Saturday.....New Year Soooooon.

 The evening sky actually had some color.  It has been just dark with clouds for most of the winter. The warming spell brought it on but we are back to being cold again.

I ordered new trellis for the north side of the house.  They will go next to my stairs where I tore out and overgrown vine and wooden trellis.  They came of course about the time that winter set in and there was no way I was going to put them up. I left them in the box but now I can at least work on them getting them ready for spring.

I have two different styles and this one was the most difficult to assemble. It all is assembled by sliding and slipping parts through to get the right design.  The whole thing is assembled and attached to the one side.  The second side is added after everything is ready. The other styled trellis is going to be so easy compared to this one. 

My Christmas gift from my wife was a photo booth.  I am learning how to set things inside of it and get great lighting.  These pots are still not fired so the bisque ware isn't so flashy.  The booth does a great job of light everything on all sides with one having a clear plain background. You will be seeing all the strange things that I have been shooting as time goes by.

Happy New Year to all my blogger friends.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

Friday's Finds....

 I started the process of putting the grandkids toys back into storage.  Our grand daughter loves the barn and all the animals that came with it. Her great grandfather was a farmer in southern Iowa with Farmall tractors.

 Our grandson loved to mix it up with the dinosaurs living in the city.  I put it away in sections so when he returns this summer he can set up some of it up again quickly.

 We had a 100 degree change in one week.  We were in the  40's F. a week ago and yesterday we hit 60 ° F. I am glad to see some of it melting.

 Some people in the neighborhood left yesterday to go to their Arizona winter home.  We are back at near freezing temperatures again so we still have snow.  I got to use my snowblower twice a couple of weeks ago and not my driveway is melted clear.  It is going to rain and snow again soon so we are not having any spring soon.   Thanks for stopping by to day.

Thursday's Things.....

 A donkey carved from olive tree wood. A gift the adds to our Bethlehem collection.  

Our grandson loves the old toy of Godzilla.  It belonged to his father when he was five years old.  Now the 6 year old son likes to imitate the creature.  He declared his city to be protected by Godzilla. 

The city was created by me and my grandson over a long period of time.  We started it when he visited in the summer and now it has grown. Our grandson loves to create all sorts of vehicles to to park around his city.

Our granddaughter was on her way home when she declared herself upset because they didn't bring the ginger bread home with them.   She, her grandma and her father put it all together.  She does have another one at home the she made with a parent earlie. 

Christmas is over but we are still enjoying all the decorations. We were glad that the family did come and were able to see the different trees.  We won't take anything down until after New Years or beyond.  We are having warm weather, melting temps, and it is wonderful. If we hadn't been so extremely cold we wouldn't be so pleased with 48° weather.  I had to fill up all my tires with air as the cold had messed with the air pressures.  I have a cheap pump that runs off of the cars lighter plug and with patience I can get the all inflated properly.  The future forecast says snow or rain will be coming.  It is winter so we just go with the flow.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday.....

 It has been wonderful to have a warming trend happen. We have open spaces in our yards with grass showing as well as the snow has melted off my driveway.

We had family visit us for a few days and we have evidence of their being here. We have lego creations still intact.  We also have three ginger bread houses made by grandkids and grandparents.  

All have left now to return to their home in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It was great to see them all and we made a lot of good memories.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Seasonal Holiday....

 We are hanging around the house today with the three grand kids. They had a fun time unwrapping presents last night. 

One of the activities was the making of gingerbread houses.  The come as kits and you assemble them the best you can.  Me and my 7 year old grandson were the merry makers of this one.

Our oldest grandson who going to be 10 created this one from the kit with the help of his mother.

My wife and the grand daughter, 3 years going on 4 in a few months,  assembled this with the help also of our son.  It was the most complicated one of the three. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Day After......

 

It is a favorite because of the character and his great uniform of bright colors. I don't remember much about it other than it just keeps coming our for display each year.

 

I can't keep up with the feeders lately.  The  cold weather brings them and they do like free food. 

The Chicago area family is coming today and somethings will be unwrapped for sure. 

Our grand kids have so many toys so we have to check with the dad to see if they have the toy before we buy it.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Christmas Day.....

 

It is a photo shot at a different angle than what I would normally do.  I guess the story it tells is just the same.  Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends.  

This is a creche carved from olive wood branches that grow in Israel.  The shop where it is sold has a basement full of wood with many people carving their wares.  We were at the shop which was north of Bethlehem.  They are Christian artists, wood carvers, with their shop in Muslim territory.  We have quite a few items from the place. We bought a few things there three years ago and some people gifted us ornaments from the same place. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Christmas Eve.....

 

I went to Menards today to pick up a gift.  The store was extremely cold and I was glad I was wearing my thermals.  The ornaments were on half price already so I had to pick up some more. I had my thermals on because I had just finished clearing my driveway with the snowblower.  We were at 5° F. most of the day and the wind made it to be so very cold. 

The morning shot was a cold quick one.  I guess we did have sun most of the day but I still fill chilled from being out there today.  We just finished wrapping the last presents this afternoon and we are now done.  We have supper to fix and we will be watching "Wonderful Life" afterwards.  I hope all people following me are staying warm and are in for the night safe and sound.  Thanks for checking in today.

