Me again 12-29

As I was posting today's entry UPS dropped off the new hard drive.  Larry was geared up to get ready for lots of computer time, and was inserting the new hard drive onto the computer...it did NOT fit!!!  They sent the wrong one...what is the matter with people?!  Larry was very cranky and then got to talk to someone on the phone he couldn't understand...ack.  So more waiting.

So here are a few pictures taken with my new telephoto lens (thanks to Santa Larry), straight out of the camera, no editing because I don't have the program right now, but look at how much closer in I can get....love it.  These are all taken through the double paned windows too so that is why they aren't 100% sharp.

Uncle Gene, if I click on the pictures they get big, so it might be your browser.  I know blogger works the best with Firefox or Chrome and not so good with Explorer.

A spike just messing around.

 These were taken from inside the house, through the window and two wire fences clear across the yard.

Helloooooooooooo! 12-29

Almost two weeks since my last post.  Shocking and we had a lot going on here and there but with the computer not at full speed and worrying about saving/transferring, I'll just wait.  After today's post it might be a few days to a week before the next one.  Our hard drive is arriving today which means Larry will be busy over the next several days getting Ruby set up again.  Ruby is what I call our main computer as she is the red one :)  He will be getting everything that we have collected over the years back onto and running on the new hard drive.  Lucky for us he is able to do this and no he doesn't hire out!  He hates doing it...the curse of being so smart :)

We had a great Christmas.  There was a family Christmas gathering at Larry's brothers home with family over from Hawaii and Auntie & Uncle from hmmm, well for now from Nevada.  The Oregonians weren't there and two cousins had to work but we all had fun catching up and of course eating, watching the kids play and seeing the newest teeny member of the family.  Christmas day we spent with our dearest friends.  The weather was nice so driving back and forth was not a problem...we love sleeping in our own bed and if we are within four hours drive it is just easier.

Two days after Christmas I had all the decorations put away.  It is always so refreshing, because after the big day it just seems like so much clutter.

We had eight bucks in the yard yesterday afternoon, three were spikes, but Big Daddy wasn't among them.  There was a 4x3 and two 2x2's (that is how many points on each antler on their head, our way of telling about them) and I can't remember the rest.  I got pictures but they are in the camera still.  I received a new telephoto lens for my camera for Christmas so practice, practice for me.  So far just pics of birds on the birdbath and deer.

The only other wildlife story to share is the 17th our neighbor got a picture of the backside of a LARGE mountain lion moving past his infrared/battery auto camera he had set up on a trail below his house.  By the broadness and the drag of the belly he figured about 200 pounds...BIG KITTY.  You know they are out there somewhere and seeing proof is fun.

I have been busy crocheting hats and knitting scarves.   Oh, I need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ian today.  Nine years old....can't be said enough...well, we just can't seem to stop saying it,...he is growing up so fast!

This was made with superfine sock yarn.  I haven't used yarn this small ever before.

Our last rose of this year, I will be pruning all the bushes back here in another week or so.

Some of the fun hats I've crocheted.

Larry's pic on one of his daily hikes.

Sunny warm day 12-16

Michelle sent me a picture of her in the hat I made!  Gorgeous!

Happy Birthday to Michelle today!  I'll spare you the retrospective this year...unless you feel slighted and I can certainly pull out the past if you want.

Shirt sleeve weather in the sun and peaceful out on the porch.  Larry took a big hike and I did stuff and chatted with my Sister for awhile while I baked in the sun.  The crazy bucks are still in hunt mode but these two weren't serious.

A hat for Michelle in the yarn called for in the pattern.  I picked blue to match her eyes.

I made a squishy scarf too.

Same hat different yarn.  Trying to decide if I'll keep this one.

Casual Day 12-15

It rained a bit over night, it was cloudy all morning and then sunny but windy and cold the rest of the day.  I deemed it a sweats and slippers day. I enjoyed the garden for a bit before it got really windy, the pines were whispering and the oaks were raining the last of their leaves.  My big excursion for the day was to the mailbox. Larry was left with my camera and of course he played.

There are pictures of our hike out to the pond on Tuesday...it is peaceful there.

I'm enjoying the pond.

Larry took this with his camera.

This is a gift made by a friend.  So cute!

Nothing 12-14

Hello and GOOD MORNING!!!!!
Have a great day!  You made it through another night!  Woo HOOO!
Okay...that's all I've got....hahaha!  We were in Roseville and Auburn today doing a bit of shopping and had lunch at the Brewery in Old Town.  Love you Aunts and Uncles! :)

Coffee on the Garden Bench 12-13

Yesterday I opted out of the daily hike to give my sticks a rest.  It was a sunny morning so I decided to take a cup of coffee and my camera out to the garden bench and commune with the garden.  It has been down into the high 20's at night but there are still a surprising number of flowers blooming around the garden.

