Sunrise over the backyard this morning.

I know I haven’t posted much over the weekend. Well, okay, not at all. Black Lynne was in residence but I think she’s left now. For those of you who know me personally, you’ll understand. Sometimes there is just a black cloud over my head and no matter how much I try and shake it off, its persistence is maddening. If I dodge left, it follows; dodging right has the same effect. Sometimes it comes with rain, thunder, and even lightning. Thankfully this time there was only a touch of rain.

Perhaps I can blame it on the wind. (Or maybe I should just admit I’m a moody little bugger.)  But I do believe it has something to do with the barometric pressure of which I seem to be closely aligned with. It seems magnified being this close to sea level. The dogs feel it too and get very jumpy. We had a big blow overnight on Friday night into the day on Saturday. The wind woke me up out of a sound sleep. It barreled through the trees with a steady freight train roar, the gusts shaking the house. It woke up the old ghost in the attic, forcing it to walk the floorboards above me. (Not really sure what causes this phenomenon to occur but it happens whenever the wind is really bad, and believe me it sounds like someone is walking in the attic. Creepy.) Phantom tree branches scraped against the house like gnarly fingers on a chalk board. We lost power several times during the day on Saturday but at least we didn’t lose any big trees. Our neighbor across the street lost a big one that came down over the road. We lost a few small ones that got uprooted, and lots of large branches all over the front yard, but thankfully nothing major. Our flag blew right off the flag pole and ended up in the neighbor’s yard across the street: undamaged I might add. I HATE wind.

The wind did cooperate on Sunday and settled down so that we could put up the outside Christmas lights and decorations. All went well except for one small thing. Rick was hanging wreaths above the four downstairs windows and I was holding the ladder for him. When I looked up I caught a blur of motion before I felt something hit my chin hard. ouch! A large flashlight had fallen out of his pocket and found me on its way down. I have a small bruise and a somewhat tender chin—nothing big. I’m just glad it hit me there instead of in the eye or on the nose. But, the outside of the house looks nice and festive!

The wind did knock plenty of pine cones out of our tree which seems to have an overly large supply this year. I picked them all up and saved them for lighting fires in the wood stove. Look at how many!

Bella got her sutures out on Friday, but the vet still insists that we not let her out with the other dogs and to curtail her activity level. I asked the vet if she’d like to come home with us and help out with that. Honestly, Bella is feeling so good it’s a constant struggle to not let her run. The vet was adamant, however, so we will continue to follow instructions for another two weeks. Bella can’t wait to be free again to do as she’d like and I can’t wait for my freedom again either.

Yesterday I boiled down the turkey carcass and made turkey pot pie with the last of the turkey. It was the perfect day for it since it was rainy and grey out. Yum! I love turkey or chicken pot pies made with broth from scratch. The only frozen ingredient is the peas, otherwise I use only fresh carrots, celery, and onions with a biscuit dough topping (also from scratch).  I made extra filling so I could have it to freeze for another meal later on. Rick declared it the best ever but I just think he forgets from year to year how good it is.

I finished one slipper (double sole and all) and started on the next one. I had to remind myself how to roll the cuff and use the same technique to attach the second sole! (Letty, I promise to do a post on this!)

I have most of my Christmas shopping done already. This is the first year I can remember that I’ve been so far ahead of the game. I have to admit that I did most of it online—just too easy!

Johnny gets his winter gear on tomorrow. Off with the mowing deck and on with the snow blower! The snow poles are up on the driveway, so now we just have to wait for the white stuff to start falling from the sky. Fingers crossed.

I think that about catches up all that’s happening around here. More to come soon! Thanks for stopping by!