It's a Winnie the Pooh blustery day, again!

Today started in the 70's and is now at 6:46 pm 24 degrees. The wind is so loud, yesterday Rick woke me up with "Is that thunder"? Since I had been listening to the side door bang for a while I knew it wasn't. Luckily the change did not bring tornadoes as it most surely would have in the summer. I guess there just wasn't enough humidity. Tomorrow is supposed to change that but by then it will be too cold for tornadoes. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Abbie smartly retired to the barn early in the day. Her bed is cozy and she knows I'll bring food and water. Next time I try to take Petey outside he will try to beat me back in the door. He hates cold weather and would rather just stay bundled up in a blanket. Satchmo's world never changes unless his food bowl is empty.

My priorities have changed. I no longer desire white Christmases. My daughter and son-in-law drive from Kansas (the Missouri side) and my son from Edmond. I prefer nice dry roads and lots of sunshine.

We shopped today and was quite successful. I went to the grocery store (so did everyone else) and stocked up just in case we are iced in. We filled up water jugs and put the gas cans next to the generator "just in case". We bought a 12 1/2 pound bag of popcorn at Atwoods for less than $7. We are ready. I wish that we had been able to put the fireplace in this summer but we'll be ok. Last year on this date we were still trying to dig out from a major ice storm that left downed trees everywhere including our driveway.

At Atwoods they have a fire engine pedal car. It has a rope that when pulled rings the bell on the front. So cute!!! Our grandchild will definately have to have that! They also had pink cowgirl boots. For babies...

We got our mazda back a couple of weeks ago from the body shop. They repaired the damage left from the deer running into Rick. Last week I went to the store and when I came out a young woman approached me and said "Ma'am you'd better look at your door on the passenger side". Another Winnie the Pooh blustery day and another ding in the door. I couldn't help it, I laughed and said "I think rubbing compound will rub that off, you won't believe this but we just got our car back from the body shop after a deer hit while my husband was driving. She was very apologetic and I thanked her for waiting to tell me. Luckily no need to exchange insurance info.

Until next time, stay warm and stay safe.

A New Year!

It has been a whole year since we moved into our house. We grew a lot of things and had most of them eaten by animals. We are wiser now. Look out next summer, varmints!

Today I started putting up our Christmas decorations. This is going to take some time. Last year we only put up our old cardboard fireplace. My kids reaction to this was priceless. They had not seen this fireplace for 16 years since our last house had a real fireplace. There were some really cute pictures taken of them in front of the cardboard fireplace. I have put some greenery on the bannister. I am taking my time decorating. It is like seeing old friends once a year.

Next year Christmas will be extra special. Our first grandchild will be 6 months old. It will be so exciting to have a child in the house again at Christmas time. We have already looked at toys. Rick had every Elmo on display at Target singing at the same time. This is going to get interesting!

I have reacted differently to the news that I am going to be a Nana than I usually react to good news. I am thrilled of course, my daughter and her husband have been married 10 years now and they will be wonderful parents. Yet I've felt more reflective. How strange when your baby is having her own baby. She will be a wonderful parent. First of all, she has wisely chosen her mate. Robbie is a special young man. I know he adores my daughter and she adores him. Her dad and I love Robbie very much. She has given herself time to grow up before trying to raise a child. I did not give her or her brother that. She has gone to college, lived on her own. She is a caring individual and I know that she will make sure that our grandchild cares about others. Times are so uncertain and I wish that I could make sure that life goes very smoothly for this little family. All I can promise is that I will continue to love them very much and pray for their well being often. I know that Catie and Robbie will do very well. Money may be tight sometimes and life hectic, but there is a lot of love in those two and they will do well. I am serious when I say that my daughter is who I want to be like when I grow up. I am very proud of her.

Today has been crazy windy and cold. I hung wreaths outside on my Dutch Colonial Revival Style house. In the middle of the windows downstairs. I have 2 more to hang upstairs. This will require a ladder and I wisely decided to wait until a nice day. The weekend is supposed to be nice.

I went out to the barn to check on Abbie, our kitten. She was snuggled in her basket all warm. The barn stays surprisingly warm even on cold days. Abbie is a working girl. She has brought to our back door this week 2 shrews and 1 mouse. She receives lots of petting and praise from Dad for this.

Petey pinned another opposum 2 nights ago. He now checks the back porch every night in case it comes back. The possum did what possums do and played dead. I even believed him! He disappeared later. A baby possum came last night to eat some cat food on the back porch. He ran away when we opened the door.

Well, that's the news in our neck of the woods.