Snowy Sunday chat

LOL!  It's 22 here, feels like 12.  I think our high for the day might be 30.  And it is snowing in earnest now.  Big, lovely flakes falling....they just aren't pretty once they land.

 My brother left my older 2 nieces here with me for the weekend. We had a lot of fun. I actually ended up taking them to the christmas party and was so proud of how they acted. They sat in the spare room in the basement and played chess and other games while we all socialized, played cards and ping pong. At the end, my nieces were invited to play some ping pong and the oldest joined the game. They really enjoyed themselves.

I also took them to the dog event yesterday. We got there right before the end so we only watched a couple breed shows and a few agility matches. That was really enough for me though.

Today we're going to the craft show and they are going to help me decorate our fundraising tree, and maybe put up my own tree (haven't decided on that one yet)

My dogs are besides themselves with happiness. They love love love my nieces. They are all wiggles and smiles. It's too cute.

Quiet morning here.  Had a good time this weekend.  Friday night we went out to dinner with Riley and then to the mall. They have a huge kids play area with stuff to climb on etc.  My heart swelled when a little girl came up to Riley and asked her name.  She normally won't say anything back but in a nice loud voice said, "My name is Riley".  They played tag with a bunch of little boys and she shared her blankie with her.  Too  sweet.  She almost saw Santa.  She got to the top of the ramp took a nice long look and then say, "nope".  Oh well, no biggie, I didn't think she'd get that far to be honest.  She doesn't like to sit on my lap when she's not in the mood, nevermind a complete stranger.  LOL

Yesterday I took her to the movies for the 1st time.  We saw Tangled.  It is the new Disney movie.  Great movie!  I can't wait until it comes out on "On Demand" so we can DVR it.  She did pretty good.  We sat in a row that just had two seats so it was easier to corral her.  She loves to run, dance and jump, etc. when she's watching a movie. 

It really hasn't snowed here.  We are getting a little flurries here and there, but nothing is sticking...not that I am complaining or anything.

Julie, hope you get your tree's all done. Glad your dogs are getting some young kid time since they seem to enjoy it.

I got up this morning and did the usual feeding of the beasts and stuff. Went and broke up all the bread and left over biscuits for the birds since it is damn cold outside. No sense in letting it waste or throwing it away.

I rotate and water my plants on Sundays, I have limited light sources since all my windows are on the west side of the house, I have 1 window in the south and 1 in the north. So here I am moving my kitchen window plants to water and what do I see?

A young gray cat outside. We have a huge population of strays around here. So I watch her (I believe it is a her) and what does she do? She grabs a piece of 3 day old biscuit and starts eating it. It broke my heart. It is cold, there is snow and the sun is not making an appearance this morning.

I went and put on my coat and slippers and took out a bowl of cat food, I do not normally do this. But there is no way I'm going to let her starve in the cold. I can't do it. I figured my warm and pampered fat cats could give up a meal or 2 or 3.

She came back thank goodness.

Then she started getting nervous....a second later this guy showed up, another stray I had no idea was around.

I guess I will be buying the larger bag of cat food for a bit, and will have the hubs make me something to put the food in that is away from the bird feeders. Yes, I am a sucker.

ETA: She is a replica of my older cat......dang it!

Yesterday was so nice.  It was warm, & temps climbed up into the upper 70's.  I wore shorts & a tank top.  This morning, it's 44, & windy as hell.  I wish that the weather would decide what it wants to do. 

We are getting ready to go back to the crafts fair, that I went to yesterday, because DH wants to go.   I'm taking the dogs along, because that will entertain me while he shops.  Brutus & I have had "the talk" so I'm expecting a nice trip.

Coffee would be soooo nice right about now.  I can see a Starbucks Drive Thru in my future.

I had a such a great time at the Cowboy Christmas event yesterday and met so many nice people. The event seemed to draw a big crowd, so hopefully they made some money. I couldn't believe how great the weather turned out. It sprinkled a few times but there also a lot of sunshine.

I got all my cleaning done yesterday before I left and now I need to go grocery shopping. After that, I plan to relax and enjoy the remainder of the weekend.

My weekends are usually pretty restful and not worth talking about.  This one has been a little better than average.  We picked up a car for my wife Friday.  She has been driving a 97 Taurus for the past 12 years.  Still good-it will be a winter beater-but it is getting on in years.  She picked out a 2009 Taurus/500 Ford.  Nice car!.  300 page instruction book, half on how to program the accessories. As we haven't had car payments for about 10 years, and put the money in savings, we were able to keep the old car and pay cash for the new one.  Salesman seemed surprised when he asked for credit info and we pulled out our check book. The old Taurus will be a winter beater (salesman offered us $800 for it.  It has $500 worth of tires on it)

Sat, I got to move 8 inches of snow off the driveway.  While starting the reluctant snowblower, I looked up an saw Piper greeting Ace, our neighbors Brittany.  I turned around to say high to the neighbor, and two labs bounced up to meet Piper.  We've hunted with the labs before, but the older lab likes to show he is in charge, so Piper got into the truck cab to watch.-Then, we headed for Minneapolis and a day of watching our 3 year old grand daughter.   It was fun-the kind of thing you like to do once in a while.  Not used to little kids and their energy levels any more. I thought we were getting near her nap time, when I noticed my wife was sleeping in a chair.

