Christmas 2017

Due to the arrival of Mikey the Monster Puppy...Christmas at the Twelve Acre Wood is a little different this year.

The Christmas Goose along with the Gingerbread shakers made the cut in decor....

The small Gingerbread house, the Snowman, Santa and Moose shakers made the mantel decor....

And

The new furr baby stockings are ready for stuffing....

 

The Christmas Tree did not make the decor this year....

 

UpDate on the family......

The malechild made a 4.0 in his first semester of Master's classes.

The parental units are doing well.

The Femalechild along with two of the grandsons are coming for a visit in January. 

CityBoy is enjoying life.

and

I'm keeping them all in line...!

 

Happy Holidays...!! 

 

Uck Ohhhhh.....

Got to work this morning and realized it won't be long before we need these...!!

Time Marches On....

Big sister....

...has become Little Sister....

Meg and Mikey doing their favorite thing...

de-stuffing stuffed toys...

and

Max says "Hi!"

Happy Birthday...

to Misskitty...!!!

We have no idea when her birthday really is or how old she is..

but

since we refer to her as "the Cat from Hell" on occasion..

Halloween seemed like a good birthday choice and we've had her eleven years...

you can do the math..we're saying thirteen...but...she could be older.

Well here's the high country update...

• The leaves changed late this year.
• CityBoys sister came for a quick visit.
• The parental units are doing well.
• CityBoy is doing well.
• The Malechild will be receiving his master's degree in Autism Spectrum Disabilities this time next year.
• Mickey is now up to 50 lbs and still growing.
• Max and Meg are tolerating Mickey and are liking the new peanut butter snacks..
• We had our first snow....!!
• And I'm hanging in there....

It's a Perfect...

cool, crisp Fall morning!

Look close (or enlarge pix) and you'll see the frost on the ground...

It's Been Awhile....

So let's catch up.....Hummmmm....let's see

I had a birthday.....so far 67 is looking pretty good

Mikey got neutered and I was suppose to keep him quite for at least 3 days...so I took 3 days of vacation to stay home with him.....but....someone forgot to tell Mikey!....dog is still a doofus....

CityBoys sister came for a quick visit and I took another 3 days of vacation.

And then I caught some type of bug and was yucky for a few days...no fun !

The leaves are changing colors at a fast pace and the park is full of "Leaf Peepers."

It's turning cold tonight.....Yaahhh...'bout time.

This 76* in October was weird...

You Know It's Fall When.....

..this is going on across the road from your house...

Haying time..!!

Growing like a bean stalk.....

Mikey on June 13th...8 weeks old, 6.5 pounds and cute little ball of fluff..

Mikey yesterday.....seven months old, over thirty pounds and a clumsy goofy ball...

Hope he grows into his feet soon...!!

One Way I Know....

that Fall is fast approaching is when...

the Dillard Brothers show up and mow the Twelve Area Wood.

Getting us ready for the snow that's coming...

BTW

21 beans in the jar for August of 2017....

it's gonna be a snowy winter....!!

I've been replaced.....

The robots are cooking dinner.

This is the picture and comment I received a few night ago on Face Book.

It's the MaleChild's way of telling me he's OK and eating.

Once again we have an empty nest.  He moved back to ASU the beginning of August.

It looks like I've been replaced by his InstaPot and a rice cooker... 

It's About Time.....

We finally got someone at work that doesn't mind taking out the garbage....!!

He's a young male bear, who we hadn't seen in almost three weeks...but...it looks like he's back..!!

Photo by Greg the seasonal maintenance man...who is never far from his camera.

It's Official....

(Mikey on the left.....Meg on the right)

Mikey is now a big boy....!!
He got his last puppy shots, his rabies vaccination, micro chipped and a name tag last week with a big boy collar......no more baby stuff...

He's gotten very tall and now weights in at 27 pounds....

In fact he's so tall that Max and Meg just walk under him if he's in their way....

as we left the cute vet's office last week he jokingly  said..."he should be about 60 pounds when I see him again in a year.....!!"

Max and Meg are praying he will be wrong - cause Mikey already hogs the bed.....

