Christmas Holidays 2010

Christmas holiday so far has yielded lots of completed projects. The kids have gone to Louisiana so I thought I'd get some things done while the house is less active.
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Before this past week, the plans were to finish the floors in the living room. But the horses ran off over the mountain again, so everything was re-arranged and containing them became the priority.
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It snowed Christmas day. The neighbor at the camp adjacent to us called to say the horses were over there by the dome houses. Retrieving them took most of the day.
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That night, after resting a little while, I went to Gab's house and we put together her playpen and bassinet.
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Sunday meant I had to go into work so that I could take more time off during the week to finish building the winter pen for Snippy. If I keep him penned, then the other two horses won't go far away.
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It's Monday and the pen is done and appears to be holding. I hope when I wake up tomorrow morning, they're still here and not back over the mountain again!
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Here are a few pics from the little snow we got. These are from the top of the mountain behind the house:

Full Lunar Eclipse

Totality begins tonight, after midnight (really Tuesday morning) at 1:41 CT. If you want to see the whole sequence you’ll have to get outside earlier, around 00:30.

This is the first time we’ve had a full lunar eclipse at winter solstice in over 300 years, and it won’t happen again for more than 90 years. The moon promises to be a reddish hue, making it all the more surreal to see.

It’s a true once in a lifetime event for most of us, and I plan to be watching if the sky is clear.

Wayward Trio

When the horses aren't by the hay or at the house every morning for their rations, I usually figure they've found a way out and have taken off for a hike. Since Thursday I haven't seen them. This morning, I went to look for them, hoping they weren't on the other mountain again.

They weren't far away. Not in the first place I looked, but at least the second, and I didn't have to make the long hike up the mountain and over the pass to get them from the other side of my world at least.

Actually, they can stay where they are for a while. They found a way into an area we usually keep fenced off for gardening and my sons have a deer food plot up there. None of that is in use during this time of year and there's still grass for them to eat, so I just took this picture and left the gate open on my way out.

Cold, Blustery day

It's a cold, blustery day here in the Ozarks. Wind is gusting and the wind chill is down to around 7*F...pretty chilly!

Last night I was battling a virus on my computer and today I got rid of InternetExplorer altogether and that seems to have been the fix. Now I'm using Avant for my browser and so far, so good.

Today I realized I forgot to leave the water running last night. It will be Wednesday before it warms enough to thaw my upstairs lines now. Someone remembered to turn it on downstairs last night, thank goodness, so at least we have water somewhere.

It's a good day to stay inside.

It's all Relative

This morning I was overly warm in bed when I woke up. I wondered if I'd accidentally left the heater on too high, but no, all was as it should have been.

The air in the room was just warmer, and it wasn't as cold in the living room as it usually is, either.

I carried out the morning duties with much less chill than usual, as lately it's been in the low-20's when I get up and the first thing I do is warm up the kitchen so it's easier to coax Garrison out of bed to get dressed.

Fed the animals, started the jeep, though I didn't think it really needed so long to warm up this morning, since it wasn't so cold.

Finally we get out of the house and down the driveway when I looked at the thermometer. Well, no wonder I was warm. It was a piping 34*F this morning, instead of the usual 20-something.

Haha, it amazes me how much difference a few degrees and levels of humidity make in how the temperature feels. I was surprised that it was still only 34 and I felt comfortable. That's a big change in attitude for a (former) south Louisiana girl.

Chilly in the Ozarks

Today's a pretty day outside, but also pretty chilly. It's around 45*F and fairly windy so I didn't stay outside long. Tomorrow's high is only the upper 30's.

Garrison and Loretta went to town to bring out the garbage and I was watching Chloe while taking a break from writing and editing an article on earthquakes in the Ozarks.

This is the view from the swing under the old white oak tree:

And this is the view of Chloe while she's in the carrier. Cute little peep eyes: