Last Day of the Year......

 I resurrected an old free standing birdfeeder and gave it a new roof. It has a modern look with the snow drifts on it.  I have seen birds eating here so it is woring.

The wheel barrow is under the sun room area but it still collected snow from the last storm. We are too cold for any of it to be leaving anytime soon.

Looking out the downstairs window I can see beg blue looming with a new coat of snow. It is a different coating of snow that the last storm.

The potting bench is not being used so it just holds a lawyer of snow. Nt bew trekkus najes tge wgike area look great.  I am ready for spring but that is a long time from now. 

Looking out from the patio door shows another snow scene. My brother sent me a photo of his  front yard with green grass and a  palm.  He lives in Arizona and is worried that his tomatoes will get frosted from his 41 degree temperatures. I sent h im a photo of my raised bd covered in snow. 

Our oldest grandson loves legos and I built this with him while he was here.  I think it has been over two years since they were last year even though we did see them at their house last Christmas.  We bought him a y-winged Star Wars ship for Christmas and he was happy about that. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  It doesn't feel like New Years Eve but it is going to happen anyway.  Happy New Year early.

Wednesday...

The morning after shows the city truck clearing our streets. The company who clears my drive came late in the evening to to the driveway and returned a few house to do the sidewalk. 

 

It was an interesting sky with the openings of light. The sun shines behind my neighbors house so I can get a full sunrise photo. The walks are all cleared this morning by others. I could hear snowblowers working before I got out of bed this morning. 

The ice and snow blowing kept me from getting a good focus on big red here. It was blowing hard yesterday and shifting snow everywhere. 

 The snow build-up on the roof shows the amount of snow thqt we had. It is clear today on Wednesday and not too many people are out on the roads. 

Happiness for me was being able to have mince meat pie but it is now all gone.  I had to take such small pieces and it still made my blood numbers go high.  Now that it is all gone I can get back to better numbers. I spoke with my newest doctor yesterday on the iPhone.  She is a specialists that wants to rework my meds and insulin.  I hope it will make me fell a lot better. I won't eat any more pie eer. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday...

 

 On this Peanuts wrapping paper you tend to thin they are mostly all out in the now.  It makes it relevant as we are getting our heavy snow. The forecast says it will be 1005 snow all day with some wind to move it around. 

 

The snow is building up as you view the roof of the feeder. It is tough weather for them to come to the feeder but a few are coming in for some quick seeds.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Fishy Story...

 

 Gifts from a former blogging friend in Indiana.  I always think of them as a reminder of my dad, even though he did not dress like that.

Sunday's Shots....

 

 

 

 

 

random Shots......

 It is a day of using leftover photos that never got posted. Downstairs there is a shelf that catches some things worth displaying.  We haven't used a tea pot for a long time as we usually make it by the cup. 

 

My last years poinsettia is showing color.  I should have tossed it a long time ago but if a plant wants to grow I will keep it growing.  My older brother lives in California and I saw photos of his back patio. He buys things in plastic gallon pots and sets them everywhere on his patio. I  do stop myself from asking him why he doesn't put them in the ground. Lots of blooming pots of hibiscus all over the area and vines and spider plants in their pots on shelves. I am jealous that he has a koi pond with lots of fish in them.  He lives in the Yorba Linda area near Disneyland. 

We both his wooded piece in Jerusalem last year. It was actually near Bethlehem south of of Jerusalem. The whole place was filled with carvings of things made from olive wood. It was filled with items of every size and it was hard to choose just one.  The marketing strategy of the place was to hand us a basket when we walked in the door.  We did also buy a wooden replica of a menorah also.  I am assuming that there are lots of olive trees in Israel which do need to be cut because they have died. I am glad they don't cut them from the garden of Gethsemane.  

The lighting makes this look blurry but it is not. The merry-go-round is a highlight of the village. It plays Christmas music with a flip of a special switch.  It will be time to start the take down of things but we wait until after New Year;s day to even think about it.  Lots of boxes are involved and trips up and down the stairs. 

It is a quiet Saturday with a little bit of a warm up.  I bragged about eating mince meat pie yesterday but it was not good for me this morning when I did my numbers.  I will have to half the half the size of the piece today. I miss living a normal life but I do need to keep myself more healthy and safe. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Christmas Day....

 It is cold, really cold, and the birds are feeding. I will have to venture out in my winter coat and hat to put more in the tray.

My wife made me a mince meat pie. I am a diabetic and I really should not eat it but I can. One of my doctors said that for the trade off of a meal, I could eat a dessert. 

 This was my Christmas noon meal.  It was so wonderful to eat.  I tested my blood numbers two hours later and I didn't put myself in danger. I do have an early meal coming now with roast beef and fixings.  Protein is good for my diet but I will skip the potatoes so I could maybe have another thin slice of pie in the evening.  This particular mince meat was mostly raisins and apples but it was very sweet. 

