DECEMBER 2023

Oh, and Tiberius had his cancer lumps froze off his anus. The scab fell off yesterday to reveal pretty pink smooth skin.

I had to text the picture to the vet.

I'm home from being with my cousins yesterday and today. Lots of wrapping paper strewn all over the place. At one cousin's house there were about 25 of all ages. They hand out and open all the present at the same time. If they did it one at a time, we'd still be there. LOL
One little boy was happily walking around with Spiderman gloves on his hands.
Then off to another cousin's. This afternoon, there were 13 of us with "Grandma and Grandpa" providing a living room full of presents. The adults drew names. I came home with a stool for the new little vanity in my bathroom, a soft fuzzy blanket, and a large bag of Amish cinnamon balls that I just love.
Cousin-in-law comes up in the spring and fall to put my pier in the water and take it out. The water is always cold at those times. So, I got him a wetsuit to make it a bit more tolerable. I got him to try it on and model it. LOL It fit well, and he actually looked pretty good in it.
The paper and boxes made a very nice campfire.
The little boys got a device that tosses footballs. They had to try those out in the backyard. Very successful. My cousin, the Grandpa, got an E-Bike from his two adult kids and Grandma. It's a REALLY nice gift and he got rather emotional about it, which none of us expected. It was a complete surprise to him. He will love that bike.

Of course, there was a ridiculous amount of food at both places.

Indy, I hope this will be a good place for your brother and that he will get the right kind of help. Sounds like they provide good food. That always helps.
Your nephew is a complete jerk.
It's good to hear that Tiberius is healing well.

Trudy, I'm glad you had the kind of Christmas you wanted. Peaceful is good.

I'll give myself one day (tomorrow) to take a break, then I have a bunch of little projects to get done this winter.

My Christmas spirit waned rather quickly this year. The tree is down and ready to go in the storage closet.

I think most of the geese have flown south, or wherever they go. Some of them always stay around. They stay in the channels where there is always running water that doesn't freeze. The mallards hang around too.

So far, no snow. It's rained enough that the water levels are close to normal, which is a good thing.

Next project: make a new curtain for the bathroom. I think 15 years is long enough for the old one to be on duty.

INDYAPP:
 Glad that Tiberius has healed up!  I am sure the vet enjoyed that photo...


ELLEN:
 New curtains sounds like a fun project.  What color?   We didn't exactly get in the Christmas spirit this year.  The entire month of December was pretty much a waste with Covid and then a nice sinus infection following.   Thank goodness for Amazon.   Here is a photo of our 2023 Christmas tree.  It sat on our coffee table and is about 6 inches tall with blinky lights run by a battery.   Donnie was exceedingly proud to announce that he did all the work on the tree this year, putting it up and taking it down....




We are taking down the outside inflatables today. The 3 kittens are already boxed up and Santa and the giant horse are next.

Ark, because the room and tile are beige (boring) I'm going to make the curtain from a stripe that has two shades of red, beige, and white. There will also be dark red towels. The mats on the floor are almost white.

After the curtain, I'm going to make a couple of aprons for two of the men in the neighborhood. One bakes a LOT and is REALLY GOOD at it. The other one likes to grill and get splatters on his shirts. They will be made of denim with some embroidery on them.
The baker has already worn out three previous aprons. His denim one is really thin and faded to almost white from using and washing it.
It's fun to come up with embroidery designs that fit the person.

Happy Saturday morning. Can you believe it ONE more day and 2023 is over and we are moving onto a new year. Time is just flying by.

We had our girls and George coffee club meeting yesterday. Lots of goodies, coffee & laughter to go around. Then I went to visit my sick friend Ashley and take her Christmas presents. OMG that girl is skin and bones. Now she is falling down and managed to fracture her tailbone. I don't know how she is still alive.

Today we are off to yet another funeral at the church. Our Pastor's mom passed. She was 96 and had a nice long life.

Talked to my brother on Christmas, he is still hanging in there and doing as well as a 92 year old can manage to do. So happy he made it thru the holidays. Our Aunt Alice lived to be almost 100 maybe he will too.

My trees are still up and will stay up until next week. I HATE taking them down. The house is so blaaaahhhhh looking after all the beautiful lights and colors.

Have a blessed weekend...

