Sunny Christmas Eve 12-24

What to do, what to do on the day before Christmas?  We entertained the idea of going down to the mall in Roseville and people watching.  We've done it before in some of the other places we've been at Christmas, it is fun seeing all the decorations and watching people finish their Christmas shopping, window shopping and being glad that we don't have to wait in those long lines with so many impatient people.

But the sun was out and with the past storms and the storms to come we decided to enjoy the day at home.  There was no breeze so we set off on our walk with no sweaters or jackets which was nice for a change and the sun was warm.  We spent another few lovely hours hanging out on the deck soaking up the rays.  Larry visited on the phone for a bit and I read a book.



Still small even with the telephoto.



After we got back from our walk I was looking up at the sky when finally I saw an eagle soaring above.  I knew they had to be around somewhere, but every time I've looked up it is usually vultures or hawks casting the shadow.  This one was high enough that I hadn't seen a shadow, I just happened to look up at the right time.  There was another one much higher up, but it was about the size of one of these commas here cruising around above.  I ran in to get my camera and change the lens to the telephoto which is only to 200mm, which isn't as strong as I would like, but I could definitely see it was an eagle after I zoomed in...though seeing the flashes of white at the head and tail and the shape of the wings I was pretty sure.  I noticed odd colorations on the undersides of its wings and after zooming in on the picture with the computer I could see the red spots.  I figured it must be some kind of tag, which a friend later confirmed.

We also finally settled on our paint color for the house.  Which turned out pretty funny.  We had been studying on the Kelly Moore premixed color chart for the past month.  We both picked the same color, but then thought it might be to dark or too something else.  Today we had the chart up on the side of the house and decided maybe it had too much red in it, so we thought about another color and then the chart hit the ground and we remembered that those colors looked green to us...blah, blah, blah...we were getting disgusted. 

Larry said something about the color of the house in Fallon.  I said it was a shame we didn't remember the name of the colors...he said how would that help and I said maybe it was Kelly Moore.  We had picked the colors when the house was being built so Larry looked for the paperwork and he came back and sure enough....the color we both picked initially was the exact same color of the house in Fallon, which we both loved.  It was a warm color and fresh looking and hard to see in the small chip we had next to all the other chips...but now knowing what it looked like on an entire house we are comfortable with our choice...woo hoo.  Cracks me up that neither one of us remembered that the paint on the house in Fallon was Kelly Moore until today.

I baked a yummy batch of scratch chocolate chip cookies and watched a Christmas movie and now I think I'll head to bed so Santa can show up :)  Merry Christmas!

The day before the day before Christmas 12-23

First, I want to remember Larry's Dad...Ed....today on his birthday.  I don't think any of us thought we would get through the first 23 days after he died and now it has been 23 years without him.  We love and miss him.

Larry & Ed on our wedding day

1983 holding Michelle, Andrea next to him



1983



1985

1985



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Larry started the day taking our truck down to a diesel mechanic guru in Sacramento.  It has been smoking which isn't normal for our truck and Larry was told by a dealership that there was nothing wrong with it.  Well upon starting it the mechanic today knew immediately what was wrong with it...the injectors again.  It will be going in for repair and this time done by someone who cares about doing it right and with NEW parts...imagine that.

Later our friends Karen and Bob stopped by for a couple of hours...they are visiting family and friends over the holiday...they came all the way from Maui!  Karen showed me some cool watercolor techniques while she was here from a workshop she has recently taken.

Then the deer made their appearance.  I finally got my display of buck aggresion, but they are both young and looked more like they were scratching each others heads.  I took these pictures through the window.  I think they were just practicing! 

It was a very pleasant day.  The weather was partly sunny.

Long Night 12-20

This morning it wasn't raining so we were able to take a walk.  Needed our coats and knit caps though, it was 45 and breezy...brrr.  It was dry most of the day, getting some sprinkles tonight though...with the full moon and lunar eclipse tonight on the longest night of the year I am hoping the clouds will move out.

