Bah Humbug?

We’ve been in a deep freeze for the last couple of weeks since the cattle got home. Mark, Jesse and Gary have been busy chopping ice in the river and various water troughs to make sure the cattle get a good drink. Animals can take extreme weather if they have plenty to drink and eat. Still, I feel bad for them when we’re snuggled in bed at night.

I finally clued in and got the flannel sheets and down comforter off the top shelf to make up our bed. Mark waxed eloquent over the results when he climbed in last night.

We’ve been enjoying winter vegetables - sweet potatoes from the store, and red potatoes and squash from the garden. I figured out to turn squash over and put the cut side down while baking - lovely and moist.   

I can be a Scrooge this time of year. I love the decorations and the music, but the gift giving and high expectations put on mothers can be mind-numbing.

Every year I gather cedar boughs from Gary and Anita’s windbreak to make a wreath for the front door. It is a bittersweet task. The windbreak was planted when Mark and I were dating and I always marvel that the trees are so big. It brings the passage of time front and center.

I had found the pruners and dressed warmly. I got in the pickup to drive to the trees and on the radio comes Eartha Kitt, singing Santa Baby, about sables and convertibles (love that one). Then Nat King Cole’s, The Christmas Song. And finally old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, with The Christmas Waltz.

It’s that time of year when the world falls in love

Ev'ry song you hear, seems to say, “Merry Christmas,

May your New Year dreams come true."  

Those old 50’s/60’s tunes can melt the heart of any naysayer.  

So, I put up the nativity in the little cardboard shed, picked out a lodge pole pine at Stop ‘n Shop for $28 (what a bargain!) and am dancing to holiday albums at breakfast. Even Mark is puzzled.  

23 years old

heifer calves looking good

nature's quite a hand at creating beauty

this morning at one above zero