Christmas is Coming

Last Christmas arrived just as the workers were wrapping up our remodel, however, there were a few lingering things that we had to finish. The one that lingered for a full year was the wood stove. Finally, I kind of demanded that it be finished as the whole area really required it to appear finished. JD started on the project, but was rather discouraged about the stones. He did the one downstairs successfully years ago, but I was more than happy to bring in Francisco and relieve him of the chore. Francisco has done a ton of stuff for us the last few years, including the whole apartment over the garage and our house remodel. We have also referred him for many jobs and friends' homes. He sent a husband and wife team over for the stones.

They worked a long day, but got all the rocks in place and were very pleasant to have, so have won the job to also do the front of the garage in the spring. 

It was glorious to have done as we were already a month into the wood stove parked in the middle of the dining room floor area!

After they were done, JD finished up the tile under the stove. 

He also cut and installed the Amish mantle we had made and then reinstalled the wood stove. It was finished for Thanksgiving. 

Now I have hung the barn collection above it and decorated for Christmas. I'm making the last missing touch in the next week or so, which will hang on the top left.  

I'm very happy to have this last piece of the remodel finished! This year I was able to decorate more than last year. I really love my Nativity sets!

I also like greenery and lights  - 

A few more festive areas - 

JD's dad made these one Christmas - there are seven of them and they are among our most treasured Christmas decorations!

This smaller tree is for the benefit of viewing from the window as you come up the driveway, but it's providing a good wrapping and present staging area. 

This years wrapping elves in training were hard at work when Alaska decided he really needed to nap on this particular rug. Since there was no room for him, he just stood in the way like a horse!

Lastly, our Christmas cards will go out tomorrow, then I will be able to put the family pictures on the blog also. Spoiler alert, some made it to Facebook before the Christmas cards!

Merry Christmas to all if I don't make it back before Christmas Day! I actually may, as I have a month break from classes, so life is feeling rather leisurely! 

BOOTS

The only cat that didn't get any recognition on the cat blog was Boots, our only grand-cat. Boots is a pretty special kitty, he was part of my first rescue litter this spring and was taken home by Alyssa and JP. Now he is the best friend of Oliver. It takes something special in a kitty to be a 1 year old's BFF; not all kitties are willing to be carried around by a 1.5 year old, as well as sit in the booster with them!

And a lot of hugs and kisses! He isn't willing to just kiss the top of Boot's head either, he makes sure he gets him right off the face, as shown in the this picture!

My newest kitties, George and Martha were napping in the screened in porch today and Oliver made several attempts to show them how much he liked them, but they only took about one hug to make sure they moved fast when they saw him heading their direction!

I am attempting to add this video that is Oliver saying "Boots" - hope it will work. 

The Resident and Visiting Doggies

Kylie, the Pomeranian, is the smallest, yet oldest resident dog. She is struggling at 11-12 with a collapsing trachea and is on two medicines a day. It's managed for now, but not sure how long it will help. What she lacks in brains, she makes up for in personality. She has never met a human or animal that she doesn't like. She isn't jealous of other dogs getting any attention, which goes a long ways around here!

When she starts her coughing routines, even the dogs were initially alarmed. Now we are all used to it and barely look up. Visitors are often alarmed though!

Next up is Fiona, the sheep-herding dog that flunked from duty and was given to us by friends. She is seven and  is truly a princess. She manages to go out to the barn and chase hawks, but come back to the house with her paws still clean. She wasn't jealous until we got Montana, but now anytime Montana or Alaska come for petting, she rushes between us and them. 

Next up is Montana and Alaska. I think most people are familiar with their story, so I'll recap quickly. When I saw Montana advertised on Marketplace as a "used dog", I decided to rescue her. Alei and I made the trip three days before Christmas across the state to bring her home. Within days, she jumped the fence and ran away. We searched for three days,  found her, and worked towards an electric fence that gave her a large area. About a week after finding her, I noticed that she appeared to be getting swollen in the belly and feared she was pregnant. A week later, she started delivering puppies in the barn in the 10 degree unusually cold weather,  the night before we were leaving for our family vacation to Disney World. 

