SNOW DAY!!

Well, we finally got some snow today!

There were about 4 or 5 inches when we left for church at about 10:00 this a.m.  We needed to go a little bit early as we had a special guest from Oklahoma in the pulpit this a.m. and we wanted to make sure we were there . 

These first two pictures are of our church.  It almost looks black and white, then you notice the green band below the siding. 




I love how the snowflakes look like little balls of light falling out of the sky! 

Church went well - our visitor was a wonderful speaker.

We had to stop in Ferndale at the store because we forgot to get potatoes Friday night - How can you make stew without potatoes??

The freeway was fine, but the back roads to our house were a little bit sketchy - sloppy and slippery!  







And this is what greeted us when we got to our drive way... that's about 10 inches of snow in front of that gate. 












So, luckily The Shepherd had brought a shovel with us - he had to dig out the driveway so we could get in to the house! 











After getting more snow this afternoon & evening there is about a foot of snow on our dumpster now. 











Bella was very interested in something that was happening outside the window.  S/he got way up on the window sill, tail twitching -












This is all she could see - I don't know if there was maybe a "burdie" in the tree, of if it was just the falling snow flakes that were getting her attention.















Out the front door -















and "plink" down over the edge of the deck.  That's George who just went over  the edge (tip of his tail, center of the picture)  - We couldn't get Gracie off of the big bed for love nor money. 

The forecast from my little "weather machine"  - although Weather.com says it will be 48 degrees by Tuesday! 

The Shepherd took this picture out in the pasture when he did chores this evening - the little wires that the snow is perched on are only 1/4 inch in diameter - how's that work? 

We hope you are all in a nice cozy place this evening! 








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HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody!

This is a favorite picture of a Valentine's flower bowl that The Shepherd gave me a few years ago.  I just love this picture - it just says "Spring is around the corner!"

This pretty necklace was made by one of my spinner pals.

And then there has to be a little Valentine's bling - no, this isn't mine, a talented spinner pal of mine also makes jewelry - isn't this just the bomb? 










And nothing says "Spring is just around the corner" like our Witch Hazel bush - peeking through the landscape to say "Hello!  I'm here to remind you that winter will soon be on it's merry way" 


 




So, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all our friends - peoples, kitties, woofies, what ever or where ever you may be.  I hope this brings a little love to your heart. 

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Oh, yeah - we beat 'em!

 DID I MENTION THAT WE WON!!!!!

Coach Pete Carroll

Over 700,000 people - yup, almost a million people,  turned out in frigid weather today to watch our Seattle Seahawks in a Victory Parade through downtown Seattle.  My boss was lenient as those of us in the office watched the parade streaming live on our computers. 

It was interesting watching the faces of the young men on the team.  I don't think that they had ANY idea how much this championship meant to their fans.  But I think they know now. 

Congratulations Seahawks!  You Rock. 

Can't wait for next year. 

It's finally (almost) here!

Hello Effurrybody and Effurry Kitty!

It's (almost) here, the Souperbowl!

Of course, Mummy and The Shepherd are rooting for their FAVORITE team, the SEAHAWKS!


 

GO HAWKS!

 And here is something you'll probably only see once on this bloggy and that is a picture of Mummy with her Seahawks Hair do.  Although it doesn't show up really good - it seems to get a bit of attention from people -

And she is in her new Seahaws shirt, which hopefully, iffn the stars align, tomorrow she can order a new shirt that says "Seahawks, Champions of the World!!"  He, he he...

That's all for this weekend!

Love, your roving reporter, Gracie


Rotel, check  Velveeta, check  Chips, check,     Let the game begin!  

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Soon, we hope. . .

Hello Effurrybody & EffurryKitty!

Everything on the computer is still very blurry  to Mummy - but she has ordered new lenses for her new glasses (they are even going to make them for free!  Sweet!) 

She is hoping that when she gets them she will be able to read and write more on the computer.  We're not sure what we are going to do with her if she still can't see - that would be a very unhappy situation, that's for sure. 

So, meantime, we're spending time watching the pregame fun about the Seahawks.  The whole state is in a fevered frenzy so it should be a pretty interesting week.  We'll keep you posted about Mummy and her spectacles. 

Love, Gracie


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Ho Hum

Mummy says to tell you that there are 12 days until the Souper Bowl - I want to watch the Kitten Bowl myself.  He, he, he.....

WE'RE SUPERBOWL BOUND ! ! ! ! ! !

                             YAHOO!  GO HAWKS!  

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Yay!! It's Caturday!

 Halo Effurrybody & Effurrykitty! 

It's me, Gracie, and IT"S CATURDAY!

The big noos here is that tomorrow is Mummy's Hippo Birdy!

