Bring Shovels

In times past we have needed to chainsaw our way off the Ponderosa, and just last week end we had to ford a raging stream that had formed across the driveway, but today we are going to need a plow to find our driveway! What a difference a week makes. It's under there somewhere.

Confession

I made a little confession on the K-8 Moms blog. If you haven't read it click here!

Sunday's Blast from the Past Photo(s)

I love books. I've loved them as long as I can remember. My mom says that I refused to lie down and sleep in my crib if my little stack of Golden Books was not beside me! The book shown above is my all time favorite, really. I've had it since I was five! It's volume 1 of the Childcraft, called Poems of Early Childhood.

See, its been used a lot. Look, there is tape and crayon marks. My little brother is responsible for the crayon marks, I would never have abused a book in that way! The pages of this book have been turned hundreds of times, not just by me, but also by my children.

It begins with a section on nursery rhymes. Look at the illustrations, I think that is one reason I love this book so, because I don't think I could read when I first got it. They don't make books like they used to!

I liked this page, it's the story of the gingham dog and the calico cat!

Stephanie loved this page, she could recite this whole poem before she went to kindergarten. Look at it, what kid would not love a story about a tree full of candy!

Oh, and I loved this page too!

And this was also one of my favorites, isn't that exactly what Little Bo Beep should look like!

And this page too, it's about little fairy houses in the woods. Don't you remember thinking this stuff might be real!

This is the reason I looked for this book. This summer Parker loved to get in Pa Lyle's garden and hide under the green bean vines. I made photos of him peeking out and they reminded me of this poem and illustration. I wanted to scan this page and combine them with his photos for a scrapbook page. I didn't have to look far. The entire set of Childcraft is still in a bookcase in my parent's home. I am so glad they saved it.
So, once again I'm turning the pages and remembering what used to keep me busy, long ago, before the internet when there was only 3 TV channels and instead dvds and video games we had outside, where we made our own fun sometimes by reading a book in the backyard under a tree!

Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise!

The Ponderosa is flooded!
When we left for supplies today we had to "ford" the driveway!

It's 26 Degrees and We are Outside!

One little boy wanted to go outside and try out one of our Christmas presents, so when the temperature got up to a warm 26 degrees, we blew up our Bear Foot sled, put so many layers of clothes we could barely move and out we went!

He loved sledding!

The dogs even got in on the fun.

Of course you have to get the snow on you for the full effect.

And you should practice your driving skills in the snow.

Be sure to know how to operate all types of vehicles.

We had to take the sled to the "forest."

Parker pulled P-pa and Nana on the sled, which exceeded the weight limit and caused the sled to explode!


But Parker could still ride.

We took a little hayride in the snow. . .

Until one of us just fell over from all the fun!

Brrr

The latest addition to the Ponderosa is this lovely ice skating rink courtesy of Mother Nature.

Snow Day Agenda

Play Bejeweled

Eat Lunch

Take a Nap

Watch Days of Our Lives

Play more Bejewled

Maybe cook some supper

Watch TV, read a book, or play more Bejeweled

Snow Day

Just when I thought vacation was over our first snow day unexpectedly arrived!

What's IN your fridge Monday?

I thought I had put everything Christmas away until I opened the refrigerator door and saw this in the back!

Optical Illusion

If you look out my kitchen window, or glance up while sitting on the back deck, you might think something is watching you!

Looks like a deer is peering around that tree!

If you go closer it does seem to have a long neck, maybe it’s a llama!

But if you walk all the way out to the fence you will see, it’s only a post that only looks like an animal from a distance and at the right angle!

Putting Away Christmas

 

Today we put away the Ponderosa Christmas tree, but there are still some gifts here that haven’t been opened.  Here’s why:

Twas the night before Christmas and we had just returned from a festive Christmas lunch with my family.  Our Christmas Eve night has always been spent with the Gibsons, so the potatoes were mashed, the cookies and sausage balls were covered on a plate and the presents were in the trunk of the car.  Everyone was ready to go and the King who had just awaked from a nap was having a little sip of Christmas Coco-cola, when he was struck with a virus—one that made him throw up all over his Nana’s kitchen and on his P-pa!

One of the Ponderosa princesses had been sick a couple of days before so we knew he was probably contagious.  We did the right thing and quarantined ourselves.

We made the best of the situation by opening our presents and Christmas boxes and even though he felt bad the King went right on opening his presents, stopping occasionally to be sick! 

He even managed to keep smiling through it all. 

So we have some more presents to deliver, we’ll  do it when we celebrate on New Year’s day!  And all of us will remember a Christmas Eve where one little boy was sick, but surrounded by six people who love him enough to have been sick in his place if we could! 

*No one else was sick and this virus only lasted a few hours.  Santa came and ate the cookies and left presents and all was well in the morning!

What to you find when you clean?

Today was a cleaning day at the Ponderosa. I was dusting in the living room. I had made it to the shelf above. I wasn't just dusting, I was moving everything and spraying Pledge and cleaning! When I had taken the frame and books out. . .

these jars of marbles were in the back. In case you are too young to recognize them, they are little milk jars. I can remember drinking from them at school everyday. It was what milk came in before the paper cartons of today. I can't remember where I got these two but I was using them to hold some marbles. When Parker began to crawl and move about I hid the jars behind the books so he would not get the marbles and put them in his mouth. This was my way of child proofing! This also tells you something about how often I dust!
Notice the hole for cords in the back of the shelf it will be important in a minute.
I put the jars in the floor with the books and pictures and thoroughly cleaned the shelf. As I began to put everything back in I noticed that something more than marbles was in one of the jars.
Now lately, I have had to make a choice--wear contacts that let me see close but blurred distance or clear distance and blurred close. Today I was wearing blurred close and had to get my glasses to clearly see what was in the jar.

Acorns.

About half the jar was filled with acorns. I had found an acorn in the back of one of the shelves I previously dusted but I just thought a little boy had carried it in and put it there. I should have been suspicious because it was way in the back and higher than he could reach. The acorns had been there for a while, one had sprouted, but the worst thing is knowing that some little furry critter made a lot of trips into my living room and deposited a food stash in the shelves! You would think we would hear it or see it. I know if I had seen it somebody would have heard me scream!
Oh well, living here in the woods means we have to fight for space with the critters but if you come to visit, watch where you step because there are glue traps all over!