January and a new year

We’ve had so little snow this year it’s been unreal. At least our Christmas was white.

Sometimes our days seem to fly by. I think the two grandsons are often the cause of that. Kim and I aren’t doing a lot of the childcare at the moment because our son-in-law has been home doing it, but you know how it is, meals to prepare, dishes to be done, laundry, playing outside with Russell, helping to feed Nikko, etc.  

We are certainly looking forward to spring! It will mean more childcare for Kim and I as Chris’ work takes off, but we can all get outside more. 

Well Hello Winter!

It's been winter 24/7 now.
And no, I expected no less than that.
We've seen temperatures as low as -26F (that's -32C).  And yes, I hope that's as cold as we get this winter but we'll see.

There's been a lot of this:

Frankie can't get close enough to the wood stove at times.

We're still going on walks.  It's been beautiful outside.

We don't often see the deer but they're around.  Tracks are everywhere.

Home sweet home.

I have been doing some knitting.

And if you're interested in knitting, or just want to listen to my slight lisp, I've begun a short, short, knitting podcast on youtube.

https://youtu.be/PTzSaiIUXAY

Otherwise my advice is to follow Frankie's example and stay warm!

November This and That

First a Scarface update.  He did great with his cone.  Managed to eat and drink and get around.  It was only on for three days so it wasn't bad.  (Easy for me to say.)

He is getting tired of the eye drops three times a day but tomorrow is his check up at the veterinarian and we hope the entire ordeal will be ended.

Here in Boise we've had record snowfall this month.  AND it's been COLD.  REALLY cold.

The high temperature today was 27 degrees.  The low is supposed to be 6 tonight.  We've seen highs of 19 degrees and lows of 1 during this past week.  This type of weather usually waits until January or February around here.

So.....I made Scarface a sweater!
You can find the pattern here.

Chelsea says she doesn't need a sweater.

Speaking of knitting, since I have my Christmas knitting completed....

...I can get back to knitting for myself.  I've started a sweater and I'm really looking forward to finishing it.  Maybe by Christmas.  This is a partial sleeve.  The body is complete.

I'm attempting to overwinter a few plants.  So far so good.  The begonia and geranium are in bloom.

The Meyer lemon has some new growth.

I've knitted some booties for my granddaughter but at nearly four months old I'm afraid they might be too small for her already.  You can find the pattern here.

How about you?  Any projects?  Looking forward to the holidays or Scrooging it this year?

Back From The Yurt

Vanessa joined us for our trip to Stargaze yurt this year.  We had a great time.

She sacrificed to get this panorama.  It's tough to go without snow shoes in four feet of snow.  Much less do yoga.

Scarface enjoyed his bed near the fire.

He also enjoyed our bed....

He did get out in the snow.

Next year I need to knit him a sweater.  The cold seemed to bother him quite a bit.

Chelsea spent most of her time sleeping.  Guess at 16 years old that's her favorite thing.

Felt good to really "get away from it all".  There's no reception, electricity or running water.  In the photo below I'm standing just to the left of the yurt.  That gives you some idea of the size.

Great view, tasty food, nice wines, good company, good times.

Winter is Here, Let's Embrace It

If it's snowing where you are and you need to be reminded of the beauty of it, or if it's not a winter wonderland outside and you wish it were, check out this post at Seasonal Wisdom.

Seasonal Wisdom is the blog of great gardener, writer, and my friend, Teresa.  This particular post includes photos of our garden in winter along with lovely winter quotes and poetry.

Teresa also provides links on surviving winter and how to make your garden more attractive in the "down" months.


For more winter inspiration check out past posts of our annual winter yurt trips.

Whatever you do, don't stick your head in the sand (or cup) just because it's winter.  With some effort, you too can enjoy this interval between autumn and spring.

Photo from Photo Blog

Final Yurt Trip of the Year

Our second yurt trip went great.  We witnessed a beautiful sunrise.

That same frosty morning we saw all sorts of beautiful, fragile and temporary ice crystals.

My new hat worked well.

I was able to finish knitting a pair of socks.

You can see the yurt behind us on the right.  (Sitting on that little patch of snow.)
 We snow-shoed up to Stargaze Point;  elevation 6682 feet.

It felt great getting out into the snow again but now spring is immanent;  Kim has already planted seeds in the cold frame.  Time to welcome it.

In Between

So I have been doing something, just not blogging, obviously.

Can you guess what this object is that I knitted?  I included the eyeglasses in the photo as a size reference.

A hat!  A warm one, I hope.  It's a double hat. You stuff one part inside the other when you've finished it.
The pattern is here.

I also made some mittens to match.

My friend Carol gave me the mittens pattern.  They're the type that open up in case you need your fingers for something.  It's a great pattern.  Leave me a comment if you want the pattern.  (Update:  I've included the pattern at the bottom of this post.)




I finished these just in time for our upcoming second trip to the yurt. I hope they help keep me warm. It was quite cold on our last trip. This yurt is at the top of a hill and the wind blew mercilessly.  I wore both an ear wrap and a hat most of the time we were outside.  We had a great time though.  I'm looking forward to one more trip up into winter weather before spring catches us here at home and gardening time begins.

Some pics from our trip two weeks ago.
Gorgeous view from the yurt.

I "get down" to get the picture I want.

It dumped 8 inches of snow on us while we were there. Wonderful.

Don't get me wrong, it's quite cozy inside the yurt.  Stayed around 75 degrees in there all day.

Kim roasts a kielbasa for his dinner.  The two pots on the stove are melting snow for water.

Chelsea did great up there.  She could use some little doggie snow shoes since she sank a bit this time.  But we were impressed with how well she's done since her ACL/tumors/dental surgery.  And since she's around 13 years old we're just happy she's still with us.  The husky half of her loves the snow.  The corgi half keeps her low to the ground so she ends up picking up snowballs on her chest.

Final note;  no more kitten giveaway pictures!  We finally adopted out the last cat/kitten.  It's taken 6 months but we did it.
Thanks to Angie for adopting Lulu and Mr. Handsome.
Thanks to Josh for taking Pepé.
Thanks to Heather for adopting Francine.
Thanks to Tammy for adopting Brewster.
And thanks to that wonderful couple for adopting Lil Sis.
(We're keeping Frankie.)