Here is where I was sitting and taking pictures, and drinking my coffee.

Lots of these "berries" were above my head, a pretty pink.

She hung around for awhile so I was able to get some pretty good shots.

Almost leafless trees.

I can't quit taking this sunny poppy's picture.

This was my yard art purchase from the Christmas Bazaar on Saturday.

Stag Party 12-12

I had a lovely garden blog planned for today, but we had wild kingdom here tonight so I didn't get the mornings pics edited and watching the show outside has now made it later than planned to get this entry done and I'm ready for bed.

I think I mentioned yesterday the Big Daddy buck and a two pointer playing around.  The youngster kept butting the big guy and it seemed he was in training.  These are pictures of them from yesterday, the younger one was about half the BD's size.















This evening just as it was getting dark we noticed the deer racing around and it was the Big Daddy chasing a doe all over the place and buck after buck kept coming out of the trees.  There ended up being five and two of them were good sized too .  The BD kept his good eye on the spectators and would rush them if they got too close during his pursuit of the doe.  She was playing hard to get and led him on a merry chase around trees and bushes and would stop long enough for him to give it a try and then off she would go again.  This went on for quite awhile until they disappeared and all was quiet for awhile.  We don't know who "won", but we later saw BD and he was panting up a storm.

A few hours later we heard something bang into the porch or house, we weren't really sure.  Larry ran and flipped on all the flood lights and we could see a buck or two but then Larry opened the frosted bathroom windows to look at the hill behind the house and we had ring side seats to BD and another big buck locked in serious battle.  One must have backed another into the house at some point.  It is something to see bucks battle close up.  You can hear them grunting, their antlers are clacking and they drive each others heads to the ground.  Dirt is flying and they drive each other backwards not caring what they are running into.  They dislodged the cinderblocks on our fancy bench on the hill.  I wish I had gotten pictures but didn't want to miss anything by running and getting the camera.  I'm sure over the years we'll see another battle or two.  They are probably still at it out there...maybe not the same ones but I could hear antlers clacking out there somewhere when I was brushing my teeth and the neighbors dog keeps barking.  I'm hoping they are done for the night.

I'll finish with a picture I took while out in the garden this morning and tomorrow I'll do today's intended post.

Tah Dah! 12-11

I'm here, I'm here!  The time just slipped away from me, I got a nudge today that it has been two weeks since my last entry and was I still alive.  I would think about making an entry and then get busy on one of my projects and forget.

We've had wonderful weather and just the last few nights have we been getting freezing and below.  I've gone out hiking with Larry a few times but for some reason I keep coming up lame and wait a few days before going out again.  We crossed paths with a couple of coyotes one day.  They watched us watching them, Larry took pictures with his camera and then when Larry took a few steps toward them they finally moved on.





We've done a bit of yard work and there has still been some blooming going on in the garden.  Today I planted tulip, daffodil and dutch iris bulbs.  We got our new manzanita planted, but the deer started munching on them so we had to cage the plants up until they get established.  We've hardly seen the deer the last couple of weeks, until a couple days ago and today the huge big buck was back and the two pointer kept sparring with him.  The young buck is half the big guys size but they just have to keep trying out their stuff.

















We got our tree up and decorated almost two whole weeks ago already.  It has 650 white lights on it and we can practically read in the room with just those lights...I prefer colored lights, but this tree was after Christmas cheap so it came home with us a few years ago.

Before tinsel.

After tinsel...I love it.

I had a place for my Santa's this year.  The teeny one was my Dad's, the one on the right  was given to me by my Gram when I was little and I bought Scottish Santa back in the '90s I think.

We spend the sunniest part of each day out on the front porch soaking up the sun while we have it and I have been knitting and crocheting my little hands off.  I'll post pictures of those projects later.

See the hummingbird in the middle?

This morning there were about a dozen sparrows on the frozen bird bath.  I went out and broke up the ice and none of the birds came back.  Larry said they were probably ice skating and I spoiled their fun.  That made me laugh to think about it...sparrows ice skating.  But then my brain goes on one of its tangents and I wondered how often our help...when it isn't asked for, spoils someones fun....hmmm.

I zoomed in on the computer so we could see him better.  I got that beautiful flash of his head  in the sun.

The Flickers have been hollowing out the persimmons.

This little beauty opened a couple of days ago.

Now this is a rose petal!  Massive.

Yesterday Larry & I went to a local Christmas Bazaar and these are my treasures, all for $20.

 I may not post every day, there just hasn't been much worth writing about going on, but I'll try to get to it more often then once every two weeks.  I haven't even been out with the camera too much.