2025

I'm here at the Garden and the Compliance Checks start today, but the Garden Director isn't here yet. So I'm going to continue clearing this front bit...

I had weeded the Beets a couple days ago, and pulled up the rest of the tall Borage yesterday. I am tiding up the smaller Borages today. There's some Quack Grass to weed out, and I'm going to pull up the Tomatillo.

Here's the After pic...

That patch of green going up the middle is baby Dead Nettles. I love these wildflowers! I just hope they keep going thru the winter.

Here's the Tomatillos I pulled off the plant. And some of the Sunchoke roots... I really need to figure out what I'm going to do with that.

I've left this Avocado Tree, along with the Clover on the left and the Nasturtium which hasn't died yet.

Trees and woody plants are definitely against the rules at the Community Garden. But there's plenty of people breaking that rule. My plan is to dig it up a couple and see if they'll live in a pot.

Here's another Avocado Tree in front of the Strawberry patch.

I'm not sure how many Avo trees I've got, I haven't specifically counted them. But enough to experiment with!

I'm done with work today, and I'm looking around. The left side neighbor, of the crazy family, has done work over the weekend and has covered some of their beds with leaves. It looks good, with their winter crops over on the other side, and some cover crop too.

The right side neighbor, on the other hand, remains a disaster. There's lots of random flowers, but there's various species of grass taking over.

Not to mention the stupid Horse Radish that they've let grow in the back... I regularly dig that up for them, when it starts invading my side. Annoying. I hope they get kicked out but I doubt that will happen.

The diagonal neighbor on the northwest side has these Strawflowers and they are a welcome spot of colour!

It was chilly while I was working at the garden, I kept the rain jacket on for warmth. Maybe it will warm up a little bit this afternoon, if the sun comes out.

It's cold but the sun is warming things up!

As I walk up to the garden plot... oh my gosh! I think the Elephant Garlics have grown about an inch since I uncovered them from the Borage the other day!!

Ha. How wonderful!

Okay! I am going to weed out the Quack Grass from this corner today...

When I get down to work... Well, sheesh...

These baby Leeks are just lying here? What the heck! How did they get on top of the dirt?? I don't even know what's going on! *laughs*

And then, this is one of the Leek flowers that fell over into the dirt and is now turned into hundreds of Leek sprouts!

I decide to break up the spouts a little and replant them. And of course I put the baby Leeks into the dirt as well.

And You know what? I bet these Leek Sprouts taste AWESOME! I wonder why they don't sell them?!

I mean, alfalfa sprouts are okay... But Leek Spouts would be Next Level!

Anyway, after I moved the sprouts, I got the feeling they weren't going to survive the move. hmm. But I didn't know what else to do to give them life... it would be nice to give them some water to make their roots connect with the soil. But the water has been turned off.

Well. There's another fallen Leek flower over here, with it's own sprouts. I will leave that one alone, and hope it lives thru the winter with it's hundreds!

Okay! I got distracted from my original mission. But I did get this corner weeded!

The sun has warmed up the Earth and there's some Honey Bees buzzing the Borage blossoms!

On the way home, the Barred Owl again!!!

There's no one mobbing her, and she's relaxed enough that she's preening!

And again, I don't want to bring attention to her, so I don't stay long. As I walk away, I take one more photo... but haha...

:) oh well.

As I walked to the Community Garden, the shin splints above my left foot are hurting again.

Arg! I thought it was healing! The other day, when I hauled nine wheelbarrow loads of leaves? And that didn't even bother me hardly at all. But now it's hurting again, and what did I even do yesterday to hurt it? Nothing!

So that's frustrating.

And I need to haul leaves today.

But the shin splints hurt so bad, I have to walk weirdly! Especially when I'm bringing the full wheelbarrow back to the plot... I walk with the heel out. Every time I walk on uneven ground, the pain starts shooting. Heel out seems to hurt less. But pretty much every step with the heavy wheelbarrow, is annoying.

Sighs! I get six loads of leaves done today, but I'm really questioning my life choices here!

Everything is covered with leaves, except the back left quarter, which is great. But so much is still green and alive. Usually by now the Borage is looking a lot more pathetic. Even the Nasturtiums, which normally wilt away at the first chilly night! Still alive!

I clean up my tools, I've used two forks and the wheelbarrow, and I take them back to the shed.

Heh, this one thinks he wants to check out the inside of the shed, but I explain that I don't want to trap him in there!

I give him some pets and he forgives me for thwarting his curiosity!

These pink beets are in the front of someone's plot, and I walked by them every time I got a new load of leaves. What a cheerful colour!!

Heading home. Oh! Is this someone new?!

I thought that was a stick, but nope... a little minnow.

She swallows poor little fishy down.

And goes looking for the next snack.

At home, I've gotten an email from the Community Garden Director!

The Garden plot has passed the Compliance Check!

Yay! But that's different. Usually we only get an email if we've failed the Compliance Check.

But it's really good to know!

Hmm. This sparrow is too dark to be a Song Sparrow, but I wasn't sure who she was until I got home to look closely at the photos.

Fox Sparrow!

The map at AllAboutBirds says Fox Sparrows are winter visitors here, but the western birds only migrate a short distance. Maybe even just coming down from the hills.

Always happy to see someone new!

I get to the garden, and what the heck... I had leaned the trellises up against the dividing post, in the back. And someone has moved the tomato cages and laid the trellises down.

And that patch of Horseradish in the right neighbor's plot -- the Pot People -- has been dug up! They must have gotten the Non-Compliance email from the Community Garden Director! ha!

Well. The trellises weren't technically in their way, but I'm glad they put in some effort. The Horseradish will regrow, it doesn't look like they dug very deep for the roots. And I guess we will see how they handle that in the future.

Also, it looks like I have inherited one of their pots! *laughs* Okay!

Meantime... I'm going to haul some more leaves!

My plot passed the Compliance Check, I got the email yesterday! But I still need to finish the work of winterizing the plot!

The left shin splints still hurt... tho maybe not quite as bad as yesterday. I still have to walk weirdly on the uneven ground, with the heel out.

And I do take it easier today, just five wheelbarrow loads of leaves. And I walk slower and more carefully. Being successful on the Compliance Check makes me feel more confident about getting everything done before I travel next week!

Plus, Look! The plot passed the Check, even with that Red Amaranth still standing in the front!!

*laughs* I feel like I've gamed the system now!

Maybe I'm IN with the Garden Director, now. Maybe she considers me a Real Gardener now!

Yeah, right. But I can dream!

*snort*

I've left an open space in the leaves for the Beets. They will live thru our mild winter, and the small ones will hopefully grow some more on warmer days.

And it's stupid, but I put a tomato cage over the thrice munched Lettuce seedlings.

*cringe* I really need to stop thinking about the damn Lettuces. Especially since the leaves I'm hauling in will certainly contain more slugs. I can't imagine the Lettuces will survive for much longer.

Heading home, I find another little bird who I have to look up!

Ruby Crowned Kinglet.

Another one I only see during the winter. And it's easy to forget their name when you can't see their Ruby Crown!

The rain started yesterday evening. Did it rain all night? Maybe! And it hasn't let up since I got up this morning.

Which means I am definitely not going to the garden today. I hate working in the rain and mud! So I'll just walk, instead.

But, with the shin splints hurting so much, maybe walking extensively isn't the best idea.

I've asked Dr Google about the pain, and it's not actually shin splints. That pain is in a different place than mine. Mine is coming straight up from the foot, at the bottom of the shin. And a little bit across the ankles as well.

But whatever. It sounds like another one of those things that either gets better or it doesn't, no matter what you do.

