Back to the Mundane

Okay. 'fess up... how many have taken down their trees already? 

I took the dogs out to the old place a little after noon, and, by the time we returned, 

our neighbors had removed every vestige of Christmas from the exterior of their house. 

I am going to begin taking down the tree.  I'm packing the things away differently this year, 

and marking everything, so I know where to find things better next year. 

There were bins full of things I didn't use, so I am going through 

those, too, to see what we can do without in the future. 

It's funny... I'm not as into decorating now that I have reached the ripe old age of 

64. 

Our beautiful Lilly couldn't wait to get down to the pasture when we got to the old house. 

Someone else wasn't far behind her. 

You can see it was a beautiful winter day, and even though it was chilly at 40 degrees, it 

was good to be out there. 

I spotted hawks everywhere on the way out there. 

This was another, perched on the top conducter a mile away. 

The moon watched over us as we spent time in the pasture.  I saw a turkey vulture in the distance, 

but it never came close enough to get a picture. 

I surprised this guy on the way back. 

And he took off when I stopped too long... 

Coopers hawk????  I'm not sure on this one. 

This one is.  He is down on the corner... but it is rare I get to take his picture, 

because the feeder street for our neighborhood is heavily traveled.  

Here is the link to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology about 

Cooper's Hawks.

Sharp-shinned hawks, which are smaller than Coopers... prefer woodland to the outskirts of 

suburbia as the Coopers do. 

I am going to stop here and go start taking the tree down for another year. 

We will leave the stable up... and keep the memories of this first Christmas in our 

big house in our hearts, as I did the little house for so many years.