Christmas Trees

Yesterday, Dad's parents, his sister, and her boys, came up to harvest Christmas trees from our property. We had a great time visiting and they even took home our gerbils. She called this evening to let us know that they are all settled in and seem happy. Her sons are thrilled with them! We're just so happy that they have a better home, one where they'll get lots and lots of attention. Anyway, that made 6 boys plus a couple of inches of snow on the ground - what does that equal? Snowball fights!!

Daisy & Haley just thought it was great to head out into the woods with such a big crew!!

Hey! The woman with the camera is off-limits!!

Look at this bizarre tree...

Here's the one we should get!

Grampa's ready to cut down the tree that Grammie picked out...

Mission accomplished...

This morning we went out and cut down our own Christmas tree. Ours was much closer though. It was one of a pair that were growing right beside our driveway, on the South side. During the winter, they block any sunshine that might shine on the driveway, and create a huge patch of ice on the driveway. So, they were on my list of trees that need to go! The tops will make beautiful Christmas trees, and the extra branches around the bottom will make wreaths...

First, the boys wanted me to see how sturdy the ice on the beaver pond is now. Daisy certainly isn't afraid to go out onto it!

Oh no! She's snatched his Santa hat!!

Here comes big brother with another one...

Any excuse to climb a tree...

"Can you see me now?"

Dad is starting to saw down the tree...

That was too much like work! Time for something a little bit noisier...

He cut a wedge out with the power saw, and now the boys are finishing it up with the handsaw, so that they can say that they cut down the tree this year...

Still sawing...

Timber!

It's lying exactly where there won't be an icy patch this year...

The boys are measuring where Dad should cut it so that it will fit into the house...

Almost there guys! Is it heavy yet?

Another beautiful Christmas tree this year! Thanks guys!!

I can't wait to bring it in and decorate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day yesterday. Lots of yummy food, (Okay, too much yummy food!) and great company. The weather was even nice enough for the men-folks to help Dad finish up a few farm projects and the kids could run around and play. My niece even got a quick ride on Kitchy, which pleased her immensely!

Today was a bit of a disappointment though. We were really looking forward to a visit from some old friends of ours, but alas, it snowed again so they weren't able to come....

That 'S' word!!!!@%$#@#$!!!!

What a mess outdoors today!! We got about six inches of heavy, wet, sticky, snow this morning, before it changed to pouring rain early in the afternoon. All of that, plus wicked wind; enough to knock ya over, for goodness sake....The boys made 3 snowmen before the bus arrived this morning. Yes, they had school anyway! But, the bus came from the opposite direction this morning 'cause he couldn't get up Stearns Hill. Yikes!

We moved the horses to their other pasture because it offers better protection from the elements. They were grouchy and wanted to go back to their regular pasture. So, for most of the day they stood by the gate, hunched up against the wind. Go figure!? But, by this evening, when the weather was terribly nasty, but I had to go out and feed them anyway, all 3 of them were huddled together under the roof of their little shed. Dad stayed busy today cutting wood and feeding the wood boiler, so at least indoors it's nice & toasty!

Poor little piggie! He really didn't want to come out of his little house this morning!! Daddy ended up coaxing him out with food, and when he saw his new neighbors, the horses, well, that was worth running around and playing for a few minutes. But, then it was back into the house and we didn't see him for the rest of the day. He even ate his supper in there!

The horses didn't think much of him...I told him not to take it personally, they're always shy at first....they settled down after a bit...

Daisy didn't remember what snow was, and really didn't want to go out this morning. She got all upset, raised her hackles and growled at it. 'Course that's about how I felt too...

DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!!!!

Who needs TV?

Yesterday afternoon, in honor of our guests, Aly caught a red squirrel. Then, Daisy stole the squirrel, (Before it was dead, mind you!) and ran around playing with it. She would toss it and shake it. Whenever she would drop it, the poor thing would try to run off and she would catch it again. Our guests may never come visit us again...

It gets even better!

This morning, said squirrel is a tasty, frozen treat! (The temp. overnight was in the teens!) Daisy is out there playing with it and gnawing on it. Dad thought that this should be recorded for posterity and took the camera out with him. And, since I do have a sick sense of humor, I thought I should share it with you all....

Aren't you lucky?!

Rodents

Yesterday afternoon I spent time with some of the boys' pets. They always like to get calendars for Christmas, featuring these cuddly little creatures, so we had a modeling session. ;-)

This is Cuddles, another wonderful hamster. She loves to be handled and snuggled. Aly thought I might need some help getting her to hold still...

Here's Inky Mo, all grown up! I don't think I've posted any photos of her since she was a baby...

We've decided to get rid of the gerbils. The boys just ignore them because they can't snuggle with them like they do their other pets. It's not fair to the little guys to be bored all the time. Although I'm not sure how bored they are - they sure do love to tunnel and shred paper products!! I put their picture on Uncle Henry's last night...