So I will post a bunch of the pictures from our family Christmas on Saturday.  I don't know if I'll get captions under all of them or how many I'll get posted, but as Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Gene weren't there this year I thought they would enjoy seeing as many as I can get on here:

Kathy

Brett jr., Jenny (his girlfriend) Larry, Amanda, Ian, Mom (Carol)

Deanne, Brett jr., Jenny, Larry

David, Steven, Brett Sr., Deanne, Brett jr, Jesicca

Ian, Larry, Me, Andrea and Connor

Steven and Ian

David, Jes, Liliana, Edgar

Hank, Michael & Brandon

Brett, Tommy, Brett jr., Deanne, Amanda and Jenny

Mesa, Hank, Steven, Brandon, Kathy, Michael

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Kathy, Carol, Larry and Brett (Larry's Mom & siblings)

Ian, Steven, Larry and Connor

Edgar & Andrea

Rain, rain, rain 12-19

As of this morning we had gotten 4.5 inches of rain since Friday morning.  The wind was still gusting hard today too.  This afternoon we even had thunder, lightning and hail.  I always imagined wildlife seeking shelter when horrible weather hit, but these crazy deer just stand there getting pounded by the rain and hail and just lay down out in the open taking their naps.

I finished my painting today...not a bad carnation if I do say so myself.....ha ha ha.  I am amazed that it actually resembles the poinsettia!

I forgot to mention I poached eggs for the first time a few days ago and all I can say is EW.  Wrangling the egg whites was impossible without one of those fancy egg poacher pans and I see why you have them ON toast...you need something to soak up all that runnyness....EW.  I will stick to scrambled from now on...unless I get a pan and then I will certainly cook them longer than the recommended time.

I didn't get around to pulling out the best pics from the 90 or so I took yesterday of the family...maybe tomorrow.

Family Christmas Party 12-18

Where have I been you ask?  Right here of course getting ready for Christmas and getting ready for the next big storm which hit last night and is supposed to just run on for days.  Just since it began yesterday we've gotten about 2.5 inches and we had BIG wind last night...it woke me a few times.

Day before yesterday I made fudge for my nephews...they like my fudge the best and it has become tradition.  Yesterday I made a stupendous pasta salad to bring to our family Christmas potluck today...it was a different concoction for me and it turned out really, really great!

I decided to do a little watercolor painting of a poinsettia and it has actually turned out pretty well....I am always shocked when it turns out looking like what it is supposed to...ha ha.

This morning we got up and got ourselves beautified and on the road for Martinez.  The wind had let up some and it wasn't pouring when we left....there were waterfalls raging down the hillsides where we have never seen any before.  Caltrans was staying on top of rocks and mudslides on the roadway.  The confluence of the American River was raging and what we found interesting was the north fork was high but the water was green and the middle fork was muddy brown....we expected both forks to be muddy with all this rain.

It is a two hour drive and we hit some rain and traffic but mostly uneventful.  We spent a few hours with our great friends Lou and Vicki and then onto the family shindig.  Larry's sister Kathy is over from Maui and so were the boys...it was good to see all of them.  There were five little kids which kept the energy and noise level high, but everyone had a good time and the food was wonderful...I think it was the best ham I have ever had.  I am sorry I didn't smuggle some out in my purse.  We took family pictures and I snapped a lot of candids, I have to go through them and edit some....but here are two of the family.  Trying to get everyone looking great at the same time wasn't happening today.  Boyfriends and girlfriends were excluded from the picture so there were four other big people and two kids besides the "clan" pictured here.

The drive home was okay, but rain most the way and poured from Sac on home...the wind is cranking again here at home too.  I am going to get this post finished, brush my pearly-whites and then tunnel under my blankies!

Brandon, Kathy, David, Brett Jr., Amanda, Hank, Edgar, Brett Sr. and Deanne in back.  Carol, Steven, Andrea holding Connor, Michael, Me and Larry and then down in front Jessica, Liliana, and Ian.