Random Shots.....

 

 

 

 A very cold, windy day.  No one goes outside for very long.  I shoveled a path for the delivery man and it blew in already.  The delivery man just wrote my wife and said he isn't coming until tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Friged, Frozen, Fun......

 I rushed through a dozen plus Christmas cards this morning and took them to the mailbox at the end of my drive.  That snow was bad but the wind chill was horrible.  I question why I even went out there.  Our wind chill was -35 ° F. and I didn't want to turn my face into the wind to open the mailbox.  We cooled down from -8 ° to -11 °F.  I won't go get the mail until tomorrow.  I will probably have to clear my drive tomorrow.  I got my snow blower started up for the season yesterday so it is ready to go.  I am not ready to go. I see we will warm up to a -4° F. tomorrow.  That will be like a heatwave, not!

The snow piled up on the roof of the bird feeder gives me an idea as to what I have accumulated on the deck. I filled the hanging feeder yesterday and I bet tomorrow I will have to fill it again. 

The juncos were hitting the tray feeder but the sparrows were filling up all the spaces. They were eating and swinging along with the feeder as the wind blew. 

The birds don't like the feeder being filled in with snowfall but the do learn how to scratch it out to get to the seed.  Birds do have a way of giving an expression with their head movements.  This bird kept looking back to the pine tree thinking it should return to the safety from the weather. 

The weather did help me get some late Christmas cards done.  It is keeping me from finishing my shopping of a couple of gifts.  I am banking on tomorrow being better without so much wind but I could go on Saturday morning if I have to.  I hate waiting but I just can't go out there with it this cold.  Saturday will be so crowded.    Thanks for stopping by today.

Snow Starts......

 The snow storm started at 3:30 today.  It was very cold this morning in the single digits. It is now 16° F.  The snow is falling and the birds are crowding around the feeders.

We looked out onto our deck this morning and there was a flock of juncos.  We have seen only a couple the past month but the larger flocks have hit our town.  They come from Canada and Minnesota.  These are all the dark eyed juncos.   I don't think I have ever seen dozens at a time like what I saw this morning. 

I have been neglecting the tree in the spare bedroom so today I went in there and took some shots. The tree lights can be seen through the window when people drive by the front of our house. This tree is one with a lot of my larger medium sized glass blown ornaments.  The one on the right was bought in a set that waw made in a Slovic country.  That ornament is mother Mary.  The whole set of the manger scene was in the set.  They had different choices of colors on them. 

 

 

The ornaments on the tree have a lot of different kinds of ornaments.  There are churches, houses, and small birdhouses among the ones on the tree. 

We are  hunkered down for snowstorm Elliott.  I didn't get done with all my shopping and am hoping it will warm up in a couple of days and the snow will be stopped.  Harsh winds for a couple of days will mean that it will be dangerous for driving.  I did get my snow blower up and running today so I am ready for it.  I had hired the snow removed the last two years so I had to work at the machine a good while to get it started.  Took out the spark plug and shined it up. It was music to my ears to have it running. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Most of my blogger friends will have this same snowstorm so everyone be careful out there.

Tuesday.......

 

 

A contrasting day. Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday's Mania......

 The teddy bear tree actually has other kinds of stuffed ones on it.  The moose is a smaller one with flexible horns. We have lots of kinds of stuffed animals from having the two boys who are now in their 40's. My wife does draw the line on putting green stuffed dinosaurs on her teddy bear tree. 

The dolls today are all made with oversized eyes.  They almost seem like they are from a cartoon character.  We looked at dolls for our granddaughter for Christmas and they were not any normal ones. The teddy bear that we did buy her was a soft white one and the new year of 2023 was sewn on its feet. The eyes were perfect on the bear. 

The angels on the shelf are playing their melody in unison.  The instruments of the horn and flute seem to always get lost in the packing and we have to write notes to remind us where some of them are.  The horn has been in the top draw of the commode all year as it didn't making into the box with all the angels.  The flute is always a piece of stick from a candy as the original wooden one is long gone. 

We survived buying presents for our three grand children this morning.  I look back at it now and I am pretty happy with what all we bought.  I was a grumpy shopper and my wife should have sent me to the car.  They have narrow aisles in the toy department and they have large carts that barely can pass one another in that aisle.  I know the cart needs to be large so we can fill them up to the top and spend hundreds of dollars. Fighting for toys would be easier with less people and lesser cart size. We did survive it and we don't have to mail them this year.  We have a few days now to buy the parents of the kids some gifts. 

We have a light snow right now and we are promised to have a worse winter weather time to come.  It is going to get colder and colder.  Dress with layers and stay home when you can.  Thanks for stopping by today.

It's Winter for Sure......

 It is 7° F. this morning.  I know some people are colder but once it gets so cold there isn't much difference in the pain. 

They are standing guard over the ones who go up and down the stairs. I have a collection of three.  I have too many collections so three is a good number so there are less to handle.  

It is still very cold outside and we have had a quiet Sunday.  I have a few drifts on my driveway but they aren't going anywhere and I am not moving them.  Thanks for stopping by today.