Merry Christmas on this cold winter's day!

When it's this cold (and windy) outside, and this warm inside, nobody, not even the dogs, cares about going for a walk.

Now that I have a working oven, we had a nice crispy roasted duck for our Christmas dinner, along with some scalloped potatoes and salad. Maybe a few little eclairs for dessert, along with some chocolate truffles from Middle Sis in Oregon. Middle Sis who is spending her Christmas at some resort condo on the beach in Oregon. No we are not jealous, we love the cold, and the wind... What we really love is the woodstove. Especially the WoodMan loves his woodstove...

Don't know how he hasn't singed his pretty self for how close he sleeps next to it.

Cyrus is more interested in critter watching. They are easier to see when the ground is coated in white.

Monkey is exhausted from sneaking in to play with the ornaments on the tree (see previous post).

Only Willie is missing from the photos. He spends almost all day upstairs, but just this last week or 2 he has been getting brave and coming downstairs again. He actually spent a few short minutes in my lap on the sofa while Woody was sleeping at the other end.

As you can see here, Monkey does not fear the dogs. He kinda likes them. And they kinda like him too.

Bad Monkey and finally baking again

I was on the phone with Evie discussing how she had to remove all the ornaments from the bottom of her tree because of her cats, and I had just finished saying that Monkey has been really good this year about not messing with our tree. No sooner do I say that than he decides it would be a good idea to knock off a few...

(Check out the Ziggy ornament from 1982!)

I am pleased to report that the new oven works well. I made cornbread last night, puffy apple pancake this morning. The new GE makes adorable little beeping sounds when it is up to temperature, when the timer goes off...

If it lasts me 10 years I will be extremely happy (and very old at that point). If it lasts me 5 years it will be better than all of the new appliances we bought when we built this house...

Early Christmas presents for both of us

Both of us got our presents before Christmas this year, and both were not easily found. Had to travel to NJ for the Martin guitar, but the battle was much harder fought for the new GE Profile oven...OMG!...finally successfully installed this afternoon. If you look closely, you can see Woody's reflection next to mine in the oven door. He was very much in charge of the installation, and not happy with Matt from Bello Electric having to take a saw to the cabinets. Happy that The Husband was not here to witness that either. You might also notice Little Sista's puppy inspecting the new guitar.

Merry Christmas!

I finally got the Christmas tree lit and decorated. It has been a rough few weeks: busy working, persistent cough gone nasty, scary read on a mammo that turned out to be nothing, new oven doesn't fit in the hole... Ho Ho Ho!

Got the tree a bit late from Salo's, our favorite local tree farm. It is mighty crooked and misshapen, but I am pretty sure it is the more elusive balsam fir which smells great. Now that most of the decorations and all of the lights are on, it looks like a real tree. (Notice tree tilting forward, cat waiting to remove all ornaments, dogs sleeping and do not care.)

Went to NJ last weekend and accomplished a lot, including delivering Little Sister's well deserved new artificial tree, picking up Husband's well deserved new Martin guitar from an old high school friend, going to Colleen's baby shower and hanging out with all of my forever NJ Hanrahan (and other) friends, visiting with BFWB (best friend work buddy) Maryellen and having the added joy of meeting her 2 adorable grandsons and Junior (DH) the grown puppy, and delivering some fresh eggs and a Christmas card to my new favorite renters Lisa and Holly. Between the baby shower and ME visit I got to drive through Atlantic City all lit up and looking pretty at night. Should have gotten a photo of that!

A whirlwind tour to be sure.

As for the new oven: it is still sitting just inside the front door. With any luck (not my usual appliance luck!!!) it will be installed tomorrow.

Pictures to follow. Good or bad.

Goat mayhem, RIP my oven

Mayhem in the goat barn with the arrival of Mikey, the rented Boer stud man. Our very own stud man, Johnny Cash (pictured right, with Lucille) is not ready for action. Even when Roger, Jack and Rico are trying to instruct him, he just doesn't seem to understand. We can only hope that he will mature in time for next year's duties.

Mikey was a very polite young man riding in the back of the Kia for 10 miles or so. They say he is quite the talker, but he did not have much to say on the way here.

He is staying with us as long as necessary. Within minutes of his arrival he was sniffing the air and looking for the ladies. Pretty sure he will be ready for action whenever the girls get over their initial shock of "new man in the house". Big Jack (above photo) appears equally stunned.

My latest chapter in the continuing Appliance Nightmares, is that the Maytag oven died completely a few months ago. Over the last couple of years, it had a few mini-strokes that rendered most of the keypad unusable, and then the big one hit and nothing at all worked except for the obnoxious blue clock that could not be adjusted.

Now all of the kitchen appliances that were only installed in 2010 have been replaced. The only 2 that were still in working order were a very old microwave, and the Thermador cooktop that I trash-picked from someone's kitchen rehab. Appliance guy told me they only make them to last 7 years... Hmmm...

No more Maytags for me.

New GE Profile oven coming Saturday. Let's hope it has a longer life than its predecessor.

Christmas spirit and monkey business

In an effort to get some Christmas spirit, The Husband bought 2 wreaths at the grocery store and hung one on the chicken coop, one on the goat shed. In an effort to not be outdone by The Husband, I signed up for a wreath-making class at Foothills in Oneonta sponsored by 2 nice young women from Branch and Bloom. Yesterday I made a lovely "farmhouse" wreath and hung it on the front porch on top of our favorite rusty pig. Farmhouse because it is made from local greenery and berries. Lots of fun, especially because my favorite architect attended with me. Piggie and I are both pleased with the results.

And just because I usually have more than one photo, I thought I would share this one with the MonkeyCat making a bed out of The Husband's jacket. Hub likes to hang his jackets on the back of the chairs/stools in the kitchen. Said cat has discovered a new game: yank the jacket off the chair and snuggle up. Adorable or evil?