An Xmas Post

Xmas was celebrated today (December 28th) with my family. Things got off to a rocky start as the reports of ultra cold weather to come threatened to derail our festivities. After the inevitable testy phone calls, emails and smoke billowing from both of my ears, rapprochement was achieved and- cold weather be damned!- Christmas happened.
I think this year was more heavily laden with emotional and familial baggage because it is the first one since Mommy's death. Holidays are always fraught events; this is nothing if not the perennial cliche. My family certainly comes up with it's own exotic expressions of stress, sisterly hierarchies, issues of control etc etc. You get the picture.
I guess I'm lucky in that differences of opinion and questions of rationality versus emotionalism appear insurmountable and yet (mostly) seem to be overcome once we're in each others company. Then we have a good time. I suppose food and wine solve many squabbles...
We cleaned, we cooked, my family arrived. Indeed, they were brave and doughty souls to bundle up in parkas and boots and scarves and gloves and confront the arctic chill. I applaud their heartiness as it is Siberian out there, what with single digit temperatures and bracing wind chill. But our house was warm and the tree was lit up, well... like a Christmas tree.
The food was stellar. We ate so much that Bob and I skipped dinner altogether and I woke up after midnight full of energy and rarin' to go. (Go where you might ask, as it is 1:30 and something like 3 degrees outside? I know this last bit in reality as Lil' Robin the Good just decided that she needed to relieve herself. It really is cold!) Highlights of food included guacamole, spinach artichoke dip, roast pork, sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish (I could eat the whole bowl myself!),squash, brownies, peach pie, several bottles of wine.... and slightly musty tasting green beans.
The green beans sparked a new tradition. They were passed around, tossed, balanced, fondled and generally employed as entertainment. Worthy of the Schmenge Christmas! (Google that on YouTube if the reference escapes you.)
All in all, it was a nice day. We don't exchange Xmas presents anymore- thank god!- so at least that source of stress is eliminated. (Although Bob and I did give my brother in law John his birthday gifts, distinguished this year with a black and red motif.) Lots of food, bright sunlight (despite cold), a tree harvested from the side of our driveway, politics with everyone on the same side of the aisle; it was a good time.

A Dead Squirrel for the Holidays

Happy Holidays! And no, that's not a dead squirrel; that's Burned Santa. Remember him? As a real innovation, Bob added lights to Burned Santa's interior... you could even say he glows.

Here's the other side. Bob was trying to keep up with the honored tradition of putting lights our for Xmas. I like the effect: sort of Xmas in Hell.
Anyway, I went to get wood for my studio wood stove the other day and as I  picked up a couple of logs, I saw this fluffy grey thing. At first I thought Bob had left a glove on the wood pile. But it was a squirrel and it was most emphatically dead.

After assessing that it wasn't "playing opossum", I took this picture, wondered idly how it died- old age? log fell on it? scared to death by Robin chasing it? who knows. But it didn't have any obvious evidence of foul play, like blood or bite marks on it. I told Bob and he disposed of it as I was rushing off to work or something and forgot to get rid of it.
But it gets weirder as the next day, I was walking by Maggie's barn and I saw this:

Another dead squirrel! Now we had a mystery on our hands! At first I suspected it was the same squirrel and an animal had found the first squirrel carcass and carried to to the barn but on closer examination, it was clearly another corpse, as it's tail was bushier and it's position was different. It was kind of creepy because how often do you find dead animals just sort of laying around? Was there a rash of squirrels suddenly falling out of trees, an outbreak of squirrel plague or do we have a group of elderly squirrels ready to depart this mortal coil all at once? I guess we'll never know what killed them but it was definitely strange to see two dead ones within two days.
Let me know if anyone spots further squirrel die off and I'll post something more Christmas-y like our tree later this week.

Cheatin' on Maggie

It's true! I have been cheating on Maggie with a horse named Missy, pictured above. Missy belongs to my friend Gloria who spends the winter in Florida. She was kind enough to ask me if I'd like to ride her horse for her while she whiles away her days on the beach, getting warm and sandy. (We're freezing here!)
I think Missy- seen below in her entirety- misses Gloria, but she's been a good ride for me so far. She seems to be pretty level headed and not spooky or flighty. And she really looks the part of what she is- a Quarter Horse. Very different from my poor Mexican Pony Maggie who is still out of commission because of reoccurring abscesses in her hind foot. Maggie is altogether smaller, both width wise and height wise.

