Monday's Moose...........

I have a new shirt with a moose on it.  My son and daughter-in-law live in Maine, near Bar Harbor.  It is a wonderful area that sits on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. I bought shirts from the area when we were out there few years ago and like wearing them.  I once  wore a sweat shirt with Maine written across the front of it and a guy at a Burger King said that I was a long way from home being here in Iowa. I assured him that I am home, that only the shirt was from Maine.

Having spent many summers in Minnesota in my past, I have seen many a "moose crossing" signs. I saw a live moose at the zoo once in the "Cities" area but I have never seen a moose out loose in nature. I have been told that it isn't a safe experience to be around moose.  I do think that our kids in Maine have seen one in the area where they live. It does seem to be a safer bet for me to just wear pictures of moose and that is what I will do.

The snowman sitting at the base of this tree is one of our newer decorations that we have in our collection.  My wife gets together with a woman and paints.  The woman gave the snowman to us one Christmas.

Avis is the woman's name.  She created the piece from seeing the pieces of rose vases at a store. She found paint to cover the glass and she bought a single lightbulb setup to place inside of the snowman.  Adding a hat and scarf and painting on a face helped finish it off.  I guess too, that there are real buttons on his belly.

As I was taking photos on Christmas eve of items on the angel tree, the tree fell over.  The cheap stand at the base was so wimpy that the metal just gave away and let it fall over.  It was really lucky to be there at the time because I caught it.  I did not touch the tree but maybe the wind currents from my huge body caused it to fall.

Solutions to the problem were to remove all of the ornaments and go to Wally World and buy a new tree.  They were not on sale but I am sure they are today.  Twenty bucks later and a half hour of time made the tree be restored to better than ever. The experience at Wally World on Christmas eve is a whole essay of writing in its own.  It was a weird experience.

The new tree is taller and more compact making the ornaments show off better.  One time when we were sitting along the shoreline of Lake Superior, a birch tree decided to just fall down right next to us. The   fall in our dining room was, on a much smaller scale, but it was just as weird as this happening.  One crystal ornament out of all of all of the ones you see here on the tree was broken.

Going to Walmart in the middle of getting things done for Christmas seems difficult but it all worked out.  We grabbed a sandwich while we were out and came home and kept up the same pace as before our interruption.

Our plans also changed in the going to the Chicago area.  Instead of going today, we will be driving out on Wednesday.  Weather conditions should be better and the traffic congestion should be less. We had a brunch  meal with my wife's brother and wife Christmas day. It was very crowded at Perkins by the time we left but it was good while we were there. I tipped the waitress a larger amount and thanked her for working on Christmas day.

We had rain yesterday and today we have clear skies with the sun shining.  We may journey off to see a movie today and have a restful day in the afternoon.  I hope all are doing well out there.  Thanks for stopping by today.