Christmas breakfast consisted of fresh from the oven popovers, scrambled eggs and cheese with coffee, of course!!
During breakfast I got a text from Mindy, we were up to 13 baby goats!! She knows I get excited about more goat's milk!!
The pileated and crow came for breakfast. I made a suet block just for them.
The day before I took a feast down to the pasture for the deer. The pumpkins I grew for autumn decorating get eaten in the winter.
Look closely. Can you see her? Yep!! That's Baby at the deer block!
I called her name, she looked up and came closer. I did not see her mother, who I hope was nearby. They are supposed to stay together for two years.
December 2012 While living in GA, I had a rufous hummingbird show up where the local bird group came out and banded her. Here I am lucky enough to get another hummer spending winter at my house!!
I went to the wood shed for a few logs to toss on the fire and heard that familiar buzz and could not believe a hummer was at my frozen feeder.
I quickly made a fresh batch of food so she/he would have something fresh and warm to drink.
I contacted the local bird club and they hooked me up with Kevin. I've been sending photos trying to identify this hummer, he thinks it is a Rufous or Allens, but I need to get a closeup of the tail feathers, which I have not been able to do, so he may come with his assistant this weekend to come identify. They did not mention banding.
Yesterday was 60 degrees, I spent my birthday in the garden working on beds for spring. My lettuce is looking awesome. Some seeds arrived today that I will start inside. Spring will be here before we know it, but on to New Year's Eve first!
Mindy's invitation to her taco party, sent by text, very cute. All my photos loaded backwards, no time to re-do, so you could start from the bottom up!
Yesterday I was to drive 5 hrs. round trip to get this senior boy Harley who was passed from shelter to shelter and luckily found a volunteer to do the driving for me with her two little girls. Future rescuers!
The farmhouse lights.
Not many cards this year, they're probably all stuck in the mail as mine are!
The base for my tree is a box made from the same panels I used on the mantel.
The black "tinsel" is not as many expected it to be. It is very subtle and glistens at night. It really makes the tree, but is so tedious to put up. I think from now on I will stick with garland.
I used both warm and cool lights, the mixture is nice.
Lots of icicles, stars and snowflakes.
Delivered the rocking horse to Steve at the print shop . . .
and his little dog Abbey got a jar of goat's milk.
Yes, I drive around with greens on my dash, the inside of the car smells like a Christmas tree farm.
From Mindy's porch you can see the equestrian center where they are having a light show at $30/car!!
The bonfire was huge and so warm and relaxing. Since my photos uploaded backward, this was the end of the night and if we didn't have senior dogs we would have stayed hours longer sitting and talking around the campfire!
Mindy's daughter came home from college in AZ and had a new drink to share. Bob was the guinea pig. You lick chocolate sauce off your wrist, shoot a peppermint vodka and Mindy squirts whipped cream in your mouth. I was designated driver so didn't have one, but everyone got a good laugh. A take on a tequila shot with the lime and salt.
We arrived around 5, her open house started at 2, so she had people coming and going all day, I was surprised there was so much food left and it was all very tasty!
Shahab the Iranian Santa lol!
The goats were locked in the barn, same thing we do with the dogs when we have guests. Didn't get to see all the new babies, total of three so far! More goat's milk for the dogs!
A gift of wine for Shahab
A favorite book of mine for Mindy, "The Winemaker's Marsh"
Story of one of the Sebastiani brothers turning an old vineyard into the marsh it once was. Need to read this again.
So the party was a hit, everything was delivered, then Panda took a turn for the worst and Bob ended up at the ER vet at 11 PM up the mountain to get insulin for him. We just found out he is now diabetic and will require shots twice a day. Here we go again! Tonight we relax with a fire, get takeout for dinner and open a few gifts! Merry Christmas everyone!
A bit behind on everything this year, but the packages have all been shipped, although I worry they won't make it with the postal service being so behind. Not one of my packages has made it to its destination yet, but we still have four days!
Gifts for the family wrapped in a pretty feminine paper, not my usual, but liking the silver and cream.
Cannot send out the cards without glitter! Had an assembly line going on the living room windowsill, but got two boxes finished and in the mail!
A no-bake Christmas for me this year. Decided to bake my special trail mix and found these pretty containers making local delivery easy.
