Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Hibernating on Valentines Day

 


Happy Valentine's Day!





The Crew decided to celebrate by spending the morning lounging about doing nothing, which is actually what they do everyday so it's really not all that special. However, they do highly recommend that everyone give it a try every now and then.  





So they've been watching videos,





 and reading,





or just looking at the pictures,





while indulging in a little social media and a lot of coffee.
They will be responsible tomorrow.


Thanks for stopping by.

See you soon and don't forget to be good to yourself!



Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Hobbies




January has been really, really weird in our neck of the woods. In the dead of winter, it's been either too warm or too cold to get outside and have some fun. Since the usual activities were canceled, we've ended up stuck inside with only our hobbies or Netflix for entertainment.  





Of course the Christmas decorations could have been taken down, but thanks to their perpetual procrastination disorder (which is a totally made up and self-diagnosed condition), the Crew still hasn't done that. This is what happens when the Halloween decorations stay up until the middle of December and you hang the last ornaments on the tree the day after Christmas.

   



According to several silly and totally unnecessary web sites (the kind I can't get enough of), January is National Hobby Month and the second Monday is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. They've probably been around for awhile but this is the first I've heard of them. No one in this household needs any more hobbies but that desk could use some decluttering. To be fair, there's nowhere for anything to go until the Christmas decor comes down. Maybe February should be Get Your Hobbies Under Control Month and Put Those Christmas Decorations Away Month?





His Madness never stops making pinhole cameras, so this is nothing new for him. 





I don't know if gardening is actually a hobby for me or if  I just like planting flowers. In any case, it's not easy to get into a pastime that comes to a complete halt for six months and the garden centers apparently understand this. These cute plants can be planted in the garden in spring. If they live.





In January there's also a lot of talk online about garden design. For me, that usually results in placing an overly ambitious order from a nursery while totally forgetting what already lies beneath the snow. Apparently, it's never too early to acquire seeds that you can't possibly plant for a couple of months and won't remember where you put them when planting time actually comes around.





At the moment, the Calamitous Garden isn't looking too bad, thanks to the blizzard that dropped the most snow we've seen since Halloween. Until recently, it was a very unattractive shade of brown. Sunny skies followed and brought below zero temps for a whole week and now it's in the mid 30°F. Such strange weather but at least the snow is pretty. 





Burt and Ivy's hobby is frightening the neighbors and that's an ongoing thing no matter what season it is. They do like to enhance the experience with a spooky jack-'o-lantern and are currently holding a serious debate about which leftover pumpkin to carve. The yellow one was picked green before a freeze and it has "ripened" while sitting on the kitchen floor. It also might not actually be a pumpkin, not that they really care, but it could be a little iffy on the inside. The other two came from the local supplier and seem okay. 





Since it's winter, they opted for the Ghost pumpkin. It was hard as a rock but not rotten inside.




Looks like they're all set for the evening. Happy January 31st everyone!


A very late Happy New Year to all and thanks for stopping by.




Monday, November 27, 2023

Thanksgiving

 


As the sunsets on the last of the pumpkins, it's time to embrace the fact that spooky season will be taking a brief pause for Christmas.  





One year we didn't get together with friends and relatives, so we tried to skip the usual Thanksgiving trappings and just treat it as any other day. That threw me off so much I barely got the presents wrapped in time for Christmas.





Now we make Thanksgiving Dinner - no matter what! 
Besides turkey and pumpkin pie the other menu requirement (for me anyway) is cranberry sauce. I like that it's colorful and smells good when it's cooking. Someone must actually eat it, or is it one of those dishes you take a tablespoon of and just push around on your plate?   





This year His Madness also made some pumpkin bread. It was really made with butternut squash but nobody cared. These little pumpkins were hard as rocks and only good for decorations and future compost material. 


 


During the frenzy of cooking, The Skeleton Crew decided to put together the playhouse I ordered for Spenser back in October. It seemed like it would be a good place for him to hideout during the hours of Trick or Treating. 





As these things go, the "universal" directions scared us off and Spenser spent Halloween under the bed, as usual. Once they got started it went together quickly, although Kib was right there to point out all the places where they screwed up.





