Lots of pictures this week…………………………………………………….

As always, first the chronology:

12/18/22 – Sunday – Up late this morning.  Did some chores around the house and took a quick nap.  Had lunch.  Then to the shack and did some radio stuff.  Up and dressed and out for dinner with the Rice family at Olive Garden.  Home and usual evening routine.

12/19/22 – Monday – Up late again this morning.  Did some chores around the house.  Then lunch.  Down to the shack and played radio awhile then worked on getting a 741 IC to work as a voltage comparator.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

12/20/22 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time.  Did chores around the house.  Kathy went last minute grocery shopping.  She came home, unloaded and put things away.  Then lunch.  Then out with the golf cart to clean up the rear patio and bring my battery inside.  Carter and Chloe were in a nativity scene at their church so we went up to see them and the animals.  Then we all went to Hometown Pizza for dinner.  Home and usual evening routine.

12/21/22 – Wednesday – Slept amazingly well last night with Kathy and the dogs out of the room.  She was sleeping downstairs with Carter and Shelby.  Got up before the alarm went off.  Helped Kathy get a big breakfast together for the grand kids.  Then Carter and Chloe went outside with me to cut down a low branch that had mistletoe on it.  Kathy was down getting her hair done.  She finished up and came home and we all went to Dairy Queen for lunch.  Home and the grand kids helped me roll up and put away the air mattresses.  They played cards and I did some things in the shack.  Mike came over to pick them up and Kathy and I went to church for the soup dinner and Advent service.  Home and usual evening routine.

12/22/22 – Thursday – Up a little early, cleaned up and out for my hair cut.  Kathy was off to hand out goodies to some of the folks we deal with then up to watch the grand kids for the day.  After my hair cut I went up to Walmart in Middletown to get Kathy a gift certificate at the place she has her nails done.  Then home and took the mower deck off the tractor and put the plow blade on it for the impending weather.  Inside and made a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for lunch.  Tried to take a nap but the dogs had a different idea.  Downstairs and got things together to start wrapping presents.  Kathy came home so I helped her put some things away then dinner.  Usual evening routine.

12/23/22 – Friday – Up a little late today.  A wasted day.  Temp was at -7 when we got up.  Was around 0 plus or minus a couple degrees.  Needless to say, I wasn’t going out to plow snow in that weather.  We got about 3 to 4 inches but it was drifting so it was hard to be exact.  Got the laundry started this morning then had lunch.  Did some reading and took a nap this afternoon.  Had dinner and wrapped Christmas presents this evening.

12/24/22 – Saturday – My cold was back again.  Checked with all the experts and they agreed it was not me getting the COVID again but just a hang over from the COVID and I was not contagious other than I would be with the common cold.  Spent most of the day taking medication and laying in bed.

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Now the specifics:

Carter and Chloe were in the nativity scene that there church put on. Outside in the cold with real animals.

Carter was a shepherd and Chloe was an angel. They were both freezing and ready to get out of there.

Kathy felt like she was back on the farm. She got to hold one of the 5 week old kids. Here the kid is trying eat her hair. At other times it was after the tag on the zipper of her coat or the coat sleeve itself.

Here’s Shelby and Kathy each holding one. Very cute animal at that age but wouldn’t want one for a pet.

The grand kids had off all this week so after the nativity and a late dinner at Hometown, we brought them over to the house to stay all night. That way Kathy didn’t have to get up early two mornings to go up to their house. So Chloe used the guest bedroom and Kathy slept downstairs with the kids and the dogs. I had a very nice sleep.

While the grand kids were over, we went out and cut down a low hanging limb that had mistletoe on it.

Here is what it looks like on the branch. You can see clumps of the stuff in the trees all over. Usually it is too high to get it. This limb happened to be low enough we could use the pool saw to cut it down.

Here is what the stuff look like growing out of the limb.

Thursday I did the last of my shopping. While I was getting my hair cut I got Kathy a gift certificate at the hair salon then went up to the Walmart in Middletown where Kathy gets her nails done and got her a gift certificate there.

Then it was home and work in the Morton building. It was raining off and on and the temperature was suppose to take a nose dive after dark. So I took the mower deck off the garden tractor and put the plow blade on it.

It did get very nasty. The rain changed over to snow and the temperature took a nose dive to -7 degrees. I think that is the coldest I ever remember it being down here. That resulted in us getting approximately 3 to 4 inches of show.

Here is what it looked like out our back door.

And it is the first time we have had ice on the inside of our window. Remember that happening a lot in New York but this is a first down here.

Well I thought I had recovered 100% from COVID but I came down with another bad cold on Friday night. Felt like crap all day Saturday and into Sunday morning. I checked with the experts and they claim that it’s common with COVID. Said I wasn’t anymore contagious than I would be with a cold but it was probably the COVID that gave it to me.

Well Merry Christmas everyone. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Stay that way and I’ll blog at you again next week.