I think she is going to be older than dirt. ...  ...



At least that's what I heard her say.

 She said that "old age was setting in"  and her parts were starting to expire.  Wow,  I hope that doesn't happen to ME!

One of the doctors that she saw last fall "strongly recommended" that she start wearing something called support stockings!   She found some that she liked and says that her legs do feel better. (It is pretty funny to watch her put them on - lots of huffing & puffing)   She says that part of the problem is that she sits at a high desk on a high chair and so her legs were kind of dangling  so she also bought a stool to park them on.

And she's still having problems with her vision & being able to see the computer screen.  Even tho she has gotten her new glasses, she still has to make the words really big so they don't all moush together -  And to top it all off, some of her eyelashes started to scratch her eye, so she had to go to her eye doctor and he pulled them out!  She said it felt like she had a stick stuck in her eye.  It has taken almost a week for her eye to feel better.

She says it's heck getting old. 

Speaking of old, this s a picture from last month - when we had snow, we had an introoder!!!  Infact, The Shepherd said there were a couple of introoders.  They walked all over the yard and left their footie prints - he said it was probably a mommy raccoon and one of her babies.


I'm glad they didn't come in the house!

This is mummy's latest string project.  She went to her spinner guild meeting today and everybody said "Oh, you are spinning SEAHAWKS colors.  They are her and The Shepherd's favorite footsball team.  And they won their game today.  There was a lot of shoutin goin on in the libing room!!!

It has been raining and raining here, so mummy dug out this picture that she took last month when the weather was nice - cold but very blu skies - kind of SEAHAWK colors, don't cha think?

Mummy & The Shepherd are signed up to take snacks for church tomorrow.  So she decided to make it kind of an informal Hippo Birdie party for herself. 

Here is what she is taking:

2 lbs each of sliced ham & turkey.  She got it at Cash & Carry Restaurant Supply, so it wasn't very espensive, she said.  With that are three different loaves of  bread, one dark, one oatmeal and one white, and a package of "flat bagels".  Butter, mayo & mustard, of course.

A nice tray of sliced cheese that she got at the grocery store.  It has 4 different kinds of cheese on it and it is all sliced up and ready to put on the table.  And some Wheat Thin crackers.

A bag of corn chips for our gluten intolerant folks, with some salsa, some homemade garlic dip and some homemade salmon dip.

Some oranges and apples to slice up AND her friend Vikki from church is making not ONE, but TWO Hippo Birdie cakes for her, because Mummy couldn't decide if she wanted chocolate with raspberry filling or Vanilla with lemon filling.  And Vikki said, "Well, why don't I make one of each - if there is anything left, you can take it tow work on Monday"

That sounded like a good idea to Mummy, but she wasn't too shure that any of the left over cake would actually make it into her office... he he he...

And then The Shepherd is going to take her out to dinner someplace nice!

So, that's all the noos there is today.  We hope you are having a good Noo Year!

Love, your roving reporter, Gracie! 

The End. 

New Year's Greetings!

 So, this is what we've been doing -

I've been spending a lot of time spinning.

The Shepherd wants another sweater vest from his sheep's yarn - This is "Donna" 








The roving was done for us by Evergreen Fibers in Woodinville - He did a really nice job. 

We went to brunch at our friend Nancy's farm to celebrate New Years - Lots of good music, good food and good friends.  I had finished two bobbins of "Donna" so I took my spinning wheel and started plying it.  I'll take a picture of it when I get it skeined up. 

This is some CVM/Romeldale  yarn that I spun up last month -

 and this is some "Kathy Green Roving" - She uses a high micron count fiber and through a process of combing, dying & carding comes up with a yummy, easy to spin fiber.  Some of my favorite! 

The kids have been spending a lot of time snoozing.  They are such funny & affectionate kitties.  

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately - my "new eye" is at war with my other eye and, obviously the prescription in my glasses (which is over 2 years old) is not corrected yet.  So I end up trying to focus both eyes, generally unsuccessfully. - making it extremely difficult to see/read what is on my computer screen.  BUT, tomorrow is my one month appointment  from my surgery and my Dr. said I would get my new prescription TOMORROW - You can better bet I'll be checking out some optical shops this weekend to get new glasses - YAY!!!

Til next time - Happy New Year from everyone here on the farm! 

Sending you Tidings of Great Joy

 

From our house to yours - Merry Catmas!  

A Good 'Nuf Reason to Sleep in...

Hello Effurrybody & Effurrykitty!

Mummy had the day off from The Saltmine today!  And this is what it looked like when she got up this morning.   Actually this is what it looked like when she "woke" up - she actually rolled over and went back to sleep!  Without feeding us!

We thought we'd starve to death!  





