Tuesday is Today....

 The temperatures are dropping as is par for winter weather. The clouds in the morning sky are casting reflections from the sun making a great pink color. 

Some more ornaments were added but more are yet to come. I don't have the shot for the complete tree but it is done now being decorated. 

Our oldest son turns 49 years this day. Having three kids and a busy job he probably won't get to celebrate much. His birthday card is on its way but the reliable mail service wasn't yesterday. They didn't pick up the mail until about six o"clock in the evening. lHe knows he is getting a card so it will just be a day late. 

One last tree has been assembled. It is the one I put up so the lights in the front window can be seen from the outside. I did tell my wife that next year she gets the tree I assembled now for her angel tree next year as she is running out of room on her tree. I have bubble lights to put on this tree as well as antique larger glass blown ornaments. I won't get to that until tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in today.

Sunny Day....

 The corner of the sun room gives us an extra special effect of two more trees when view at night. The tree show is in the lights only stage as it took a half day assembling of the tree. I then took another hour or more to put on all the lights. 

 

. We started putting on ornaments this morning. We still have two boxes of ornaments yet to put on the tree. We do it in stages as the collection of things that go onto the tree is large. In the daytime we  had sunshine outside as we put up the Christmas balls. 

A living room shot shows that things are in progress. Geese that haven't been placed in the room and batteries are needed to get the lights to shine. It looks like I just chose to drink coffee and ignore the tasks at hand. 

There seems to be so much that we do but we like to decorate. I have one more tree that may or may not go up for this season. The room that it use to be displayed in has had a furniture arrangement change. I will have to do some problem solving to get it done. I did not display it last year. 

The warm weather is great to have. I can see we won't stay warm for long but it is nice to have it. I heard someone out there in the neighborhood was mowing their yard. Winter really is here and the days keep getting shorter. Thanks for checking in today.

Friday.....End of the Week.

 

My wife's tree is up now. The angel tree is full of ornaments that have been collected to the theme.  Lots of figurines and angel dolls are also a part of the collection. 

 

 

The glow of shiny angels both metallic and white make it a showy tree. The first tree of angels was a small one but the collection did grow for the need of a six foot tree. 

While digging through the boxes of things I found my Snoopy figure. He is a cute bell ringer with race track flag ears. I don't understand that design treatment but he is stiill a fun little guy to have sitting on the shelf. 

 Our main tree is yet to be assembled. I brought up the stand and pole today and the boxes of branches are also in the sun room ready for me to move. It seems that I have started later than usual but I should have that tree up tomorrow. 

We warmed up to 40 degrees F. today. It is still cold but it seems warm after the past cold days. Thanks for checking in today.

 

Teddy Bear Tree....

 

 

 The teddy bear tree was originally kept just bears. My wife's tree evolved into a stuffed animal tree as you can see there are more than just bears on it now. My wife is not a Ty collector and I don't quite know why the tag is still on that one stuffed item. I bet I  can cut it off now the photo has been taken.

I put out my lawn ornament reindeer today. It was extremely cold out there but once put in place it is done. I got the lights all working so I can't wait to see them in the dark. We are working on getting the angel tree set up and there are a lot of items that sit around that tree.  I do have the boxes carried up but not much has been done yet. Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week....

 

It is a year od proving that gingerbread is a good material to use for building. The grandkids and my wife and I got to do this last  year during their visit. 

Our son and his wife from Maine sent us a Christmas wreath. It is made up of fresh greens and smells so great. There are tiny lights on the thing but I have to find some batteries to get them going. We keep it on the sun room door so it last years lasted for months before it dries out. The star fish are a great way to decorate them. The company is from Maine so thr real starfish are from the ocean. 

I set up my wife's tree for angels and she has started the task to cover the tree with angel themed ornaments.  I moved things around in the living room to find room for it in the living room corner.

The plants got moved out of the way and placed under the Capernaum photo. They don't look bad there but they will be in low light for a month. The Capernaum view is from the ancient city in Israel and is overlooking the Sea of Galilee. 

We are having a very windy day today. It is noisy and sounds like trucks going by the house continually. I had to remove my dead battery from my Buick this morning and go buy a new one. I got to take the truck out on the road and blow off its dust. I had to go on youtube to figure out how to get things taken apart and then put back together.  It isn't as easy as it use to be as they design the battery with covers to avoid any spark explosions between the positive and negative posts. The battery just barely fits into the plastic case and I at first thought I had the wrong new battery.  With a lot of wiggling a very heavy object it did finally slip into its space.  The car started turning on lights and the radio when I put the final negative connection to the post.  It is a good thing I didn't have to call a tow truck and have someone else do it. I didn['t mention that I have some new aches and pains now.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Winter Wonder World.....

 It is our very first measurable snow fall. The day didn't warm up but the sidewalks did clear themselves somewhat. It is still very cold out there and we have to adjust to that now.

The hard freeze eliminated the red from the burning bush leaves. It turned out to be a nice orange color instead of red. 

I brought up the stuffed animal tree this afternoon and my wife has started to place the different characters onto the tree.  Putting up a tree every few days makes it actually fun to do. The angel tree will be the next one to be assembled. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

December 2nd.......

 

 

 

 

I think I am going to add something red to the wreathe.   I like it but it needs one bright spot somewhere. The maid is a milking womant as a tree ornament. The snowman really has a crooked nose. I think that the assembly line worker was making a quick swipe with the brush to put that carrot nose on him.  Our one grandson worked really hard to get his marvel character put together. It had so many small pieces. He has a pretty mean face.  I am going to bring up another tree for decoration today. It will take a couple of days to get the ornaments on it but it is cold outside and time for Christmas to appear in our house. 

