Tree, Barn and Birds

Our downstairs tree is finally complete!  It looks pretty much the same as it does every year. 

The sun was finally out, so we went for a ride.

The neighbors barn is sporting a wreath. You can see we don’t have much snow…about 2 inches give or take.

I sat outside soaking up some sun, the birds kept me company.  This guy is a male Downy Woodpecker.  He is looking longingly at the suet feeder.

We have three kinds of woodpeckers; Red Bellied, Downy and Hairy.  Our usual Chickadees,  Nuthatches, a few Juncos and a couple of Blue Jays.

Far guy is putting corn out on the edge of the woods for the squirrels and rabbits.  The Blue Jays visit there every morning…it keeps them from harassing the smaller birds.

Seven days and counting.  Today I hope to finish decorating the Shiny Brite tree.

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas 1975

In December of 1975 our daughters Trica (3 years 8 months old) and Jennifer (3 months old) at our home in Moorhead MN.  Thirty nine years ago.

We had a live tree…looks kinda like a Charlie Brown Tree.  I still have some of those ornaments!

We should get a photo of the baby alone.

Not such a good idea. Poor thing…cried and kicked so hard she blew a slipper….but her sister is still smiling.

Trica, Julie (my sister) and Jennifer.  Trica must be practicing her smile.

Far Guy’s sister Janice and Jennifer at Far Guy’s parents in Park Rapids Minnesota.

Far Guy and Jennifer

Far Guy’s Mom holding Jennifer.  In the background we have Baby Snuffer, my other baby brother Jody, Trica near Jody and brother in law Ron in the red pants.

Jan and Ron must have come up from Indiana for Christmas.  The tree was on the end table that year.  On the coffee table I see amongst other things a terrarium.  Far Guys Mom fussed and fretted with that terrarium…everything had to be just perfect…the layers of sand..the stuff inside…I don’t remember much of what was inside….but they were all the rage in 1975.  We still have that granny square afghan that is on the couch, it is upstairs and hangs on the quilt rack.

Far Guy’s Mom had that streak of grey/silver in her hair on purpose…the rest she colored but that front part was natural.  Not sure why..it must have been all the rage back then.

December 15 Precipitation

Rain, sleet and snow.  Most everything is icy now.

The roads into town were slick.

Traffic was moving slowly and snow plows and sand/salt trucks even slower.

 

We went from NO snow to 2 inches at the snow stick just like that.  Someone flipped the winter switch again.

The fog that has been hanging around for days lifted enough to snow.  We have to turn lights on in the house in the daytime.  Sunset if you could see it happens around 4:30.  We have eight hours and 34 minutes of daylight IF you can call it that.  I am certain if and when the sun returns I will be blinded.

Far Guy says “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”

I still have many loose ends to finish up before company arrives.  No doubt they want a bed without ornaments and possibly they will be hungry.

I still have time…nine days and counting.

Basketball: Adam

We took some time away from Christmas “stuff” to go to a Basketball Game, a tournament actually.  We got to see Adam play more than once.

This is his first year of playing basketball.

Adam is Number 24.  I am certain if he stretched out his arm he could reach the bottom of that basketball net.

He needs to grow into those long arms and legs and that stride…oh my.  AND his hair…his hair looks great even after playing basketball all day long.

Adam is the tallest boy on his team.  This is a photo of Adam and his friend and teammate. I call this photo “the tall and short of it.”

Adam’s team played well, they showed awesome teamwork and sportsmanship.

He was tired and hungry after the games.  I think he was off to bed before 8 PM.  It takes lots of energy to grow so big and tall so fast.

The weather has been perfect!  Spring like temperatures!  It was 42 F or 5 C eh on the day when we travelled to the games in East Grand Forks Minnesota.  It was a bit foggy…actually a lot foggy when we travelled home.  We have not seen the sun in weeks.  Yesterday it rained like in the summertime and our snow is all gone.

Adam loves the snow, he thrives in snow and cold weather…Alaska may be a perfect place for him someday.  He was quite bummed out that the weather is so warm.  He is headed on a School Ski Trip this week, he doesn’t know how to downhill ski.  I asked him what else he could do on this trip besides learning to ski…he replied “Eat” I asked if he was packing a backpack full of food…he said “No there is a concession stand.”

Save your fork

A long time ago my Mother’s best friend Ann would toil away in the kitchen in the days before Christmas.  Inevitably a tray of cookies would show up at our home. 

There was one “cookie” that I looked forward to every year.  It was an Apricot Ball something.  Recently I called my Mom to ask her for the recipe. 

I would have called Ann but she is in heaven…she died a number of years ago…breast cancer and then cancer took over her lungs and the rest of her body.

I can still see her in that coffin…a pleasant look on her face.  A fork grasped in both of her hands…most people have their hands clasped together in prayer or holding rosary beads…but a fork?

Well here in Minnesota after a meal, the hostess usually clears the plates and says “Save your fork…dessert is coming up.”

For Ann being a Christian woman…she was all set for the dessert!

 

Ann’s  Holiday Apricot Balls

One package (8 ounces) Dried Apricots ground fine or finely cut

2 1/2 Cups Flaked Coconut

3/4 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

One Cup Chopped Nuts

Blend together, shape into small balls, roll in chopped nuts. Makes about 5 dozen.

** I found that if I chilled the mixture it was easier to work with.

 

I made made a batch of Apricot Balls and I also made a batch of Craisin ones that were infused with Pomegranate Juice. Both are quite tasty and as good as I remember.

