The Drive Home for Christmas and beyond.

We left our place to drive to my parent's house on Christmas day. 

It was snowing like crazy when we left and we were a little worried about the drive.

My parents live about two hours away and it was also snowing at their place.

We just took our time and made it without any problems.  

It took us an extra hour to get back home, but we made it safe and sound.

Bumble is the only dog that always gets to go to Grammy's house.  

She gets along well with others and is not a pest.

Here she is holding onto the cooler with the bean salad and burned cookies.

Oh....yeah....I burned TWO batches of chocolate chip cookies.  

I am not a baker.

I did try.

The cookies were still edible, but just on the brown (almost black) side.

A for effort. 

My attention span is not made for things that only bake for 10 minutes.  

I also made sausage balls.

The only problem is that I left them in my freezer.  

I tried.

The entrance to my parent's house.

What a treat!  Snow on Christmas day!

A treat and also a pain if you had to drive anywhere.

Even the wildlife was stunned by the amount of snow that had fallen. 

My dad's tomato cages.

This is the field that our hay comes from. 

Thanks Dad!

The snow was on all of the trees and it was just beautiful.

It is not every day that we see snow that is not being blown sideways.

Also the temps were in the thirties.  Warm......

My father's workshop. 

This poor little deer....he looks really cold. 

Hey....pass the potatoes!  

Someone drop something......please.

A new take on Christmas lights. 

The day after Christmas.

Eco's other mom, Pepina, gave us these beautiful red blankets.

The horses loved them.

The wind did not. 

Look how beautiful they are!  

Danza seemed to really love her blanket.

She is our oldster.  

24 years young.  Soon to be 25. 

Danza protecting her hay.  

Otis and the other little guys were happy to come in.  

The snow is getting too deep for their little legs.  

I am really looking forward to the warm up at the end of this week!

Christmas Lights

I would like to start this post by wishing everyone a 

very 

Merry Christmas!  

I always try to get shots of the dogs in lights for Christmas.  

I love the way the lights color the coats of the dogs.  

Pink seems to be the main color this year.  

Gus did not want to participate this time and I had to catch 

Bumble and Zippy while they were napping. 

Bumble decided to try and blend in with Gus on the chair to escape my 

shenanigans.

It did not work! 

I just can't help myself.  

Poor Zippy!  

We are supposed to have a white Christmas this year!  

Better than the ice storm of 2009!

This was taken yesterday.  Snowing and the clouds were hanging onto 

the top of Elk Knob. 

Beautiful! 

Oh Deer!

Hi folks! 

Things have been very snowy and cold around here.

The cold temperatures are one thing, but the wind....

It blew the snow in big circles.  I called them snownadoes.  

I had to wear my heavy winter coat this week.  

I did not like it one bit.  

This crazy thing happened while we were on our daily walk.

It is deer season you know and I like to watch deer.  

So we were walking and someone said "Hey...I see a deer"

I said..."Where???"

I still do not see it!

Ha ha ha....oh there it is.....

How unfortunate.  She looks so silly!  

Then...I realized that everyone was laughing at me....ME!

I could not figure it out...

Until

I 

saw 

this...

Ha ha...Very Very funny.  

Hey!

Let's put the antlers on the donkey.  

He he he.

Sorry May!

My little snow mule Otis.

Eco.  Love the whiskers.  

This is the beginning of the last snow storm.  

Still a balmy 20 something.  

The mules were chasing each other and I think that May was ready to 

go back into the barn.  

Did I mention that our tractor is not working.....

This is a sad situation because there is no way for us to plow our road.

Luckily the wind (that I disliked so much)  did us a favor and blew all of the snow 

off of the drive and we are still able to get out.  

I may need to reconsider my dislike of the winter wind.  

I guess it depends on whether you are upwind or downwind.

I do not want to be downwind.

The stairs to our house. 

At least this stuff is light and fluffy.   Makes it a bit easier to shovel.

My pond and fountain should be where the big pile of snow is.  

The outside temperatures were down in the single digits and 

the wonderful wind was gusting at 60 mph.  

So...the little guys came inside for a few days.  

If you could read that thermometer...It would say 8 degrees.  BRRRR....

Bumble speeding through the soft snow.  

So beautiful....

Elk Knob in the background.  

I will have to get a shot of Elk from a higher vantage point.  

I could not make it up to my usual spot because the snow was so deep.  

No snowshoes and I had the dogs with me.  

I hate that I missed that opportunity.

My newest painting.

You just never know what you might find under a rock.

Ho Ho Snow and another painting.

This was taken on Saturday when the snow first started falling.  

It was a wonderful day with little wind and it was quite warm.  

In the 30s.

The barn quilt in the snow. 

I love the brightness of the color next to the snow. 

I need to get another one when the ground is a little more covered.  

Otis the wild mini mule.

The mules LOVE the snow.   I can imagine that it does feel really good to them.  

Their coats are very thick.   They will stand out in it for hours.  

 May the donkey would rather be inside. 

Look at that sweet face! 

My stump planter with a snowy dog face.

I thought the owl sculpture was cute.

It looks as if Mr. Owl has a cape and hat on.

Horses waiting to be let in.  

Eco

Oracle bugging Eco.  

This was taken Sunday.  

We had about 10 inches by then.  Luckily the wind was not that bad. 

Still warm.  In the 20s.  

Elk Knob holding onto the snow clouds.

This sun was nice, but it did not last long. 

Poor little Bumble was having a difficult time plowing through.  

Zippy on the other hand, was zipping around like it was nothing.  

I loved the way the shadow of my gate looked on the snow! 

This little guy found his way into the house. 

 I think he followed me in when I checked on the horses.

Oracle.

Hey where did everyone go???

Wait for me......

Eco having a snack.  

This was taken Sunday afternoon.  

The sun had disappeared and the snow was falling again.  

Otis was having a great time zooming around.  

Gus enjoying a little dusting!  

What I did when I was not shoveling snow.  

Elk Knob and the barn with the barn quilt. 

This afternoon (Monday).  

It was 12 degrees and very very windy.

Not my favorite.  Hard to breath when the wind is blowing snow down your nostrils.

There is supposed to be a rock wall under that owl.  

The wind was blowing so hard that May would not come out of the barn. 

I can't say that I blame her.  

This is what the wind was doing to all of that beautiful snow. 

Gus was trying to find the three stairs that come onto the deck.  

Hopefully it will warm up a little tomorrow....Ha.  

Even Larry the Magnificent stayed inside today.