James carried her in the basement against her will between puppies 2 and 3 or 3 and 4. I delivered the final 9th puppy that was stillborn at 1:30 a.m. and had to get up by 3:30 to leave for Florida. I left an un-potty trained horse-dog in the basement, that would run away if allowed, with 8 new puppies for my sister and a friend to care for. To say they were busy that week was an understatement. I had also delivered about six goats earlier in the week, which had little sweat-shirts and heat lamps to keep them warm in the barn! 

It was a long 8 weeks of puppies, the mess was unbelievable, the smell was horrific, but it's a fun memory looking back. We adored them and we kept the "'biggest" boy, although there were three such large ones, that I have no idea if Alaska ended up being the same puppy as we first picked out!

They are now four and turning three in January and truly fun to own. The hair is it's own blog, lets just say I have a few of the best vacuums on the market!

Montana is fiercely loyal to me. Although she is scared of men she doesn't know, she will not ever let me go outside without her faithfully by my side. Alaska is a big baby, like really big, and loves everyone!

Alaska loves walking, but this is the first time we talked Montana past the electric fence with her collar off. She enjoyed our four mile walk also. Fiona slips the collar over her head at every chance, because she wants to go, but not on a leash. 

Now, if it were just my four dogs, it would be all reasonable.... for the most part. However, I have daughters that live local, come often and always bring their dogs. First of all, we have Lucca. Lucca belongs to Alei and comes five days a week for day-care. He is pretty good with the routine and has a bark that would keep anyone from ever coming in uninvited. He may be tied for the most spoiled dog I've ever known....

His competition would be Moriah's dog, Winchester. The Winchester story is very entertaining, but the short story is that he belonged to Moriah's boss and Winnie decided over time that he liked Moriah better and demanded to leave with her each day. At first, everyone fought it, but Winnie was persistent and is now officially Moriah and Chris' dog and the boss' family got a new dog. Winchester doesn't believe he is equal with the other dogs and sits politely at the table next to Moriah at meals. 

Honestly, it all seemed manageable at this point BUT then Alyssa and her family got a rescue puppy, Keanu. Keanu is a sweet boy, but a serious chicken killer so we always have to verify that he isn't coming over if we let the chickens out. Keanu loves coming over, and seemed depressed when they took him home; so when he turned one, Alyssa and JP went and got Keanu a sister, a black lab puppy named Reese. Reese also loves coming over, but still loves peeing on the floor, and chewing any shoes left on the porch. So, we are just patiently waiting to get past the puppy stage, so we can have all eight dogs in the house - won't that be fun? 

Reese has grown, but she is still all puppy! 

It's all fun until Oliver naps.....then they all are banned to the great outdoors to keep the barking from waking Oliver up ....and inevitably the UPS driver drives up. While about three of us run around the truck telling them to all stop barking, that is the moment you know they leave shaking their heads and go home to tell their spouses about the crazy people with all the dogs. 

This of course doesn't include Diesel and Waffles that live in the Northwest with Gabriel and Alayna, but one day will move east again! 

The Kitties

Corona has left the local spay and neuter clinics way behind and there are an abundance of unwanted cats this summer. While I usually have a few rescues I take in, spay or neuter, and find a home for, this year there have been 19! And our "keep" population blossomed from 2 to 6. 

This is Kaden and Tally - original barn cats that were dumped as kittens at the end of the driveway over 12 years ago! They are doing well, but not the mousers that they used to be! I decided that one night when a mouse ran across my foot and neither of them got up. 

The first to stay new barn cat was Twilight. I live-trapped her at the CVS where she had been eating out of the garbage for a month. Once I got her home, I could tell she had kittens and went searching for them. Turns out she had them behind Tractor Supply across the street, nursed them and the employees had a cat rescue come get them. Twilight tamed nicely and is very appreciative of her warm bed and full food bowl. She concerned me how often she wasn't to be found around the barn, but sticks around more now thanks to her friends.

