Scavenger Hunt : Annoying

"Tangled Lights"

Mmmmmmm

I have never been a Triscuit fan, but these are great.
Addicting.
Good with Heineken :)

Fun Fun Fun

Darn Mother Nature.

She took my power at 4am this morning. I was just heading to bed. Of course the silence just kept me awake.
We had some wild winds that just made the house creak and crack. This then stressed out Brock. So needless to say, I didn't sleep much.

It's been snowing all day but at least the winds have died down. There are down trees everywhere, it's a real mess.
Drove into Sandpoint to do some shopping and was at least able to catch my email on my phone. It wouldn't let me blog though.
When I got home, I realized that I could still pick up the wireless signal on the phone, so I tried then too. No such luck.
I did remember that I have satellite radio, so that helped with the eerie silence too.

This is one dark, quiet house with no power.
Oh and we lose water too. That's no fun. Just think about it.
12 hours. No water. Yay.

Changes?

I've been playing with two new ideas.

Wordpress and Shutterchance. New Blog and Photo blog.
I'm really liking Shutterchance, still figuring out Wordpress.

Any complaints about either? Pros or Cons?

**update : Here's my Shutterchance site if you want to take a look :)

Sigh...

Look who's IN the tree. Hanging out like a monkey.
























I bet you wish you had living ornaments :P

Push Here

Beta blogs won't let me comment. Darnit.

13

I'm combining two memes.
Thursday Thirteen & "What was the first line from your blog the first day of each month in 2006".

1. Jan~ I will stop trying to find the few remaining clean pieces of carpet in the house when I am about to throw up. (*this is from the Dog's New Years Resolutions)
2. Feb~ Wednesday, Humpday, What exactly does that mean?
3. Mar~ So, still not feeling 100%.
4. Apr~ Unveiling!!
5. May~ Sadness here today :( (*this is when Bustopher died) Bah.
6. June~ Come on....give me a funny caption for this photo :)
7. July~I bought these sunflowers today in town.
8. Aug~ I had to steal this from Shephard.
9. Sept~ Okay this wasn't meant to be part of the THEN&NOW series, but I thought it was funny :)
10.Oct~ Oh boy... Don't tell Pam and Ellen :P
11. Nov~ Chose one of my own shots this week.
12. Dec~ I signed up recently with a friend for the online world "Second Life".
13. Okay, no 13th month, and dayum these were boring.

Coincidence

Rainy Pete did an interesting Meme today.
Funny thing though is he picked the words I would have.
Just the other day I was watching some Christmas show and that song came on. I thought the same thing he did when I heard these words :

He knows when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

I had imagined a creepy stalker-like santa watching you all the time. Twisted? Maybe. (*love the photo he chose too)

But after reading his post, I know I'm not alone :)

I might still try this Meme. You?

Wordless Wednesday

Remember the fun pics I used to use for Wordless Wednesday?
Well, no more. They have copyrighted the site and you have to ask permission. Umm, ok.
I almost linked them, but why do that?
So, I'll use my own photos now :)

I love the idea of a decorated tree outside. The scene of the lit Christmas tree out in the forest, covered with snow, is so peaceful to me. I can do the decorations, but the lights are a bit tricky. There's not a tree quite close enough to the house to plug them in. Plus, by the time I think about it, everything's covered with snow and kind of a mess. I wonder if the cats would mess with that tree??

The Sequel

Part two of this mornings video. If you enjoy seeing kittens act like fools then this is for you. If not, then it's not :P

BTW... Blogger and YouTube really suck today.

Anticipation

So I'm waiting F-O-R-E-V-E-R for YouTube to download the next video. I realized that I posted the wrong one earlier :). There's two parts, and I thought the next one was funnier. Oh well, you can wait right?

