the other side of living in the mountains; winterkill (WARNING graphic images)

A young magpie waiting for us to finish moving his lunch.

from a previous post last April:

Mr. L: "Hi I'm Mr. L. I've been staying at M.K.'s house. We've had a deer die in our yard."

Me: "Yeah, it's that time of year. They just can't take it anymore."

Mr. L: "I don't want to be a bad neighbor, I can't leave it there."

Me: "Yeah, you need to move it. There's a tree on the road to Fetterman, pull over there, there are hundreds of them."

Mr. L: blank stare as if I'm insane.

Me: "Or you could ask around some more..."

Mr. L: "Yeah, I'll do that."

a couple of hours later...

Mr. L: "I've asked around and everyone said the same thing. Plus they say there's a mountain lion hanging around."

Me: "Welcome to Wyoming."

the next day...

Mr. L: "I found the spot you told me about. We said a little prayer and tossed her over.... We're leaving. I think were heading to D.C."

Me (in my head): just a different kind of carnage.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I found this on the table this morning

Zoe must have drawn it during the night.
We put Booger down yesterday, she was (at least) 20. Larry and I found her living in our shed in '93. We already had 5 cats and a dog so I suggested taking her to the shelter but Larry wanted to keep her. I'm glad we did. She was quite a character; an avid animal hater who approached life claws first, she loved us and was never happier then while burrowing deep into our necks as we watched t.v.. The other animals were terrified of her. The dogs even refused to enter doors or go up or down stairs if she was anywhere near. A part of me envied her unapologetic bitchiness and lately we've been joking that it wasn't time to put her down if she was still kicking ass (which she proudly did until the end).
Zoe wrote on her blog yesterday:

"RIP Booger
1991 to December 2011
I hope you go to a great place, with lots of canned food and people to sit on".

I couldn't come up with a better epitaph if I tried.
Goodbye Miss Boog, we loved you.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree???

How about a turkey in a hawthorn?

family portrait

We're just to Zoe's right. Can you see us?

I had hoped to get a decent shot of all three of us that I could send my parents along with their Christmas gift but not even the miracle of photoshop was enough; they were that bad.

So Pat and Joe will be getting a couple of shots of Zoe which on further consideration is a much better idea anyways. After those last shots I'm beginning to wonder if age has me looking more like my Mother's father or Father's mother or some gruesome combination of the two. A few more years and I will be practically unrecognizable to myself.

Ugh!

i'm thinking he must be the sexiest man alive (sorry Larry)

My FAVORITE singer singing my FAVORITE song! :)

the stockings are hung...

the tree is up, and the gifts are chosen. Now all that's left are fun things like wrapping presents, listening to music and making cookies.

Zoe and I watched A Year Without a Santa Claus the other night and both agree that the Heat Miser and the Cold Miser are the best.

We still need to watch The Grinch, and Zoe's never seen It's a Wonderful Life so I'd like to snuggle up and watch that with her too.

:)

I really like Christmas
It's sentimental, I know, but I just really like it
I am hardly religious
I'd rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu, to be honest

And yes, I have all of the usual objections
To consumerism, the commercialisation of an ancient religion
To the westernisation of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer
But I still really like it...

-from White Wine in the Sun by Tim Minchin

yArN sToCk

Just because I haven't posted anything in a while.