ .





I had gotten chilled as the temperature dropped when the sun did.  So once home (at 4:30) I started the fire and sat in front of it watching an episode of Fixer Upper.  Both warmed me up.

I made turkey soup for a late dinner and then I activated the Jacquie Lawson Alpine Advent Calendar that Cathy gifted me, and played a few games... and enjoyed the holi-daze.

Tuesday was a beautiful, bright, sunny day, briefly hitting 60 degrees at its warmest.  All three pets enjoyed basking in the heat and light of the incoming rays.  Monita's front paws continue to heal.

I was hoping to put Joe to work helping me on a few two-man jobs I had, but he convinced me it could wait while he went golfing.  So I went to the barn to ride because the weather was just too lovely. 

I did ground work and rode without saddle in the round pen, and then took Amiga up to the bean field and on to the beginning of Holly Trail.  Chester and Boz joined us.  When I tried the first hill, and about slid off the back end of Amiga going back up, I realized it might be a little too steep to ride without a saddle.

Chester loves going with us.

Amiga got to eat a lot of winter wheat between riding the weave poles and barrels.  I took this (video) riding back to the barn, Chester leading the way.

Back at the barn, once finished caring for Amiga, I got Zorro and gave him a good brushing.  He loves the attention.  Seen here, he is ready for the holi-daze.







Once home, I finished removing the rest of the two big leaf piles down on the oasis, and then dark hit.  I took this photo the next morning.

Later in the evening, Patty called and we tried to book some shore excursions for our up coming cruise in February.  We needed to wait on a few of them.

It was a beautiful morning and day Wednesday.  I took this photo from the balcony early afternoon.  Can you spot Monita?


I left early for Ballroom Aerobics, lifted weights (about half of my workout) first and then went to class.  The Ballroom class was more aerobic than usual and then I finished my weight workout.  I was pooped.  My early lunch consisted primarily of protein, rather than veggies.  I am trying to build some muscle.  Just not easy at my age.

Monita is on the cat tower, and had turned to see what I was doing up on the balcony.

Joe was napping when I got home, but finally arose and I got a little help from him before he was off again for golf and poker.  If you can't beat 'um -  join 'em.  I went to the barn to ride.





I was on a mission to mark exact locations of a couple of juniper I knew the general location of, so set off on Amiga, knowing we had a fair amount of ground to cover before dark.  The sun doesn't get very high in the sky and it isn't on this side of the globe for very long.




Amiga had a good two hour work out and is seen here waiting to be untacked.  All of the horses were in for the night so I brushed Amiga well and gave her a chance to cool down before putting her right in her stall.


As soon as I got home, I kicked off my boots, donned my tenny runners and took Magie for a fairly long and brisk walk.  This is a sculpture at the Art Guild that looks pretty at night with the lights on it.

Walking home by way of the golf course, I tried again to get a photo of our two Christmas trees.  The lower left photo is of the back of our house.  I was looking NE and the sunset behind me is big reflected in the windows.  I am not sure what the half moon optical in the upstairs guest bedroom window is, unless it is the moon, which was already high in the sky and nearly full.  For the bottom right photo I was in the front of the house with the sun setting in the background.

Rain was predicted for later in the day Thursday, and the morning was already on the cloudy side.  This cat bedding had been in the crate for the kitten and is now by my computer.  Before Joe was to leave for another poker tournament, I had him book some shore excursions for me and then we set off in the SUV into the woods on rugged road to dig up two juniper.






This is the larger of the two juniper, to replace one that did not survive the move here last summer.  Fall is a much better time to transplant.


















Seen right is the smaller of the two juniper I had planted.  I was trying to replicate what I have seen naturally, when a bird drops (well, poops) a seed while perched on a tree.  The seed has to pass through the bird's digestive track to germinate and then the juniper grows right beside the large tree.

It had started sprinkling before we even got home with the trees, but luckily it didn't come down too hard until I was finishing up.

Jan had dropped by this rug which I vacuumed and then sprayed with air freshener to mask (if any) odor from Jan's cats.  It used to go in the entry to their condo, which I have always admired, and thought one like it would go great with our decor.  Since Mike and Jan no longer have a place for it, she generously gave it to me.  😊  It would look better in a long entry hall, and I tried angling it, but this is how it looked best.  The cats were sniffing and inspecting it and then began to roll on it.

I had decided to spend the rainy afternoon Christmas shopping since Joe would be leaving for Courtney's on his first leg of his California trip.

These next four photos were taken while I was in the bedroom getting ready to go.  Monita loves exploring and bothering Stevie when she discovers her.






I did't get home until 6:30.  The pets and I had a late supper and then I sat on the couch in a holidaze.  After hitting eleven stores in five hours of Christmas shopping, I was dazed and confused from spending time in the crowded retail stores, with excessive Christmas choices on display and all the advertising, etc.  Even the heavy holiday traffic had made me tired.














I missed having Joe to discuss Survivor strategy while watching the two hour episode before going to bed.

 It was a very foggy morning Friday.  Monita sat here watching birds while I worked and played.











I was to meet the farrier between 8 and 8:30 so arrived a little early and sat on Amiga for 20 minutes while I waited and she grazed out front by the sycamore tree.

Notice the fog still hadn't lifted when I got home and walked Maggie at 9:30.










You can't even see our house on the other side of Turtle Pond.

By 10:50, I was showered, dressed, and at the luncheon party Gail threw for her husband Kevin.  It was a great crowd and there were several of us from the pool who sat together and caught up on life.




The sun had come out and it turned out to be a beautiful fall day.







I needed to nap as soon as I got home.  Beer before noon and lots of good food will do that. 



When I laid down on the floor by the tree to read, Monita came right over to bother me, and soon Maggie and then Stevie arrived.

After a good REM and drool producing sleep, I took Maggie to Stonehenge and we went for an invigorating walk.  I had to take off my jacket and roll up my sleeves I got so warm.

Changing into my 4th outfit (well 5 if you count the PJ's I started out in) I was off to meet Jean at the 4-way stop and then to Crossville to meet Judy and Shirley for lighting of the tree.  Seen left, the nearly full moon to the east as...








...seen right, the sun was setting behind the depot to the west.  These photos were taken within a minute of each other.



A men's barbershop quartet sang.  Then when the tree was lit, everyone clapped, even the Sweat T's who were getting ready to dance.







Shirley is to the far right dancing with this group.


I got word from Joe that he had landed in Sacramento but that baggage claim (seen left) was kind of a mess.   Ha ha ha.  That's a good one.  But I think it depicts well, the magnitude of clutter we can get into with gifts, decorations, cooking, etc. that all contribute to our holi-daze.

We four ladies (Jean is in the red jacket) proceeded to Cracker Barrel where we enjoyed chatting with each other; before, during, and after a very good dinner.  It was a great way to end the day, finish off the week, and start the month of December Holi-daze activities.


Getting home at bedtime, I walked Maggie under the light of the moon and was soon in bed reading and realizing the importance of clearing the clutter of the holi-daze, so you can feel peace and joy during the Christmas season.