Some housekeeping

As you may have noticed, I have been doing a little housework on the blog. I have been doing a little in the house too but that is not nearly as much fun... so that goes slowly. Instead of organizing stuff still left in boxes in the craft/guest room, I have been playing with my image programs and having a great time with them. It is addicting as is the whole blogging thing. Anyway, we are getting closer to picking out some paint colors and since we are inside most of the time now we are getting a bit tired of looking at primered walls. I am going for some warm Autumny colors in part to counteract the winter views outside, and to enhance the rest of the year as well. The windows and the views take precedence in any decisions we make about the house... I mean that is the point right?

David has been doing house keeping too.. but his is a bit different. He snow shovels the porches and decks, and has been plowing the driveway.

He put the plow thingy back on the truck about a week or so and has been practicing. Getting it stuck is the norm and he has done so a couple times... and probably will a few more times. I guess the idea is to plow much wider than you need because the snow builds up (when it actually does start snowing locals say.. " huh?" says I. "I thought it was snowing") and then gets icy and then you can not move it at all. You want your driveway as wide as possible or it gets to be a tunnel where you can only go in and out... and that is not good. So he has been pushing snow around the yard willy~nilly and in fact has just left to go plow his Dad's driveway too.

Plowing is something you start early and keep up or you are in trouble. He is going to get a lot of practice because he will be plowing the snowmobile trails for the snowmobile club as well... not with that truck but with a big fancy plow machine. That will probably be kinda fun actually and there are HUNDREDS of miles of snowmobile trails up here. (some get a lot of atv traffic during off season too even though technically folks are probably not supposed to do that. uh huh. sure.)

So far we have been enjoying the snow. Here is how it looks on Saturday mornings when I got to work. When I turned around to take the picture I saw David watching me... I guess he was watching to make sure no wild coyotes jumped on me... kinda like I do to Cosmo the Magnificent. I will explain that story later.

Anyway, Delta needs a bit of exercise now and then as do I, so we go out walking.

Sometimes Cosmo joins in too.
Just look at my babydog running to me through the frozen tundra!

He had to get a new outfit though. Here he is all dashing in his new orange coat. He was possessed with a demon in that second picture. Lately he has been having spells. Looks like he was about to go off. Getting older I am afraid. He looks like he is about to pounce, kind of like that little dog in Something About Mary did to Ben Stiller. However, even with his new coat he does not stay outside too long because of his teeny feet.

Delta and I go for longer walks. The other day we found a nice big deer print in the snow. At first I felt like a wilderness trapper and all, but well... it is not hard to track animals in the snow. They kinda leave footprints and a path in the direction they are going.. and in the direction they came from. That totally squelched my lady Davy Crockett feelings... or was it Daniel Boone.? I get them mixed up. By the way when I went to look for a picture of one or the other of those characters to stick into the blog at this point... I came up with the reason I have had them confused all these years.

Fess Parker played them both on the T.V./ Movies.
Geez. The junk floating around in my head.

T.V. bad
History books good.

Anyway... Delta loves it outside. She stuck her head right down into the snow for a nice long sniff of those deer tracks. She wanted to give chase.
I had to tell her no. She was bummed.

Sometimes we wander around down the road. Here is a neighbors deer camp. They were not there and I could not pass up the icicles. It was so cold out.. when you touch the icicles.. they are dry. Not melty... kinda weird.

Oh, and here are the pictures from Thanksgiving that I have been meaning to post... we are at Joy and Dick's house. Had a good cozy dinner and watched some of a football game. David on left... then Jerry and Uncle Dick... with Joy in the background wrestling with gravy.

and here is the bird... and Joy..
Bird on the left.. Joy on the right with the knife.
(Just teasin' Joy!)

And now for the Coyote Tales.

Before Cosmo the Magnificent got his new coat he would wander about naked and usually come back from his daily and nightly constitutionals (potty trips) shivering. However, the cold does not prevent him from wandering a bit far... especially at night... into the dark to relieve himself. Delta and I usually stand patiently on the porch waiting for him.. listening for his tags to jingle which signals that he is done and on his way back. He does not actually go too far but he is out of the line of sight and the porch light. He goes into a little foresty area just past the shed.

Anyway... the other night at their usual time of 3 am the dogs woke me up to take them out. He no sooner disappeared from mine and Delta's sight when the song of the siren came out of the darkness.. probably right at the end of the dang driveway because while the call was loud, the coyote was not having to put much effort into it. It was a coyote... I sure hope not a wolf... (yes there are grey wolves up here with a pack in the area)

Anyway, when the howl first started I thought it was an owl, but then it proceeded to go from a whoooo noise to a howly calling kinda warble canine noise. One right after the other and it was VERY close. Delta's ears popped up, her head turned the same direction mine did, and I hollered for Cosmo.

But there was no jingle. Just silence.

Dang. That coyote is calling him out!

They are trying to hypnotize him like the Sirens did to Odysseus,

like the Sirens did to George Clooney....

of course.. who can blame them it was George Clooney after all...
But I digress.

So Delta and I started walking out towards where Coz went calling to him.
David was already awake and was reaching for the gun...

And then finally jingle jingle
Here comes Cosmo... and let me tell you.
He is not dumb he was MOVIN'!

We went right back into the house and climbed back in bed.

phew.
Thought I was going to have to chase down a coyote in my robe and snow boots and tear it apart with my bare hands to get my little mean beast back.