Happy New Year! ---the Geese

It was kind of a last minute idea, but we found some New Year's stuff to put on the geese.
They are looking forward to a ski vacation in January!

Christmas Roundup!

We had a great, exhausting Christmas decorating, baking, opening gifts and visiting. Everyone got cool stuff. I got a goat! And a Witch. I will blog about that separately (I want to take a picture of the witch.) I just wanted to put a few photos here of Christmas day.


Mary opens her Torchwood calendar.

Boo checks to see what Richard has in his stocking. We are waiting for the cryptozoologists to show up and tell us what species of giant cat she happens to be.

Doc in a stocking!

After we carefully cleared the area of feline friends, Doc came out to see the tree. He checked out his stocking. He's hoping Santa brings him an Alvin and the Chipmunks cd, but Mary is afraid that Alvin might be a bad influence. He also ran around in his ball in the living room a bit. Libby, who we let out after he was safely in the ball, was very disconcerted as Doc ran straight for her and tried to make friends.

Doc and Mary.

Doc rolls around in the ball.

Doc peeks out of his stocking.

I keep imagining the dialogue between Doc and the cats.
Doc: "Hi. I'm Doc. I'm a hamster. I run in my wheel and take naps. I eat grains and sunflower seeds and small pieces of dried fruit."

Cleo: "Purrr. Chirp."*

Doc: "What do you eat?"

Cleo: "Chatter. Purrrrr. Chirp."

*Cleo makes chattering chirping noises at the birds she wants to eat.

Decorating the Tree

A little late, as usual. But we finally got around to putting the ornaments on the Christmas tree. Mary wore her Santa hat. Richard and I donned our antlers. We listened to Christmas music and put a good assortment of ornaments on the tree. We left out some of the more breakable ornaments, which was for the best since I managed to break two of the ones we did put on the tree (one of five gold and purple tech ornaments and one of Mary's ornaments --sorry Mary!) . I told Richard that next year we are surrounding the tree with a layer of bubble wrap.

My antlers are crooked.

Richard and I stand in front of the tree.

Trying to take a picture of all of us together. We tried to get Sammy to take the photo, but cats aren't overly helpful.

We got antlers on Richard. He's such a good sport!

We got antlers on Boo! Boo was FREAKED out.

Mary puts an ornament on the tree.

Another cute photo of Mary just because she's adorable. And a great cook!

Christmas Goose!

When we were visiting Boston for Richard's Grandma Helen's birthday, these cute little dressed geese caught my eye. So when they were settling the estate this past year, I told Richard if no one else wanted the little guys, we'd be glad to give them a good home. I'm sure Helen would be happy that her whimsical tradition was continued.

So, after a very long journey made possible by Aunt Janet's impeccable bubble wrap skills and much effort on the part of Richard's parents and a moving company, the geese made it to Spring Hill from Lynn, Massachusetts.

We unpacked the costumes and the geese this past weekend. You would not believe the variety of costumes! There are outfits for every holiday and for other seasons. After a bit of research, I was excited to find that there is even a website that sells goose costumes, so we can further the collection.

Now we just have to figure out if they have names already. If not, we need suggestions on what to name the Winged Duo. I am looking forward to posting the changing costumes on the blog.

Let it Snow!

Snow with the neighbors' Christmas lights in the background.
They have a reindeer that plays festive holiday music.

We're getting a nice snowstorm tonight with gigantic snowflakes. It's very pretty and is sticking nicely. I let some of the cats out to see the snow. Sammy, Boo and Cleo took turns going out. Sammy walked around a bit, but hurried back in pretty quickly. Boo stepped outside the door into the slush and meowed at me in protest. Cleo scrambled out, did not like sliding everywhere and came in after just a few minutes. Libby can't go out at night because she has designs on leaving the country. When we do let her out, we usually catch a little glimpse of her hopping over the fence, bandanna tied up with some nip and Leon plus a few treats, off to find her fortune and a home that will let her be an only cat.

Riding the Santa Train and making gingerbread houses

We spent the weekend in Oak Ridge doing Christmasy stuff. We rode the Santa Train at K-25 and we made gingerbread houses with Matt. For even more photos, check out Beth's blog.

Matt and Charles watch the train roll in for boarding. Matt likes trains almost
as much as his uncle Richard.


Richard is happy to be riding the rails.

Richard stands in front of the engine after a tour.

Matt shows Grandma his half-eaten snowman.

My Gingerbread church...complete with stained glass candy windows.

Falling into fall

The temps around here are getting a bit cold and the rain is making it hard for us to mow the leaves this week. They are very pretty though, so I took a few photos today. The Bradford Pear trees usually have very red leaves, but this year, they didn't really change colors significantly, just sort of yellowed and dropped. We also have a couple of gorgeous maples that have bright yellow leaves, one that has red and one that has an orange-red tint to it.

We've been mulching the leaves as much as possible, adding them to the compost pile and chopping them up. I am quite fascinated by my observations of the cycle of decay and rebirth. Making dirt is cool.