And I can't not walk. So I'm walking in the rain today.

I can walk slowly. At least when I remember, I can walk slowly! ha! My mind wanders and then I notice I'm walking at my normal pace and things hurt again. Slow Down!

I'm glad I came out here... because Look!

Those pink ties? They are marking TREES! They've planted some saplings here! Yay!

Some of the baby trees still have leaves attached, and I go down to see what they are.

And then I remember I'm terrible at identifying trees! Haha!

Okay! Here's an oak tree sapling! It's probably an Oregon White Oak!

And there's some pine trees planted as well.

So that's nice. Planting native trees is always good!

Partner took the new PT Cruiser to the shop yesterday so they could work on the rods.

This will be a couple thousand dollars, probably, but if the rods go, the car will be done and we will have wasted the money we've already put in. The new tires and the new brakes.

But when they open up the engine, they discover a lot more wrong with it, besides the failing rods. They say about 6,000$ will turn it into a regular car.

Yikes. Partner says that's too much.

So that's a bummer. I was actually envisioning being able to drive to some other hikes here in town... I'd head down to the Cascade Raptor Center, and hike out to Spencer Butte, and go across the interstate to Mount Pisgah, and, and and.

And that is not to be. Partner will drive the PT Cruiser just like the Buick. Slow. and only around town. and we'll hope the rods last a year.

Sighs.

We got good rain yesterday and today the clouds seem to be breaking up a bit.

I'm heading to the garden, and hope to finish hauling leaves today.

I meet up with this guy with the short tail. I've seen him a few times, tho haven't been very successful getting his picture...

I've never noticed he has a tuft of white fur at the end of his poor tail!

Oh, wow! It's the Barred Owl again!!

So cool. I hope she decides to stick around!

I arrive at the Community Garden... and there's someone splashing in a puddle in the parking lot!!

Oh my GOSH! Cooper Hawk! Taking a bath!!

She notices me, but I keep my distance and she continues with her bath!

As I watch, it looks like she's putting on the dance moves!

Dip...

And Shake!

And Dip!

And Shake!

And Shake!

OLE!

*laughs*

So that's fun! She flies to some nearby trees, and I lose her in the branches. But she'll be up there preening and putting her feathers back into place.

And I have my own work to do. Hauling the last of the leaves.

I did four wheelbarrow loads today, and I'm done!

This is the back corner of the plot, where the water faucet is, and you can see the surprising amount of green growing things all around!

I also remembered to grab the sprayer from the hose.

A couple trees catch my eye on the way home.

The Barred Owl is still in her tree. Still not being mobbed!

And it's just the one pair of Wood Ducks today.

The female is over here... But there's no talking to birds when they are preening!

*laughs*

Grey morning, and it's misting when I head out. And soon it's drizzling.

And the 'not' shin splints hurt a good bit again, so I'm walking slow.

I'm hoping that when I'm at my parents house, that stupid thing will heal up. I will definitely be walking there, for exercise, but I won't be going as far as I do here at home.

Ha! The Barred Owl! Sitting in the same tree!

In fact... this is the same branch that she was standing on yesterday. That's weird. I hope she's okay.

Maybe she just likes this branch because no one is mobbing her here.

I've come to the garden to do one last check. I've finished with plenty of time before my travels next week, and that makes me happy.

I drag the big trellis to the middle of the plot and I set up the nested tomato cages under it...

Those wire supports are just so hard to see in the leaves, and I don't want anyone tripping over them if they walk thru my plot.

The little plant at the bottom of that pic is one of the Avocado Trees. :)

And here's a couple more Avocado Trees in front of the Strawberry patch!

The big volunteer Cosmos has partially fallen over without the support of the big trellis.

And the Elephant Garlics.

mmm! Next spring! Roasted Elephant Garlics, just out of the oven! Maybe I will eat them on rice with a little bit of vegan butter? oh yeah. I can't wait!

And the Barred Owl, still here.

And then I remembered the hand fork.

I keep the hand fork at the garden plot all summer, it's hidden under that orange bucket at the back of the plot.

So I guess I'm not quite done at the garden plot!

ha. I will pick it up tomorrow, I guess!

A grey day, and the temperature is nice at 55°, tho the wind is annoying.

I thought they said Atmospheric River but it's not rained much at all, barely sprinkles. 0.04 and 0.02inches doesn't really constitute an Atmospheric River! Another weather service failure.

And hardly any shin splint pain today. I can feel it, and I'm walking slowly still, but so much better than the last couple of days. I feel like there's no rhyme or reason for it!

That new Heron again!

Ha. A duck steers around her.

Oh hey! A Common Merganser!

Where is your partner, my dear??

A few years ago, a male Common Merganser was hanging out with a female Mallard who had a messed up wing. Last year, he showed up with a couple females. Or, actually, three females?

I suppose this is one of his partners, and I'm sad that she's not with him. Maybe he's around, just hasn't caught up with her yet?

I stop by the garden to grab the hand fork to take home. It doesn't quite fit in the back pack!

The Leek spouts that I broke up and transplanted the other day, seem to be mostly still alive.

But I have more confidence that this flower of sprouts will live thru the winter!

I stop to look at the diagonal neighbor's Strawflowers.

I still haven't figured out what this thing is. Maybe some kind of Mustard?

It makes the Honey Bees so happy!

Walking home, the Kingfisher flies by me with a laugh!

ha. She flies ahead, and lands in a tree and waits for me to catch up with her. But as soon as I find her, she flies ahead again!

Six or seven times in a row... She's just messing with me! :)

Well Hello Henrietta!

It's nice to see him every once in a while!

I get out to Stewart Pond Park... and there's no ponds yet.

Not even a puddle. It feels like we've gotten a good bit of rain, and the rains even started early, in September.

But when I look it up, we were actually a good bit short of rain in November. We got 3.47inches for the month and normal is 5.98inches.

So, the Wet Prairie is still in Prairie Mode!

As I'm taking pictures, I happen to notice one little tree in the distance which is still green.

Oh my gosh! It's a Pacific Madrone tree!

There aren't any Madrones in the little bit of forest here in the park. So it's interesting to see one here.

As I get into the little patch of forest, ha, there are a couple of Pacific Chorus Frogs singing here, despite the lack of ponds!

Winter and the rainy season is their breeding season. But there's no place for their little tadpoles to swim, right now!

But there has been enough wet to make some mushrooms grow!

Okay. I'm a sucker for mushrooms and ferns and moss!

I come around to the back. Looks like someone started cleaning up at the fallen Oak tree.

Oh. The other half of the tree has fallen too.

It's crazy how the roots have just sheared off. It doesn't seem normal.

Coming back thru the forest, I've found a bird after all!

Male Flicker. He's looking for bugs.

Their favorite meal is ants, but I suppose ants are impossible to find in the cold and the wet.

The Amnesty International report on Alligator Alcatraz... Yes, it's still open and ...

∞ PoliticsGirl: This is SICK and DISTRESSING
Video is 5m33s, and it's important. Watch it!

The United States with our concentration camps and torture.

We knew it was happening, and now we've got proof.

disgusting.

Liberty and Justice for all?

And then a bit further on, this one gave me a terrible angle as well. *laughs* oh nature.

I'm at the garden plot, mostly just making sure everything is kosher since I'll be leaving in a few days.

Behind the fallen Cosmos, I've not moved the pot that I 'inherited' from The Pot People. It was an accident that they left it on my side of the border. But they've done that before and it just annoys me!

To the left of the pot is another little volunteer Cosmos.

