The End Of The Year Post

Hi everyone.

I trust you all had a Merry Christmas, Spiritual Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Joyful Kwanza, Wonderful Boxing Day...did I miss anyone? I'm sure I have. Well, whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope it was a good one.

So, we are in the last hours of 2005.

Anyone care to say anything special?

...

Ok...I guess since it is my blog, I should do the saying.

In order to make my drivel a little more enjoyable, I will intersperse a photo tour of our Christmas/Winter Solstice/holidy tree among my comments.

And away we go!


First, I think it would be good to thank the Big Being(s) for all of the wonderfulness of the past year. (Atheists feel free to skip this part.) So, with deepest gratitude I would like to thank President George W. Bush and the ladies and gentlemen of Congress...

I'm kidding!

You all know who I mean.

Anyway, I'd like to thank God and Co. for the following:
My life because, well, it just makes sense to do that
My family - immediate and extended because they are the best
My friends - because they are also the best
Our big, beautiful world and all the cool stuff therein
My country
My home
My job
Dictionary.com

You get the idea. I guess this really would have been more suitable as a Thanksgiving post but, alas, here it is.

I think now would be a good time for a picture.

Now, other than the traditional mercury glass balls, we try to decorate our Christmas/Solstice/holiday tree with things that are meaningful to the celebration of the season and so I bring you...




The Christmas Glasses - Do you see what I see?



Back to the scheduled post...

So, anyway...I was trying to think of the big goings on of the year and the first thing that comes to mind is getting the goat. And, while we also got a beagle this year, I think the goat might come to mind first because the beagle didn't happen to eat a rather important piece of mail yesterday that I happened to drop on the porch whilst trying to wrestle my way into the house with a pizza box, a purse, a camera, a few books, a bag of embroidery floss and the rest of the mail, all the while trying to keep the beagles in the house and the goat out. As a result, I guess I have a bit of explaining to do to the insurance company.

Photo op!



The Christmas Coke Can - Everyone looks forward to a visit from the can dressed in red and white!

So, other than the goat, the other events that jump out are the big things that happened with the kids. Daughter went to Europe; Son got his driver's license; both got to go to Grassroots for the first time; Son got his first root canal - you know, all those great milestones of youth.

And speaking of root canals...



The Holiday Dental Mold - You know, All I Want For Christmas Is My ... Root Canal?


Hmm...what else?

Well, I guess if I want to look beyond my own nose I could comment on things like Katrina, the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Pakistan, the ass in the White House and all of the other tragedies of the year. But rather than dwell on the negative, I would prefer to think about the positive things. Like all of the folks who pitched in to help after the tsunami; Sean Penn in a row boat; or was it Angelina Jolie in a Russian orphanage?; or was it Ethiopia?

See what happens when you don't have cable? Now I'm not sure on anything.

At any rate, the one thing that really sticks out in my mind is when the National Guard helped bring a peaceful end to a standoff between Native American casino owners and the women who performed in the nightly shows as entertainment for the casino clientele. I was so moved by the way this dipute was settled that I chose to depict it, as best I could...



...on my Christmas/Solstice/holiday tree.


Moving right along...

I don't know. I'm trying to think of "very meaningful things" but it just isn't happening. I'm having a hard time thinking of anything. My mind is like...like...like this!



The Cristmas Cheese Grater - O Christmas Cheese, O Christmas Cheese...


You know, events just get scraped over it and these little stringy memories fall through the holes, some going where they should but most ending up on the floor.

I was still doing the mind-as-a-cheese-grater thing there in case that didn't make sense to you.

Well, since it seems my muse has left me, I will just finish up with the Christmas/Solstice/holiday tree tour.




The Peacock, Curler and Big Glowing Gumdrop - And a Peacock in a pear treeeeeeeeeee!




The Christmas Crow - Seven crows a-cawing and all that


And who could that be hiding in the Christmas/Soltice/holiday tree? Why it's...



DEATH!


And last but not least, a vignette depicting everyone's favorite Christmas Carol...



The Wreck Of The Old 97



Thank you all for reading my blog this past year. I wish you all a very healthy and Happy New Year full of peace and love.

Our New Pet

I wanted to take some time to introduce you all to our new pet. Before you get all excited, it's not who you think. No, not the new beagle. I will give her a proper introduction...eventually. But for now, something completely different.

The odd thing is, I wasn't even aware of this pet. None of us were. My husband discovered it the other night when he went to take care of the coal stoker in the basement.

As I've alluded to before, we have a bit of a damp basement. Damp and cool. Like a mine. It's almost as dark as one too. This special little environment lends itself to habitation by all sorts of strange and wonderful things.

Why, in this picture, you can see we have some little trees growing in our constantly wet french...oops...Freedom Drain.




I have no idea what kind they are but they have been there - that size - for quite a while now. They probably get about 30 minutes of 40 watt lightbulb light a week. Maybe we'll develop some new low-light maple species. Who knows?

And now that I've typed the word "species", I pause to wonder why it doesn't follow the "i before e except after c" rule.

...

But I digress...

So, I'm in the kitchen and I hear my hubby banging on the floor from below.

Me: What? What's that you're banging about down there in the mines?
Hubby: Come here. And bring the camera.

?

Now my curiosity is piqued.

I get the camera and put some sandals on because you just don't want to walk around in our basement in your socks. I tell my daughter that something exciting is going on in the basement and she follows along. We make our way into the basement and locate my hubby.

Me: What's up?
Hubby: Look what I found.

Stak Trek fans are going to love this...

Hubby: A TRIBBLE!

Daughter and I look and, sure enough, there was a tribble on the floor. So I took a picture...





to share with you all.

Isn't it cute? We're thinking of naming it Scooter. Although it doesn't scoot very much. It just kind of sits there. We watched it for a while and it didn't really do much of anything.

Me: It's not doing anything.
Daughter: Maybe it's depressed.

We finally encouraged hubby to use his psionic talents and try the Vulcan Mind Meld on it.

And I took another picture...





As you can see, it was in a great deal of pain.

We immediately packed it up in a box and took it to the Starship Enterprise for further analysis. The scientists gave it a thourough examination.





We had to leave it overnight for testing and counseling. We went to pick it up the next day and the scientists said it was doing much better. As it turns out, it was just a case of the blues and loneliness. We decided to cheer it up by having a little party before we left. Look how much fun!





And, not to worry. Our tribble isn't lonely anymore. We found a little friend for it.