Decoration---ing & Fence Dancing!

This is one half of my house, literally. This is the view from our added on bedroom doorway---of the living room. It looks out towards the porch on the south side of our house. I was considering putting up a Christmas Chair again this year. 

Hubby watches TV from the folding chair. There is our drying rack next to the cabin heater. Charlie sits in sunlight. To the left is the loveseat. That is it. We can't social distance in our house. If I got sick, I'd have to quarantine outside somehow. That means using the horse trailer with a plug in for heat [let's say it would be colder than a witch's you-know-what and using the outhouse while prepping meals and doing chores?]....Yes our house is that little that we would breath the same air no matter what.

Anyway, that aside...

This is the other half of the house. Photo taken from the fridge. The oven and sink are to the left out of sight.

There is a half story upstairs but that is only used for storage or when we have company. And we haven't had company since February 2020. I keep my ever growing supply of toys, baskets, tea cups, and other items used for Still Life Photography in one of the rooms. Sometimes the items are neatly stored away and other times it appears as if a tornado has hit the room.

I don't know if I will do the Chair/Tree this year or not. Last year it was boxes that I decorated. You know, wooden dynamite boxes, sulfuric acid box, a nuts and bolts box, and an ancient nesting box that my MIL had. I am not conventional at all. Things just sort of start coming together. I put things in place and then tear it apart and start again.

I gather sticks and weeds to make winter bouquets. I even found some dead birch branches to do 'something' with. I'm not sure yet. But I am looking for some pine boughs to make something with too. 

I explained this nonsensical method to my 30 something nephew. I get an idea in my head and then I just go into some sort of zone. I grab things together and don't think too much of what I am doing. I rearrange, mess around, rearrange some more and then there it is. Sometimes it is a disaster and sometimes it works. My mind gets into some kind of otherworld Zone and it keeps moving along. I can't stop it until I make a creation of some sort.

So I picked up sticks in the yard. There are always branches falling from the trees. Sometimes I just chuck them into the burn pile. Today I gathered the more interesting ones and stuck them in my now much faded and dead looking flower garden. I thought, hmmmmmmmm....they could hold a string of lights!

Honest, it will look much nicer with a fresh snowfall on it. But I am very pleased with my outdoor lighting effort. There is only one other household that could possibly even see it.
The neighbors at the top of the ridge.

Below is a reindeer metal thingy that a lady gave me years ago. It is creepy in a way and it is supposed to be a Christmas Card Holder. I've repurposed it to be a yard 'decorate'. No problem. I am odd I will admit it.

The head nods up and down and back and forth, it had a tendency to tip over startle my husband and old Jack Russell Terrier....so for years it was remanded to the shed in purgatory. I brought it back out to add to my flower garden, I had a friend drill holes in the base so I can use spikes to hold the 'Moose/Deer' in place.

He/she is still a bit on the creepy side, but people often ask me what the hell is that supposed to be?

Hey, why not? Even the UPS guy was like...what the heck? Yeah. If it gets a reaction like that, it is worth keeping around!

Do you...

Recall the Fence Feud? I went out and rearranged all the ghosts and the Stick People. I made sure that my movements were not within camera range from the other side of the fence.

So to my surprise, the dude on the other side moved the camera to point onto my property. I suppose to see what I was doing. I wandered there just after sunrise on Friday morning.

So I thought for a moment and then decided to give them a show. Really I thought about pulling off my old patched coveralls and peeing right there so he could see my butt. However I decided to have a bit more fun.

I slowly put my camera down and then began to sway back and forth with my arms raised. Then I turned and slowly waved my arms up and down. I kneeled on the ground [facing away from the camera] and raised my head and arms as if in prayer to some unseen god of the forest. Then fell flat on the forest floor and writhed as if possessed.

When I got up I Cursed their side of The Woods. Angry Face, throwing invisible and voiceless curses in the direction of the camera. I really don't know how to make a curse, but I had to make it look good!