We've gotten to be friends with the local printer. Just like the print shop my brother works in, the old fashioned kind, we are so lucky to have him in our town with all the printing Bob gets done for work. I noticed last year on his front desk he puts up a vintage aluminum tree with a collection of Tryon Morris the Horses and I found this one last year and decided to gift it to him. He has a sweet little dog named Abbey that will be getting a ball jar of goat's milk.
I had a few rescue friends I wanted to send afghans to, but this was the only one I got out to my friends Peter and Norma in NJ. The others will get theirs on their birthday since I just didn't get the time to pull them out and get them wrapped.
Every year there is one gift I can't wait for the recipient to open and this year it's my sister-in-law's gift I found back in the spring. This life size pillow looks just like her dog Ivy. I went to Petsmart and got a collar with a little bling. I think she's going to love this!
Well, at least Bob is keeping with my xmas color scheme, but he's back to the Santa Jaws paper.
I had to make a trip to get to a Walmart, I needed more ribbon and tags, Target was completely sold out, and I got sidetracked by a few thrift stores and came back with some awesome lighting and afghans. Walmart has some really pretty wrappings and trimmings, I will be heading back day after Christmas when it all goes half price!
Love these Mid Century copper lights.
This is a huge pendant light with beveled glass.
Cut glass chandelier with beveled prisms.
I guess part of the reason I'm always behind on things is rescue, but how do you say no to a face like this? Had to raise funds and help get this 13 year old who has been in the shelter since JULY to my rescue friend in Lancaster. She got there yesterday and she's being a brat, bit her foster, but they're working with her. Her name is Mya.
This is my color scheme this year, dark and moody. Bob's gifts are wrapped in this deep dark blue with specks of silver. I know you want to see my tree with the black tinsel. It will be in my next post!
My friend Debra who I go to goat shows with to collect milk has a birthday in December, too, and she is in Cancun for her bday and Christmas. She is staying at a much nicer place than we did when we went to Cancun decades ago!
Speaking of my goat friends, Mindy texted this photo to me this morning. A new baby goat! She didn't even know one was pregnant and the poor baby was born on one of our coldest mornings so far, but looks healthy. We will get to meet her on Tuesday at Mindy's taco Christmas party. She's from AZ and does Southwestern cuisine. This week I will be driving five hours to get another senior out of a shelter before Christmas, so Christmas will be here before I know it!
Yesterday I was to drive 5 hrs. round trip to get this senior boy Harley who was passed from shelter to shelter and luckily found a volunteer to do the driving for me with her two little girls. Future rescuers!
The farmhouse lights.
Not many cards this year, they're probably all stuck in the mail as mine are!
The base for my tree is a box made from the same panels I used on the mantel.
The black "tinsel" is not as many expected it to be. It is very subtle and glistens at night. It really makes the tree, but is so tedious to put up. I think from now on I will stick with garland.
I used both warm and cool lights, the mixture is nice.
Lots of icicles, stars and snowflakes.
Delivered the rocking horse to Steve at the print shop . . . 
and his little dog Abbey got a jar of goat's milk.
Yes, I drive around with greens on my dash, the inside of the car smells like a Christmas tree farm.
From Mindy's porch you can see the equestrian center where they are having a light show at $30/car!! 
The bonfire was huge and so warm and relaxing. Since my photos uploaded backward, this was the end of the night and if we didn't have senior dogs we would have stayed hours longer sitting and talking around the campfire!
Mindy's daughter came home from college in AZ and had a new drink to share. Bob was the guinea pig. You lick chocolate sauce off your wrist, shoot a peppermint vodka and Mindy squirts whipped cream in your mouth. I was designated driver so didn't have one, but everyone got a good laugh. A take on a tequila shot with the lime and salt.
We arrived around 5, her open house started at 2, so she had people coming and going all day, I was surprised there was so much food left and it was all very tasty!
Shahab the Iranian Santa lol!
The goats were locked in the barn, same thing we do with the dogs when we have guests. Didn't get to see all the new babies, total of three so far! More goat's milk for the dogs!
A gift of wine for Shahab
A favorite book of mine for Mindy, "The Winemaker's Marsh"
Story of one of the Sebastiani brothers turning an old vineyard into the marsh it once was. Need to read this again.