 

Mine....

...all mine...!!!

Look at Me Now...

The day the MaleChild found me in the road...

 

and this is me this past Tuesday....

Yep!  I'm the same dog.....the MaleChild is wondering if I'll ever grow into my feet and legs...

cause my feet are getting in the way of learning new stuff - like this thing call "Fetch."

When someone ask what am I - they all reply "Shepard-Moose-Beagle-Shark dog"

(shrug shoulders here)

Dad's favorite word is "NO!" and Mom is calling me Goofus-Doofus.....

Don't know why.....I try to help her clean the kitchen every night by getting in the dishwasher and checking if the plates have been rinsed.

Now this.....

...is a water bowl...!!

Nothing better on a hot day than playing in the backyard swimming pool....

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Box...

Mikey gained 10 pounds this last month....

Kitty's box is no longer a good fit....

Well....that's one way

to cool off on a hot summer day....

Just plop your puppy butt on the AC vent...!!

Micky has doubled in size and weight - tomorrow is his second visit to the cute Vet.

Ouch..!! puppy shots..!!

CAUTION...

entering "Puppy Play Zone!"

Big Sister....

....Little Brother....

Happy Puppy

A full belly and the MaleChild's quilt

....Ahhhhhh Paradise.....

It's Summer...!!

Let the Haying begin...

today the 27 acres across the road got it's first hair cut for this year..

One More Day....

till Summer and the driveway garden is starting to bloom...

Haven't seen this plant (weed) along the drive before....

Hummmm..??

Big World.....

Little Dog....

But

He's growing..!!

Mine......

Alllll Mine...!!

We think the rest of Mikey's litter was rescued by another dog lover and turned in to a local rescue center.....they found four more puppies in a hollow log....and posted pictures on facebook.

Question..?

 

Do I pounce ? or do I leave her alone?

 

 

I pounce and then I run like Hell.....!!!

Just one more day in the life of a puppy.....

Adding to the Pack....

Yes we're still here....

Just lost my blogging mojo for a while.

Everyone here is doing well....

CityBoy is back to work, the MaleChild had a wonderful time in Ireland and Mom is almost back to normal...plus we've added to the pack.

Meet Mikey..!

On Saturday afternoon, the MaleChild was coming home from ASU and there he was sitting in the middle of the road...well...he couldn't leave this little guy...so Mikey came to live at the Twelve Acre Wood.

This was yesterday after his first visit to the cute Vet...

he's a mix breed (duh), about 8 weeks old and in good health, he weighed 6lb 5 oz, and definitely has all his teeth.  Max and Meg are tolerating the little bugger, but there was a little playing action going on today....soooo...looks like all will be OK with the three of them.

The MaleChild has been puppy sitting or is it Mikey is Nick sitting.

Anyway....

I have the rest of the week off.....let the training begin!!

On the Road Again....again

Yep...

it's that time of the year...

Time for the annual State Park Office Asst. Conference....

So....

it's off to Greensboro for "the Ladies of the Mountains."

Fat and Happy....

Meg...

She looks nothing like the skinny little terrified girl we brought home almost 2 years ago....

We had her spade and then she blossomed...

And finally grew into her ears...

 

Mom came home from the hospital on Feb. 22nd and is doing great...

My SNL is also home and we still don't know what brought on her breathing problems...

The rest of us are hanging out watching it snow...!!

Still there.....

Well....

Mom is still in the "swing bed unit" of the hospital here in Jefferson.

she has good days and bad days..but..is slowly improving.

And

yesterday my sister-n-law was admitted to Watauga Medical Center in Boone with breathing issues.

I'm not sure what's happening there....maybe I'll know more soon.

Two different hospitals....two different counties....lots of driving...!!

We'll keep you posted.....please keep praying.

:)

What's happening.....

Just when I thought the plague was over....

the female parental unit was diagnosed with a large mass in the upper part of her colon, which the doctors felt was cancer....

So into surgery she goes and the doctor removed about 12" of colon and a large nasty looking mass.  The biopsy came back as cancer.  The good news is she needs no follow up treatment.  No chemo or radiation.