I am giggling here. His camera was pointing into the morning sun so the photos this person will get will be silhouettes. 

Hunting season ends tomorrow at sundown. 

This Spring, I am fixing the fence and attaching No Hunting signs to it. 

I don't think this person knows how much entertainment he has provided this old lady with during the Pandemic.

 

The Day After Thanksgiving

And all through the house...

Oh wait that is something else, that Christmas poem, The Night Before Christmas.

Okay um, wait,...it was the day after Thanksgiving. Smacks forehead and reaches for a cup of coffee. Whoops, tea this time of night!
~~~~~~~~~~

The day after Thanksgiving, chores had to be done just like we do all of the time.

Round bales were put out by hubby and I manned the gates.

Our neighbors are gone for a family get together so I said I'd happily do their chores also.

The goats were so happy to see me.

These are the Nigerian Dwarf goats. Oh I can't recall their names but they are charming anyway.
All four goats greet me with calls of "ma...aaaamaaaa" as I come in to give them grain and let them out to their pasture.

I can remember one goat's name. Sedona. She used to wear a blue collar. Now I can't recall which one she is.

No matter, they were all pleased.

Our weather has been very mild again which feels quite odd. Normally by now we've had at least one or two significant snows.

Next were the chickens. 

I spread some feed out for them in the driveway. There sure was a lot of clucking going on. I checked the nesting boxes and they were full of hens doing their thing.

I thought I'd walk Dexter and see if I could collect eggs after we were done.
Dexter is a pug mix of something. He was pretty lonely the first day his family was gone. But by last night he was sure happy to go for a stroll and enjoy some attention.

This morning we took a fairly nice walk on the road. It is still hunting season and blaze orange is the hip thing to wear.

So, I guess Dexter is pretty hip.

For the past two days my husband and his daughter have been processing two deer that my husband 'harvested' for this season. I suppose there are those who dislike the deer hunt but I will welcome venison in my freezer instead of venison on my car hood any day.

Two deer meant that both households could have a freezer full of meat for the winter. I'd say it was worth it.

After The Dexter Dog Walk, I checked on the cats and checked to make sure everything was okay in the house. 

Well. 
The hens were done doing their thing and I collected a dozen eggs. I'd made scrambled eggs yesterday for the kids and thought I'd make scrambled omelettes today for Rich and I.

Jeeze, I know that omelettes aren't supposed to be scrambled, but that is the easiest way of cooking eggs. What can I say?

I worked on cleaning up the house. Angel the Beagle had visited with Morris for two days too. Morris is sort of okay with Angel. But he is sure that the grand kids belong to him and not to Angel.

Our day was rather dreary and Rich was rather tired after spending two days on his feet. He went for a nice long nap and I took my camera and went to the Dexter Cattle's summer pasture.

You never know how crazy a person can get when they are stuck in the house for an entire 'gun season'. 

So I thought I'd have a bit of fun.
Who thought 'selfie' would be this?

This weekend I may get out the Christmas Chair and work on it.

Or, who knows?

Last Days of Gun Deer Season

Him: "Watchya doing today?"
Me: "Stuff."

Him: "You wanna get dressed up and walk down through the creek and make some noise?  Then you can go to the ridge road and work your way through all those apple trees and back down towards me."

Ahhh yup.  It was that time of year again.  The last few days of Deer Gun Season I get to play 'dog' ... as he calls it.

These were a couple of visitors to our creek bottom yesterday morning before the sun came out.

Off I went after hubby went on his way to wait.  My first walk yielded nothing, but I did get to see interesting tracks and feel the warm sun on my back.
The temperatures were rapidly rising and things were beginning to melt quickly.

I walked down through the creek and spent a lot of time just 'browsing' the area.
It changes so much from summer to winter.  I actually think it is more beautiful in winter and early spring.

The water from the trees above left circles in the creek pond....

I eventually went up and old cow/mule trail that is nearly impossible to find in the summer.  I had a bit of a struggle with briers once in a while, but I was able to make it to the top of the ridge.