Cute little thing! I wonder if it will live thru the winter.

And the Pet Nasturtium in the Strawberry patch is still hanging on to life. I hope the seeds are able to mature, so I can have more next year!

And I'm so Very Very happy that they changed the rules about Borage. Being able to keep this beautiful companion plant is good!

It's not native, but it's not a plant that causes any trouble. They come up in bunches in disturbed soil, but they are easy to identify and they are easy to pull up, if you don't want them.

The mature plants are easy to pull up as well. And their leaves prevent a lot of other weeds from coming up.

And, of course, they evolved with European Honey Bees... And making the Bees happy is the most important thing of all!

And here's the state of the Lettuces...

The Slugs have finally munched them to death.

Good. I'm tired of worrying about it!

I've decided to get the last huge beet...

Partner has finally taken a liking to beets, so he can eat this one while I'm gone.

I admire the little Elephant Garlics on the way out.

But then the Red Amaranth catches my eye as well.

The Crows are having a conference!

I've got about a million things on my mind.

So today's walk is just a calming activity. *laughs*

Lots of gardeners have Calendulas still blooming!

Making the pollinators happy! This is a Hoverfly!

And even some California Poppies!

um. jeez. this is... yuck.

If this was my neighbor, I would complain bitterly.

We aren't allowed to have trees, or woody perennials. Those things are supposed to be in pots. And this looks like a tree to me.

jerks. The thing is, they are obviously Real Gardeners so nothing will be said and they will continue to break the rules, year after year.

Whereas gardeners like me, who enjoy a little chaos and wildflowers, will be threatened with expulsion, year after year.

The unfairness is so damn annoying!

And so much for my Calming Activity!

I try to get back to it.

Napping Ducks. Very Calm.

These ornaments are decorating an artificial Christmas tree at the Eugene Airport, and how cute!

And now I'm in Colorado!

My Dad got double knee replacements, not even three weeks ago. So this is going to be a low key visit at my parent's house.

Once they got me settled, Mom and Dad had to leave again for Dad's physical therapy. He calls it torture.

In the afternoon, Brother and I got the xmas tree out of the barn and got it set up.

Mom's been so busy -- taking care of Dad plus doing all of Dad's chores, plus all the regular every day stuff -- she's not been able to do much Xmas stuff.

So hopefully Bro and I will be able to help a little!

We played a couple games. 65 is a rummy type card game and Brother got most of the stars and won. And then the dice game Qwixx that Mom won.

A good nights sleep! Then I come downstairs to join everyone at the kitchen table.

I've got some work to do at Swap-Bot, for the TGIF swap that I host every week. I thought it would be fun to continue the weekend letters while at my Parents' house! So I'll be writing a letter tomorrow, and I set up a swap for next weekend as well.

Dad has gathered some puzzles from the newspaper, and I try my hand at a ken-ken. But the 6x6 square defeats me! *laughs* Brother finds my mistake, of course. He's a lot smarter than I am. :)

After lunch, Dad and Bro get the lights out to put on the xmas tree we set up yesterday.

And then Brother, Mom and I go for a walk. Bro and I are doing the 2mile loop, but Mom turns back at the half mile mark.

Many neighbors here have farm animals... lots of goats and alpacas! A few horses!

Coming around the loop, there's often birds standing up on these power lines. European Starlings, and then the Pigeons flew away before I could get close enough for photos. There was an unusual red Pigeon in their midst, and I'm looking forward to walking out here again to get their portrait!

But this one did stick around for photography!

Western Meadowlark! That's exciting. A bird I wouldn't get to see in Oregon!

Back at home, we play Natalia's Four Square, a golf type card game. I win!

Mom hasn't started her Xmas shopping, and I haven't either. Bro goes up to help her, and I get some shopping done as well.

I get distracted tho... I rediscovered this story and couldn't stop laughing!

∞ He's living his best life: drunk raccoon hit DMV for snacks before liquor store

Brother has a topics list of all time favorite movies. He's a movie guy, has seen all the most obscure movies out there.

He would state a genre, and I would pick my favorite movie. And then he would say his favorite... sometimes I'd agree and want to change my favorite, sometimes I'd not seen or even heard of the movie!

We continued this thru the whole evening!

In the afternoon, today, Brother and I had been at the kitchen table. There was a crash from upstairs and then Dad cussing. A lot.

It terrified me! Do you think he fell? If Dad went down with his new knees and his recent surgery, that would be very very bad.

When Mom came down later, I asked what had happened.

Dad had dropped his water.

Phew. All that cussing for spilled water? Yep.

heh. *shakes head*

Morning at the kitchen table, Mom asks What was that movie you said we should watch?

Yeah, last night when we were going thru all our favorites by genre, we all agreed some movie would be great to watch again. But no one can remember what it was! ha!

I'm drinking coffee and I pull out my letter writing stuff. I start with the envelope and realize I don't have any return labels. It's been forever since I've had to write my own return address, and it amused me a little!

There's church and then there's lunch.

Brother says he has a craving for Rice Krispy Treats. Marshmallows are not vegan, but Mom says she has a recipe from Grandma M that is vegan, using peanut butter instead of marshmallows! Yay!

Mom gets all the ingredients out for Bro, then she and I go for a walk.

Mom turns around at her half mile mark, and I continue on the two mile loop.

The wildlife here is not very cooperative. Probably I just need to get used to everyone... and get everyone used to me!

Mostly there's the ubiquitous European Starlings.

And then the next common is Robins.

When I come around to the gravel road, there are some Starlings on the power line...

But I don't see the Pigeons. That's a bummer, I really wanted to study that red one.

But then, at the end of the road... oh. A pile of feathers.

That was probably a Pigeon. Maybe eaten by a hawk.

I can't begrudge the hawk. Everybody's gotta eat.

But the Pigeons aren't going to hang out here anymore, and I'll never get to see that red one. bummer.

I come back thru the yard. ooh, big ... canine!

Yeah, it's probably a dog. They might have coyotes here, but they wouldn't get this big. That paw print is a good 4inches.

And then, heh, the results of a deer.

In this part of Colorado, they probably have both Mule Deers and White Tail Deers.

I happened across this web page... and I LOVE the author's drawing!!! And it made me laugh.

∞ Colorado Wildlife, 107: Deer - the Mule Deer and the White-Tailed Deer

(What a fun site, the drawings are fabulous! I'm sad that blog ended in 2023. Sighs.)

Back to my walk. Someone's nest.

And the one and only bunny I saw during my entire stay.

Brother had finished the vegan Rice Krispy Treats by the time I got back into the house, and they were cooling.

They were... surprisingly good. I mean, really good!

I asked if Bro did any baking at home. He said no, and I told him he should. I mean, he could sell these, they're so good!

*laughs*

I finish up my TGIF letter for Swap-Bot and then after dinner we play an old board game called Fun City. Dad won, but Brother was just a couple points behind him. Mom and I were the big losers: she had 18points and I just had 13points.

Yep, that's my usual luck.

Dad went to bed and the rest of us played Tri-Ominos.

Brother won.

Dad has physical therapy first thing this morning. I want to go with them at some point, to see what happens... but not today. Too early! Mom and Dad have already left by the time I make it down to the kitchen table!

I've got another Swap-Bot thing to take care of, an email swap.

And then Brother wants to take my trackball apart.

I've brought it because I don't like using the track pad on the Emily LapTop. But the buttons on the trackball are failing, and it's really frustrating.

After lunch Brother and I go out for a walk... a different loop this time, since the only exciting thing on the 2mile loop was the Pigeons and they won't be coming back.

This loop is 2.7miles and there's Alpacas!

