December Dash

Normally I'd do a bloom day post today, but with the deluge of snow and cold we've gotten lately, I decided to stay inside. A LOT. Most of the month. The bunnies have munched away at all of the once perfectly intact seed heads of my blazing stars that I had thought about showcasing. They looked so pretty laden with snow as I walked past them the other day. I wonder what they will eat next...

As of Thanksgiving we had only a skiff of snow and our lakes were still not frozen over. Once December hit all heck broke loose though. So here I am, half way through the month of December. Where has this month gone?


This is the snowfall from just one storm. We got it last week and schools were closed on Wednesday because of it. Crazy, isn't it? I know many place may get these amounts of snow too, but it melts throughout your winter when your temps rise. Ours won't be warming up enough to melt anything until almost springtime though, so it will keep piling up. Just in case it doesn't look like much to you, I decided to go grab a tape measure for you just to show you the depth of it.

Yeah, that would be why Cheesehead stayed at a hotel a few days ago.

Yesterday we got another 4 inches of snow. Pretty much a couple of days after it was warm enough to go out and blow the snow out of the driveway. I'm taking my time with finishing that project up though since the temperatures have dipped back below zero. It was 15 degrees below zero today, so I just did enough work in the driveway that I didn't feel like I didn't do anything today.

What is a gardener to do when they are cooped up inside? I've been keeping myself as busy as ever. Is that a big surprise?

I have attended two concerts/programs this month.


My son started to play in the middle school band this year. I remember when I was in band it was always so hard to pick out the outfit I was going to wear. You needed something nice looking, yet comfortable enough to play your instrument. His director has removed that distraction, so all he had to worry about was practicing his part.

I didn't take a picture of my daughter's program with this camera since I had to record it for the rest of the family who couldn't make it today, but she was glowing. She even brought a brush to school today just in case her hat messed her hair. I don't think I worried about such things when I was in third grade.

Can you believe that Christmas is only 10 days away? I still have to buy a few presents, wrap them all, and bake some Christmas cookies. At least the tree is up and I just got the cards in the mail today. No Christmas letter was written this year though since I couldn't seem to find the time to write one in a timely manner.



I had the kids help me decorate the tree this year, as usual, but forgot to hang all of the fragile ornaments myself. Usually, I put them at the top of the tree out of the cats' reach. I didn't do that this year though. The crazy beasts have only managed to mangle 5 ornaments so far. The rest have migrated higher up the tree. Thankfully most of the damage is repairable.

Speaking of decorating trees, does anyone else like to do theme trees? Usually I try to stick with a color scheme and change things up a bit each year. Most people seem to have more Christmas decorations than they know what to do with them anyway. I buy a bunch of stuff when it hits the extreme clearance racks after Christmas just for this purpose. In the past I have done a white and silver tree, green and gold, red and white, and everything home made on our tree in the past. I even try to match the lights to the theme if possible. Not so this year.

I accidentally grabbed the big tree and brought it in from the garage to warm up this year. I didn't discover my mistake until we were ready to put the tree up, so I wasn't about to go out and look for the other one. This tree is entirely too big for my theme minded tree plan, so we just mixed it all up. I can't believe the kids couldn't seem to tell the difference from last years' tree and this one.

I don't dare put any presents under the tree yet. The cats seem to think we put the tree up for them to run around, sleep under, climb, and play under. Do your pets do that? That is also why we do artificial trees instead of real ones, I'd have more pine needles on the floor of my house than I've got in my compost bin the way those maniacs play. In the past they have even given away some surprises to the kids by ripping holes in wrapping paper! I guess I have a good reason for procrastinating, I'll just blame my cats...

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy