Holly Days

Happy Holly-days
"It's the holiday season
So whoop de do and dickory dock"

I don't like long, dark winters.  The only good thing about these short days and long nights is that I can enjoy the Christmas lights for an extended period of time.  They are a great way to brighten any morning or evening.

I just came across this horse poster and thought how true.  Amiga may get a little unruly sometimes, but when we do have a mishap, (like our fall last week) she doesn't panic and we work it out and get through it together.  Last Thursday, once Amiga was able to get back up on all four feet, she was shaking.  I pet her to calm her down and reassure her, and lead her out of trouble onto firmer ground.  We need to take care of our horse first, then brush the dirt off of us.

Saturday 12/7 - It was a foggy morning.












I took several photos while putting corn out for the critters.



Looking back up at the house, you can see some of my festive Christmas lights.









I am 'teaching' Babe how to enjoy the Holly-days.  LOL

I would say the high-light of my day was horsing around, most the afternoon, at the barn with several saddle sisters.  In the morning though, I wrapped some boxes to put under the tree for the cats to play in.  The kitten box, with multiple holes, was a bit tricky.








Babe was having fun before I could even finish this last box.  Most of the boxes you see in this photo are decorated gift boxes, that don't require wrapping.  I have collected them the last few years to put under the tree to look like presents.

When I got to the barn just after 1:00, Patty was letting Zorro graze out front.











There was a flurry of activity going on inside the barn, as a total of eight of us were tacking up.


Several of us gathered out front as the whole group got ready to ride.  Patty on Zorro, who was alertly watching the tractor plow the gardens across the street. 










I put a festive bow and bells on Amiga's saddle, cause that's how I do the Holly-days.






This is Jessie, on Robbie.  They were displaced by the fire in Paradise CA.  We heard more about it, and Jessie's harrowing escape, after our ride.

We all, (Pat was on Rocky, Emily on Tasha, Jan on Cash, Karen on Levi, and Polly on Rio) rode around the front yard and barn for awhile.

Jan and Jessie rode out on their own because Jessie and her horse Robbie had never been on our trails and Robbie was a bit revved up.


The rest of us took a little trail ride.

Amiga was quite animated.  It seems the more horses there are, the 'wilder' she becomes.








I took this little (video) as we were heading back to the barn.  Amiga did settle down for most of the ride.






We horsed around more, back at the barn and in the front yard.  I got a fairly controlled canter out of Amiga.  Here is Emily's horse Tasha, enjoying the water.









Polly, Emily, (in photo) Jan, and I went back out on the trail for some more time in the saddle.  And I gave Amiga some grazing time.   It was a very fun afternoon with my horse and saddle sisters.

Back at the barn we chatted while untacking the horses and hung around even after turning our horses back out to pasture, getting to know Jessie better.
Called the Camp Fire, which began Nov. 8 in 2018, it was the deadliest in California history, killing 86 people and destroying nearly 19,000 buildings.  The blaze took less than 12 hours to destroy Paradise as well as Concow and Magalia.  The fire ravaged 55,000 acres, and caused $16.5 billion in damage.  Tens of thousands of residents were also left homeless. (Wikipedia)

Jesse said that the residents of Paradise were told they were safe, not to worry, no need to evacuate.  But, the fire moved at a rate of one football field per second and many people died in their cars, trying to leave town.  Jessie thought she was going to die, while driving through the heat and smoke with pet dogs and birds in her car.  She was very lucky to have made it out alive.  But she lost everything left behind.



Unfortunately, we live in a world where we never know from one day to the next when our lives may be turned upside down or we have to face some unspeakable tragedy.  During the holiday season, it is important to remember the tragedies and losses in life, but to also be thankful for the blessings and celebrate the good life, family, and friends we do have.

Sunday 12/8 - During the wee morning hours, I shared my computer time with Babe while she sat in my lap.  She was captivated by the video for cats I played for her.

Still trying to get all my cats to get along, I let the kitten have run of most of the house with Stevie and Monita, while Mama Styx was confined to our bedroom.









Monita was not so over reactive when Babe was nearby.  Here she is watching Babe under the Christmas tree.

While getting ready for Church, I decided to try Stevie and Styx together and confined Monita and Babe to the sunroom and our bedroom.  I was happy to see there was initially no fighting.  But they were keeping a close watch on each other.  Here they are under the Christmas tree, which along with the packages, really is a magnet for the cats.

Well, a fight eventually occurred and I split the cats back up because Joe did not want to referee while I was at Church.  I don't blame him.  I find the fighting very un-nerving and it puts a damper to my Holly-days.






Much of my afternoon was spent raking and hauling leaves from down back.  I didn't quite finish before it got dark.  I took these photos the next morning.  If you look closely, you'll see leaves still need to be removed (at far left) and, can you see the deer?





I also transplanted these two spike plants rather than compost them, as I cleaned out most of my outdoor flower pots in preperation for winter.

Monday 12/9- The wind had really picked up before daybreak and rain was forecasted for later.  These two deer were waiting for me when I went down with the corn.










They just stepped aside, at a safe distance, and watched me replenish the source of food.  I had come down to get photos of the transplanted spike plant, so continued with that mission.


And while I did that, the two deer partook of the corn.











By the time I was headed back to the house, three more deer had come to eat.  I took this (video) to show them and also the leaves blowing into our yard from Brian's and the golf course.  He is still in CA, but the golf course (and the Lutheran Church actually) have no excuse.

Bennett Heating and Cooling arrived shortly after 7am to replace the heat pump compressor and air handler.  They were quick to switch out the compressor outside.










Since the air handler was in the bunkroom, I closed all three feline in the sunroom with me because I could just imagine Stevie disappearing into that hole.  Mama Styx was still confined to our bedroom.  Getting this old air handler out of it's tight space took a lot more effort.  They also had troubles with the 30 year old (outdated) components to connect to.


It took the Bennet workers till 1:00 before they were completely finished.  They even sent out a third guy with some additional parts.  The three cats and I were ready to get out of the sunroom.  Stevie and Monita were then on edge because of the new smells the men had left behind.

I often Facebook message with the girls off and on during the day, and had sent this photo of Babe overhead from my desk.




So Britney sent this photo of her office.  Looks very inviting with all the plants and natural light.


And this is Courtney at her desk with her shelf of unicorns and other collectables behind her.

Since the rain had held off, I skipped the gym and wrangled leaves out back instead.





I sent this selfie to the girls, of my new 'office' for the afternoon.  I have one mulched bed yet to clean leaves out of (oh, and the two in front) but got this largest one done.






The rocks stacked in this photo will be used to put a shorter, neater wall there and for additional little retaining walls in a few other areas that need it.















Monita is checking out Maggie's festive dog bed which is by the tree.  Maggie's Christmas bear is now missing one ear.

I ended the evening watching a corny, but heart warming doggy Christmas movie on the Disney channel.

Tuesday 12/10 - The rain started overnight and was really coming down when I got up.  I delayed the dog walk for a little bit, although Maggie had had an incident of diarrhea in the office, right after dinner the night before.  The rain let up some and it was mild out, but the dog and I got drenched on our first walk.  Once it let up to a sprinkle, I walked Maggie again, put out deer and bird feed, and got photos of down back.  The bubbles on the water in this photo show how high the water level was at the bottom of the rock ditch.




The creek was running very high also.







When I got done at my computer, I moved to the living room to work on Christmas cards.  Monita wanted to help.









I was sitting right by the Christmas tree and had a good view of Babe who was getting into trouble.

The rain turned to sleet on my way to the gym.  On my way home I got copies of the annual letter to put in with our cards.

Back at the card table to work and watch the sleet turn to snow, I also saw these deer come by, looking for corn.


With hot tea and cookies, I watched it turn white outside while I wrote Christmas greetings.  I was in the holiday mood.

Monita and Babe were napping nearby, and in close proximity to each other.  This was progress.











Stevie took the opportunity to move in for some snuggling.  She rarely does this, so I took a break.

I had a very productive card writing afternoon.  First I sorted through the pile of nearly 150 cards and divided them into themes (cats, dogs, religious, Santa and kids, nature scenes, and Christmas towns).  I had bought these, 10 for a dollar at a thrift store last January.


Monita really wanted to help with this process, but made it more difficult.

Then I would pick a card for a certain person, write my greeting, and stuff it and the Christmas letter (which was Joe's contribution) into the envelope.  Add stamp and address label, and it was ready to go.




A look back at the house while putting out evening corn.

Since Joe was off playing poker, I did the evening dog walks.  It was snowing fairly hard and I enjoyed the beauty, glow, quiet, and peace of the evening.



This picture explains why it is so quiet when it snows.  Also, the reason that it's so light during the night time when it’s snowing or when we have snow on the ground, is due to the reflective fragments inside snowflakes that reflects light off the clouds.



Above, Maggie really didn't want to sit her bottom in the cold snow for this photo.


Once on the road walking, I think Maggie imagined she was running the Iditarod, minus the sled.  That or she just wanted to hurry and get back inside.  I did too because it was 28 degrees out.

Wednesday 12/11 - The moonlit morning on the fresh snow was beautiful, but our dog walk was short due to the 19° temperature.

A view from my office after daybreak.  And I went out to get more photos.







Steam was rising off the pond.





And the sun was rising over the mountains and treetops.







Taken from the dam, our house can be seen in the background (to the right of pond).




Stevie was trying to hide from the kitten I think, and looks irritated that I revealed her location.

I went to the gym before going to my doctor who is right next door.  As I have suspected, I have factitious hyperthyroidism (basically due to over-medication for treatment of hypothyroidism).  So I am being cut back on my medication.  I do hope this will alleviate the fatigue, muscle weakness, occasional jitters and sweat outbreaks, weight loss, and lethargy I have been experiencing for a few months now.  I had hoped my body would adjust and the symptoms would go away, but they were actually getting worse.


Stevie fell asleep looking in the hole of this box where she thought Babe might be.  And Monita continued to want to help me with card selection.









My afternoon and evening included Christmas cards, cat capers, and computer gaming.  Oh, and Joe came home early from poker so we watched Survivor, which had an uncustomary, never occurred before, shock at the end.

Thursday 12/12 - A herd of seven deer were feeding down back when a group of five more came across the 17th green (2nd photo).  If you look closely, you can see four of them on the far side of the pond, coming down the hill.










They eventually chased off the initial seven, but there was very little corn left anyway.
(If it ain't the cats fighting, it's the deer.  Sheesh)

Every now and then, the kitten will go missing.  After searching, she is often found in the cat bin on the wall right over my desk.  When she is sound asleep up there, I have no way of knowing, unless I get on a stepstool to look in or she wakes up.








I completed twenty Christmas cards, enjoying the cats while doing so.  Monita was after Babe (part of kitten's body seen in upper right corner) in this photo.




I was delighted to see Monita and Babe getting along well enough to share the dog bed.


They even kind of cuddled with each other.  Fantastic progress.



I left for town at 2pm to do a lot of shopping and then I met Patty at the high school to listen to the CCC band that Shirley plays in.  The Christmas music was a nice way to diffuse my disgruntled attitude caused by shopping frustrations and woes.

Friday 12/13 - The kittens were 13 weeks old this Friday the 13th, and they were born on a Friday the 13th in September.  They were one day old in this photo.

The rainy day solved my dilemma of feeling I should go ride or finish raking leaves, and enabled me to go to the gym and also work on Christmas cards.

Maggie on HER bed with HER bear.




The progress continues with Monita playing and napping with Babe.  Styx remains confined to our bedroom, but gets to sleep (and play) with Babe all night in the sun room.  Unfortunately, she stills hisses and growls (spits and yowls) at Monita and Stevie, through the crack in the not quite closed sliding door to our bedroom or through the slightly opened window between the sun room and living room.

Don't jump!  Babe looking down at me on the couch.

Joe helped me get the wood panel correctly back in place in the bunk room, after the furnace guys had buggered it up.   Then I scrubbed walls and woodwork that they got grimy fingerprints all over.  This included the hallway wall were they installed a new thermostat. 


Babe heading up the ladder, and over and across the shelf to her hidey hole to take a nap. 

Joe headed to Nashville for three days and my day ended with a very fun evening at Reds with Micki and Sherri.

Saturday 12/14 - I let Styx and Babe have access to the bedroom from the sun room and kept Stevie and Monita out.  Monita thought this a great injustice.  We all slept pretty well, in spite of the occasional crying by Monita on the other side of the door, wanting into the bedroom.

I woke with a slight headache and sore throat.  Too much loud music, singing, and dancing the night before; and maybe I shouldn't have had the third beer.

I got Babe to sit in my lap by playing a cat video for her.  And time just kept slipping away.

Saturday 12/15 - This is a screen shot of the Cotswold home game room on the advent calendar.  Each day I go to this to do the activity and play several of the games.  Well, Joe had changed my computer settings and my "cookies" got cleared, so I lost my advent calendar and EVERYTHING I had done the past two weeks.  I was so bummed.  All the personalized decorating (tree, garland, packages, blanket, etc), first place ribbons on my cookie decorations, and account of the lost sheep I found were gone.  It made me loose my enthusiasm for doing it now.


I was kind of down and out all day, never got out of my jammies (sweats), took a two hour nap, and was either fighting off getting sick or my thyroid medication had me really exhausted.  I did work on Christmas cards some more.  Maggie, the nativity scene crasher.






Patty picked me up at 6:30, we got Shirley, and then drove around the Glade, looking at Christmas lights.  We went to the 'advertised' spots that were really decked out.  This one on Lake Pomeroy (photo by Shirley) is always the most spectacular.  Christmas lights and chatting with friends, made this Holly-day more bright.