Christmas Kitty

Winter in November

Good thing we did the raking ourselves this year (in October) instead of waiting for the contractor! Looks like we have a lot of small limbs down under the weight of the snow. Note the turkey in flight (second photo).

Tree project

I decorated this tree for a museum fundraiser. Painted the peg people and made the foil decorations. Wrapped some wooden blocks in foil paper to put underneath as presents. Fashioned the bows out of fabric and red twine. About 80% of my experimental decorations failed, but it eventually came together into something. It's a bit messy, but it's ready in time for the deadline. Now, just have to deliver it without it falling apart! Happy Christmas season to all!

Getting cozy

 Early October--pretty close

Late October--first observed kitty cuddle. Li Li took Minnie's spot, so Minnie just plop herself behind/on top of her. (Maybe not so much of a "cuddle" as a refusal to give in!)

Liesl

Noah

Minette

Noah

If it weren't for the photo on the top, we wouldn't have known he was still alive. It still took a week to catch him after we saw that photo. Bottom photo: safe and sound. He's become a very friendly/clingy cat, which overall is a nice change (he let me handle him to remove ticks!). However, he may be becoming a bit possessive of us. The two girls, who got along with him fine before, aren't all that pleased with his return. We're hoping the hissing will settle down soon. 

Return from Walkabout

Noah decided to go exploring out a window that blew open while we were away. He was seen running across the road on the morning of Friday, May 18, after being spooked by the contractors working on our house. Many ground and tree searches, calling/not calling strategies, bait trials, trap and camera placements, and hours of sleep deprivation, frustration, and worry later, we finally have him back (albeit hiding in the basement). A combination of things likely led to his return, but technology (and persistence) played a large role. After nearly 12 days, at 1:30am on Wednesday, May 30, he walked into the basement through the greenhouse. We were monitoring via a live feed camera and successfully closed the door behind him. This, after him having entered the basement at 10:30pm, 3 hours earlier, but bolting back out before we could get the door closed. We are very much looking forward to resocializing him (gradually) as well as finally getting a good night's sleep.

Tauntress

Wintery still

Brought Maggie for a ski today while Ezra was finishing up a pig-butchering/ salami-making weekend with the kids at a nearby farm. Might be our last ski for the season. It actually snowed pretty hard while we were out, which made the ski out softer and easier. 

Happy dog.

March snow: 2 storms in 2 weeks, about 4 feet total

Ski ski ski

We’re enjoying winter while we’ve got it . Really nice snow conditions the last couple weeks made for some fun skiing. On Ezra’s birthday (over Presidents Day weekend), we skied to the historic Great Camp Santanoni— a 10-mile round trip. 

Today, for Maggie’s third birthday, we skied into Marcy Dam (which was destroyed by Hurricane Irene and never rebuilt — a decision by the Department of Conservation. This out and back ski was about 6 miles. We did this trip years ago with Fred before Irene when Asa was a baby. 

The Maggie-mobile helped lighten the load. 

Maggie wanted that sandwich so badly. She got lots of treats for her birthday. 

Snow kitties

2 feet

Ida’s Quebec Poster

Testing out a new app for posting to this blog from my phone. Ida created a poster about Quebec for the elementary school multicultural fair. Asa made a poster about Jewish Poland. 

It's a Jungle in Here

She's stalking me from between the chair and file cabinet.

One is never safe in this house...

Koala