It's okay, it holds Burt, and that's good enough.





Spencer likes his new hiding house so much he may not come out until Christmas.


A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates.

 I'm always thankful that you stop by, see you soon!



Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Happy Halloween


I hope everyone had a very spooky Halloween.





We had a bit of a challenge in our neck of the woods although we did know it was coming. One of our Trick or Treaters told me "so what if it's cold and snowing, we couldn't miss free candy day".  





This is what was left of seventy-two candy bars after two hours of Trick or Treating at 30°F.  through an inch of snow. They were awesome!  





Our front porch decorations were heavily influenced by a couple of botched jobs the electricians left us with after their visit last week. The Jack-'O-Lantern lamp post did a good job of covering up the missing light fixture and we found enough extension cords to stretch to the back of the house where there is an actual working outlet. Half of the lights on the garland that goes around the door were out so we skipped putting that up. It was kind of a mess but I doubt if anyone noticed.






The one thing I've learned from all the mishaps and annoying problems we've had this fall is to take the time to appreciate it when things do go well.






It's easy to take good luck for granted.





Now, it's probably time to start preparing for next Halloween.





Right after the electricians come back.






Sadly, this was as close as anyone in our household came to a costume this year. The sun came out for awhile yesterday morning, just long enough to cast some pretty bizarre shadows on Spenser. He could almost pass for a monotone Cheshire Cat.


Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!


 

Monday, October 30, 2023

1 Day

 


It's the day before Halloween, is there enough time to catch up?





The weather predictions for All Hallow's Eve are pretty grim in our area. With 38° F. as the high temperature and an 80 percent change of snow, things aren't looking too good for a decent turnout of Trick or Treaters. In fact, I'm wondering if anyone will turn up at all!

 




All the pumpkins were brought in yesterday so they wouldn't freeze overnight. It's very hard to carve a jack-'o-lantern out of a frozen one and even worse when they start to thaw out.




His Madness got the job of gutting them while Kibitz supervised. Looking on the bright side, if it stays below freezing, the jack-'o-lanterns will last a really long time.






Meanwhile, Ivy and Burt finally finished the Halloween tree they started decorating last week. It was one of those better late than never situations. 





They decided to wait to decorate the porch until tomorrow, when the weather is at it's worst.
They do love a good challenge.





A little snow would never keep them from going out and terrorizing the neighborhood.


Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!


Sunday, October 29, 2023

2 Days




Spenser would like everyone to know that today is also National Cat Day.
We ordered him a special present but it won't be here until tomorrow. 





His Madness made a special pie for the occasion.
Spencer really appreciated the kitty decorations, even if he can't eat any of it.





He decided to spend the afternoon snoozing in his favorite chair on the patio.
Unfortunately, Kibitz and the squirrels kept him awake.





Then he had some serious doubts about his choice for a Halloween costume.
Maybe he should he be a pirate instead?





 Finally, he decided it was such a hard decision he had no choice but to sleep on it.
Hope Burt doesn't keep him awake.


Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow! 





Saturday, October 28, 2023

3 Days




Thanks to another dire weather forecast, the skeletal silliness had to be postponed again today. 





After looking at the mums this morning, we realized that the predicted hard freeze never happened and maybe the threat was past. Not forever of course, but for at least a week.





So we headed off to the last outside version of the Saturday Farmers Market.





Since all the vendors were giving away candy, it was pretty crowded.   





Apparently, none of the restrictions were being enforced today.  





While we were checking out these warty gourds pretending to be pumpkins, it started to get very windy and the temperature dropped to 39°F. So we immediately left for home to bring our pumpkins inside before they froze.





Then, in the middle of picking the last cabbages, I remembered there were some pansies I wanted to press. It's always good to keep focused on the important tasks.





This cement Athena was is heaviest thing available, so she's now the official flower press. She lives in the basement, patiently waiting between the recycling bag for the used coffee pods and the box of dead batteries. Someday we will find the perfect spot in the garden for her.





First, these plants need to find another home.





The Crew will be back on Sunday, pending another minor catastrophe.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!