George and Martha were brother and sister from the Amish farm that I had another cat from that I wanted to keep. They were feral and the only two of six they could catch. After kenneling for two weeks, and spaying and neutering, they get along well with Twilight and are the most active, fun kitties we have ever had. They are all bunking in the back of the barn, so Kaden and Tally don't have to share their "area", although they are intermingling pretty well now. They all actually getting along well with all the dogs also. 

Meanwhile, we did not plan on any more house cats, but along came Buddy. I think I wrote about him before, but he has moved into our home and our hearts and is pretty special. I'm thankful we intervened when he was going to be put down for "behavior problems." 

Buddy has gotten a bit braver and goes into the backyard now. He loves the screened in porch, but prefers the door be left cracked so he can come and go at his convenience. 

We are pretty happy with the new kitties - 

Martha 

George 

Our newest situation is that when I get up at 7 am, George and Martha are waiting at the back door. They just need their morning greeting and pet. At first, once we went out to do chores, they would follow and hang out back at the barn where they are supposed to live. The last few days, however, they follow us back and head around to the screened in porch. Buddy conveniently ripped the screen on the door, so they can all come and go. I also can't leave the door to the inside open, or they come right inside. Pretty impressive for feral, Amish kittens! Buddy is less than impressed, but they have taken over the couch.  

Big Fun

I didn't remember to post this group shot from the zoo. I have to say the hanging masks add a new element to photography. Any picture of Oliver by an animal statue has him mimicking the animal. It it's teeth or tongue was showing, he showed his. Pretty observant honestly. 

We have some happy kids since our long-awaited go-cart came home yesterday!

I love Oliver's smile in this picture - he was pretty impressed just sitting in it. 

These four were half the dogs at our house yesterday. 

Alyssa's got a good support network when she works her internship this semester. Alei takes home Oliver and the doggies on Thursdays. Reese, the new puppy, rides up front - 

Oliver and Lucca get the backseat - 

And Keanu gets the hatchback. After hours of running the farm, they are all chill on the ride home and Oliver thinks it's normal to have three dogs in the vehicle leaving Mimi's. 

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School These Days

This year Classical Conversations has been held at a local winery, in place of our usual church, since they are closed down due to Corona. The plan was for a just a few weeks, then the church would re-open. So far the church has not reopened and we may be homeless by next month. We have gone from very hot days the first two weeks of the school year to pretty cold at 8 a.m. in the morning. After 10 or so, the weather has been perfect and we have only had rain once. I have a canopy, chairs, blankets, you name it, for school in the field these days and it all just lives in the back of the Yukon. Our poor teacher has her board blown over, the dry-erase markers working poorly on cold mornings, etc, but so far everyone is still learning and won't these days be a crazy story for the next generation! I can hear it now, "did I ever tell you about when I was young and Corona came to town?"

Our "family" table includes our friends and neighbors, as we are around them all the time anyway. Yes, Elijah was cold; he just doesn't have any meat on his bones! I run my laptop off my hot spot and do my own classes, other than Latin time - I pay attention then or I'd have no hope at homework help time!

Our dining room table is just one big school table these days with books and a cat, (a bad cat that shouldn't be on the table) from one end to the other.  

My classes are demanding! I just have to remind myself that it's just one school year, mostly...it will actually be part of next year also. Honestly, the years fly by though so I'm just putting in my long days and getting it done! Oliver is here on Thursdays while Alyssa does her internship. This is his snuggles (taken by Moriah) when he woke up from his nap. Alyssa says she will come and stay with my kids next summer while I do two days a week at my internship! 

Here is my other working spot - the passenger seat at  basketball, the dentist, you name it. I have figured out to move to the passenger side to have more laptop room!

Lastly, Oliver loves books and often when he is missing, he has climbed into the rocking chair with his books. Such a sweet little boy that is just not a baby anymore!