The way their legs fold up under them is so cute!

And the floof of hair on their head!

We play this 10 Card Golf game... and it takes a minute to remember how to play. Oh, yeah: everyone gets their own discard pile! And then Mom beat us with -43 points! Dad had a respectable -25 but Brother and I were positive 14 and 15! haha, terrible. That's normal for me, but weird that Bro would lose that bad!

Dad is watching a news channel that sprinkles bible verses into the news. *shakes head* And I'm thinking about this...

∞ Sadly, America may be permanently broken by MAGA

After dinner, Brother has dug out a Bowling Dice game. *laughs* It's pretty lame!

And then we decide to play a game of Hand and Foot. Brother definitely has his mojo back, he's beaten us by over a thousand points! haha!

Mom and Dad have gone to bed, and Brother and I discuss theme songs of the shows we watched as kids.

Do you remember the theme of MacGyver? Heck yeah!

Knight Rider, yes. AutoMan? um, nope. Street Hawk, vaguely. What was the helicopter one? oh yeah, Air Wolf.

And can you name the characters of The A-Team? Do you remember who Mr T was? haha!

It's cloudy and warm today.

In the morning I fiddle with some of my mailing projects and then I work on some newspaper puzzles. I'm getting pretty good at the ken-kens, which I enjoy doing. and the crossword puzzles are on the easy side. So that makes them fun, even tho I can't quite finish one on my own!

Mom has a bunch of errands lined up for the afternoon, and Dad suggests we get Papa Murphy's for supper because it's Ten Dollar Tuesday.

*laughs* I check, and Papa Murphy's crust is vegan, they have lots of vegan choices, and some locations even have vegan cheese. So that's awesome!

It takes us a long time to get the order sorted out. And then we're not sure about the pickup time because we've already got five stops for errands, and the pizza joint location will be in the middle.

But we finally get it done, and then Bro and I go with Mom to help with errands.

At Walmart, we've each got our own mission... But we end up having to wait for Mom because she ran into a friend and had to stop and chat.

We arrive at Papa Murphys 7mins early, but they've already got our pizzas out on the rack!

A couple more stops and then back home.

Dad is looking at the tv schedule and I see he's got a couple Castles recorded. I used to watch that show, and enjoyed it. Nathan Fillion, he's a good guy.

So we watched a couple of those and I got a Margarita, because we had gotten the stuff for it during our errands today!

The pizza was Great! Pre-cooked...

Mom and Dad got a veggie with cheese, Brother's is the pepperoni. And mine is Artichoke Hearts, Mushrooms and Olives, extra everything, no cheese. (They didn't offer vegan cheese at this location, but I prob wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Vegan cheese is terrible!) (ha.)

I LOVED the artichoke hearts, Yum!!

After dinner we passed Catch Phrase around. It's a little device that shows a phrase and you have to get your partner to say the phrase by describing it. It's old, so some of the phrases don't make sense anymore. And also it doesn't have a lot of memory, so eventually the phrases start repeating.

I'm not a fan of word games. My poor brain usually freezes up! But we have fun.

Bro had also brought up Aggravation, that game where you move marbles around the board. That's usually Mom's game. But I won!! Dad was losing badly, because everyone was picking on him! Sending him back to square one over and over!

And then we tried Flinch, which is a Skipbo type game where you try to get rid of your pile. And the directions are hilariously Very Precise about *exposing your cards* haha.

I was getting tired of games, even tho Brother had also brought up Mille Bornes.

Instead we talked about the book Brother is reading.

Ha! The good parts version of the Princess Bride, written in 1973.

It's a fake re-telling of a book that never existed! *laughs* S. Morgenstern isn't real, he's a fictional character in the book by William Goldman!

It took a while to wrap our heads around that!

The movie, The Princess Bride, is based on this book, of course. And Bro says it's fun to read because many of the quotes in the movie are lifted straight from the book!

It starts out overcast and chilly this morning, around 35° but the sun peeks thru now and then and it warms up nicely.

But the wind is blowing like mad. 30 to 50mph with gusts 65 to 85mph. What the heck!

A little flock of birds comes to the back porch to check out the empty bird feeder.

The empty bird feeder problem will be solved... we got Dad 40pounds of sunflower seeds as a xmas present!

We finally got organized to make some xmas treats. Bro's vegan Rice Krispy Treats are wonderful, but it would be nice to have some variety!

Brother works on the coloured peanuts. And I work on Cranberry Cookies. Well. Mostly I just help Mom!

After lunch, Brother, Mom and I try a game of Rook. I don't remember ever playing this game, and I like it, even tho Bro wins by quite a lot!

I was on my own for a walk today, and I made my way over to the Prairie Dog colony. This way is just an out and back, not a loop. And is just over 3miles.

The sun has warmed up the earth, and the walk is comfortable, temperature wise. But the crazy wind is pretty annoying!

I go past the Alpacas.

And on the other side of the street... Um, this little Goat is on the outside of their pen!!

Ha! Her friends are all eating dinner on the inside! The little escapee!

I arrive at the Prairie Dog colony... They were chirping alarms at my presence, but I only saw a single, little fat one running to their hole, no photos.

oh well. Maybe I'll have time for them to get to know me better, so I can take more pictures of their cuteness!

When I get back, the garage door is opening and the car is backing out. What's going on?

Dad has been calling for days about his pain killers, and it turns out they renewed the prescription, but no one said it was ready to pick up! He was down to one pill, and if they hurry they can get to the pharmacy before it closes!

Dad is taking a shower, and with everyone else gone, I decide to sweep the kitchen floor. Mom's mentioned it a couple times, and really, it's the least I can do.

After dinner, we include Dad in our new Rook obsession...

Partners, Dad and I against Mom and Brother! Dad and I started out strong but then at the last hand Mom and Brother wiped us out: Me&Dad = 265, Mom&Bro = 335.

ha.

Brother was drinking a lemonade mixed drink, and I got a Kissing Caramel Coke. Yum! I was happy to discover the Kissing Caramel was vegan! Mom had an Uncle's Sipper with Baileys and Kahlúa. The homemade Kahlúa is vegan but the Baileys is not, of course, it's made of cow milk, yuck. But this drink was invented by her brother and is one of Mom's favorites.

Dad went to bed and we tried out the different three player variation of Rook.

I won with 310, Mom 290, Brother 230.

And then we modified the original rules and Brother won that one with 180, Me 110 and poor Mom at 35. Haha.

I got some laundry done this morning. And Mom has an appointment in town.

Dad suggested Rack-o and we played a few rounds. But Brother was thrashing us... he got 350 points, Dad just got 180, and never mind my pathetic 135! haha.

After lunch - still leftover pizza! - Dad had to go to physical therapy, and I joined them.

Mom dropped us off at the place, then left to run errands. I sat in the front with my kindle, and Dad petaled on the stationary bike for a while. He does that every day at home, as well, but I suppose they make everyone do that, since there's probably a few people who don't do their slated exercises after knee replacement surgery!

Eventually they move him to a platform where he lies down and does stretches with a resistance band.

And then eventually they do this crazy electric thing, on his legs, stimulating specific muscles or whatever.

And then eventually they ice him down for a while.

Yeah, I was surprised at how long it took! The whole appointment took an hour and a half. I got a good chunk of reading done... The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.

Back at home, I'm completely antsy after sitting for so long! I need a walk!

Mom and Brother join me, but only to the half mile mark. The wind is kind of cold today, and I wish I had my coat. I decide to do the shorter 2mile loop.

Coming around on the gravel road, the Goats are at the back fence!!