However, she is not physically strong enough to come home yet.  She is in what the hospital calls a "swing bed unit," that is within in the hospital complex....getting intensive PT, a high protein diet and lots of pampering by the staff.

She's up and walking at least three times a day, eating well, asking for her knitting, her word search books and complaining about not being able to find Jerry Springer on the hospital TV.
 

She's making great improvements, is almost like her "real" self and hopefully will come home soon.

I'm Still Here...

This morning's sun rise....beautiful..!

 

Yep.....I'm still here and everyone has recovered from the plague...

 

The MaleChild and I cooked his favorite vegetable in the Instapot...

Took about 20 minutes for 2 whole artichokes....that includes heating up and pressure cool down.  The last time he boiled them in a regular pot it took about an hour for them to cook...

"The MaleChild is now learning how to use the Instapot".....maybe he'll want one for his birthday...

 

That's about it for now.....the winter months in the high country are quite and slow...not much exciting going on...

Except for the winds.....I can honestly say....I know why the early settlers, out there on the plains, could go a little crazy with the constant howling....

it's eerie.

I Did It...!

Well...

I over came my fear of pressure cookers and finally used the Instapot...

The pot sat on my kitchen counter for over a week and i kept telling myself...

"As soon as I decide what to cook in it....I'll use it..."

(hummmmm...talking to myself again)

Friday I bought a pork loin roast and decided that would be my first experiment with my new toy.

Today I put on my big girl panties and read the direction several (5) times, then put the roast in the pot and started pushing buttons...

Much easier than I was expecting and soooo good.  It was nice not heating up the kitchen with the oven and juggling baking dishes to get all of dinner in the oven.  Plus, everything was ready at the same time...I'll use it again...!

But....I'll never give up my beloved crock pots....!!

Addiction or Quest?

I'm not sure which it is.....but....for some reason I love electronic kitchen gadgets.

Here's my newest one....

I've always been afraid of pressure cookers due to an accident my aunt had with one....ohhhh....maybe sixty years ago....

However, several friends have one of these and swear by them...

sooooo...

tomorrow I'm gonna give it a try...!

Now I need to find somewhere to store it...

hummmmm...

I'll just clean out some of the kitchen cabinets....move the three crock pots.....the rice cooker....the huge mac-daddy crock pot (turkey cooker)...the kitchen-aide mixer....the bullet....the food processor (x2 gotta have a small and Large)....the immersion blender...the hand mixer...the toaster...and what ever that is in the back that I can't see and haven't used in years....

ahhhhh....

Maybe I'll just leave it on the counter....

A Plague on Our House....

It all started the Thursday before Christmas....

At 6:20 am the MaleChild and I heard a loud crashing noise in the kitchen...when we rushed in expecting, to find the dryer had fallen off the washer, (love those stacked units) we found CityBoy on the kitchen floor unable to get up by himself.....we got him up....the kid got him into the car as I got dressed and off to the ER we went...Turns out he was dehydrated and had influenza A, even though he had a flu shot back in November...with Rx's  and a doctor's note for work in hand...after the ER doctor said a novena and blessed me, cause I haven't had a flu shot ..we were on our way home.

 

On Friday, the FemaleChild called to say, her mother-n-law, visiting from up north was rushed to the ER with breathing problems.....she is still in the hospital on a ventilator, but seems to be improving...

 

Then on Christmas Eve, my brother took our Dad to the ER with breathing issues....on top of his COPD, he had pneumonia and influenza A...they admitted him and we finally got him home on the Tuesday after Christmas...

 

On the Wednesday after Christmas, Mom and I both ended up at the doctor's office....she has a really...really bad cold and I had a sinus infection with snap, crackles and pops in the lower lobe of my left lung...thanks to the asthma.....We were both given Rx's and told to go home and stay in bed until we felt better. 

 

 The real question was "should we quarantine the Twelve Acre Wood?" Should we put a sign at the bottom of the drive.."Enter at your on risk?"

 

Well....we had 2" of snow on Friday.....so maybe the cold did away with all the little germs roaming around....  :)