I know I've been talking about the cats and the tree a lot lately, but I'm really amazed how obsessed they are with it. They even figured out how to untie the skirt!
They are in the tree constantly, and YES they have found the bulbs. Trout has knocked several off already, but luckily they have been hitting the rug and not breaking. It's really amusing to watch these two. They've even brought Critter into the group so it's a constant mess. Thank goodness I'm not putting presents under it, those would never last.
The year before last, the presents all had toothmarks in them and the bows were taken immediately.

Not a whole lot new going on here besides that. Late last night, or this morning actually, the snow decided to slide off the roof. I swear the house shook.
It buried everything in the front of the house including the heated birdbath I JUST bought. Of course I'm not strong enough to pull it out of the snow.
One funny thing though is... I used to have to use a stepladder to fill two of the feeders. But now, I just walk on top of the snow and can reach everything :)

We're expecting a winter storm next couple of days. Of course, the sun just peeked out this afternoon.
All the winter birds are here, I love that part :)

Oh and got my Christmas cards mailed out today.
Just need to start that gingerbread house :P

You Tubesday

Here's the two little turkeys under the tree. They spend a majority of their time there.

Shaken

Ok, so I had to play "shakey-shakey" too, along with Shephard & Wendy. I shook the camera as I photographed the tree. Pretty cool I think.

Why I Oughta....

No Problem

Ok, so let me get this straight. You guys would like to see calendars of Montana, Animals, B&W, Flowers, and Butterflies.

I'll get right on that :P

Custom made Calendars by Leesa :)

Tell Me

So, I'm playing with this calendar idea. I had been thinking on doing one for a while now, but Pam reminded me this morning so I started on one today. It's a rough draft, but you can see the idea anyway.

There are just so many different ways to go with this. I have SO many photos to choose from. So, I'm asking your opinion :)
I could do a Montana calender, or animals, or flowers, or butterflies...you name it. I could do Black and White. I could do Winter. What do you think?

I'm open to suggestions.

Reflection

Elphamorphosis

Check Me out, I dance just for YOU :)

I hope you feel special :P

Unclear

A photograph is usually looked at-
seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams

Heat Miser

Scavenger Hunt : Red

Hey Ya

Cat Tales

I'm alive and I have power, I just really have nothing to talk about.
Trout and Sinclair have learned to climb the tree, so it's a true mess. I was waiting for hooks to hang ornaments, but now I'm wondering if I even should.
Oh.... and I have footage of the two little monsters in the tree for you :)

I decided to let Wolf back outside. He has been in the cat pen for four days in freezing temps, refusing to come in. I have given him food and water out there, but I don't know if he's actually eating or drinking. So I can't have that. At least when he's in the garage he has food, water and a heated room. Oh well.

See that's all I got, stories about cats :)

Dear Santa

Ok..this really isn't a Dear Santa letter, I just like the button above :)

So...I wrote two posts last night. One was a Thursday Thirteen, and one was about why I was still up at 4:38am.
When I reread my posts, which I always do, I just couldn't post them. They were a tad on the depressing side and I thought to myself, "If I think this is blah, won't everyone else?".

Depressing is a strong word, but it's the closest to what I wanted to use. The 4:38am post was actually research I had done on sleeping patterns. The causes or reasons for odd sleep patterns or no sleep. Most of the answers made sense but were kind of depressing.

My second post, the Thursday Thirteen, was a list of songs I was really feeling the lyrics too. You know those songs that come on and you stop and listen. Or, you get goosebumps when they play? Or you know the feeling they're feeling. Yeah.. you know. But again, some of the lyrics to these songs are a tad on the depressing side.

I decided to wait, and finally fell alseep around 5am or so. I truly think I could have just stayed up and started my day, but chose to really try and sleep. And I did.
One interesting thing I did read over at The Sleep Foundation was that most people don't even know when they're sleepy. You can read that here. If you ever get bored, or find you can't sleep, it's a pretty interesting site. And it didn't make me sleepy!