 A comparison:

Maggie is a good hand (four inches) shorter and probably two hundred (or more!) pounds lighter. Even their heads are different: Missy has the wide forehead and big jaw of a Quarter Horse. Maggie has a much longer, narrower head, but your guess is as good as mine as to what Maggie is... maybe part Mustang? Maggie is/was a pretty comfortable horse and it's too bad she's been lame.
I have been fortunate to be riding with Sabina, the woman who actually owns the farm. She has been riding a horse named Hannah, that she bred and raised. Hannah's great; about two years ago, I did some lessons at this farm and Hannah was the horse I was partnered with. She's got a great attitude but a really big, roiling canter- much bouncier at the trot!- than Missy or Maggie. (We didn't ride this past week, though as it snowed and was something like 12 degrees).
And here's what Missy thinks of me; she leaves a big pile every time we ride.

I think I posted this particular subject to avoid what is really on my mind. The winter (which doesn't even begin until this Thursday!!!!!) is already taking it's toll on me. It's dark and cold and the days are short and contrary to whatever it's doing in Florida, it's snowy here. We had such a protracted fall that winter hit suddenly and I sure wans't ready for it! I'm also in avoidance about the holidays. I did make Xmas cookies (one of my two requirements for "celebrating" the season) and we are considering a tree. Maybe that'll get me going, and the fact that it's supposed to be in the forties on Wednesday when we ride... thank goodness for that!

The Orange Menace Affliction

 (Above: (Fucking) Moron. This is a new piece channeling my "inner Rex Tillerson". Didn't know I had one, right? Well this is one thing I agree with him on...)
I have effectively diagnosed myself with Trump Anxiety Disorder. Having read several news articles (not fake!) describing exactly what I've been experiencing, I am a text book case. I just wish there was an easy cure.
I sleep badly. And then I wake up hoping the power is on- somehow this is my signal that a nuclear bomb hasn't been dropped on us over night. I figure if the electrical grid is functioning, we're still okay. I guess I should be glad for small things. Or maybe that's a big thing!
I can't stop reading/listening to the news. I wish I could control that impulse, too. Bob and I are news junkies at present: updating the progress of the Mueller investigation, scrolling to react to whatever insane tweet has burped forth from the White House.
I know we're not alone: every late night talk show is obsessed with the actions of him. Although at least we laugh when his actions are parsed and parodied! If we didn't laugh, we be screaming. Maybe that is the more appropriate response.
When will it end? But then I contemplate "president Pence". Not much better- a homophobic, women mistrusting religious zealot who is every bit as crazy and dangerous, just in a different way. Women would probably have to wear burkas if he ascends to the throne in case of impeachment or resignation. And if Pence is dragged down along with The Orange Menace, would we survive "president Ryan"? Oh please! He's the architect behind the rethuglicans cruel tax overhaul! Isn't there enough income disparity without Ryan soon claiming that because of huge deficits (because of those charming millionaire increasing tax cuts) there must be cuts to "entitlements" like Medicare and Social Security... Don't get me started!
And tonight is the much anticipated Alabama showdown between Roy Moore and Doug Jones. What has the rethuglican party come to that they would seriously consider a man who stalks under age girls at shopping malls and is a pedophile pervert because "at least he isn't a Democrat?" Is that really the choice? Bob and I have obtained pizza and wine and are planning on celebrating the weirdness of our times. Looks like it's gonna be a long night...

What's That Smell Like Meat, Oh Baby?

Scent is a very personal matter. What smells just great to one individual can be less than appealing to another. This is most often proven while standing behind an overly cologne saturated individual in a supermarket checkout line (or any instance where escape is impossible). I feel the urge to gag, but you know the wearer of the offending scent is sure they're attracting all the bees.

I bring this up because the flower here illustrated is a good case in point. I was taking Robin out the other evening, and I was assailed by the odor of rotting meat... a sweet, cloying definitely meat-like smell. I suspected a dead mouse in the wall until I realized I was smelling the Brugmansia!

Once I identified the smell as emanating from the flower, it was reassigned to the section of my brain that registers "things that are supposed to smell good", and I guess it does if you like decaying meat. The better to attract pollinators like bats and flies! (It's a smell reminiscent of jasmine, which I'm also not drawn to; I prefer clean, "high note" florals like phlox. I love the smell of phlox!: like clean laundry and sunshine).
This particular flower is trying hard to establish itself in my good graces. It was a generous gift from our good friend John Trainor- even though I warned him that I have no luck with Daturas and Brugmansias. And true to form, this plant struggled all season, not growing much in the direction of verticality and seeming to strain to produce a few new leaves. (And as soon as a new one appeared, an older one fell off; sort of a zero sum leaf gain). By the end of the summer, it was (embarrassingly) barely larger than it had been when presented to me and I decided to compost it. But on it's way to the compost pile, it revealed that it was producing a flower bud.

So I brought it inside and it bloomed! And then it produced a second out-size bloom, as documented here. It's obviously enjoyed the move indoors and as it's December and there's nothing else blooming, it's gotten a reprieve. And it does emit that weird smell...