Ha!

Hello!

And then this one comes around the corner...

Can't you just hear them saying WHAT is going on here, people??!

*laughs* and that's a Muscovy Duck.

As I'm coming back up to the house, I'm looking west. Mom and Dad's house is so close to the foothills, you can't actually see the Rocky Mountains behind them.

But from this place, out on the road, I realized I could see a mountain top! Just barely!

After dinner, we all played a game of 65, the rummy game. Brother won, but the stars were fairly evenly distributed. He had 5, Mom had 4, Dad had 3, and never mind the one star I got. *laughs*

Dad went to bed and we got the Qwixx dice out. Mom won a game and then I won a game. Brother's usual luck with winning everything seems to have left the building! But I'm glad to win something every now and then!

I've brought down my writing supplies, to the kitchen table this morning. And I start working on the batch of postcards, that I had printed up, just before I left home. Finally! But I'm glad to get a bit done on my projects... Usually I completely abandon that stuff when I'm away!

After I put the postcards in the mailbox, I'm surfing the internets. And I come across an interesting article in Wired. Don't bother clicking, there's a paywall...

∞ Americans Are Increasingly Convinced That Aliens Have Visited Earth Polling shows that nearly half of Americans now believe aliens have visited this planet - and that the number who aren't sure has dropped by two-thirds. The reasons why, experts say, are complicated.

Almost half - 47% - of Americans say they think aliens have definitely or probably visited Earth at some point in time. and Just 16% of Americans said they were unsure if aliens had visited Earth in the new poll, down from 48% who were unsure in 2012.

Hm. I absolutely think there's life on other planets out there... Even civilizations more advanced than us! But I'm not sure ordinary people understand how big the universe is. It's impossible to go faster than light, so the aliens aren't going to be going anywhere, and they are definitely not visiting us. We are all stuck in our own solar system.

Brother says we could develop warp drive. Dad says there's no aliens anywhere and no visits.

Today we are driving to Brother's house. The crazy wind has knocked down the solar panel for the webcam on his porch. It's funny, because he can see the solar panel on the web cam! It's lying on the ground but still connected and it's power side up, since the web cam continues to work!

We drive out and he fixes that and he also wants to check the back yard and all to see if the wind has brought any branches down. There's just twigs and small branches, and the fences are all good.

The wind is crazier today, I think, but it's not so bad in town.

Brother's neighborhood is filled with trees. And the trees are filled with squirrels and robins!

Eastern Fox Squirrel, the same species we have at home in Oregon. I suppose they are invasive here as well? Or maybe the old split that kept them in the east was the Rocky Mountains, rather than the Mississippi River?

On the way back, I try to take a photo of the Rocky Mountains, out the car window. haha.

Mount Meeker and Longs Peak.

After lunch, Brother gets started on another batch of treats: Peppermint Meltaways.

And I've decided to not go for a walk today. The wind is just insane. It blows me around and it's just hard to fight it! And also the left shin splints have been bothering me again. bah.

The dough for the Peppermint Meltaways needs to chill in the fridge, so we play a partner game of Hand and Foot. Mom and Brother win, but it's a close game. They had 9595 to Dad and my's 9150.

Brother makes and bakes the Peppermint Meltaways. Mom makes the frosting, and I have pounded the candy canes into bits. And when the cookies have cooled enough, Brother and I frost them and top them with candy!

These are definitely everyone's favorite!

After dinner we all play a game of 65... And Dad is on a roll! He gets EIGHT STARS! Brother only had 4 stars, Mom 1 and me with zero. normal.

Dad goes to bed and we play a bit of Fun Trivia after I revive our account from last year!

It's a fun site, tho the quizzes tend to be either way too easy or way too difficult! *laughs*

Came down to the kitchen this morning and it's 31° outside and Light Snow... and sure enough! There is actually some dots of tiny balls of snow on the deck!

Haha!

I've got Swap-Bot stuff to do again and I assign partners for the last TGIF letter of the year. I'll be writing that tomorrow. But right now I've got more postcards.

I get eight postcards written and I put all my writing stuff away... And then decide to write a postcard to Partner at home. I want him to get it before I get home. ((( But, ridiculously, it shows up the very day I get back! ARG! Ten days travel time isn't terrible for the holiday season, I guess. But I really wanted Partner to have some mail of his own while I was gone! sighs. )))

I work on some puzzles in the newspaper. The ken-ken is an easy one, now that I have learned all the tricks of the 6x6 square. And then I work on a crossword. And then I waste the rest of the morning surfing the internets.

After lunch, I'm out for a walk. On my own again, and Dad has suggested a route that makes a loop, after I visit with the Prairie Dogs! That's going to be much nicer and I look it up on google maps to find it's 3.3miles! A little bit over an hour walking time... Perfect!

Besides the Pigeons, who have been scared away, and the endless supply of European Starlings, and the Robin's here and there... We've also got Eurasian Collared Doves.

But wait! Upper left? That isn't the beak of a dove! Ha! He's a Flicker! When I zoom in, I see his red moustache. This is the same race - Red Shafted Northern Flickers - that we've got at home in Oregon!

I go by the Alpacas.

And the little Escapee Goat is now on the front porch of the house with a black and white friend goat! Haha! They must get out regularly!

Going down the street to the Prairie Dog colony, there's a dog out as well. I'm a bit concerned, at first... like maybe I shouldn't walk by this loose dog.

The house is completely fenced in and the dog is at the driveway gate, and she's studiously staring at the house. I don't think she's going to move from there, so I keep walking.

Did you get locked out? I ask her. She barely glances at me.

The garage door opens, out races her friend Border Collie who is all excited and running circles! And when the garage door opens enough, the human comes out. Oh, so you're escaping now too?

*Laughs*

The end of the street and then it's Prairie Dog country!

But on the ground there... Ha. The wind has blown away someone's window screen. That's a bummer, I bet they will be surprised and annoyed when they go to open their windows in the summer!

Mom mentioned that it's unusual for the wind to keep blowing day after day. And up in Boulder, they had wind speeds over 110mph!!! Whoa! Insanity!

The wind even got a page on Wikipedia!

∞ December 17-20, 2025 North American storm complex

At the end of the street... There's a Prairie Dog! I can see a little face and a little tail!

Cute!

And out in the distance.

Little sand coloured creatures in a sand coloured landscape!

They are impossible to see, even close up. But when they move, I get a lock on their location! Tho mostly they are just running into their holes!

Walking back thru the neighborhood, and up the street for my new loop... I notice wind damage here and there.

But honestly, it's not that bad. They have to deal with wind all the time here. It's not usually 60 or 70 miles per hour, of course, but they've got most things battened down.

huh. I wonder what this tree is with all the little round balls.

When I get back, Brother and Mom are just finishing up some Snicker Doodles. They are excellent and Brother says I have to make the rest of the cookies. *laughs* Yeah, definitely my turn, but dangit I hate cooking!

After dinner we sit in the living room to watch the videos of Dad and Mom's trip to Egypt. This was their cruise down the Nile. They were traveling with a big group, and they named people who were sitting on the deck of the boat.

The views of the river and river bank were interesting. Lots of other cruise ships, boys down in the water begging from surf boards.

I had to look up one of the birds from the video... African Swamphen the colours are crazy! Mom said she also saw Hoopoes but couldn't get photos of them.

And then Mom realized that she had lost her phone. *laughs* Problem is that she had it set to vibrate because the wind was tripping the porch webcam constantly. Ha, so calling the phone did no good.

We found it eventually... She normally sets it on the wall between the kitchen and living room and it had fallen behind the couch.