Trudy, don't take your trees down. Leave them there and when anybody asks, just tell them they are NOT trees. They are house plants. A good friend once left her tree up for over a year; she didn't have to decorate the second Christmas.

ELLEN: That's a great idea. Everyone thinks I'm a little crazy so I can use that reason.

My son said " They are small trees, just leave the decorations on the trees, carry them upstairs to the back bedroom and cover them with a sheet, next year you can just carry them back downstairs." Great idea, but I can hardly carry myself up stairs let alone carry decorated trees up the steps and down the hallway. Maybe he will do it for me.

Happy New Years Eve everyone...See ya NEXT year.....

Trudy, I bought some fabric to make into a large tube with draw strings, that I can pull up over the whole tree to store it in the storage "shed".  I didn't wind up using it this year because I wasn't happy with the way I had the lights on it, so I took it all apart.  Next year, I'll get it set up the way I want it and then cover it to store it. Although, I mostly use clear glass ornaments, so they'll have to come off.
And no. I can't lift it and move it by myself when it's all put together. Fortunately, I have some great neighbors who are willing to help.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!



Let''see what it brings................

How many of us geezers will make it to midnight tonight? LOL Probably, not I.

I doubt seriously I will make it to midnight . If I do, I'll be reading in bed and miss the big show.

ELLEN:
Nice idea about the tree cover. We have a 9 foot tree stored in our old horse trailer that will probably never be used again. I am quite sure there are 50 million stink bugs living in it. We should have devised a cover for it before storing it.


TRUDY:
My doctor's office keeps a tree up all year and changes the ornaments according to the holiday.

GRAYMARE:
I am quite hopeful for 2024. The number 24 is my favorite number. Both Donnie and I were born on the 24th, along with Arkady and Cactus Jack. The last decade has really been pretty terrible, so I hope 2024 starts a new trend in America, and the world, for hopefulness, kindness, goodness, politeness, thoughtfulness, and good will.

In our personal life, it will be the year we are both 70 years old, married 50 years, and looking forward to many more.


Today I rode Ivan in the arena. It was the 100th ride of the year with Ivan getting 28 and Areion getting 72 rides. I am not sure if I will join any ride challenges this coming year, although it does make me put in more effort to meet the challenges.

Happy New Year to you all!!!

Whew! I made it all the way to midnight. Just barely. I wish everyone the best possible new year.
A few people around here set off a few fireworks, but they were far enough away to not be bothersome. In past years I have spent the midnight hour standing on my cousin's porch, wearing a silly hat, and blowing on a noise maker. I thought it was silly then, but I did it anyway.
Tonight, I enjoyed sitting on my couch in my warm house with a blankie watching the new year arrive.

Ark, congratulations on getting in that last ride of the year.
Last year, I donated my big Christmas tree to a local consignment store. He said that when he sold it, the profit would go to the food pantry. A good deal for everybody.

Goodnight, all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.........

The page hasn't changed so I'll be the last to write in the Dec. space. I read your posts and smiled thinking of all of us FOOPS wrapped in blankets watching tv while the rest of the world celebrated.

I never go anywhere NYE, but yesterday I called my friend Nancy just to get caught up around suppertime. She said Bev was there on her way home from work and they were having a glass of wine. I told them to come out and we would have wine here, she arrived with their supper and I had already cooked mine.......turned out that it was the same thing....Rapure Pie (French Acadian dish). we ate and drank wine and laughed at all the goings on that had happened the past week. The three of us are pretty close, Bev used to be my neighbour for years and year, got a divorce and moved, Nancy is in the process of getting a divorce and lives close to Bev. Neither one knew the other till I had them here for supper. They stayed till around ten thirty and left. It was such a fun evening, always is with us.

Today I'm invited for supper at a friends, have been there the past three years. These two are hilarious and always have a few couples invited plus me, such a good time and I look forward to it. You can tell I have great friends with wonderful sense of humour.

I hope that 2024 will be a wonderful year for us all. Last year Allison's wedding was the highlight of mine. Hopefully this year will produce an addition to their family, I know they want more children, they don't want Ava to be an only. Andrew is an only child and loves kids so heres hoping that they have more.

Time to get my breakfast and get the day started

All have a great Day and an even better YEAR.

Donna

Time to change the calendar! Happy 2024!

https://horsefriends.forumotion.com/t151-january-2024#15477