(Cough, cough) (Hack, hack) …in my head and throat.
What’s with the cold season this year?! I caught a cold, possibly from my stepson or my sister, just after Elegante Mother’s open house, early in December. I was laid low for two weeks, when I needed to be shopping, and wrapping gifts, and decorating the house. I finally began to perk up about a week before Christmas, as the cold began to ebb.
I had a couple of days free of coughing, and then the cold came back with a vengeance! I can’t decide if the first cold went into hiding, or if I caught a second cold right after the first.
Saturday, December 30, and New Year’s Eve, I spent some time in the office working on the filing system for 2007. I typed labels for the files, and removed the 2006 files that were ready to be stored. I made labels for the binders for 2007. I packed up the 2005 binders for storage, moved the 2006 binders to the bookcase, and set the new binders up in the hutch next to the computer. I have three banker’s boxes of files to go to storage. This is all a first. I’d never have gotten all this done this early, if I hadn’t been too sick to be up and about. A little typing and filing was the best I could do.
So….the Pollyanna in me would like to point out there’s a bright side to life, but the Scrooge in me is saying (in a MUCH louder voice) “BAH HUMBUG!!”
Stay healthy! Avoid people like me who are coughing and hacking. Teach everyone you know to cough into the crook of their arm, and take your vitamin C on the off chance that it will help you dodge this cold!

We have been having the oddest weather. For the past 21 days we have had weather that has been warmer than the norm. We had a GREEN Christmas! I can’t recall the last time that happened. Tomorrow, it’s supposed to be FIFTY degrees. I meant to plant some bulbs last fall. I have the space in mind, and the flowers should be gorgeous together, but the bulbs are still in the garage. Tomorrow, after exercise, I plan to get those bulbs in the ground!
The weatherman said that we can expect roughly ten more days of these above normal temperatures, based on what they can see to the north and west of us. We usually see two or three days toward the end of January where we have balmy days in the fifties or sixties. I bet we’re below zero for those days! *G*
Dear Husband is not complaining about the weather. As far as he’s concerned, I should stop tempting fate by talking about the weather. Of course, HE works outside. I can’t really blame him for wanting the weather to stay warm.
One last plea…….Dear Lord, would you please not cover us with snow in April, May, and June to make up for this??

I’ve mentioned that I’m in an exercise class three days a week. I was the baby of the class until a woman came along who beat my record by a week. We tease back and forth, and she takes good care of Elegante Mother, who also attends the class.
When I opened my e-mail today, this was the greeting she sent:
2007
After serious and cautious consideration…..your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2007 !
It was a very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!!! LOL
My Wish for You in 2007
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words …………
May 2007 be the best year of your life!!!
Could you ask for better wishes than that??? *G*
Thanks, Pat-of-the-Back-Row!

Some of my newer readers may not know that my youngest sister also blogs, as a part of the RedEagleSpirit group. She has been on hiatus thanks to an incredibly busy year, but she posted yesterday. I hope that you will click on the link for “Just My Opinion” and visit to see what she’s been up to.
Sis….I didn’t realize that you had been at your school for TWELVE YEARS! Had I been pressed for a guess, I might have said seven or maybe eight. Where has the time gone? Congratulations to you for continuing to take such good care of kids who really need to have someone care about them. Your halo is assured!
Happy New Year!

I’m here. I just have time to read, but not to post, so I guess that makes me a lurker, or possibly a pseudo-lurker, because I’ve left comments here and there.
It looks like most of you have had a good Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas, with family from both sides. We went to my family for our traditional Christmas Eve, and to Dear Husband’s family for Christmas Day. It was a hoot to watch our granddaughter open her gifts!
Santa was VERY good to me. I received a Canon Cybershot digital camera. I’ve been spending most of my free time learning to use it. So far, I can take a picture and delete it *G* My stepson is my camera guru. Of course, HIS hands FLY over the buttons, and it’s nothing for him to download the pictures. I already have a file of Christmas pictures from 2006. I only hope that I can learn to be as proficient as Janet at using pictures in my blog!
I expect to be tied to my office chair for the next few days, and then I am going to demand time at my sewing machine. I’ll grocery shop early, and choose plenty of easy to fix things, and then bury myself in my fabric!
The Christmas cookies were a hit. We gave seven boxes or tins of cookies to the ladies at the salon, and I took two platters to share on Christmas Eve. There was another platter for home, and I think we have enough to last the week.
I didn’t get to the Kolache, but I think I may try to do them this weekend. I remember my mother making them when I was a kid, and it would be fun to revisit an old recipe.
In case I don’t make it back before the weekend, I hope you all have a great New Years celebration! Happy New Year, y’all!

I know….most herons are lone. Fishing is better when you don’t have a flock of young ones playing around in the pond.
What I meant to say, was that the heron we spoke of in November is STILL HERE! I know that this could be winter range for some of them, but this is the first time we have ever seen a heron this late in this area.
We’re having an unusually mild winter so far. We did have those six inches of snow at the start of the month, but it’s been gone for a couple of weeks. Our grass is green, and some of my herbs are still growing!
Saturday, as we came home we saw skein after skein of Canada geese flying NORTH. I just don’t know enough about goose behavior to know what’s going on. We realize that they practice flying in the Vs even this late in the year, and we know that many of them winter over in this area. These were quite large groups of geese, flying fairly high, and all aimed in the same direction. Does anyone have any insight to share on this?
Ed, our cranky, older, black cat asked to go outside today. It was a beautiful day, with lots of sunshine, and I saw no reason to keep him in. He’s always been an indoor-outdoor cat, or I might have reconsidered.
I was putting a load of laundry into the washing machine, and looking out the window on the north lawn, when I saw Ed come around the corner. A gray squirrel had discovered the sunflower seed feeder at the back door, and was wrapped around the feeder, filching the seed. When Ed appeared, it startled the squirrel, who went flying, five or six feet across the lawn. Ed skittered and then turned and they both crouched and glared at each other, as if to say, “This is MY territory!” I’m surprised Ed didn’t play chicken with the squirrel. Perhaps he’s feeling his age, or maybe he wasn’t hungry! *G*

Saturday, as Elegante Mother and I started our errands, we turned east to drive between the two retention ponds that flank the road. I burst out laughing, and pointed to the south pond. The Canada geese were walking on water!
Apparently, it had been cold enough the day before, and through the night, to form a skim of ice on the surface that was strong enough to hold about eight geese. The black surface of the pond looked like still water, rather than ice. Perhaps the upper surface of the ice had started to melt.
By the time we returned, the ice was gone and the geese were swimming at the water’s edge. The world was right once more, but not as funny as it had been earlier in the day.