oh my

 Christmas is 3 weeks from today

    Can you believe that?  2025 is almost over! 

    Where did the time go?

    We almost finished putting up the tree today.  Still have the skirt and manger to put out.  Christmas cards are almost ready to mail.  Spent some time looking for return address labels our insurance provider sent us.  After I gave up and sat down to do this, I found them on my desk.

    You notice the use of almost.

    Christmas is only 3 weeks away!

    I am starting to panic.

    I do a Christmas letter every year.  One side is fun-fantasy, the other side is boring humdrum stuff.

    I wish I had saved the funny side ones from the start.  Julia was still home when I did the first one, and she left in 2002.

    Sometimes people just put the dreaded Christmas letter aside.  I decided that was not going to work.

    I wrote a very (to me) letter full of exaggerations and out right lies.

    I remember one person put the letter aside and a family member picked it up and started reading it, bursting out in laughter and telling parents to read the letter.

    My brother once called and asked why he didn't get a letter.

    I have included fake news, top ten lists, a letter that included the titles of 15 or so Beatles songs,  jokes, and I may have even done a crossword puzzle.

    Human Beth also has put out funny letters, much more planned and organized instead of the slap-dash ones I do.

    Ah....I wished I had saved the letters.  I might have been able to put them into a special holiday book.  Alas, I did not.  And the computers have come and gone, taking the letters with them.

    Such is life.

Peace and Love

curses

 I broke something today

    Jackie has a stand she puts her I Pad on in the morning when she has breakfast.

    I knocked it to the ground today and it broke in 2 places.

    I did this about a year ago and ordered 2 of the wrong size.  Then I ordered one of the right size. It cost about $20.

    I ordered the exact stand today and it was $34!

    Why????

    My guess is tariffs.  

     I was going to order 2, but I balked at the price.  

    That's a lot of money for a flimsy bamboo stand!

    But we have tried others and they don't meet Jackie's needs.  So there you have it.

    Finally filled my bird feeders today.  They have been empty for a couple of days.

    I have to go through the house because of the mountain of snow at the end of the driveway. 

    I went to Julia's today to drop off her new snowblower.  She has really cool looking decorations.  Jackie asked if I had taken pictures, and I had to admit I  did not.  I have to ask Julia to send her mom some shots of the house.

    I finihed fluffing the tree.  I put lights on today.  Jackie unravelled them and I hung them.  They all work, which is a miracle.

    Tomorrow we will put ornaments on and it will be almost done.  

    Not looking forward to the cold.  Neither is Beth.  She does no like her coat, but I think it is cute.

    That's all I know.  Pretty mundane day!

Peace and Love

tree mendus

I assembled  our Christmas tree today 

    Damn near killed me.

    We bought a new tree at the end of the  season last year.  When it came, Julia and I cleared a spot off the top storage rack and together we lifted the two bags up onto the rack.  The two of us.

    Well, I figured getting it down would be fairly easy and the first bag did came down rather easily.  I half dragged half carried it up the stairs.  (Yes, a thoughtful person would have opened the bag and taken the two sections up one at a time.  Not my style.)

    The second bag was a different story.

    I swear it weighed at least 40 pounds!

    That's what it felt like when it hit me in the head.

    I saw stars.  And lights. And angels. 

    I realized I had knocked over a small box of decorations.  And a 2 foot tree.  And a couple of boxes.

    I thought I might have a concussion, but unfortunately I remembered who was president.

    At that point I decided to open the bag and take the 3 parts upstairs one at a time.

    It was far easier.

    Artificial trees have to be fluffed.

    I fluffed my butt off on the lower branches, taking 3 breaks because my back hurt.

    But the remaining sections I could do upright, making it a lot easier on my back.

    The tree is up. And fluffed.  But it leans.

    Go figure.

    Tomorrow we will decorate the tree, just in time for Christmas.

    I have a friend whose husband wrapped their tree in plastic wrap and stored it.  When they unwrap[ed it, it looked perfect.

    Jackie said not to even think about it.

Peace and Love

and then we....

 Went to see Book of Mormon tonight

    It was at the Coronado Theater in Rockford.  This was a traveling troupe, and. they were pretty darn good.

    Now Jackie and I saw this musical years ago and I frankly did not remember it at all.  Jackie remembered it, but did not like it the first time she saw it.  She did not like it again tonight.

    Actually there were 9 of us in our group!  Three of us sat in handicap accessible seats and The other  6. were closer to the front.

    I liked the show tonight.  Lots of energy, great talent, especially Charity Arianna who I think had a great voice and an amazing stage personality.

    I could actually hear most of the show.  Ensemble singing, with lots of voices, was a little muddled, but the spoken parts were pretty clear.  Thanks, new hearing aids.