Have you ever asked your guests to save their fork? 

Slow Going

Far Guy worked on the downstairs tree one afternoon.  It has lights.

No decorations yet…but hey I like the lights!  I am thinking that the one older stringer needs to find another spot besides on the tree.

The tree upstairs is a work in progress.

I go upstairs and grab a box of ornaments and hang them…and repeat until life interrupts.   It will take a few days to accomplish…for sure I will have it all decorated before Christmas.

We have been busy.

I made some “cookies” for a cookie exchange.

We helped set up the silent auction and attended a benefit for Far Guy’s Cousin who has a rare and incurable disease called Arachnoiditis.  There was a great turnout…she was a Chemotherapy Infusion Nurse so she has touched many lives.

Shiny Brite Tree

Slowly but surely we are getting the Shiny Brite tree up.

The Shiny Brite tree is assembled.  The top is decorated and then lifted onto the bottom section because a person could kill herself going up and down a ladder and break more ornaments than she could hang.

The Shiny Brite Tree Topper, Far Guy bought it for me a number of years ago.  It is always the first thing I put on the tree….the beginning.

The beds and the couch and every other available space is used for the staging area.  Each box has a sticky note.  I like them to go back into their own assigned boxes.  It is an OCD thing.

The four boxes and the small group on the bottom right are the new old ornaments this year. 

Here is another bed full.  Good thing no one is coming to visit.

I won’t show the couch or my work table or any other area for fear you will call me a ornament hoarder.

The top has been decorated.  We have a system and it was lifted successfully onto the bottom part yesterday.

The bottom part takes a number of days to decorate.

This is the box of New Retro Shiny Brites that we added to the collection this year.

I have six boxes of retros now one for each of my grands and a spare just incase some are broken.  Well you never know.

I walked around looking at other shorter fake trees the other day…ones that the elderly can easily put up.  I am considering a smaller shorter tree….no big decisions have been made yet.  I had a brilliant thought that if the tree was smaller I could decorate all in red one year…blue the next…silver…gold…pink...

Visit from an elf?

Live Writer is not working for me at the moment...all is well except for an error code...who knows what is up with blogger now:(  If and when the error code goes away from whence it came I will publish the blog post for today :(

Far Side

All about the Trains

Every time  grandson Adam visits he checks out the train set upstairs.  The last time he was here he said “Grandpa I am not sure you have room for anything else.”

The weather is grey and gloomy.  We took off for Menards in Detroit Lakes.

Someone is expanding his train area.  He needed another table.  Table shopping is boring, but I had a blast in the Christmas aisle!

Of course I cannot resist ornaments.

We heard from neighbor Edie that there were some Lionel Ornaments at Menards.  They seemed to be the perfect holiday decoration for the train set.  Far Guy agreed with me especially since they were on sale.

I plunked one down in the back of a truck at the drive in theater.

Later I came back and found them all over the train set.

Wistful Wednesday : Christmas Tree

Dragging the tree to it’s spot in the living room, leaving behind a trail of needles and possibly some pine pitch.  (our house)

Every cat in the house is interested, of course the dogs are smarter and act like they know that it is perfectly normal for a tree to be in the house. (our house)

After the tree has unfrozen and sucked up an undisclosed amount of sugar water it can be decorated. (our house)

The lights are first…remember patiently waiting whilst your Dad checks every bulb for the one that is bad and must be replaced before the lights work? (My parents home and Far Guy said until all the appropriate cuss words were uttered nothing worked at his parents house.)

Then it is time for the garland…sometimes gold or silver or colored strings of bead like baubles. (my parents)

The ornaments one by one are taken from their hiding spots amongst the tissue paper…remember this one?  Remember that one?  (me)

The Star was placed on top (my parents).  The Angel was placed on top (our house).

Mom placed the tinsel on the tree in exactly all the right places. (my parents house)  I tried tinsel one year…cats pooping tinsel was not a good thing…(our house).

We turned off all the lights in the house to see the lights on our tree.

At our house…the cats thought the tree was brought in especially for them.  They would tear down the hallway and run up the center of the tree.  One year I thought Shadow was going to electrocute himself because he kept chewing the light stringers.  I would catch him and put the ends back together with electrical tape.  Eventually those light stringers were used outside because they were a hazard, a few years ago I threw them away…thinking that darn cat…and smiling.

The tree this week is one from Far Guy’s parents home.  The year remains unknown.

Most likely from the 1950’s. A tree with a bit of sprayed on snow and some Shiny Brites…red if I recall correctly from later years.

Winter Formal: Maddie

We caught up with Maddie late in the afternoon the day of the Winter Formal.

I saw photos of this sparkly dress earlier when she picked it out. The dress has personality!

I think Auntie Jen helped to corset her in!

The bracelet that we designed to go with her dress.  We worked on it the weekend that she was deer hunting with my Dad.

Maddie and two of her friends.

There were half a dozen girls in the house with their dates.  The girls sat around texting and taking photos, giggling and eating pizza, the boys were talking about trucks and cars and having a video game competition.

Maddie and her beau.

Here is another view of the back of the gown.

Those tendrils of fabric flowed behind her as she walked.  The theme of the Winter Formal was “Frozen in Time.”

I took this photo right after the Grand March.

I had to turn one photo into black and white because black and white photos are beautiful of Maddie with her dark eyes and dark hair.  She had a really fun time getting all dressed up!