Thanks for sstopping by today.

Random Shots

 

 

 

 

Leftover photos from Thanksgiving Day show two grand kids being busy. I am fascinated with all the small people that our sons had with their different Lego sets. I really never took time to notice them before and I did play with them adding them to my abstract building while sitting with the grand son. 

We are cold again today. I think we can get use to the cold days but I don't like them as much as I should. Thanks for stopping by today.

Company....

 I brought in the hardy geranium thinking it was a waste of time. Many times they just dry up and never bloom. This really was doing well inside and now that we had 11 degrees F. last night it would be dead if it were outsdie. 

 

Our grand daughter is an artist. I set her up at my art station in the basement and she spent a lot of time drawing just everything. Here she is sharing with her grandmother her pictures of the cockatiel and flowers. She is so very bashful but did warm up to us a little. She is in Kindergarten and loves school.

Our middle in the row grandson is in third grade. He has become a Lego fanatic and he spend most of his time building things. He created space ships and vehicles. He put some of them on our Christmas tree. He is one energy filled guy who is not bashful and enjoyed being with his grandparents. He is proud of his new lego figure that we gave to him. It had so many small pieces and he kept his nose to the directions to make sure he got every piece fitted just right.

Our oldest grandson is in sixth grade. He is the tallest in his class. He plays the trumpet in the junior hight Jazz Band. He eats everything and couldn't stop eating oranges. He is moving into being a teenager and is almost as tall as me now.

The family stayed at the hotel with a pool and made our work load to be less. My wife was tired but so happy to get to be with her grand kids. We both are resting up from the visit and we still have lots of leftovers to fix and eat. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Day After Feasting.....

 It is extremely cold. I picked up a shot with my neighbors sun room included. They have lots of plant lights in there and it glows all night long.

We have lots of foxes and coyotes that have kept the rabbit population down to us really not seeing any. The squirrels have kept themselves safe in the trees. Even so, we have very few squirrels than when we first moved here. This one guy is very hungry. I couldn't get a full body view of this guy as he got scared when he saw me from the window.

The seed is good and the squirrel is having a good meal. He has a healthy color and bright shiny eyes. My brother sends me pictures from California of his red squirrels eating sunflower seeds too. 

We put up one small tree for our visiting grandchildren to see. By the time we left our one grandson, Teddy, placed his lego creations of spaceships and vehicles among the branches of the tree. I think they will probably stay there for the whole Christmas season. He was a lot of fun.

I sat and watched him work I also helped build buildings along the way with what few bricks were stll leftover. My two sons had lots of Legos but most of them are made up into all these creations and houses.

 Our guests got a hotel with a swimming pool this year and they came for Thanksgiving day and also for Friday morning before they left for their Chicago area home. The parents and three kids were a lot of fun and my wife felt well enough for guest in spite of her having her last surgical procedure eight days ago.  We have lots of leftovers for days of feasting beyond. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Turkey and Trimmings....

 The parade is tuned in and the turkey is cooking. Many extras will be available to eat for our now family of seven. 

Two country houses were gifts to us to add to our collection.  They are a smaller scale that fits well under the Christmas tree. I cheated and put up a tree before Thanksgiving Day. 

Gifts under the tree already for the three grand kids. Lego themed items are always a hit even for the little girl. She gets a Lego set that has a Disney princess with it.

I wish everyone a good and  happy Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving Eve...

 A neighbor boy had a fundraiser, selling fresh greens centerpieces. It is Christmas for sure but it will look good on our Thanksgiving table tomorrow. The greens were kept green with a plastic bag filled with moisture and it gave it a fresh greens smell. 

 

Having company means offering fresh fruit and also a few cookies for the guests to eat.The Halo oranges are always a fun thing to eat at this time of the year. 

 

I did get one tree up in the dining room.  It is the small tree that sits on the chest of drawers.  We won't see the kids at Christmas so we can share one of our trees with them. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Tuesday's Things....

 

It is time to bring up the sleds. They won't probably get used like they use to be but they make great decorations at the door.  I thought the view was a unique one of showing me starting to bring out some winter decor. 

 

The morning started off with a crisp cold air. The temps were at 22 degrees F. which eventually will seem warm as we get into our normal winter numbers. 

The signal of the cold temperatures for me is seeing the neighbor's truck outside in the morning. I know it is cold when Ben starts up his truck and leaves it running to get his diesel full warmed. 

We are gettting ready for company. The family with the three grand kids will be here soon. I will make another run to the grocery store today as our plans with lists are being accomplished. I am putting up one Christmas tree, just because. It makes things more festive and we won't be together for Christmas. Two out of three of the grands will have sparkly eyes when they see it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blustery Day Monday....

 The cold temperatures must be the reason for the burning bush to turn color. It didn't turn until we got close to freezing temps.  

The winds are strong again today and it takes care of me having to rake leaves.  All of my neighbors leaves are ding the same as they are just blowing everywhere. I have had years when I have had the leaves drop on the ground and I had to mow them or rake them.  I don't have any leaves with this wind. 

Inside the oxalis is blooming. I have all my plants inside now and there are really too many of them. 

Both of my cactus are putting out more blooms each day. They amaze as they both have been next to each other with the same light conditions and they both are blooming freely at the same time. 

We are planning for company for Thanksgiving day. The ones that live in the Chicago area will be here for the meal.  We are getting all things put together to help us to feed them with much food. It will be good to see the grand kids. It has been a year since we have seen them and they will have grown up a lot. We will be having a good time for sure.

Thanks for stopping by today. I did go back and make spelling corrections on all my past titles of my posts My eyesight isn't so good and my fingers hit too many key at one time.