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas day. We are at home together and all our kids will call to check in sometime today. Thanks for stopping by today.

Christmas Eve...Cold

 A view under my wife's Christmas tree. It is a convention of angels. They each have memories of when and where they were received. 

We had blizzard weather all afternoon and through the night.  It didn't leave us much snow but it is extremely cold today.  Wind chills below zero and the high of 16 deges F. I took a letter to the mailbox and I could not have worn enough to keep warm. I have wrapping of presents to do today and getting ready for Christmas day. It has come up on us very quickly.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week....

 He is a mystery as he is so small. He looks like one just from the nest but I am sure he left the nest quite a while ago. I think it is a sparrow.

We had two nights of warm weather so the six inches of snow and drifts are gone. That is the last of it.  Our temps are now dropping though as it is going to snow this evening. We will be below 32 degrees by one this afternoon. 

I ordered a set of shelves to use on our living room wall.  Thye finally delivered them yesterday.  I am not completely satisfied with them. The walnut finish is not a true color as the pine boards that they are made from is not prone to take on a stain.  I will live with them and  I don't want to send them back.  I could have built the same set of three shelves myself with fifteen dollars of pine boards. 

The photo is of Capernum, Israel. We visited there and saw the temple and village ruins of the city.  Jesus lived there.  It was his base home as he walked the length of Israel to preach. The view is of the Sea of Galilee looking southeast at the water. The promotion of the photo remarks that it would be the scene that Jesus would see when he was up in the morning in Capernum. 

 

 Buddies by the tree hold down the side of the bench. The tree is fun and reminds me of our kids and grand kids. I did get one more gift for my wife today in the mail.  One more to go.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Tuesday's Tidbits.....

The morning sunrise was great this morning but my neighbor;'s house blocked the view. The earth will start to tilt back now and the sun will be back into view.  We were really cold in the night but I do believe we will warm up again.  I sent out Christmas cards today that won't get there on time but we have been kind of waiting to see who is mailing them out.  My wife had some to send also.

I appreciate you checking in today. 

 

Monday......

 The former owner had put in stopping stones to his vegetable garden. I don't know what the black stones are but in the winter their warmth in the ground soil causes the snow to melt. There are rabbit tracks all over my back yard and as the temps are at 45 degree F. they too are melting into larger tracks. We have a very cold wind  but th snow keeps melting.

 

The down stairs ledge makes a great place to display things. My wife has dolls she considers here Christmas dolls that I brought up from the downstairs spare bedroom. The jars of old ornaments really works well for displaying them. Some ot them are sixty years old. 

I am having a sluggish day today.  When I think I am better, I go and get the air put in the tires this am.  I now have my whole rib cage hurting from the surgery of the past.  I will be better tomorrow but it irritating to me that it isn't all over with yet. 

We are watching our computers to see when all our internet purchases have arrived.  Our family in Chicago have received three of the five things we ordered. The kids in Maine have theirs now.  I  have a couple of things yet to arrive for my wife.  I have a non Christmas order, wall shelves, that keeps getting pushed back as to its arrival date. The shipping industry is clogged up and very busy.

I thank you for checking in on my blog today. Everyone take care and be safe.

Sunday....

 

We have snow melting today. It isn't a rapid melt but it is going away. I didn't get out to take pictures but maybe I can tomorrow. It is a quiet Sunday here and we have seen sunshine for most of the day. It is overcast now and I assume we will go back to freezing temps. My brother in California is 81 degrees today and my brother in Mesa, Arizona is 66 degrees.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday's Stuff.....

 When the hurricane strength winds hit our town at the old place this tree took a large hit. It lost four major limbs that were spread all over the front yard. You can see how the yard was so torn up from the equipment that drug the parts of it out of there. Later on the city came in to trim up some of the stray branches. 

When I bought the property 44 years ago there were five of these silver maples standing. The house is over 104 years old so who can know how old the trees were.  I do know that there was evidence of two more trees that were standing but had been removed before 1976.  One stood at the back of the house and hand fallen onto the house. Another stood to the east of this one that is shown here.  

One Friday the city took the tree down. It was the very last of them to come down. We lost two others, three years ago when the city had a special ditch project. So this tree is gone.  I have not seen the house since it was removed. I am glad that I had a good birch tree planted next to the house and a pine tree at the other end of the house so it won't look so naked.

The Merry Go Round is so fun to see at night with all the lights and music. It adds motion to the imaginary village. 

I ordered all of my presents for my wife this year on the internet. The last thing that I ordered for her came today. It was the first one to come in an oversized box.  I did hear sounds later in the day and another delivery truck brought a couple more boxes. I may not get everything before Christmas but things look good for now.  

We really are not melting much today as we are just not above a freezing temperature. The snow is shrinking though and we are suppose to worm up in a couple of days. I like snow for Christmas but it may not be so white.  I am getting tired of the cold.  Thanks for stopping by today.