It was definitely a doggie Christmas here....the owners of the  huskies and the lab mix we corralled a couple of weeks ago brought us a Christmas present - rawhide candy canes, Beggin' Strips (the largest bad I've ever seen!), tennis balls, and wine (I kept the wine for me.....)  We gave each of the dogs a rawhide candy cane Christmas morning, and didn't hear a sound from them for a couple of hours.  Jasper carried her's around for the first hour, just showing it off.

Here are some lights from the neighborhood - this house is on the competitive route, and you an tell.....

Christmas Eve, we drove around the neighborhood looking at lights, and tried to go to the "Old Barn" neighborhood (so named for one of the streets, I don't know what the real name of the neighborhood is) to look at lights.  They always have a lot of houses decorated.  We couldn't even get in.  We sat on S. Bonnyview for 10-15 minutes waiting to pull on to E. Bonnyview - not even into the neighborhood!  We decided we didn't need to see the lights that bad.  They are gorgeous, but next year we'll try a different night than Christmas Eve!

It's a Dog's Christmas at my house this year!  We are dog-sitting Chewie, and Dave came down with Lily and Oscar.  That makes 6 -count them.....6! - dogs here.

It's a little crowded in here......

Dave and I took his dogs down to Turtle Bay for a walk yesterday, too....

Alex sent me a picture of their Christmas tree - I love it!!!!

Christmas party pictures!  Okay - the first are before I got dressed for the party, but Margene came over and did my hair in an up-do.  I'm glad I don't do that all the time - it took her half an hour to get me fixed up!  It was very pretty, and I got lots of compliments on it.  

I love the back!

And here's me ready to go.....

Kirby came up for a  visit, and we went to the Sundial Bridge - her first trip there.  It was a beautiful day.

  

We even found a turtle at Turtle Bay.....

Have tool belt, will travel!  Yesterday was a quick trip up to Susanville to install smoke detectors and Carbon monoxide detectors.  Ralph was supposed to go up with me, but he just wasn't up to it (he has a doctor's appointment today......)  I talked Dave into installing the straps for the water heater for me, so I can't claim much help on that....it is a very small area so only one person can do that job!  One step closer to selling the house!  Now that those are in, the realtor can order an inspection.....

While I was there, Dave and I took a quick walk on the river trial.

Alex's host mom sent me a picture of bedtime at their house......

Evidently, Brody left a note somewhere in the neighborhood that says "for a good cookie, go to the Jauch's"  and left our address.

Yesterday afternoon, Luna was barking and whining at the window, and wouldn't stop when requested (oh, so politely I might add.....) so I went to see what the problem was.  We had THREE dogs knocking on the window (literally - they were bumping noses with Luna through the screen window).  Meet Astro, Cosmo, and Lucy.......

Luckily, they had collars and phone numbers.  Dad came to get them and he wasn't happy.  Not only did the dogs out of their yard, but when I put them in our back yard, they went for a swim in the pond.  He had three wet dogs sharing his seat on the way home.. Good thing they don't live very far away.

Brody paid a visit yesterday - at the back door, meaning he jumped our 6 foot fence to come see us - or Luna.....Luna was not so impressed with his ardor.  She jumped in her chair and gave him such a look!

'Tis the season - Fall.....I spent a couple (or more) hours yesterday blowing, raking, and hauling leaves.  The best part was that I am beginning to get the hang of backing up the trailer!  

These pictures are from last weekend - many more leaves fell after this - my trees are almost bare.

I took this video and sent it to Alex - it looked like it was raining leaves (and he just LOVES that he isn't home during fall.....)

The wind blew a huge pile in front of my door too - 

I decorated for Christmas last weekend too, with a little help.....

....and just a cute picture of Luna.....

Okay - once again, I got busy and didn't post.  That means you get a large selection of photos....kind of random ones, too.

Since this week was Thanksgiving week, we had several people out of the office during the week (including me for one day!!) on vacation so we had Jackie's birthday potluck last Friday (her birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year).  OMG we had so much food, it felt like Thanksgiving already!  We had lasagna rolls, sopa toscana, chili, cookies, birthday cake, pulled pork sandwiches, salad, rolls, and breakfast burritos to start it off right,  We ate all day - jut a build up for Thanksgiving, I guess.  Our little extra desk area at work was packed with food!

Margene and I were pretty good about getting out for a walk on the weekends (at least until she went to Georgia for Thanksgiving) and the trees in the neighborhood are gorgeous this time of year.  My trees out front are pretty in the spring and summer, but in the fall, they just turn brown and fall all over everything (and the neighbor complains, etc.).

I've been busy working on Christmas presents, so please act surprised at your present if you read this.....

I neglected my garden this year - I had a hard time getting it started, and pretty much gave up on it.  The only thing that really produced were the peppers.  (My tomatoes finally started producing right as the cold weather hit.....)  Since I don't use a ton of jalapeno peppers, I had three or four plants full of peppers that turned red.  Margene and I harvested them, and she took them home to pickle.  With her hectic schedule, she didn't get it done before she left for Georgia, so she came down last week and helped me pickle them.  

We decided to do this at 5:00 p.m. on a Saturday - I spent an hour chasing down pickling spices in town - who knew I was going to need them???  By 10:00 that night, we had a dozen jars of pickled peppers.  Not bad!

I found a pretty cool pattern for flannel scarves - the flannel in the stores for Christmas comes in such cute patterns!  Here's one that I made for Margene, along with a pair of decorated gloves.  This is before I washed it - the fringe frays in the wash for a really nice look.  She couldn't wait for me to wash it and took it home herself to wash and pack.....

A couple of new projects - Margene asked if I had a pattern for a slouchy hat, so....I went looking!  Turns out the slouchy hat is just longer in the body of the hat than my normal hats, so.....new hats! (and a chance to use my new pom-pom maker...)

I also found a pretty pattern for a ear-warmer.  It's a new stitch to me - a herringbone stitch.  It makes a nice dense fabric with an interesting pattern.

'Tis the season - the trees have started dropping branches in the wind.  They've lost a bit of leaves as well, but I think the big drop is coming soon.