Ai yi yi yi yi

This posting was supposed to be up the other day but the computer has been... well "peculiar" and probably virally infected (avian flu??). We took it to get repaired and it rewarded us by being exactly the same when we brought it home. Yowzah. And sometimes (like right now) it works fine... I'm taking advantage of that miracle!!

So Bob and I are on the way out to shop and there was a lot of activity at the road's end. Turns out (gasp!!) lil' ol' Jeremy Swamp Road is getting a traffic light at the corner of it and Route 67! Progress comes to our neck of the woods. And although this may signal the urbanization of Jeremy Swamp Road, it's a good thing because when they fixed all that flood damage, they installed a bridge that has so many cross struts and weird accordion uprights that it's very hard to see around. Bob and I were wondering when an accident would occur. So here's another picture on our way back home...

Thar she blows! Swinging in the Jeremy Swamp breeze! It hasn't been hooked up to work yet, but it's there. Hope it works better than our blasted computer and I sure hope it has nothing to do with Frontier!!! Maybe the town officials will have a champagne-fueled installation celebration. Maybe it will help with all the melon-head wannabes that use our road as a short cut. Maybe not!

And how's this for weird?! Looks like a moon-scape. This is occurring on the other end of town. I'm not quite sure why, but there has been a big bi-partison infrastructure project to redo the exit/entrance ramp off the highway. Lots of big dirt piles and large equipment... doing something. They engineered this in such an austere way: huge barren swoops of dirt. I certainly hope the plants some native shrubs or ground covers! (And you will notice hay in the rear view mirror of Bob's truck. We were on our way home form scoring 20 bales when I shot this picture.

And it isn't the loveliest time of year, but its is the Winter Solstice for which we actually received abit of snow. We're celebrating and I hope you are too!

Pop Quiz: Solstice Edition

Okay kids: What are the two things that Rita enjoys about the Holiday Season? If you said, "Xmas tree!" and "Cookies!" than you have a splendid memory. Above is the partially decorated pine tree that Bob harvested from our vast acreage. It's actually a bit taller than some recent models and boy is there plenty of open space to hang ornaments! Looks great!

                                     

And here's the beginnings of several bouts of cookie creation. We didn't have the ingredients I needed for a few of the other cookies I intended to make, so I resorted to that pseudo-healthy standby of oatmeal raisin cookies. They're half gone already.

Here's our tree illuminated at night. I think this was from our Solstice Celebration. We like to hold celebrations; what else can you do in times of COVID 19 and continued Trumpism?! Let's break out the booze and have a ball... (*1)

It is strange to be decorating and thinking that we'd ordinarily have family (Hi Cathy! Hi Beatrice! Hi John!) over for pork roast, which Bob is just now starting to cook in the CrockPot. (Or, The CrackPot as it IS at our house!). We're cooking the pork roast a day early, thinking we'll enjoy it for Xmas eve as well as Xmas day because Holy Hell! The weather people are predicting heavy rain! High winds! Flooding! Armafuckinggeddon!! Power outages! Darkness! Despair! Our energy company (don't get me started on Eversource (*2)) left a weird robo-message excusing themselves in advance of any responsibility for power outages. They advised to remove or tie down any outdoor decorations... yeah, right. (*3)

So we're having a small feast: mashed potatoes, roast pork, gravy, Brussels sprouts and our own carrots. And we have a warm spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer and a punkin pie to finish up. Slosh it all down with a nice red Bordeaux and boy are we livin' the good life!

In the meantime, I'm doing everything with one hand tied behind my back as I had a freak accident (*4) and my left hand looks like I decked someone in a bar fight. I'm swollen and can't bend two fingers. Thank goodness I'm a Rightie! 

So... Happy Holidays from us and ours to you and yours!

(*1) To quote Miss Peggy Lee.

(*2) And there were a couple of degenerates (one, whaling away at a rose vine with a machete!!) sent by Eversource to prune the trees that line the driveway so as to prevent outages. But walking out to the mailbox and surveying every bloody inch of the driveway, I was unable to discern that they had done anything!!

(*3)  But I will bring Burned Santa inside for the night. Remember him? Rescued from the wilds of Shamokin Pennsylvania where he had been badly burned in some heathen Xmas sacrifice. He gets tied to the fence every year as our one concession to outdoor holiday decorations.

(*4) Don't ask how I managed to hook my sleeve on a gate, pull on it and cause my poor, innocent left hand to come careening across and POW! impact on the side of the horse food bucket. I am swollen and can't bend two fingers.

Ice Nine*

Let's face it- does anyone like ice? I may complain about snow and cold (and yes, winter in general) but ice sucks. It took me and Bob a good 1/2 hour to chip 1/2 inch of ice from the car. Hell, I couldn't even get inside to turn the engine on and defrost it. It was that frozen.
And boy is it dangerous! Ice doesn't like artists, or anyone else for that matter (Remember the abstract artist Cleve Grey? He fell down on ice in Hartford, hit his head and died.) Going across our backyard is alternately very noisy (crunch! crunch! crunch! I was afraid I was waking the neighborhood when I took Robin out the other night) and slippery as all get out. Imagine me skating across the tundra field to feed and water Maggie. I've got 5 gallon buckets afixed to either arm as I take baby steps and make pathetic whooping sounds as I threaten to topple over. I warn Bob to come look for me if I don't return as I've probably fallen and spilled water- quickly solidified into Ice Nine- somewhere between here and the barn. Awful.
So here's a happier, warmer picture: our 2019 Xmas tree! Yay!!! (To remind my followers, the two things I retain an affinity for at Xmas time are 1.) the tree and 2.) cookies!) Our tree is a tad wispy this year but it came from our woods and I like it's slender aspect. Granted, I couldn't hang many ornaments or the chunky lights on it as it was getting weighted down and looked kinda unhappy.)

But it's lovely! And festive! And there'll be less to take down and re-box after the holiday season passes. And fewer needles to clean up as it has fewer branches and less foliage all around. I'm happy.
Hey! While we're at it... Happy Winter Solstice! Days are getting longer from here on in!

*Ice Nine for those of you who don't recall, is a substance that played a major role the Kurt Vonnegut novel Cat's Cradle. A character named Bokonon who starts a religion possesses Ice Nine; capable of destroying the world. If you haven't read it, it is highly recommended. I myself am going to re-read it I remember enjoying it immensely!

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 Two Things of Christmas, Maybe Three

Okay, repeat after me (I sound like a broken record), "The two things that make me feel anything remotely Xmas-y are the 1.) Christmas Cookies, and 2.) The Tree." As you can see, the first batch of Christmas Thing #1 is pictured above. I have now consumed so much dough that I feel vaguely bilious, but that's a good thing! There's a second batch on the way.
And look! What to my wondering eye should appear:

Away in a corner, surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags, no less! So now I do (kinda) feel a bit Christmas-y. And I'm finishing up our Annual Christmas Card Extravaganza. That takes time and energy as we still insist on hand-making all the cards. But they're all small creations and that's a good thing to send off into the universe. I believe that the influence exerted by making and sending something carefully hand made is priceless (like those credit card ads!). I really (mostly) enjoy making the cards; maybe once every five years or so, we grumble and "take a vacation" and purchase a box of pre-mades. This was definitely not one
of those years!
Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, and, apparently, the last day of life on earth. Or the end of the world... something big! We'll see! Our friend Joe is coming by to celebrate darkness and doom with us. At least we'll go out in style!