~Prayer Request~

Hello friends, no pictures today...just a request for prayer for my dear, sweet husband. It is forcasted to be a wicked storm to come our way this week, and my hubby will be on call, in charge of several hundred miles of track here in Iowa. Ice, snow, and blizzard will blast us and he will be called out in the middle of the night as he usually is during these bad storms. Please pray for his safety, and pray that he will be able to get some rest inbetween his work. So many of his fellow co-workers have scheduled vacations to spend time with their families, (and that's good), but my darling will be out there, driving from one problem area to another. So please, during this Christmas Holiday won't you remember him? Thank you so much all of you, I just know that you will. Blessings~

The Spry Chickie is Back~Let the Christmas Bells Ring!~

Merry Christmas Friends~Haven't posted in awhile, busy, busy getting ready for my mom to arrive from Texas for Christmas! Sheeeee's Heeere!! Of course first thing she did was hop up into the skid steer with her grand-dog following closely behind! I hope that I am as spry and energetic as my mom when I am her age!!(81) Heck....I hope I MAKE it to her age!! Just look at her beautiful smile!! Isn't it Grand? When she comes to visit Freeway (the dog) doesn't let her get to far away.....Those two can get into some mischief, I'm telling you!

Blessings~

~Finding Joy in a Morning Ritual~

Here's the gang from the hilltop hood greeting Freeway this morning! The Australian Shepherd's' live across the street and come by every morning and sit on the front porch waiting...and waiting...and waiting until I let Freeway out. They greet each other.......

(The bigger dog to the right of Freeway is the daddy dog, Chaz.)

Doggy Style...while keeping a fine tuned eye on the surroundings....

(The doggy by Freeway is the mom-Casey)

This is the puppy "Tracy" that was born right after we moved in.
There were 8 puppies in the litter. They kept this little girl for their youngest son. Boy is she a cutie!!


Can you tell that Casey is relaxed?? A morning nap in 2 degrees. Poor Freeway on the other hand gets cold and picks her feet up if she's out too long!


There goes Tracy after Freeway (not shown to the left of the picture) Freeway's not too sure about Tracy, as the pup always wants to kiss her face, and jump all over her. Freeway shows teeth..."Grr..get away kid, I'm busy!" And Tracy does...for a minute. Just like a puppy with an attention span of a gnat!
All of our doggy's wait patiently for the mailman, the trash man, and the UPS guy, each of which carries a big bag of cookies in their vehicles! It's pure joy when a delivery truck starts up the hill!! There is dancing in the street!! AND they follow the trucks from house to house!! It's a SMORGASBORD!!
That's why I love dogs....
Blessings~

~The Worst Storm In 10 Years!!!

Hi Hi!!! Well, I have internet service now!! It's been intermittent since the storm. Holy Moses it has been quite a few days here. Hubby was coming up the hill to our home, and got his work truck stuck on the cliff side of the road. Whew!! Thank the Lord he didn't go over! Then, he walked the rest of the way up (in a blizzard, a whiteout) and got in the skid steer to retrieve the truck, and the skid steer got stuck in the 3 feet of snow in the driveway. So we dug out the skid steer and got it going! I shoveled and Mikey plowed. Two hours later we got the driveway cleaned. My wonderful husband was able to plow the snow away from the work truck and drive it home...then he walked back for the skid steer. He ended up cleaning the whole road, just so he could get out in the morning! The highway that our road is off of, was closed, and because of the whiteout, they weren't running the snow plows. It was a mess!! Truly as mess! I've been in the Midwest now for 13 years and I've never seen anything like it!! Madness!! I took a few pictures of the front and back yards, although it is difficult to see how tall the snow is. We had 4ft. drifts in the driveway... My neighbor's doggies are running towards me, so maybe you can get the perspective. Big Snow!! Also, Here's the wreath, it's not a good picture, but since the internet was back up I thought I'd hurry and post. So quickly quickly I am taking pictures and typing!!! Gotta go before I lose it!! Hugs everyone, I'll be back to visit all of your blogs when I can get service!!!! Whoo Hoo! Get out the sled!!! Blessings~

~It's Coming........~

I thought these snow peaked rocks looked rather comforted with their blanket
Snow covered hay bales

Naturally Flocked Tree !
Well friends...it's coming! The first big snow of the year! The weather station is calling for 7" to 12" of snow...Wow! One weekend when we lived in Illinois, we had 26" of snow!! So...I'm thinking that we can handle this...We got just a skiff last night 1 or 2 inches..it's so pretty! I welcome the winter with the first snowfall...Not bad for a California girl!!!

Blessings~

~Beautiful Vintage Ornaments~Rhinestones!

Little Deer and Caroller in Rhinestone Gazebo
Deep Purple Ice

A Lovely Pair of Ice Skates!

Side View of Skates

Tea Strainer Green & Gold

Lime Green with Rhinestones

Here are a few more ornies that were made by my lovely and talented mom! What amazing detail, patience, and a keen eye for design. Just think of the time it took to perfect each one of these "pretties." Of all of the wonderful traits I inherited from mom--patience like this, is not one of them. They are, every one, a treasure!

Holiday Blessings~

~The Beast~

The Beast

My hubby and the Professor

Paul Bunyan

The might oak has fallen.



This tree was huge! (well, it was really big!)

Look at him go!!

Yesterday, my sweet partner and I chopped an old Oak tree down for our neighbor, we kiddingly call him the professor. (as in Gilligans Island??) The professor has a garage full of inventions, most of which are not Exactly in working order....nonetheless, a great idea~ It's so fun to look at his things that he has put together with old parts of something else, a little glue, and alot of FREE time! You see, the professor is retired...

Anyway he was so kind to help us sheet rock the garage, so my sweetie pie wanted to do something for him. He had this old oak tree that was rotted and half eaten by creatures, and he needed it cut down. So we did that yesterday! We worked from 7:30am to 2:30 in
the afternoon on this tree. BUT...we got it done~ He'll have lots of firewood this year. My husband was raised a mountain man and has been cutting trees for years and years. I, on the other hand am relatively new to this outdoorsy working girl life. But it's wonderful..I am blessed.

As we were laying in bed last night Hubby asked me if I thought we were getting too old for this kind of thing....I told him No..But truly, we had a really hard time to get up and out of bed this morning. Both of us were doing alot of Ohhhh's and Oowwwws!!

Blessings~

~Hugs To You Coffee Genius~!

I understand that you might think this is a LITTLE boring, (a lot materialistic) but I am just a simple girl, and I love my new coffee pot! I call it "The Unit." It slices, It dices (not really)....remember that old commercial?? There I go again.....

Back to the unit...(I am not a coffee addict...I am not a coffee addict)

Okay, I am a coffee addict. I love coffee, I love to smell it grinding and brewing, it evokes memories of walking into Dunkin' Doughnuts (another era). Ahhhhh the aroma--coffee, doughnuts, coffee, doughnuts...doughnuts...doughnuts....you get the picture.

This "made for me" coffee pot grinds the beans, steams the coffee perfectly, adjusts the strength and body of the finished product....AND it does it all as I am laying in my warm cozy bed!! Oh the genius that thought of this! I could hug her/him!!!

It doesn't take much to make me smile!!

And I can't remember the last time I had a doughnut!

And I can't remember the last time I was in a Dunkin' Doughnuts!

And I'm just a simple gal.

Blessings~