It's a Dogs' Christmas

What's in the news Gracie?

Check the front page.

The editorials.

Entertainment and Culture.

"Now I'm ready to talk!"

  

"I'm back from my walk. Hasn't the girl lit the fire yet? "

"That's better."

Too many cooks . . .

Gracie and Maddie know the kitchen's
boundary - they're right on the line.

"I can observe from way over here."

The Christmas Roast!

As day turned into night. . .

"I'll help you open that."

"I'll have a little nog."

"I'm getting sleepy, but don't take
my new ball."

      

"I'll have a little nog too."

"I'll join you." 

Asher soon fell asleep chewing
his new blankie - thanks Joe & Gwen.
Good Night and Good Christmas to All.

Christmas Cookies for Breakfast

We had Christmas cookies and coffee for breakfast; a quick meal as the dogs we're jumping up and down at the door anticipating a walk.  I did my baking this year by buying 2 pounds of homemade cookies at the St. Matthias cookie walk earlier in the mouth. I put the box in the freezer and pulled it out  yesterday. I think they ought to make Christmas Cookie cereal.

We had snow on the ground for a white Christmas, but now we'll have more.  It's snowing this morning!



 I dressed the dogs in their red winter jackets grabbed a coffee to go and off we went. It was just beautiful outside - not too cold for exploring the woods and taking it slow.

Back at the house and the dogs have been good as gold.  The packages have remained untouched under the tree and no ornaments have been relocated to the floor. The true test will be later on when Pete starts preparing our Christmas Eve dinner. Sometimes the "out of the kitchen" command only works for a few minutes.

For now they are on Santa's good list.

Maddie Jo is attentive

Grace is sleeping

And Asher . . . 

"So, when does this Santa guy get here?"

Christmas Preparations

I know, it seems like we were just having and Easter egg hunt and now we're decorating a Christmas tree; sorry, about the long hiatus from Simply Living in the Northwoods - we've been living, rather than writing.  This upcoming year, we'll do a better job of doing both.

Our  tree has been up for a few weeks now and so far the dogs have only floored a few ornaments.  We'll see if they are as kind to the presents I just put under the tree today.



After wrapping a bunch of gifts I took a facebook break only to be told by Terracycle that. "In the U.S. annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals 4 million tons." That has inspired me to  carefully fold the used gift-wrap and bring it to my father when I visit after Christmas.  He has a small collection of reused wrap and I noticed last year it was running a little low.

You might notice from the photo that our tree appears a little fuller this year.  The tree was not decorated from scratch - it is a store-bought, rather a gas station-bought tree. It was purchased for $17.00 at the local BP station.  We thought it would help their efforts in the Gulf and opted not to tromp through the woods looking for the perfect, "it's not that spindly" tree.

We put the outdoor lights up on Thanksgiving weekend, but we didn't turn them on (that would be gauche) until December.

Dog pen decorations

Lots of icicle lights

Who's that doggie in the window?

My thought was to put them up when the weather was nice so we wouldn't have to deal with snow and frigid fingers. Of course, using this logic, we could have put them up in July. The lights look great and the chickens especially like the icicle lights on their coop.

  

The tree is up, outdoor lights and a wreath on the door.


What's missing?  The Christmas Musky!



Downtown Mercer is really pretty this year.  It started with a lighted Christmas parade early this month with a candy cane theme.

Baby Jesus on Parade.

Snowmobile Trail Groomer

All of the merchants stepped up and decorated their store fronts with red and white lights, including Williams Electric.

Hunt for the Easter Bunny

It was a beautiful morning; the sun was out and the air was a little chilly.  All of the dogs, even Gracie, were ready for a walk through the woods in search of the Easter Bunny.

Asher deep in the woods.

Maddie thought she
heard something

Lots of smells keep the dogs' noses to the ground, a tinge of green above promises the canopy will arrive soon, but there is no sign of the Bunny.

"Let's go back home. He's
probably there!"

Sure enough, there were baskets for the dogs filled with doggie delights including pig ears, Greenies, carrots and an Easter blankie for Asher.

Doggie Baskets

Asher's basket with
blanket from Joe & Gwen

Only carrots left.

Egg dying kit of 2011.

Yesterday I faced a little roadblock when preparing Easter treats for the humans of the household. A Paas shortage! On Friday, I was in the Ironwood WalMart (yes, I have to admit it) shopping for Easter tablecloths and decided to pick up an egg coloring kit as well - there were none to be had.  No Paas kits; not the tie-dye variety, nor the neon variety, nor the dinosaur variety, nor the Smurf variety - not even the plain variety.  I searched through the six aisles of Easter toys, books, baskets, buckets and candy - NOTHING! I searched through the special holiday candy section in the grocery section - NOTHING! All I found in the egg & dairy section was an empty display box.

I wasn't too worried because surely Snow's Marketplace, in Mercer, would have a Paas kit or two.

Not an Easter egg dying kit left on the shelf at Snow's.

Well, this was a reminder to me that it's all about simple living.  The first settlers of Mercer didn't have Paas kits to color their eggs and I would have to make due with simpler ingredients. You may be expecting a Martha Stewart-like recipe for onion skin dye or beet peelings, but I took a simpler route and headed for the baking aisle for food coloring.

Food Colored Dyed Eggs

 The eggs turned out more vibrant than ever and didn't take half as long.  Henrietta, Flora and Pearl provided the eggs. Twenty drops of food coloring mixed with 1/2 t vinegar and 1/2 C boiling water provided the color.  I'll never buy a Paas kit again, although the dogs will miss the stickers that come with it.

Maddie in 2011 with
Easter sticker

I am pleased and relieved to report there is not a jelly bean shortage. Plenty of jelly beans, including my favorite - Jelly Belly sours.