It's beginning to look a lot like . . .

Motel 6???

That's the light outside our daylight basement door (with solar lights along the steps and valley lights in the distance), by which our neighbors will be coming and going as of tonight. They had hoped to be in their new house long ere this, but construction projects being what they are.... The wife had mentioned to me a couple weeks ago that everything was getting damp in their temporary living quarters in the shop and their little RV trailer is not really big enough for the two of them – plus their two little dogs – to sleep comfortably. At the time she was housesitting for some people and looking for a short-term rental that would accept the dogs without success. Rick and I talked it over, and decided to offer them our rudimentary basement guest quarters. It has a separate entrance so we won't have inside contact during these COVID-conscious times, and they can have a warm, dry space to sleep, shower, relax, watch TV if desired, and dry things out at night.

But it is beginning to look a lot little like Christmas, too. Last week when I rode Lance down the lane, I saw that a Christmas tree lot on the other end where we have purchased a u-cut tree before is closed for the season already(!?!). I wasn't sure what we would do; u-cut options are very limited this year and tree prices are up thanks to high demand in these unsettled times. I mentioned to the Lord that it sure would be nice to have a BIG tree again if He saw fit to provide one; it wasn't a formal 'request,' I was just sharing the desire of my heart.

Last Sabbath at church, a member gifted us a poinsettia, our first bit of seasonal cheer. Then I happened to see an announcement on a friend's Facebook page. They were planning to clear out some untended Christmas trees to create more horse pasture, and were inviting people to come out and cut them for free the next day. Hallelujah! Rick and I headed over on Sunday afternoon (Brian was busy – again – with friends), and found the perfect tree for us, this tall, lovely and fragrant Grand fir:

Yes, us two 'old folks' managed to get that in and up ourselves. Rick secured it with strings to the deck door hinges, although as you can see there are as yet no ornaments on it to break should it tip over. I'm not sure when (if?) the decorating is going to happen but hey; we have a Christmas tree!

Sunday morning before the tree excursion, Rick and Brian cleaned out the sheep fold. It was DEEP and hard-packed, so a big, heavy job; I'm so grateful! The walls are much taller now; heh.

While they did that I dipped fresh cranberries in chocolate, the anticipation of a Christmas tree putting me in the mood to make holiday treats. Yesterday I made chocolate peanut clusters. Next on the list? Probably Russian teacakes, but before I can get to that, we have a 19th birthday to celebrate. The boy has requested green & white lasagne and cheesecake.

This month is starting out unusually dry and clear. Fortunately we had near-average rainfall in November and there's a lot of December left in which to catch up.

A rainbow over our temporarily merged households

While the weather allows, I'm trying to work both horses daily; here are some scenes from my ride down the lane on Lance this afternoon:

Working with my animals helps keep me sane; this holiday leave is not going wonderfully well. 😒 Poppy and I get to go to agility class again this week after a two-week partial lock-down due to skyrocketing COVID cases in Oregon.

"Did you say 'class'???"

Poppy has been BORED the last few weeks without class or playdates. She has lots of toys and I play with her, take her to the barn, turn her loose to hunt when I can, and take her for walks. But it's just not the same. Fortunately, she got to play with the neighbor dogs today. She has figured out they are downstairs tonight and that's really hard, but she's finally settled down to nap on my lap.

Trying to hold it together at . . .