Sunday-the snow appears to have stopped, the roads are clear, the sun is out, the temp is all the way up to 10 F, time to take Piper through a swamp.

Went to talk to Molson's vet yesterday when his bloodwork came in. Everything is in the normal range except his white blood cells, which would be high, she said, because he still has 2 ear infections. His ears are looking better though (thanks to Amanda). She gave us another antibiotic- same that he during the spring when we found out he had Lyme- doxycycline. She said in her 25+yrs of being a vet she has never seen ears this hard to treat. *sigh* I just want my boy back to being healthy! He is sort of playing it up we noticed....last night Molson was sitting on my bed and Apollo jumped up too. Molson SCREATCHED out in pain...but Apollo didn't even touch him! Then DH went to pick Molson up this morning and Molson yipped before DH even touched him.

No snow here . I **LOVE** the cold weather though! Poor Patty is walking around the house in her Fido Fleece, lmao!

I got my SS gift, thank you Steph (TheDogHouseBCMPD).

We've made it all the way up to 25, feels like 14, degrees now.  It's after 12:30 so I'm guessing this is about as good as it's gonna get.

The legs stayed warmer today.....not exactly warm, but they didn't get cold, throughout the walks, even taking Thunder back out alone since the other two were being buttheads and not letting him have any fun.  Shadows barking drives me to want to DRINK!  Non stop freaking barking outside.  I like to let them run and play together, but gosh, Shadow won't be still when we do.  So then after everyone came in I lugged in a ton of firewood, got the woodstove going, and am about to start the fun filled bath time for bozo's!  I might get wet (changing to shorts and a tank) but at least it'll be a WARM wet!  LOL.

I can relate about the amount of energy little ones take....once you get past 50 it becomes increasingly difficult to find enough energy to survive them....which is probably why we are supposed to have babies while we are still young!

No snow here  but it's very damp and foggy ... the kind of day that makes me want to curl up in the recliner with the newspaper and a cup of coffee.  However, I still have a lot to do and I see a trip to Trader Joe's and Target in my very near future - like maybe within the hour if I can force myself out the door.

DS #2 has this amazing knack for getting Max all riled up and in *zoomie" mode and last night he came very close to toppling the Christmas tree. Fortunately, DS grabbed it before it went too far.  Does "Hey kids, settle down and knock it off" work with a 33 year old and a dog?

Joyce

No snow here, but it could... wait, I just went outside and there were a few dandruff flakes of snow that passed by me.

I feel so scattered.  My mom invited me to my uncle's house on Christmas Eve day.  I reminded her that I'm working.  Plus I don't feel like driving what is normally a 45 min drive add on Christmas Eve traffic - last time I did that, I was in an accident.  Thanks, no thanks.  I do need to decide about my sister in Seattle and what to send her for Christmas.  Ugh...

Joyce, you will likely have to tell the "kids" to settle down even when they are 50.  Something about men and getting everyone riled up no matter how old they are.

Talked to my friend last night and it turns out he blew out a disk in his back, so he is icing it 3 x/day and has to go back to the doctor for more xrays this coming week.  Add to that no sitting or standing for extended periods and lifting no more than 5lbs. Ouch!

Walked dogs this morning and think I'm going to pay for it later with my knee.

Cathy, I'm glad your horse rescue party was a go and that you had so much fun.

I'm leaving shortly to go to a live birds of prey demonstration that another cat rescue group is hosting nearby.  Not to worry: there will be no cats used as prey!  LOL

Tina, what a bummer about your friend! Does this mean that you're going to play nurse for a bit? The birds of prey demonstration sounds cool, if a bit scary. Glad no cats will be harmed in the making of said demonstration ;)

Cathy, that sounds like a great party :)

Doug, grats on the car!

I'm having a bit of a pity party with myself this morning, but am trying really really hard to be productive anyway. Built an Ikea nightstand that I bought a few months ago (lol), and while I was building, this is what Rascal was doing:

That's 6 squeaky toys in the picture - one larger one out of the picture. Apparently he decided to only pile up his small ones. Some days, he decides it's a "big toy day," and then he gathers his larger ones.

Really, how grumpy can you be with that face 2 feet away from you??