Or is it the snow, the mice, and the nutcracker?
Anyhoo, the weathermen got it right this time: For the past several days they promised Maine a good snowstorm, and by golly, we got it. At left is a photo taken early this morning, when the snow was still coming down. Ken says we got 12-14". I hope that guarantees us a White Christmas. It seems as if it should, given the amount of snow and the cold temperatures. I don't think we've seen temperatures above 15° since early last week.
What better way to spend a snowy day than to knit mice? These will be filled with catnip and given as gifts to several cat-owner friends. The pattern is quick and easy. Once knitted, I gave the mice a thorough thrashing in the washing machine, to felt them. Now they're drying and will be ready to fill in the morning.
The nutcracker. Ken spotted this guy at Sam's Club several years ago. The price tag was $300, which was a bit much, I thought, for a mere holiday decoration. So the day after Christmas that year, Ken made a beeline for Sam's, found the nutcrackers reduced to half price, and brought this one home with him. (I took this photo last week, before we had much snow, by the way.) The nutcracker weighs a lot. We used to store him upstairs in a closet, but before long we decided he was just too heavy to carry downstairs each December, even with two of us sharing the load. Now he stands in Ken's walk-in closet for eleven months each year. I've learned to ignore him for the most part, but when Ken first put him in his closet, I'd walk by and think a strange man was standing there. Just about gave me numerous heart attacks! This year I toyed with the idea of finding a second nutcracker to stand on the other side of the front door. A search online yielded mates for this one, but to the tune of $799 each. Our nutcracker doesn't need a companion that badly.
Back to today's storm. Here's Ken walking Molly this afternoon. Walking in deep snow is hard enough for humans, but it's especially difficult for a dog with legs 10" legs walking in snow that's 12-14" deep. Molly hasn't minded spending most of the day inside by the wood stove.
Actually, I haven't minded spending most of the day inside by the wood stove!
I love that nutcracker! It really stands out when there's snow all around. Actually the weather people here finally got it right too. We had a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning today. That's rather unusual for Hawaii. My daughter wrote that it was 18 degrees in Chicago with a windchill of 0 degrees. I told her I had to change from tank top to t-shirt because it was a cool 69 degrees. She emailed back saying dryly, "I feel for you."
ReplyDeleteit's beginning to look a lot like Christmas-here too. What cute mouse-glad they aren't real..lol!
ReplyDeleteI too love the nutcracker. He is very cool, but I can't imagine lugging him out for Christmas. Love the mice too! Say warm.
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