Hunting pheasants

Barlie has been playing and growing and we've been working with her and pheasants or chuckers. We had grand intentions of getting out there in the field with her on New Year's day, but it was raining. So Sunday we went out to the field. It started out with Todd, me, Barlie and a shotgun - he wanted to make sure she wasn't afraid of the noise the shotgun would make.



Not a chance - she knew what she was supposed to be doing. But....Todd felt that he needed to be with her while she pointed at the chuckers. And someone needed to shoot them out of the air once she flushed them so she could retreive them.



I offered to shoot the gun....but Todd said ....you need to be able to HIT the flying bird and bring it down... and I am not a very good shot at moving targets:)



So we called on a good friend of ours, Andy, who in turn brought his 2 kids along for the fun.



Barlie spent lots of time running back and forth....

Until she would find the chucker and point at it:

One got away into what we call "the swamps." We let her run back and forth in there for a few minutes to see if she could find where it landed ......

There's a bird in here somewhere...

Andy stands ready with the shotgun

Of course, the little boys had to pull out their bb guns....

I spy a birdie.....

And if you are 7 and 6, and get bored, you can always make sure the chucker that was shot is really dead.....

And another birdie....

This is getting fun....

The grand total? Out of 5 birds, 2 were shot and Barlie "sort of" retrieved them.....she is not really good yet on coming when called but......Todd says his uncle's 2 german wirehairs aren't really good at that either, and they have a number of years on Barlie.....

If the weather cooperates we will be out there again with her one night this week after work and a few more birds.....

Christmas a week or so late.....

We had a wonderful Christmas. This is what my living room looked like at 3:00 a.m. Christmas morning after I finished wrapping gifts and making fleece blankets for the kids:

Between you, me and the fence post, I hope I never see 3:00 a.m. on Christmas morning again!

We started with Christmas Eve. My parents, my grandmother and uncle, and some good friends and their 2 kids.

What a hoot! We typically try to buy 1 big gift for each kid, and then some smaller gifts. Jessie's was an ipod this year and Tyler's was a DS. My Mom got Jessie an Ipod home and Tyler some DS games. She played the blond very well (Jessie has a MP3 player that broke about a month ago, and Tyler has a game boy.....)

Jessie got a Penn State blanket from her "boyfriend" (not sure why they say they are boyfriend/girlfriend when they barely talk to one another if they r in the same room and they aren't allowed to go anywhere together...but oh well! They do text each other a lot...mainly yep, yah and what's up?)

And when the festivities go on a little too late, you can always lay down and take a nap!

Fortunately for me, the kids didn't get up really early - 8:30 a.m. So I did get a little bit of sleep after my late night of wrapping and making gifts!

Tyler is thrilled with his DS:

And Jessie was ecstatic that she got her Ipod!

When Jessie won her showmanship class at the fair, they gave her a nice metal sign to display for the week....which had to be returned. I offered at the end of the fair to buy it and replace it....but the fair board said no. So I searched and found a company that made this sign for her:

Which of course caused her a few tears as she thought about her steer, Punx.

Tyler got some tractors:

They each then got smaller things, like clothes, CD's, movies and books. It was a wonderfully relaxing day for us...but I am so glad the holidays are over!

Swamped

Yes, I've been swamped beyond belief.....

I spent the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before Christmas lying low and taking it easy from eye surgery....finally the steriods kicked in and my eye started healing REALLY quick....thank goodness the bandage contact lens came out the Thursday before Christmas......while I still don't have quite 20/20 vision, it's more like 20/25 or 20/30 and I can live with that very well....thankyouverymuch. My doctor is beliving that with time and healing, I will get to 20/20 or better vision.....

And yes, even knowing that I am highly allergic to the bandage contact lenses they use, I will have my other eye done again if it gets significantly worse.....the gift of 20/20 vision is awesome....

Once I was up and running again, I spent lots of time getting last minute Christmas gifts, putting up the Christmas tree, buying food and all the usual hoopla that accompanies Christmas. I was up until 3:00 a.m. Christmas morning making the last 2 christmas gifts for Jessie and Tyler (fleece blankets) and wrapping presents. Since I've had the fleece for a good month now, I'm not sure why I waited until christmas eve to fringe and knot all 4 sides of each blanket but there you go....

We also spent lots of time doing this:

And with the help of a new bullet heater, it makes this process so much nicer in 25 degree weather. Tank and Smokie tend to sweat a little towards the end but Jessie and I enjoy being comfortable enough to not have to wear a coat and gloves in the barn.....

We have a big show coming up this weekend, and the kids' final Christmas present arrived right before new years eve:

The new showbox will make life a little more organized for us, and Jessie spent a satisfying hour putting everything in it that we will need this weekend. Now if I could just get myself in gear and get all the food ready, we'd be set.

I do have some knitting and quilting (GASP! yes, I actually did some quilting while on vacation) projects, but managed to misplace my camera yesterday.....hopefully those pictures and Christmas pictures will get put up here shortly before we leave for Columbus on Friday!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Hugs,

Kris

Down and Out...

