A Good Laugh on Me

Good gravy Gert. 

Behold the dying goose. 

DECOY! 

Michelle McMullen and Friend Jill... I must be as blind as a BAT!  

I have had a good laugh at myself all afternoon.  

I'm glad it wasn't a dying goose. 

There are lots of live geese across from it, on the farm pond.  Yes, we have some 

sunshine today. 

I had the game camera sitting outside today to catch 

some of the visitors to our feeding area on the patio... 

I see I need to clean the lens.

This red boy usually is among the last to feed. 

It looks like he may be among the earliest, too. 

I stopped to catch a couple of squirrels today... this one... 

And this one, two trees down. 

I was not able to get a clear picture of the crows on the road. 

But I WAS able to get this! 

Last week, I showed you my two Christmas trees. 

This was Keith's youngest daughter, Amber's, when we 

got to their house for Carson's birthday on Sunday:

Amber is a graphic artist, and she is so very creative. 

The tree was gorgeous (it was one of four).  She has 3 children, 

how does she do it???

So... I re-dressed our tree in the living room, since we are 

having everyone for Christmas on Sunday. 

I feel better now.  

Tonight, I'm getting some of the presents ready.  I have ONE thing left to get. 

Tomorrow, we are still cleaning and finishing the decorating. 

6 days until the start of winter, can you believe it? 

Here Comes Winter

 I have been hauling Christmas boxes up and down the stairs this afternoon. 

I just have one question. 

Where did it all come from? 

I intended to donate more than half of it this year, but 

Pete's final illness squashed that idea, so... I'm going to 

mark the bins so I know which need to go to the Good Shepherd next fall. 

This tiny little tree is the living room tree this year. 

I just don't have the oomph right now. 

Here is the spare bedroom tree, and I love it.  I have always loved my 

skinny primitive tree.  I still need to put a skirt around it. 

It does light up. 

I need to vacuum in the morning, and put the nativity set out. 

People are cutting the grass in our neighborhood, there is a man out there now.  

As you see, there is still a lot of green. 

This was our little side-yard-pond last week, after the rain we had. 

Actually, we are now expecting a 100% chance of rain this weekend, 

so I think it will look like this again. 

When I was on my way home from church the other night, 

I saw something way in the distance.  I stopped and waited. 

14 crossed the road (another lady stopped on the other side).

They joined a large group in the field on my left. 

After the group joined,  there were well over 20 birds together. 

I just love these birds!  

Beauty all Around Us

The leaves are especially beautiful this week here in Leavenworth County.  We had a hint of rain this morning... while I crossed the yard in the dark, there was a single flash of lightening, and then a very soft rumble of thunder, and then it sprinkled.  It sprinkled all the way to the office, rained a short time there, and then cleared up.  We have not had a measureable amount of rain since August 20th, before my birthday.

Here is what our pasture looks like  - and it's a pleasure to be in it in the evening.

See the birds flying by?  That's looking north into the Spehar's calf pasture.  Their land forms an "L" around ours.

And this is the wonderful view looking east, into the Spehar's back acreage.  See the gorgeous tree across their second pond?  It is the first thing we see coming down our drive in the evening... like a fiery beacon.  You can JUST see the beehive sitting near it to the left. 

What a great time of year this is!

Another Labor of Love

After two lovely, balmy days in the 50s, the temperature is about to take a turn for the worse, and we expect two days of possible rain/snow, with temps falling below ten degrees overnight on Saturday and Sunday. 

To take advantage of the last balmy evening before the winds and rains come, Keith has put together a new artificial tree out on our porch tonight.  A true labor of love, he has been working on it for several hours.  We wanted to put a real tree up, and then put it on our brush pile for the little wild things in the pasture, but we were worried about the tree holder freezing and thawing over the next few weeks.  So today, while out after work, Keith stopped and bought a nice artificial tree.  We are going to put large lights on it so it can be seen plainly from the road.