    Jackie's Dickens Christmas Village got set up today.  Sheri did the grunt work.  I wandered around the house aimlessly.

    Not true.  Last year the girls got us a box o 100 replacement lights for the village.

    We used a few last year, and this year we needed a couple of more.

    Opened the box and tried one.....didn't work.

    Tried another....didn't work.

    Ok, maybe it is the wire that is not good.  Tried another wire.  Nope.  Tried a third wire.  Nope.

    Changed  electric strips.  Nope.

    Used a bulb we know worked and.....it worked.  Not the strip.  Not the cord.

    Must be the bulb.

    I went through this box of 95 bulbs and not one o them worked.  None!

    How can that be?

    I wanted to know what bulb to use, so I called Dept. 56.  A man answered and I asked him what kind of bulb I needed.

    He said it depended on the village piece.  He told me to read him the product number.  I did.  He told me what bulb. to use.  I asked if these were pretty standard and he said no.  If I needed needed another bulb, I had to give him the product number.

    I told him I had 15 houses, and I don't know which ones needed bulbs.

    So I gave him another number and he said it took the same bulb as the first one.

    I figure they all take the same, so I ordered 9 additional bulbs.  At $3 each.

    When those bulbs go out, I think Mr. Dickens will find I can be quite Scrooge like and enjoy the darkness.

Peace and Love

cold cool

 I went to Morton Arboretum to see the lights tonight

    To be more precise, WE went to Morton to see the lights.

    Emily, Sheri, MK, Greg and I had a cold, but great ,time.

    I think it was in the upper 20s while we were there.  At one point I checked and was surprised to see how cold it was.  My n ew coat seems to work well.

    Jackie was a little leery of going, and opted to stay home.

    In hindsight it was probably. good choice.  She would have been frozen and I would have had trouble pushing her around the 1 mile plus track.  To be honest, I had a little trouble making it around by myself.

    That and clearing the debris from the porch and in front of the garage doors, blowing the sidewalk, and picking Jackie up off the floor were about the only things I did today.

    Emily helped with the pick up.  Jackie did not exactly fall, but something happened and she slid down from the bed and onto the floor.  No harm, no foul.  I am just glad Emily was around.  Julia was snowed in when it happened and would not have been able to get here.

    Hopefully that does not happen again.

Peace and Love

that white dot is the moon

and now, something different

 Well, never mind about that

    I tried posting a video, but it did not work.

    I was standing outside with the wind howling, the snow blowing, and me freezing.

    Beth is really bothered by the snow and blowing.  She has gone out several times, turned and looked at me and then come back in without doing anything.

    Finally she did her business....on the porch.

    It is not where anyone can step on or in it, hut I will pick it up tomorrow.

    Christmas is almost all upstairs and Jackie is shocked at how much we have.  She asked 2 questions:  Where did we get that?  Where are we going to put that?

    Some things don't get put out.  The wreath Emily made in third grade or the candles my mother had when I was little.  Both are broken, but I can't part with them. I guess I am just a sentimental old fool.

    Back to the weather.

    The snow is supposed to stop tomorrow morning, so hopefully our trip to Morton Arboretum will still be a go.  

    If not, I guess. that is how life works.

    Keep warm.

Peace and Love

legs, baby

 I need a new pair of legs

    Mine are worn out.

    I started hauling Christmas up from the basement.

    Why the hell didn't we put in a dumb waiter?

    Not the kind that brings you alphabet soup when you asked for minestrone, but the kind you can put boxes in and hit a button and they magically rise to the next floor.

    Of course I still have to go up the stairs to unload them, but I wouldn't be carrying half ton containers up the stairs.

    Speaking of half ton containers.

    Last spring I put my strawberry plants into a tank, like a stock tank used on farms.  I was going to say a water trough, but I don't know if that is a word or not.

    Anyway, I put it on top of a furniture mover so I could just roll it into the. garage.  Easy peasy, right?

    I had to move it today because we may get somewhere in the area of 11 inches of snow tonight and through Saturday.  The plow guy pushes it all off the end of the driveway and the strawberries were in the way.

    Let me tell you.....moving that sucker was not easy!

    First off, the rollers have a mind of their own when it comes to directions.

    Second, I. think I put 300 pounds of dirt in the container.  

    Julia and Emily came by a little after I was done and asked why I didn't ask them for help.

    Because I am a stubborn old man who refuses to believe he can't do the things he used to be able to do.

    I don't know my limits, but come spring I will have someone help me take it out of the garage.

    I may be stubborn, but I am not stupid.

    Or am I?

    Just don't ask me to bring you minestrone soup.

Peace and Love