Wait..that's what you need.
You can't sleep, you go read a sleep disorder website and it's so boring, you get sleepy.
Or they can just read my rambling 4am posts... that might help too :)

Think Geek

Found some great Christmas gifts here :)

Heck, I might even get a few :P

Especially this one :

Laptop Humor

So I have this new laptop which has this great screen that makes my photos look really awesome.
But, I recently pulled some of them up on my PC monitor and they don't look as good. So what do they really look like? My laptop messin' with me? Hmmph.

I tried to make a Christmas card out of Brock's pic and they just wouldn't print nice. I thought it was the printer, but I'm wondering if the photo just didn't look as good as I thought.

I think this screen is like one of those mirrors in the mall that always make you look good. You look great in that outfit but then when you get it home it looks awful.

Identity

I had a dream last night. One I've had before.
I get off work from my waitressing job (I've had many), and come out to find my car was broken into. Everything inside was gone. I had been robbed. For some reason the car is also undriveable. In the dream, i'm always upset.
Last night's was different as there was a guy waiting for me this time. He told me to get in the car. I didn't, of course and turned around to get help. It gets hazy from there and next thing I know I am driving the car with him in it.
It's always interesting to me that we dream of people we've never seen before. I've never seen this guy, that I know of, but I guess I could have passed him on a street one day and my brain just kept his image. Anyway, he's not what I'm writing about.

I looked up the dream, since the last few dream interpretations have been accurate :
To dream that you car has been stolen, indicates that you are being stripped of your identity. This may relate to losing your job, a failed relationship, or some situation which has played a significant role in your identity and who you are as a person.
To dream that you have been robbed, denotes that you are experiencing an identity crisis or you are suffering some sort of loss in your life. Alternatively, you may feel that someone has stolen your success or has taken credit for something you did.

Interesting that both of these have to do with Identity. This is one of the issues I've had here lately. Loss of identity.
I'm not sure I can put this into the right words but I feel I had more of an identity when we lived in Texas. I had a seperate life, I did my own things, I went out with friends, I went shopping. I wore different clothes. I had a job. I had my own routine.

Sometimes here I feel as I'm not that person anymore. Actually I'm not. I'm a different person now. I have failed relationships.I can't run down and meet a friend at Starbucks or Fridays. There's no shopping. I do basically the same thing everyday. I wonder now if I went back, would my friendships be the same?
Don't take me wrong, I do love where I live. I do appreciate what I have. But it's like I'm at a standstill. Who am I here? I'm the Dr's wife up on the hill with all the cats..(I'm kidding) I don't think anyone thinks I'm the crazy cat lady. (shaddap).

Yes, I know, I can change this. Me and only me.
I can get out. A little more difficult considering my location, but I can.

So,that was my dream and I just thought it was interesting that it involved Identity. Something I've been trying to figure out for a while now.

Wordless Wednesday

This Is On

I love these :)

I've Got Christmas :)

I had a couple of requests for decor pics. As you can see I still don't have hooks for the bulbs for the tree. I can't reach the star, so it's crooked and not plugged in. I can't take a pic of the village yet because it's in the kitchen and I'd have to clean it to take pics for you :P

And I just noticed the outside pic doesn't show the tree in the window. Ok, just for you, I'll retake it.

Don't say I never gave ya nuthin'.

































*click em' to big em'

Bah....Again

Ok, let's try this again. Gotta love LiveWriter :)

I thought bringing Wolf back in his home was a good thing, but so far it has not worked out that way. It's as if he'd never been here before. It hasn't been fun :(
He's been hiding, and the other cats are fighting with him. I'm not sure how long it's been since he was out, but it's just so weird to me that this is happening. He grew up here, his littermates are here.
I've brought in my fair share of new cats, and they've all adjusted after some time, so I guess I just have to give it some time. Ugh.