Ta-Da 12-13

Yesterday I finally got around to making my tree topper.  A rare work of art that turned out perfectly for our tree.  A shiny bow covered toilet paper cardboard thingy....I rather like it and it cost nothing.

Today cousins Mike and Pat came over for a visit and to check out our new digs...they were wildly impressed and we had a great visit.  I made Pat walk to the top of the hill with me...sounds huge, but it isn't really....and gave her the tour.  Mike got his own personal tour with Larry.  We had home made turkey soup and champagne...not necessarily in that order. 

The resident deer made their appearance for our guests...though the 5 pointer didn't show.  We haven't seen him in a few days, though I'm not sure we'll know him after he drops his antlers.  There has been a buck around that looks like he has recently lost his...but he has been here at the same time so we know he isn't the 5'er.

Another wonderful Cool day....

Beautiful Fall Day 12-11

The sun was out today and for us compared to where we've been in past Decembers it was warm.  We saw 67 at some point today.  After having a leisurely breakfast and discussing a book we had both finished reading we decided to go for a drive.

This was the brightest green moss!

There was a holiday crafts fair at the Bayley House almost to Pilot Hill from here in Cool, so we stopped there and perused the lovely wares for sale.  Lots of beautiful jewelry...a few pieces I was tempted by, but I don't need it so I resisted.  We continued onto Coloma to see what they had going on there today...they had people in period dress and another arts fair, but as I wasn't in a buying mood we turned around and headed back.

We turned down the road to Lotus and stopped by the American River and took a walk and sat on some rocks and soaked up the sun and enjoyed listening to the rapids.  It was amazingly warm.  As we were heading back to the truck a group of kayakers was coming ashore and Santa was with them enjoying the nice weather.

From the river we headed to Garden Valley for lunch at Shoestrings...they are a little hamburger joint that has been there since 1959.  Larry is always willing to try out a new hamburger place.  We sat outside to eat our meal.  We chatted with an old WWII veteran for awhile and then with a young boy who was practicing his mountain biking techniques, people were very chatty and friendly today and the food was good too.

We headed back home and it was still so lovely outside we just grabbed our books and sat out on the deck in the last sun of the day.  Once it went behind the trees it was time to go back inside for me...

The sunset was stunning....I couldn't get my photos to do the bright hot orange justice, but some of the pictures look like wonderful art...the colors were incredible.

Later I was messing around and shot a couple pictures of my new haircut.  In deciding what I like and don't like with my new stylist I forgot about bangs...I love how they look...sassy/sexy and all the styles had them.  But living behind the style I feel like an unkempt english sheepdog...I am constantly tempted to brush them away and that doesn't work with the style but I am trying to give them a chance.  We'll see how long they last, I tend to keep my bangs shorter than most stylists want to cut them...maybe it is a hold over from the childhood haircuts that my mother gave me...straight across, too short bangs.

 

Shaggy

The new hair-do is looking a little tired.

Hmmmmm... 12-8

Today I have nothing for you.  No grand epiphanies or opinions or insights.  I went to the store and made a hair appointment for tomorrow...woo hoo...exciting stuff.  I walked down to the meadow, the croaking of the frogs drew me down there and then I just stood and listened to the tinkling sounds of the little creek flowing by...ahhhhh.  Larry and I spent some time working out a plan for part of the front yard and that was about it beyond what everyone else does....feed and water the body and then make deposits in the bathroom.....ha ha ha ha ha!   Sorry...cracking myself up.......like the title says....hmmmmmmm!

Pretty tree 12-8

It was raining again this morning and was cloudy all day.  Today our tree looked pretty, but I forgot about a tree topper....I'm going to make something...I'll let you know how that goes.  Just started dumping rain again at 10:30 p.m. so I guess the storm is still with us.

We noticed today that the buck's inner spikes have grown...it seems weird that those heavy things grow in one season and then drop off.

I'm wordless tonight, so that's it for me.

This is the orchid plant...I wanted my Aunt to see it.