Further down the valley I'd seen a group of hunters and had decided to stay out of their way.

I can't say that I 'love' deer season.  I certainly don't love the inept hunters that seem to show up on my neighbor's land.  Simply put, I don't trust them to tell Blaze Orange from Deer Brown.

That said I do trust my husband and will walk the woods for him.

The day went quietly.  No monster buck came through.
I personally think that he is hiding.

Good luck to the legendary 12 pt buck!

This and That...

My drive home from work was more than interesting to say the least on Monday.
Maybe I just forget from year to year how treacherous some of our roads can get.

There are twisted roads that have steep grades and fairly sharp curves up the sides of the steep valleys near the Mississippi River.

I didn't dare stop and take any shots of the curves or the hills on Monday.  It was just a concentration effort to make sure that I actually stayed on the road.

There were many 'fall offs' that I passed attesting to the fact that the roads were indeed really quite bad.
Rain, fog, and warm temps changed quite quickly into snow and freezing temperatures.
Thus the ice under the slimy snow was created for Monday morning's commute.

Yesterday was brilliant though, quite beautiful with clear blue skies and pure white snow.

I had to go to town to get Lasagna fixings for our Thanksgiving supper.
I also had a oil change and tire rotation coming on the Subaru.

While at the shop I talked to the owner who I've know since 1996.  I asked about snow tires for the Subaru. Some may think that is overkill and that I could easily get all weather tires.

But I asked.  Jeff pointed out the tires he put on his wife's car ... he said "If you get stuck, Val, with those tires on your Subaru, call me and I'll come get you."

Sold.
He had to order two more as he had two on hand.  With AWD you don't want to have different treads on front and back, not if you travel like I do.  I put 23K miles on this Subaru last year.

I'm tickled pink.  Yes, the tires are not cheap, but it is an investment in my winter driving and all year 'round driving.  As is with the other continued maintenance that I do on my vehicles.

This morning my hubby headed out to the woods early to 'get' his deer.
I am taking the house apart, cooking up the rest of the squash to freeze, and doing the chores too.

I need to hang out my laundry and finish up the watering for the cattle.

I will be most happy when Gun Deer Season ends.  I can then walk in the woods again.

From subzero to fog and rain...

So it goes from below freezing with subzero wind chills to ...

Fog...intense thick ...incredible fog.

Rain today with warmer weather.  Then tonight a huge monstrous cold front swoops in and we will have the rain change to snow.

With the front we'll get gusts of wind.

I'm hoping that the roads won't get bad until after I get home Monday.

In the meantime I'm going to play around with some Graphic Arts programs like Mandelbulb 3D.

I did this on my own but am working on a tutorial written by Jorge Abalo who is a fantastic Mandelbulb 3D artist.

Visit his work on devianArt .... batjorge.

And I'll play some more in JWildfire.

Sort of looks like some wild Christmas Trees don't they?

It would also be a good day to dismantle 'the house' and redecorate for the winter season by changing photos on the wall, changing the shower curtain, and thinking about putting up the Christmas Chair ....

The Day Before Deer Hunting...

...and all through the house it was quiet...
...you could even hear the ol' fella snoring...
...dreaming of BIG Bucks 
...he dreamt of big Antlers
...a prize winning trophy
...such as never seen before...

...bold and beautiful
...handsome and strutting.

Yeah, then I woke up the great hunter and asked if he wanted some coffee.  He said I ruined his beautiful dream.
But we had animals to move closer to the buildings and chores to do, tree stands to check on, and last minute preparations for the annual WI 9 Day Gun Season.

The first few days I don't like to go outside much.  Too many anxious hunters in the surrounding woods looking to shoot anything that 'sounds' like a deer.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against deer harvest.  I like venison.  I have issues with those hunters who just shoot and wound and don't bother finding their deer.

Tomorrow is opening day.  Blaze Orange will be the outfit of choice.