I get to work on my Swap-Bot letter first thing! I've got the envelope addressed and the first paragraph or so.

We've got church, some other guy with the sermon and he's kinda boring.

After lunch, I finish the letter and write a couple postcards as well. I'm feeling accomplished!

I want to go out for a walk... and everyone else is parked in the living room. Dad has his feet up, Mom is napping under a blanket and brother looks overly comfortable as well.

*laughs* So I'm on my own again for a walk, and I decide to go across the street for something different.

Yep! Here's the pathway I was looking for.

A horse walks over to look at me.

But gets bored of me quickly!

These are some weird looking turkeys.

The lot of them are all the same colour.

It looks like they are all girls. Probably used for their eggs. blah. and how sad.

The wide open prairie is amazing... but I'm glad I live in a place with trees!

There's a little draw to walk over.

And on the other side, a bird has bought the farm...

These feathers are pretty big. And that colour... I wonder if this is one of those Turkeys.

There's a bit of a seep here, and I was trying to get down to these trees.

But the path I'm on takes a u-turn. So I'll have to back track and take the fork that looked like it was heading in the other direction!

The path I find takes me past the trees but not under them. Oh well.

Some Prickly Pears? They are VERY prickly!

And the Cattails, down in the wet spot.

I came down to the kitchen table and first thing, I'm working on an email to Partner. I had been typing at him right before I go to bed, but last night I just went to bed!

And I had screwed up something in my batch of postcards... Somehow I had printed someone's address twice. I don't know how that happened, or why I didn't notice it when I was cutting them up. But I was rather rushed, making those at home, right before travel!

And then I realized the count was correct, which means I had skipped someone! Arg. Fortunately, I'd brought a couple blank postcards. And after going thru my list carefully, I found the missing address. Glad to get that fixed!

After I took the mail out to the mailbox, I was surfing the internets and found this story of a rescue!

∞ Man describes narrow escape after boats pulled into giant hole on Shropshire canal Major incident declared as 50-metre-long breach opens up in waterway previously flagged as 'amber risk'

Whoa, this is crazy! And a 75yo man saved everyone!! He woke up in the middle of the night because he had to go to the bathroom. Ha!

He noticed what was going on, the loud rushing water and then his houseboat was starting to tilt! And he woke his neighbors by banging on their hull. Everyone got off their boats in the nick of time! Yay! Zero casualties!

And this is amazing.

∞ The best nature photography of 2025

Noon... Mom and Dad are back from Physical Therapy. Dad has been working so hard with his exercises and stretches at home, and the therapist is pleased with his progress!

Dad has almost full range: 127 with the bending, where 130 is 100%! and Zero with straightening, which is 100%! The extra pain he's been dealing with is probably from Dad's bowed legs... The new knees have fixed that and the muscles have to re-shape from a lifetime of bowed-ness!

After lunch, I start wrapping presents. I'm not sure if they've all arrived, so I stop when I'm about half way thru.

And then those of us with natural knees go for a walk. Brother turns around at the half mile mark, and Mom walks with me a bit further.

As I approach the Prairie Dog colony, they are chirping their alarm calls, but there's one who has stopped to watch me before diving into the tunnels!!

When I zoom in... ha! There's two!!

And in the distance, the other colony is watching as well!

There's at least 2 colonies here... they have slightly different tones of alarm chirps!

So Cute!

There's stir fry for supper tonight, and I help cut vegetables. Mom and I are the only ones who like cabbage tho, so we both munch on the raw chunks while we're getting other things ready! A little bit of cabbage still makes it to the stove! :)

After dinner we play the board game Camel. It takes a bit to set up, and then it takes a bit to remember how to play. I always lose because I can never be bothered to bet on the end results. You make good money on those bets. Brother won, of course. But Mom wasn't too far behind him.

Dad was up for another game so we got Mille Bornes out. Another one we had to re-learn how to play. We played partners, and Dad and I won. But meh.

Dad went to bed and we tried a three player Mille Bornes, but that was even less fun! ha.

The house cleaner is coming today, and Mom has moved things around in preparation.

*laughs* Yes, you have to tidy up before the house cleaner comes! :) It's a big house, and Mom wants to make the job as easy as possible.

One of the things that Mom does is move the house plants out of the way. Mom's plants have been dying, and these are the only two left.

A new Hibiscus, two little six inch starts she got this summer, which have grown beautifully!

And a Christmas Cactus that I got her in 2021. It hasn't grown much in that time, but she says she's watering it more often now and it seems to like that. There's little buds popping up all over it!

I talk a little bit about my house plants and Brother says he might like to have a Spider plant. Mine at home is blooming and has spiderlings hanging, I will have to send him a couple!

Mom's Spider plant is quite dead, and she's tried to plant the spiderlings but they just die. My Spider plant is actually a clone of hers from about a million years ago. Maybe if I plant one of mine, and get it established, and then send it to her.

Amber the house cleaner arrives at 11am. And she's brought a present! Oh my gosh! Cinnamon Sour Dough Bread! She baked it this morning! It's vegan and I'm thrilled to bits!

I go upstairs to keep out of the way, and I write a letter. And then I see if anyone wants to go for a walk.

Both Mom and Brother join me. Mom turns around at her new spot, a little bit down from the half mile mark.

And Brother doesn't want to do my 3.3mile loop to see the Prairie Dogs. So we do the 2mile loop instead. And hey, there is a single Pigeon back on the power line.

Well. He's not really back. He sees none of his friends. When he flies away, off to the northeast, I watch him fly and keep flying some more!

Amber is still working, so we go down to the basement when we get back. Everyone is there, kind of doing our own thing. Dad is watching tv and Mom has a book and I've got the kindle with The Bean Trees.

Dad decides to go upstairs to do his torturous stretching, and suggests we play billiards.

Brother and I start with a regular game of pool. I clear out my solids, and Bro still has two striped balls out! I'm winning like crazy! But I can't sink the 8 ball, darn it! And Brother wins.

Then Mom joins us for some Peaball. This game took a while, we kept putting the white ball in the worst places! ha. But Bro had gotten the 3 pea, and then he got to put the 3 ball in, and won. Thank goodness, that game was definitely getting tedious!

3:30pm Amber is done and heads out, with many thanks for the Sourdough! And we decide to get Papa Murphy's Ten Dollar Tuesdays again! We put in an order online.

Dad has been thinking about getting some CBD in order to get off the narcotic oxi pain killers. We all look up information online, but it looks like you should def start out with a lower dose to see how it goes. But even the 'medium' pain relief dosage is quite a bit more than where you should start.

We a good store in town, that looks like they can talk knowledgeably to newbies.

Brother drives to get the pizzas, tho he doesn't know where he's going so Mom gives directions. And then I run in to get them. They are paid for, so you just have to find them on the rack and grab them.

It takes me a minute, our order has been split instead of being three pizzas stacked together. And I double check the toppings before I leave... ARG! They've put gross cheese on my vegan pizza! Yuck!

I guess it's an easy mistake to make, and I do try to be polite. The manager fixes it right away, and it only takes a couple minutes to make a new pizza. But Sheesh.

After dinner we all play Cribbage! Mom and Dad play this regularly, but we have to look up the rules for partners. I was slow to catch on, and the math really distracted me. So I didn't really get into the strategy of putting down specific cards to make runs or whatever.

So Mom and Brother won, for sure. But I continue reading the rules of Cribbage even after we've finished our game! Ha! Maybe it will sink in?!

Dad went to bed and we play Phase 10, a rummy type card game. It's fun... Mom zips thru the first few phases, then Brother starts catching up. But, somehow, in the end, I won! ha!