Actually we all went back to sleep - even The Shepherd, after he did his morning chores, took a little nappy.  So those ungrateful woolley things got fed, but we had to wait. 

And wait. 








And wait - Afters we finally got our breakfast, Bella and I thought about going outside. 

 Mummy kept telling us to make up our minds...









While Georgie, the big weenie, made up his mind.  The heater vent was much better to sit on, than the cold snowy front porch!

Mummy's eye is looking far much better after her CATorRAT surgery, but it still has a big purple stripe on it.  At least she doesn't have to wear the patch that makes her look like a fly.










Preparations for Catmous have been pretty sparse around here.  Mummy hasn't put up a Catmous tree for years - she says kitties make too much mess with Catmous trees - I think she is just too lazy to clean up the spare bedroom and find the boxes of ornaments that she has.  What do YOU think...

She and The Shepherd went into town this afternoon to print up a program for their big Catmous program that they are having at Church on Sunday night.  They also went out to dinner and to the grocery store on their regular Friday Night Date.  She is going to make Cheese Shortbread Crackers and Smoked Salmon Cheesecake for the party afterwards.  She always likes to take something that is not sweet so people who have a problem eating too many sweets can have a snack too. 

So, since there wasn't a whole lot we could do outside, Georgie and I took another nap.

Mummy promises that she will blog more often in the coming up days - she has a WHOLE BUNCH of stuff to tell you about!

Happy Caturday!

Love, Gracie           

                                            

Get out the Party Mix

 Hey Effurybody & Effurry Kitty!

   Get out the Party Mix!

Mummy's CATorRat surgery went well.

She's got a BIG bandage over the side of her face right now that has to stay on until tomorrow, (she said to tell you you'll just have to imagine as she's not into "selfies"...) but Dr. K. was very satisfied with the outcome so far.

So get out the Party Mix, and thanks for all your Purrs and PUrrayers!.

XOX, George

Hey, we almost missed Caturday!

 Hey peeps and kittehs!  It's me, Bella, hangin out on the barn roof, with this weeks Catureay report!!

Actually I know that a few of you have noticed that it's been, ahem, more than a week since Mummy last let you know what was going on here at the farm - she mumbles something about being busy at The Salt Mine and other things for Church and that, but, I know it is just because she's been proCATstinating - what do YOU think? 

The Shepherd worked furry hard the last couple of days to get all of his little plants into the greenhouse for the winter (I want to know - why do they call it a "green" house when it is clear? - one of those peeple misteries, I suppose)





 
Anyhow, I was just up on the barn roof taking in some rays, watching Sherlock as he investigates "The Case of the Broken Pot" 
 It's nice that all the little plants are tucked away we have a runway to chase each other down and around. 

 But what is this?  One of The Shepherd's plant pots is broken!

What kind of a dasterdly deed was this?

Oh, George, The Shepherd said that he thinks that the dirt around the little plant in the pot froze and expanded, causing the pot to break.  He was pretty disappointed because it was a sweet little pot too, but that happens sometimes. 




Mummy and The Shepherd went to the home of some friends from church for Thanksgiving this year.  Their Thanksgiving dinner was highlighted by the three 20 something cousins that were at the dinner -(children of our hostess and her siblings)  delightful "kids" - personable, engaging and entertaining - and such good friends to each other -


It was really fun to watch - and to know that our world will be in their hands suddenly made me feel a little better... One is a brand new middle school teacher, one is a software engineer for Intel and the other is getting his Doctorate in Music at Indiana University - yup, we're in good hands....

Mummy was in charge of dessert, and of course she took pumpkin pie from The Shepherd's own pumpkins.  It was declared "The Best Pumpkin Pie, Ever"  He, he, he...

Gracie is ignoring you Mummy - you know how she likes those 'pensive profile looks' 

Anyhow, the other big news around here is that Mummy is goin' "under the knife" next week.  She is having CATaract surgery on her eyes. 

Now, I've looked at her many, many times, and I've never seen CATs in her eyes - but she said it was really cloudy lenses that they were going to remove.  She has gone to this eye doc for a LONG time - way before she met The Shepherd.  She had a meeting with him last week - she called it a Pre-Op... and he said that this is normally a pretty simple surgery, but he "expressed some concern" about the shape of her eyeball and was worried about potential damage to her eye (probably from trying to get that CAT out of there...)  Anyhow, she told me to ask you all, when you're sitting having your first cup of coffee on Thursday morning (or what ever you drink in the morning), to think good thoughts about her eye doc and see him having a successful surgery on her eye. 

That's about all I've got to say - Hopefully we'll be back next week with good news about Mummy's surgery.  After all, we need her opposable thumbs to do this blogging thing.