Snowin' In The Country

Spent the day w/ good friends
and great food...killer slow roasted ribs
and cheesy taters
along w/ beatiful snow,
and some cheesy grins!

Smokin' Cheddar

Trying to throw together a smoked cheese....

only had it on for about two hours, but this

method is working a lot better than my first try

(too much heat, and the cheese got soft and melted)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, and then Snow Some More!!!

(Here's Ray since turning 40...kidding...it's just our tree man)

(Our house all a glow)

(and me...)

 

Woke up to several inches this morning and it hasn't stopped snowing yet.....they are predicting up to 8 inches....I think we are getting close!

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas
From Us To You!

CHRISTMAS EVE!

So the boys are getting really excited...
(So are we)
Buddy, on the other hand
acts like he doesn't even know he's got a
stocking full of kitty fun!

"The Rain In Spain Falls mostly on the Plain"

Budge found this rainlamp and fixed it up. 

It was clogged up w/ dirt, and the wheel didn't work. 

She tinkered w/ it, got the motor sounding

quiet again, and the wheel a turnin'!

Snowy Light

Thursday night winds got up to 35 mph,
and we had several inches of snow
which I'm sure caused some difficulty for Lake Erie...
here's a shot of
Marblehead Lighthouse which we visited
This past summer
...I'm sure it looks much like this today....

(photo taken by Ron Skinner)

The Last Of The Roses

Stuck the camera out the back door and took a picture
of one of two remaining roses on the rosebush....
again, not a great shot, but after the snow
I wasn't interested in spending
a lot of time out there....

Shel Silverstein

Everything On It

I asked for a hot dog
with everything on it,
and that was a big mistake.
'Cause it came with a parrot,
A bee in a bonnet,
A wristwatch, a wrench, and a rake.
It came with a goldfish,
A flag, and a fiddle,
A frog, and a front porch swing,
And a mouse in a mask-
That's the last time I ask
For a hot dog with everything.

Shel Silverstein
(Shel wrote "A Boy Named Sue"
that was made famous by Johnny Cash)

We used to read these poems to the boys
when they were little, and we both remember
them when we were kids.
"Where The Sidewalk Ends"
was the most popular one.
What I didn't know until later
was that Shel drew the pictures,
and was also a songwriter.

There's a really cool website
dedicated to his work that you can get to here....

http://www.shelsilverstein.com/play.asp

Another Shot Of Last Years Ashland Balloon Festival

 

The Civil Wars

Just heard these two for the first time the other night,

posted a song of there's earlier, then I found this one....

even better! 

Spinnin' Chicken

So in true fashion, since I've been on this smoked

 meat kick now for a while, working on a chicken today....

This is a before video....and we'll do the later here in a few.....

5 hours later, the chicken was cooked on a low heat, so it
turned out fantastic.... didn't get too hot this time....
which kept it moist.....
put a brown sugar, garlic, and garden grown herbs glaze
(fresh Sweet Basil, Spicy Basil, Thyme, and Oregano)
on it this time, that was sweet and tangy....really turned out nice.
....and Bridget made the breadsticks w/ a little help from the bread machine....
DEEEEE LISH!

Whenever we get the chance we try to make the weekend meals extra special!
This one met the mark....

(By the way, the green stuff is spinach)
 

THIRTEEN

So it's official, he's Thirteen! 
Growing up too fast.....
Fine young man!

Ranked 7th

So, I found out recently that for the last two months
My site ranking where I work, out of 466 (approx) call reps
is 7th....so there are only 6 people ranked higher
at our site..
for overall quality!
That's a good number!
(doing a James Brown dance)

Homemade Sailboat

The sailboat on the shelf is something that Bridget and I
made from scrap wood out in the garage, and some
old curtains.  She rigged the boat, weaving canvas thread
to make rope and sewing the sails.....
I steamed and bent a chop stick for the tiller,
and the mast boom and sprit were from a board,
rounded by hand.

Bowling Day

This is not a photo that we took
(Our's never look this crisp)
Today we went bowling w/ Ecot!
The boys had a great time w/ Jon, Abi, and Gabe
and we ate some yummy pizza too! 

Christmas Kitty

Buddy got a new hat today...and as you can see he loves it!  Immediately after this picture he attacked the ball and ripped it off his head!  It was cute while it lasted!

The Boys @ Ashland Balloon Festival

When we look at this photo, I'm shocked at how much
Max and Noah have grown in the last year.

Ashland Balloon Festival

Last Summer we had the opportunity to check out this cool event,
with a number of beautiful hot air balloons.  This is just one of many cool
shots we took while there.

Yesterday we helped the Kunnas family move into their new house. Spent Saturday loading and laughing, (blaming broken lamps on others was my favorite part) (the lamp was already broken by the way). Had a good time, enjoyed some great pizza from Countryside, Dave brought in. That pizza  had about 3/4 of an inch of incredible cheese on it, not to mention all the toppings (we love family owned pizza places, they always make the best pizzas).

Carl, Dee, Caleb and Francis Danison, Laura and Maggie Love, Laurie and Joel Walter, Pastor Joe, and the entire Kunnas family.

Two truckloads full. Many hands make light work!

A CheeseBall For the CheeseBall!!! Happy 40th Ray!!!

TODAY IS RAY'S 40TH BIRTHDAY!!! We are having some family over tonight to help us celebrate, Aunt Jeanne and Chip, Jen and John, Kaitlyn and Kiley are all coming so it will definately be a blast!  Just a pic of the bacon encrusted cheeseball...yep that's bacon! 

Ricky Skaggs - Children Go Where I Send Thee

I can remember listening to this song a lot when I was younger,
especially around Christmas time.... Bridget said it's her new
favorite Christmas song.





Thrift Store Harvest

Bridget found these grapes
and hung them in the
sunroom out back

Snowflake's-A-Fallin'

Another picture from our tree....

....so it's snowing outside, got a brine turkey on the grill
smoking w/ maple wood for supper,
headed to the Danison's for lunch,
and some guitar pickin,
w/ Andy, Dave, and Carl,
and they always have some great songs
to pick on....
AND TODAY'S NOAH'S BIRTHDAY!
12 YEARS OLD
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOAH BUGS!

...and good to hear from ya Josh....
I miss our times around the fires, and hangin'
out in the anchorage catchin' up.....
 

So it's been several years since we've lived in a house

like this, so we had a lot of fun decorating this year.

Bridget found several Christmas trees over the past

months that we've placed everywhere, it's like

a forest in the house!

 

 

So  this is the one in the boys room

 

This is the one in the living room

 

This is the one on the back porch/Sunroom

(not the greatest picture)

 

This is the one in the kitchen

 

This is our ficas we got from Kingwood Center's Greenhouse Sale

 

This is our window looking into the kitchen

and our snowman collection

(not the greatest picture)

This is our dining room lamp,

Bridget found these beautiful shades at a thrift store

 

This is our living room fireplace

 

Another shot of our living room tree

 

....and this is our white tree in our bedroom

 

NOW WE'RE ALL READY FOR CHRISTMAS!