Yeah, it's even more fun when you win! :)

My family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve. We always have, both my Mom's side and my Dad's side! I don't know why!

We'd go to church in the evening for the children's play, come back and eat and open presents. Or maybe it was open presents first and then eat dinner later? *laughs* we must have done it both ways over the years.

Mom and Dad's current church doesn't do a childrens play, but they've got regular services thru the afternoon and evening. We'll be going to the 3 o'clock one...

Which means I've got time to wrap the last of my presents! Haha! Yeah, I forgot to do it yesterday!

But that project starts with disappointment. When I open the amz envelope that contains my brother's present... It's broken. Very broken. No fixing it.

Arg. And I don't have time to deal with that problem right now! So I wrap it up with a SORRY, and I'll take care of it later.

Brother is cutting off a chunk of Amber's Cinnamon Sourdough bread, and I request a piece as well... oh my goodness! SO GOOD!

It makes me think about making my own Sourdough! I think it's pretty easy to get a starter going. Yeast floats in the air, everywhere, after all. It's just the growing and maintenance are a bit time consuming.

But how wonderful if I could make bread like Amber's!!

We go to church and the sermon is done by one of the regular pastors and it's much better than Sunday's sermon.

When we get back there's a present out on the front porch! It's from the neighbors and look! It's something I can partake in too!

That's so nice!

We settle in and open presents the rest of the evening!

We eat dinner at some point in there as well.

I should have taken an "After" photo, with all the wrapping paper ripped up in the middle of the floor. ha. oh well.

When we were done, we chatted for a while and then Dad went to bed. Mom and Bro and I played a game of Group and Run, a rummy type card game. But the rules and the rounds came to us slowly! It's been a few years since we've played, I think!

Mom went to bed and I started washing dishes, as a xmas surprise for her. I imagined her delight, coming down the stairs on Christmas Day and finding much of the work done!

But just as I was getting into it, she came back down to the kitchen! Bahaha! Surprise Ruined! *laughs*

But maybe this is better... she can sleep in and not have to even think about getting up to do the dishes! :)

Christmas Day is a day of rest. We play with our new toys, we eat leftovers, we generally do nothing!

I slept in, and that was wonderful!

Everyone is just hanging out. I'm surfing the internets and I work on some of the sudokus that are on my newspaper subscription page.

I also discover a free Ken-Ken website... I really like how they have set up their number choices as a little circle around the space! It's much faster and more efficient. In fact, I can see myself continuing to play at this site, even at home!

After lunch we decide to look at Mom and Dad's photos from the trips they took this year: New York City for their anniversary and Egypt.

It was absolutely fascinating!

The Grand Egyptian Museum had _just_ opened! Like literally a week ago! and wow. Amazing stuff there.

Mom had mentioned that the poverty in Egypt made her sad. There's boys begging all over the place.

What made me sad was the human rights violations. It took a while for me to notice... but there were no Egyptian women. anywhere. They aren't allowed to work.

We got the games out later in the afternoon.

Brother brought up Kimbo. This is a board game that is nothing but strategy, so I'm pretty indifferent to it. I don't have a brain for strategy.

But... Somehow... I won! That has never happened before!

To get even with me, we played Scattergories next.

*laughs* This is a game I WISH I could play. You'd think I would be good at it... but my brain freezes up with word games every time. I'm lucky to get even one or two answers! We did three rounds and I only got 6 words! That's how bad I am! :)

And then I found Chinese Checkers, and brought it up.

I couldn't remember how to play, and I was all, So if you land on someones marble, you kill them, right? Nope. Um. Send them home? Nope. So you have to jump over someone marble to send them home? Nope. What? The Chinese are nice in this game! *laughs* You just jump over marbles to get to the other side. That's all. No removing marbles, no sending marbles back to the beginning, you just move yourself forward. Ha!

One of Mom's presents to Dad, a tee-shirt...

:)

I've slept in again today, and that's nice.

It's another warm day out there, the high today is 58° and Mom suggests we go to the Reservoir for a walk this afternoon. _IF_ the wind keeps down. Sounds great to me, but Brother says his ankle hurts. Bummer!

I'm just surfing the internets again this morning. And eating Amber's wonderful Cinnamon Sourdough bread. Mmmm!

I come across this article at The Guardian, and I love it!

∞ 'Weapons of mass construction': the US 'craftivists' using yarn to fight back against Trump

And from there...

∞ PDX Knitterati... Portland Frog Hat

Oh my gosh! That is the cutest, most awesomest! But Dangit, it's a knit pattern and I only do crochet.

And I've never crocheted a hat before, so there's no way I can improvise. I will have to go looking for something I can work with!

Dad wants to fill up the bird feeders with his Xmas present black oil sunflower seeds and I go help him. I'm surprised he can do it, walking in the grass with his double knee replacements. But he goes slowly and has Mom's walking stick. And we get the job done, no problem!

I hope the birds saw us out there, so they know to come down and eat!!

After lunch, Mom and I go out to the reservoir!

It's a beautiful day and the colours coming off the water are amazing!

The round thing out there is part of an ultrasonic water treatment machine...

They've named it David Buoy! haha.

In the summer, they set him up with some solar panels for power and the thing kills toxic algae blooms! Awesome!

The ducks here are mostly Wigeons.

And more Canada Geese are flying in to join the party!

There's some other ducks at this end of the reservoir. Buffleheads!

Back at home we play a game of Hand and Foot... Dad and I have lost spectacularly even tho I've had more luck than I usually get. But it's so bad, we don't even have to count the last hand. ha.

Dad went off for some stretches and exercises and the rest of us played Natalia's Four Square... I kept getting dealt an ace in the bottom right spot. For FIVE rounds in a row! So that was weird, but I used it to my advantage and I won!!

After dinner we played Junk. This is a relatively new card game for us. And strangely? We all ended up with a tied score, except Mom was three points behind.

Then Mom, Brother and I played Up and Down the River. I really enjoy this card game but I lost by about a million! Mom won!

It's gotten cold, here finally. Tho it's still above freezing, and it will warm up in the afternoon. But there might be some snow tonight!

The weather here, besides the terrible wind storm, has been warm. Overly warm. The days have been mid- and upper-60s. The day before Xmas Eve the high was 75°!! Crazy! I've enjoyed it, but it's def not normal.

I'm just surfing the internets again this morning, but it's making me feel lazy. So I work a little bit on the backend of my website. There. Accomplished something! *laughs*

Dad's got physical therapy and I go with them. Mom runs some errands, and I sit and read The Bean Trees on the kindle.

There's just one therapist today. He's their substitute, while they are all on vacation! He's got interesting stories and I'm listening to him, more than reading.

Afterwards, we go to the next town over to check out the CBD store we had found online... But, bummer! It's closed for the holiday.

Back at home, I wanted to go for a walk... But Dad reminded us of the phone call!

Dad's brother in Iowa had called while he was at physical therapy. A bunch of family, probably sitting around the kitchen table there!

We rescheduled the call, and we've got half an hour before they call back! Plenty of time, to walk out to the half mile mark and back!

Mom and I go out. I'm happy to get some exercise, but I don't get any photos.

We all take the call when Mom and I get back. We are talking to at least 6 people there in Iowa - my aunts and uncles and a cousin - plus my little second cousin who is, what? like 10yo or so.

After dinner we play Can't Stop. I get the first column...

I'm green. Everyone captures a column, but ultimately Brother wins when he gets his third column.

Mom has gotten me an extra quilt... The snow is still in the forecast and it's to get down to 20° tonight!