10 years ago this coming March, I had Lasik surgery done. I was developing an allergy to all contacts (this should have been my first clue) and couldn't wear contacts anymore. And glasses were out of the question for how strong of a prescription I needed (can anyone say double coke bottle thickness?)

It was the BEST money we ever spent. Hands down. But I never had 20/20 vision in my right eye. More like 20/40 on a good day, 20/60 on a bad day.

This spring my eye surgeon (I go every year to him for a checkup and in return, have free touchups for life on my Lasik surgery) said he could get my vision in my right eye to 20/20. So I jumped on the chance....after I procrastinated through a busy summer.


And I had itLasek surgery done last Thursday night at 5:00 p.m. Friday until about 4 was awesome, clear vision, no pain, no symptoms. Then my eye started feeling like it had a piece of dirt in it. By Saturday morning it was red, itchy and streaming tears....I make an emergency run to the doctors?


And I'm FREAKING allergic to the bandage contact lens they used to protect the nerve endings in the surface of my eye while they heal for the next 7-10 days! You have GOT to be kidding me....


So it's home to the recliner for me. No light, no TV, lots of drops and rest......Saturday was torture, today has been a little better. I feel like a wierdo wearing my sunglasses INSIDE the house, but the light hurts way too much.


Hopefully when I go back tomorrow to the doctor it will be even better. Cause I have lots of crafting that needs to get done here in the next 5 days.......2 knitting projects and 4 quilted table toppers!


But as I told Todd last night, even if I had known this was going to happen, I would do it all over in a heartbeat....my vision is awesome.....he took care of my astigmatism as well.....I just should have had it done AFTER Christmas, instead of a week before Christmas!


Off to decorate the Christmas tree in the dark! Wish me luck....

The calm before the storm

Surprisingly, I'm not feeling the usual holiday panic....yet.



The house is decorated for Christmas (except for our big Christmas tree which will hopefully go up Friday night), the presents are wrapped and ready to go. Wait....I do need gift tags for all the presents but that is minor....








We had the family over for dinner on Sunday night for Jessie's birthday. Ate a lot and laughed a lot...what more can we ask for?



The actual day of her birthday? Saturday? We spent 6 hours at a basketball tournament. Where her team played 3 games with an hour inbetween each game.

The first game? They won 18 to 2 (or something like that). The second game? They got creamed 26 to 0. The third game? They lost again, 14 to 9. Talk about a long day though....by the 3rd game they were dragging. But they played well, learned some things and had a lot of fun.

I have a few crafty gifts to finish up...but the kids and I are on vacation the last 2 weeks of the year....so I've still got plenty of time!

Enjoy your days!!!!

Kris

Happy 11th birthday jessie....we are at a basketball tourney....1st game won 18 to 2...2 more games to go
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Christmas Knitting

Yes, I decided I should really make just a few Christmas presents. Not as many as in years past - time is rapidly slipping away but......it'll all get done.

Jessie's in 5th grade this year - and they do "switch classes" and she has 5 different teachers every day. 3 of her teachers are female (and in fact, 1 is a good friend and saw the fingerless mitts I made last year for Tyler's teacher and put her request in). So I have 4 pairs of fingerless mitts to complete by the 17th. 2 pairs are done:

The picture isn't doing them justice - they are a very pretty royal blue, which is the school colors. Her 2 male teachers? Gift cards here we come.....

Then Mom wanted to make sweaters for my sister, Ashley (my brother's girl friend), her and myself. Of course, I get the yarn and some vague instructions on how to make the sweater. It will be just like this one unless I decide to change things up, which could happen:

You can see how far I am on it. It's taking forever to get all the raglan increases done. Hopefully I'll be separating for the sleeves soon. If not, I'm handing it back to her to wrap up and I'll finish it after Christmas!

Last week one day Mom and I went Christmas shopping (I had a $100 target gift card burning a hole in my pocket so I got most of the kids' Christmas shopping done). We stopped into Studio Knit in Medina, and Mom picked out this yarn for me to make her a Curaco Cowl for Christmas (notice the pattern here?). It will be lovely in this red tweed, and really, I can't wait to get started on it. Just have to have it done by Christmas Eve at 5:00 when we get together for dinner!

Of course, I got some Malibrigo for me. After all this holiday knitting I'm going to need something for me, me, me. The sweater is Debbie Bliss Win, out of her luxury collection book. I'm thinking mine is going to be longer, but that will be the only change I make:)

I cannot believe how fast Christmas is approaching, but I was on vacation last week and got: the house cleaned, the family room painted (except for 1 corner, but that would require me moving a very old and very heavy hutch so it's gonna wait), all the inside Christmas decorations out, and most of my Christmas shopping done. And yes, I was 1 of the crazies at Wal-mart the Friday after Thanksgiving for 3 things that were on sale. But I was back home in bed by 6 a.m.....

Have a great day!
Kris