Christmas Trees

We finished decorating the two Christmas trees in the house. One, the live tree we cut, is in the Media Room and the other, an artificial tree, is in the guest bedroom. Additionally, Pam put up a few decorations where the cats could not get at them. Take a look at the photos!

This is the artificial tree in the guest bedroom. Pam still plans to add some decorations to the tree, now that she is done with the cards. A tree in this window adds some festive lighting to the west side of the house, as seen from the front sidewalk.

The “main” tree (fresh cut) is in the media room. Many of its decorations are hand made, including the gingerbread men (with cloves inside – smell great after decades of storage) and the British felt figures. For some reason I ended up with a potpourri of colored lights available after decorating Heart House’s exterior.

Elsewhere in the house, Pam tried something new this year: adding “12 Days of Christmas” heart decorations above doorways.

With that, holiday decorations are about completed. While NE Iowa has no snow, the long-range forecast is to have flurries on Christmas Day. (Currently it is above freezing and light rain is falling.) I must be honest, though — I don’t really mind the mild conditions we have enjoyed up to this point!

The past week was relatively quiet. Greeting cards were finished and mailed. I was able to perform one last leaf pickup and trip to the compost site. We continue to watch the birds at the bird and suet feeders, and the squirrels have been busy at the corn cob and acorn feeders. The local park has the town’s holiday lights lit up every night. I have yet to convert the John Deere rider from mowing operations to snow plowing, a task I will take on this coming week.

One of the kittens, Reese, went to the vet for his neuter operation this week. He recovered quickly and is back to [pretty much] his old self. Reese picked up some “sniffles” along the way, but no “cone of shame” was required.

We’ve taken the Kia Soul on a few trips and are getting used to more of its modern electronics, such as the blind spot monitoring system and backup camera. While I still don’t fully know how everything works, the car is getting more familiar. I even received an incoming phone call via the media center!

One of the reasons for deciding on a Soul is the distinctive rear hatch, easy to pick out in parking lots.

I’ve begun preparing the RAV-4 for sale, including cleaning our stuff out of the door pockets, glove compartment, and storage cubbies, and I reinstalled the rear seats. The car looks a bit odd to us with the rear seats installed, as we had pulled them early on to have more cargo space.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

Kitten spay/neuter will continue in the weeks ahead. The little female stray, Storm, who showed up in our catio in October, is scheduled for a spay next week. Reese’s sisters, AJ and Snickers, will be scheduled for their spay operations in January (weather permitting).

Having worked in animal rescue for a long time, I have experienced many vet surgery days. I wish familiarity with vet procedures and processes would grant me ease of mind on kitten surgery days. But not so much. Altering animals — necessary, must-do, but not comfortable (for them or me).

Happy Trails.