But that's nothing! The forecast says the next night will be 8°!! EIGHT!

It did snow last night! Well. Technically.

*laughs* Just a dusting. and it's soon to melt.

But on the drive to church, we saw the snow had actually piled up a little in places. It's very patchy.

The sermon today was a vesting pastor and he's got a surprise sermon which is anti-evolution. I'm really quite annoyed, and I wonder what the resident pastors think.

*shakes head* The Theory of Evolution has stood for well over 150 years. The science is used extensively in the medical field and without it, we would be left behind in the dark ages.

Also. Please do not use the word evolutionist. It makes you look ignorant. Do we call people Gravitationalists just because they believe in Gravity?!? Do we call people Germ Theoryists? or General Relativitists?

Anyway. That occupied my brain for a little while. And my opinion of my parents church fell quite a bit.

After lunch, Mom helps me make cookies. Sure, it's after xmas, but we're still eating cookies! I'm making Molasses Cookies... but I made them bigger than they are supposed to be and we had to cook them longer.

The first batch is done and Mom says I should try one. I'm all, What if they are terrible? *laughs* I put one in my mouth, They're TERRIBLE!

Hard as a rock. gah, I hate cooking.

Mom reduces the cooking time for the next batch, we pull them out when they still look undone. That does actually help, but jeez, stupid cookies.

When I finish, I'm out for a walk, and Mom joins me, going a little bit further than the ½ mile turn around. And then I go by the Alpacas.

And then some horses.

And then I get to the Prairie Dog colony!

Out in the distance, I can occasionally see movement.

Actually, they're all over the place! There's five in this photo.

Well. Looping back home.

*laughs* I was hoping to see a Blue Jay, since we don't have any in Oregon... But this is apparently all I get.

That's a bummer.

Back, and I'm looking over the stupid cookies. Not all of them are terrible, the last ones are actually pretty good!

But I say we should dedicate a whole apple to the rehabilitation of the first batch that was so hard. I find a wrinkled apple in the fridge, a little too far gone and I cut it up and put it in with the crappy cookies. Hopefully that will help.

After dinner, I lose spectacularly in a game of Phase 10. I guess my luck is back to normal! *laughs*

Last day in Colorado, I've got my flight home this evening.

But the morning starts as it has. I come down to the kitchen table with everyone, and surf the internets and work on puzzles!

A couple of birds have finally found the filled up bird feeder!

A Flicker? That's weird. I don't think she'd be interested in sunflower seeds. Have some bugs gathered under the bird feeder?

And a Meadowlark!

I'm excited to see a bird I wouldn't see at home! I haven't had much luck with that on this trip! Just that blurry and too far away Blue Jay the other day.

I wonder if the Flicker and the Meadowlark are friends. Where you hang out, I shall hang out. :)

And I think there was a Goldfinch as well, but they flew away too quickly. Perhaps they will report the full bird feeders at the evening gathering.

Dad comes up from his exercises in the basement and Mom asks how the Tylenol is going. He's a day or so off the oxi, and you can tell he feels a lot better! He's brighter and he says the Tylenol is working.

I wander off to pack my bags. I had pulled the sheets off my bed, and asked Mom if I could re-make the bed, but she said she's hung them up to dry in the basement!

I also get a couple bags of cookies to take home! I grab all of the bad Molasses Cookies... the chopped apple hasn't helped much, but I'm betting the 100% humidity in Oregon will do the trick!

With the Xmas presents, there's more than will fit into my bags. So I find a box and put the rest in it. Mom will ship it to me, when she gets back into town.

Mom's birthday is in a few days, and she opens her presents. She gets books!

And then we play one last game of 65... and Mom wins!

After lunch, we're just killing time. I fiddle with my luggage some more and Mom and Brother play a game of cribbage.

Brother drives Mom and I to the airport. Since we are coming in a different way than usual, we have trouble finding the ticket counters. They are doing construction and there's a serious lack of signs and the whole place is just a mess, a huge mess!

We finally get my luggage checked in... and then there's no place to just sit and hang out. We wander around in circles, but the only place we find with chairs is completely filled up and crowded with humans. sheesh. This airport is Terrible!

But then it's time for me to go, hugs all around and I wish them luck trying to find the car again! *laughs*

I get thru security, which is all new and different but I don't see how it's better than the old security... all this construction for nothing, really!

And then I walk a million miles to my gate, which says Omaha. Oh Crap! I back track to look at the departure screens. Okay, just have to walk a little bit further down!

I like it when the plane ride has no turbulence. And then, somehow the plane arrived a full half hour early! ha! Of course partner isn't there to greet me when I come down, but that's okay, when is your plane EVER a half hour early?? He shows up before too long, and we still have to wait for the luggage carousel.

At home, a Long hot shower makes me feel better.

It's good to be home.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

Much to do today. Need to get the files moved from the Emily Laptop, back over to the computer. And I can probably backup files while I'm at it. Do an organizational sweep thru the photos. I need to start a list. But also the house is a little bit trashed, and I need to take care of that.

It's clear and cold this morning. But the sun warms stuff up and it's 37° by the time I get moving.

The wet prairie doesn't have a single puddle. Has it not been raining?

hm. Yeah, we are almost 2inches behind on our normal rain for December. And November was dry too, 2.5inches behind.

It makes the frogs sad when they don't have puddles.

I'm noting some other unfortunate changes around here... Aw, they cut this branch?

The police have left a Surveillance Trailer out here... and the homeless people have been swept. I wonder if something happened.

And the bench outside the Community Garden has been removed. *grumble*

jeez. I was excited to be home, but now I'm as sad as the puddle-less frogs.

Plus the bird flew away.

And the squirrel moved before I got his photo.

Well. I go into the Garden to see what my plot has been doing. The Borage has all died finally, and that's fine and normal. This second volunteer Cosmos is still green and alive...

And that stupid pot is still on my side of the border.

The Leek seedlings that I had separated are all dead. I figured they would die. But this clump that I left alone is still happily growing!

There's some cute little mushrooms in the pathway.

And someone has some Calendulas that are still happily blooming!!

The little splash of bright colours lifts my spirits.

Okay! Slowly but surely, I am getting all the December projects organized!

I've started sorting photos. There's a bit over 900 to work thru, which is a lot but could easily have been twice that! *Laughs*

I've got the pile of mail organized. Pulled out the swaps I need to deal with right away, and I'll go thru the lovely Holiday cards one by one, as I get time.

The house is getting tidier. I am getting thru Swap-Bot stuff.

And today I'm walking across the street to the postal stop to return my brother's broken gift. Another chore, checked off the list! AND they've already sent the replacement, so that's great!

But it's so cold today! It got down to 27° last night and it's still only 30° when I head out the door at 11am! ... I think about how it was 75° in Colorado on the day before Christmas. uh huh... that was nice. Climate change is terrible, but that was nice.

Well. There's some rain in the forecast so hopefully that will warm things up... Normal for this time of year is 47/34. None of this 30° at midday business!

And here's something that IS normal... bad bird photography!

*laughs*

Oh, here's that blond Mallard again!

Not that I can get decent pictures of her, either! sheesh.

A little bit further downstream... oh no. A Cackling Goose. And she's alone. :(

Her mate must have died. sighs. I'm so sad for her.

But here's something interesting. Cackling Geese look a lot like Canada Geese, but they are much smaller. And here she is demonstrating her size next to a Mallard. She's just barely bigger than him!

I'm looping around the neighborhood. Glad to see xmas decorations still up.

And amused that this neighbor has strung xmas lights over their Camellia bushes!