Catch-up

Hi Friends,
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends. This year my youngest sister, Sandi, visited us again which is so fun for us. She arrived on TG day so we had a chicken noodle soup & fresh bread supper with Sandi and our neighbor, Dick; and then together we prepared our
Thanksgiving for the three of us on Friday.

I spent the previous week making pies; chocolate coconut, chocolate pecan, strawberry-raspberry, 2 old fashioned apple pies, and caramel apple pie. On TG, I made a pumpkin pie. The others all went into the freezer. I LOVE baking pies from scratch, the crust is the fun part otherwise it is just assembling. But when you create a perfect crust, that is satisfaction!

caramel apple

chocolate pecan

Today we had our first snow, not a big storm, but enough to cover the ground and bring many many birds to the feeders and bird bath which is now heated so they have water 24/7.
I was happy to see the snow and will bake bread today. Those two things always go together for me.

...every feeder was full! These are
yellow finches

In the tree awaiting their turn

I'm in the midst of Project FeederWatch season so am counting birds again. It is such a fun project that doesn't take much time and I feel great to be a part of the scientific project. If you are interested in learning more, check out Cornell Universities website @ http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

We had some serious card playing with Sandi

Buddy loves for Sandi to visit because

she is his willing playmate several times

every day. Sandi can't resist the swings.

Buddy with his favorite toy, tug-of-war

rope in hopes that Sandi will get the hint

to play with him! See the pullets in the

background? We got 24 eggs yesterday

and not all are laying yet! Yikes!!

We are still in a drought here without much rain or snow. A few weeks ago, it started to rain and we were thrilled but it soon turned to hail...

and then the rain stopped. The hail were about the size of a large marble and didn't do damage. Because it was cold, they stayed on the ground until the next day. Mother Nature, quit teasing and give us some real moisture to end this drought. Pleeaase.

Mark and me @ friends 50th Wedding Anniversary