We will have a houseful Christmas week. Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about it. It will be nice to have family on a holiday, actually it's been awhile since I have. But with my sis and nephew, and my hubs brother and family, it will be about 9 people and one extra dog. EEKS.
I'm so used to a quiet environment, as are my pets. So it should be interesting. If anything, I'll have a lot of blogging material.
I'm pretty sure my cats will need sedatives after this visit. Heh, me too.

There will be plenty to do outside, with sledding and skiing. We have cross-country ski's and snowshoes. You can also skate on the pond if we manage to find some skates. There's hikes and then there's the eagles that I'm definitely going to go see whether someone comes with me or not.

So, we wear them out during the day, everyone retires early at night :)

We might need some of this too :



Goes great with hot chocolate!
*dontations are accepted for my sanity ;)

I saw a gorgeous buck in the yard this morning. I was feeding the horses though and didn't have my camera. Bummer too, he was beautiful :)
Snowed a few more inches last night and more expected today.

Hey, maybe they'll build some snowmen while they're here :)

Bah

I just wrote this really long, detailed post with photos and blogger ate it.

Funny, it was about things not going right this week.

Go figure.

Time For Quiet

I am heading for a time of quiet
When my restlessness is past
And I can lie down on my blanket
And release my fists at last

I am heading for a time of solitude
Of peace without illusions
When the perfect circle
Marries all beginnings and conclusions

And when they say
That you're not good enough
Well the answer is
You're not

But who are they
Or what is it
That eats at what you've got

With the hunger of ambition
For the change inside the purse
They are handcuffs on the soul, my friends
Handcuffs on the soul
And worse

I am heading for a place of quiet
Where the sage and sweetgrass grow
By a lake of sacred water
From the mountain's melted snow
~Paul Simon

Ol' Wise One

I Knew It!!

Eagle Watch

This is here, and I HAVE to go.
Yes.. I HAVE too :)
Must, seriously.

Pros & Cons

All inside lights are up : Pro
Still can't find bulb hooks : Con

I caught Wolf today :) : Pro
He's freaked out though and is staying in the pen : Con

Full moon tonight : Pro
Clouds obscurring photos : Con

I was nominated for creative Montana blog Here : Pro :)
I bet most have never heard of me : Con

I found my fun "Montana" ornaments : Pro
They are heavy and fall off the tree : Con

I got Brock to wear antlers : Pro
Later he took off with them, haven't seen them since : Con

I bought my ingredients for the gingerbread house : Pro
Totally forgot the actual gingerbread : Con

Cowboys beat New York: Pro
Seattle beat Denver : Pro
Cats are growing bored of tree : Pro
I just now got a pic of the moon : Pro :)





Had to end with more Pros than Cons, right?

Sweet :)

Dallas 23
New York 20

Oy To the World

Ok, so....
Critter's asleep in the wreath.
I can't find hooks for the bulbs.
I finally had to tie the skirt TO the tree.
And the lights to my village don't work :(

Ugh.

Thrilled

Can ya tell??

So Far, So Good

Decorated the house some today.
The tree is up and has lights. That's as far as I'm willing to go for now :)
The kittens have been playing with it but not too bad. They've tugged on the lights a few times, as you can see.
The tree skirt is definitely doomed though. They will NOT leave it alone.
They lay ON it.
They lay UNDER it.
They wrestle on it.
They've pulled it around the room a few times.

It's quite the source of entertainment.

I'll keep you updated :)

Healed

You guys remember the fawn with the injured/burned/ripped/scraped leg??
This is her. She's all healed :).
Not the perfect angle, but if you can see the hair that grew back in that area, it is all white. You can kind of see it on the left rear leg.

The healing process... pretty amazing, eh?

Oh and we've had a mountain lion here the last two mornings. Fresh tracks everywhere.

Cool :)

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This is fun :)

Copy and paste the code above into the address line.

Stolen from Binsk

*Works for any blog*

Scavenger Hunt : Lights

Rescue

Awesome Video, go take a look :)

Photo Friday : Stillness

Warm Fuzzy

Here's a touching story perfect for the holiday season and spirit :)